OT: Why The US Financial System Is In Such A Mess

You ready for this????

Bank of New York Mellon and I are at it AGAIN!

Years ago, sometime between 1985 and 1989, I wanted to put some money in the Vanguard S&P 500 Index fund. The minimum investment was $1000. By the time I saved up the $1000 Vanguard upped the minimum ante to $2500. So .. Merrill Lynch had a S&P 500 Index fund w/a $1000 minimum and I opted to put the $1000 there w/continuing "deposits" until I got it up to $2500 at which time I told ML to close it out for me and send a check. They did, supposedly, I got the check and bought into the Vanguard S&P Index Fund.

Sometime later we started getting a check for $0.01 - every month!!! Yep, that's right, a check for 1 penny - every month - or maybe it was every 3 months. Who remembers now. What I DO remember is that my husband was NOT about to sign and cash a check for $0.01!!!

Time goes by. I eventually call Merril Lynch and tell them to get it straightened out. They created the fiasco. These 1 penny checks are the dividends for money left in the Index fund that was supposed to have been closed out - but obviously wasn't. So I tell them close the account and send me the money.

The Bank of New York Mellon handles this Index fund. They say that they can not cancel all these 1 cent checks and issue one check for the total amount they have to cancel each check and replace each cancelled check w/an individual check in the same amount!!!!

The end of November I get another notice from them. I comment to ML how STUPID and IDIOTIC this situation is. I call BNYM "again" and they insist they will close it out BUT will have to send all individual checks again (as they've done twice before). However, this time they said that it 2005 they sent the monies in to the state of Michigan unclaimed monies fund. And that I should check w/the state of Michigan. Say what? They sent in the money as unclaimed funds but they still will issues these assinine 1 cent checks???

So - I checked w/the state of Michigan online. There's no record of any unclaimed monies in our name. But BNYM said they'd sent the monies in. So I "call" the state of Michigan. Sure enough, they do have the funds!!! A whole $395 by now. So Michigan is sending me the necessary forms to claim the money.

The ML called me today, patched me thru to BNYM and we go thru the same rigamarole again. BNYM wants to send us a couple of inches of 1 cent checks.....

Makes me wonder how much BNYM spent on postage, paper, time all these years??? If it wasn't a matter of things having built up to almost $400 I'd just keep on sitting on these asinine 1 cent checks they keep sending us on into eternity - just for spite - and the fun of it!!

Any business the size of BNYM that can't hire a computer programmer smart enough to create the proper and necessary paper trail to account for these 1 penny divident checks ..... DUH!

bet you a nickle you won't hear from them...

You are gonna lose that nickle! We've gone thru this before - two or three times, maybe more. They send us a gob of 1 cent checks and we don't bother cashing them.

One thing ML did suggest was that we talk to our bank to see if there is a way we can deposit them w/o signing every one of them. ML thinks that since we've done business w/this small neighborhood bank for so many years (40 plus) that they might be willing and able to come up w/a way to "rubber stamp" them.

I don't know .... w/postage due to go up again .... if it were just $20 or so it would be worth letting them keep sending a penny check every month or every quarter or whatever.