Trivia of a Sort # 4

What do Washington and Jerry have in common?

"DFrank1068" wrote in message news:[email]...

George Washington: Farewell Address Jerry Seinfeld: I'm Telling You For The Last Time.

Nice try Art but I'm looking for something else.

"DFrank1068" wrote in message news:[email]...

Is that State or D.C.?

In a number of the early episodes, on the refrigerator in Jerry's apartment is a large yellow sticker that reads "GW Colonials" This is a tribute to Seinfeld's then real-life girlfriend (Shoshanna) who attended George Washington University - their team name is the Colonials.

Seinfeld Has Trouble with a Rental Car Reservation; Customer Has Trouble with a Deposit at Washington Mutual Seinfeld Episode Mirrors Misfortune at Washington Mutual

On 'Seinfeld' Jerry Seinfeld received laughs for dueling with a car rental employee. Jerry had made a rental reservation but the company had no car. The employee professed that she knew how to take a reservation and the purpose for a reservation. To this Jerry responded, "I don't think you do. If you did, I would have a car. You see, you know how to take the reservation; you just don't know how to hold the reservation. And that's really the most important part of the reservation: the holding. Anybody can just take them." As the audience laughed it became apparent that this scene would not be funny under some circumstances. In the real world, this situation could cause great inconvenience.

Banks were created for the depositing and securing of money. Americans walk into banks every day and deposit their paychecks, often placing the safety of their entire life savings with a financial institution. When the deposit is made, account holders trust that their money is safe. If banks could lose money in the same way the care rental employee in the 'Seinfeld' episode lost the reservation, extreme difficulty would result.

In early 2000 Ms. Gupta deposited educational loan checks into her Bank United account. Washington Mutual, Inc. thereafter acquired Bank United. Deposit slip in hand, she thought that her deposit was complete and her money safe. However, the safety of the funds was not unconditional. Some time later, upon paying her bills, she was made aware by third parties that there were insufficient funds in her account to equal the amount drawn on the account. She thought this was unusual as she had recently deposited $13,214.00, much more than the amount drawn from the account, and the bank had not notified her of any account irregularities. Eventually it was determined that the Bank had lost the money. Over the following weeks Ms. Gupta had to fight to regain her money. She claims that she was "misled, lied to, and brushed off" by staff at the Bank.

The persons tasked with securing the funds of Ms. Gupta had 'lost' them. Even though a deposit slip was received, the Bank delayed locating the missing $13,214.00. Over the course of the dispute the bank first claimed that Ms. Gupta deposited no money, then that the checks were 'bad' and therefore returned to the issuing institution, followed by the explanation that they were unsure of the status of the funds, and finally that the checks were mis-deposited and would have to be located. At each turn, according to Ms. Gupta, the Bank's statements were proven to be lies and not mere misrepresentations. This course of events took almost two months and resulted in hardship and economic loss to Ms. Gupta. Seinfeld might say that the bank knows how to take money but not how to hold on to the money and, after all, the holding is the most important part of the bank's mission.

Ms. Gupta suffered economic loss due to the Bank's actions. Unfortunately current banking laws and account holder agreements shield banks from liability. Washington Mutual claims that the customer agreement limits liability to the amount of the deposit and nothing more. With this in mind, banks are unwilling to place their customers in the same financial position they would have been in had there been no irregularity. As illustrated by this situation and by the words of Cindy Modica at Washington Mutual's Quality Service Management Department "the bank does not compensate its customers for errors." Washington Mutual considers itself never to be liable for damage resulting from its actions, no matter how egregious. To this date, Washington Mutual has maintained a ChexSystems claim against Ms. Gupta, making it impossible for her to open a bank account and affecting her credit. Recently the status of the ChexSystems claim was altered from 'non-sufficient funds activity' to 'using funds credited to the account in error or received in error.' This change was requested by Washington Mutual, Inc. in response to a request from Ms. Gupta to establish that there was non-sufficient funds activity on the account. Rather than proving this fact, Washington Mutual, Inc. prefers to alter the claim and force the issue to be reinvestigated by Ms. Gupta.

Not sure which answer your after, but I'm thinking number 1.

"Incubus" wrote in message news:g3Tta.275$[email]...

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