In the last few days I have received numerous member calls stating that they had received a letter from the same large financial institution stating they would like to receive a credit from our EPCOR member for a duplicate charge they received from the Federal Reserve Bank. Each letter stated that the EPCOR member was found to be the source of the first presentment of the item they were charged for and the second presentment was negotiated at the large financial institution. The letter went on to say that if our EPCOR member was not going to send a credit, then the large financial institution was requesting that the EPCOR member send a complete source of receipt to them due to the fact that the item paid twice.
Now, there is no Rule, Regulation or Law that states that Bank of First Deposits may ask for credits from one another. This is a weak attempt of a large institution trying to recover lost funds from a duplicate claim that they received from the Federal Reserve Bank from a smaller institution. It should be cited to the institution requesting credit that according to Regulation J, they warranted the item would not pay twice and since the Paying Bank decided to send the claim back to them, they must honor that claim due to that duplicate warranty. Now, all institutions make this warranty so if you receive a duplicate claim from the Federal Reserve, you must honor that claim.
If your institution wants to play nice on the adjustment playground, you “could” go ahead and get a source of receipt on the item from the Federal Reserve, but your institution is not obligated to do so.
Marcy Cauthon
Director, Payments and On-Demand Education