If the check had been for anything but a tax refund, Jennifer Mayo-Deman might not have been that surprised when the bank bounced it.
But there was the notice to Mayo-Deman and her husband, Suresh Deman, that their $609.41 check had been returned to the U.S. Treasury Department because of "insufficient funds.""I thought, the government really must be in the red," Mayo-Deman said Friday.
The couple said they have been assured that they'll get their money, although they haven't been able to find out why the check bounced.
PNC Bank officials said the check wasn't cashed because it required the signatures of both Mayo-Deman and her husband and only Mayo-Deman had signed. The bank said it erred by telling them the check had been bounced for insufficient funds.
The couple disagree.
"We both signed it, with the account numbers, too," Mayo-Deman said.
The Internal Revenue Service, which approved the refund, said it wasn't at fault because another government office, Financial Management Service, actually writes the checks.
The office's deputy director, Mike Colarusso, said so many checks are processed that "once that check goes past a bank teller, we're not going to look at it."
"Somebody screwed up," said Deman. "But nobody wants to admit that they made a mistake or say they are sorry."