, 1905-03-15
WHEN DEPOSITORS
LOSE wBANKBOOKS
Means Taken by Institutions to
Prevent Defrauding Of
Customers
FORGET HIDING PLACES

advertised in the local newspapers.
The great majority are books OF saw
ings banks, and the remainder are is
sued by trust companies that pay in
terest on deposit. There are upward
Of 100, 900 depositors in the five New
ark savings banks and four trust in
situations, the Howard Savings Bank
alone having "a 900 depositors, and
every depositor in these institutions
has a passbook or handbook.
About 900 bankbooks are reported
lost annually, but the greater number
are found after a time in out of the
way spots where they had been Sc
creted and the hiding place forgotten
Upward of $50 bankbooks were adver-
tised in Newark last year.
When a depositor is unable to find
his or her book after a reasonable time
of searching for it, application for a
new book is made to the bank. After
that no more money is received by the
bank for the account of the depOsitor
ON that book, and the depositor cam
not draw any of the money until the
loss of the book is proven beyond
doubt.
After the depositor advertises his
lost book a certain number of times,
an application is made to the directors
of the bank for a new passhook and
the application must be accompanied
by an affidavit by the depositor stating
when and where the book went astray
and giving a pledge to return to the
bank the old book as soon as recovered.
Loss CAUSES ANNOYANCE
The loss of a passbook does not in
validate the claim of a depositor
against a bank, nor does it interrupt
the accumulation of interest on the
amount of his deposit at the time the
book was missed. But the loss of the
book causes the bank and the depositor
a considerable annoyance and incon-
%yenience. Most of the books reported
lost have been mislaid in the house of
the owners and are at last found, some
times by accident. But whether the
loss of a book is real or fancied, the
state of mind of the Owners is generally
such that he or she hurries to the bank
and reports the book as lost and asks
for a new book.
Many persons are greatly worried
when they cannot find the mislaid
handbook for they fear an outsider
may have found it, or a member of
the family may have taken it, and
that they may draw the money from
the bank. But it rarely happens that
any one but the owner of a handbook
succeeds in getting money by pro-
ducing the book at a bank, for the
officers of the bank know the sigma
ture of the depositor and ask questions
which only he or she IA answer.
GREAT CARE EXERCISED
"The greatest care is taken by Off
GERS of banks when a passbook is re-
ported lost" said the president of a
local savings bank, 1.-THE ~depositor be-
ing required to return home and make
Il thorough search of closets and trunks
and bureaus and under carpets and
in the cellar and garnet for the missing
book. Bankers are very careful about
issuing a new passbook in place of one
supposed to be lost, for many serious
complications may arise when two
books are out for one account in the
bank. The percentage of new books
issued for those reported lost is very
small.
"While the account of a depus1tor il
closed when the loss of a passbook i.
reported, we permit, in cases of urgent
necessity, depositors we know well tc
draw money out of their accounts
Very often the person who reports 6
passbook lost ome to the bank a few
weeks or months later and expresses
regret for causing us trouble, as the
book was found in an old stove, o
discarded writing desk, or trunk, OF
in a bed, for people who fear a dis
honest person may get the book
secrete it in all sorts of queer places.
81 know of women who hide the
handbook when their husbands go on
a spree, and Others come to us and
ask that if the man tries to draw
money out while recovering from a
spree to refuse him. We manage
generally to put the mar Off in such