39. Savings Bank Accounting

When a new depositor enters a savings bank to open an account he will usually be shown to a special counter on which is a swivel desk with a signature book upon it. This book has several columns with headings as follows: Account number, name, residence, post-office address, birthplace, date of birth, father's name, mother's name, name of husband or wife, occupation and signature of depositor. The teller fills in all the data and turns the book around for the prospective depositor to sign in the last column. If he is unable to write, the teller signs for him, and he makes his mark. The heading of the signature column contains the legend:

I hereby agree to the by-laws of the.... ..................................

Savings Institution.

Figure 15. Depositor's Pass Book.

Figure 16. Depositor's Pass Book.

Figure 17. Page Of Savings Bank Ledger.

After these formalities have been completed, the teller writes the name of the depositor on a pass book, and gives it a number corresponding to the number in the signature book. He then accepts the cash to open the account, makes out a deposit ticket and hands the cash, ticket and pass book to the receiving teller. The teller checks the cash with the slip, records the deposit in the pass book and passes the book out to the depositor. The ruling of a simple pass book is shown in Figure 15 on page 53. Some institutions prefer to use the form shown in Figure 16 on page 53. The latter is an exact copy of the ledger account, a page of which is shown in Figure 17 on page 54. The depositor goes to the receiving teller's window when making subsequent deposits. If he wishes to withdraw money he presents his pass book at the paying teller's window and states the amount he wishes to withdraw. The teller writes the number of his account and the amount he wishes to withdraw on a withdrawal slip and hands it to him to sign. If the teller is not familiar with the signature he turns to the corresponding number in the signature book, where the depositor signed when opening the account, and then if not fully satisfied as to the identity of the person at his window, asks several of the questions the answers to which are found in this book. Many depositors in savings banks are illiterate. Signatures may be and very frequently are mere crosses. When written they are often unrecognizable. The correct answering of the questions is accepted as identification, if the signature is not clearly a forgery. The deposit and withdrawal slips are prepared by the tellers or their assistants in order to insure legibility and regularity. Before making the payment, the withdrawal slip and the pass book are passed to a bookkeeper and the amount withdrawn entered on the ledger. Some institutions do not take the time to enter the withdrawal on the ledger, being satisfied with a careful scrutiny of the depositor's pass book. There is danger in this practice. It would not take a very clever person with a bottle of good erasing fluid to increase an entry in his pass book and withdraw more money than he actually had on deposit.