113. Filing Of Notes

The question of filing the notes so that any note called for may be produced with the least amount of delay, is not such a serious proposition. Most banks have solved the problem, at least satisfactorily to themselves. A leather pouch is generally used containing thirteen or fourteen pockets, one for each month, and the extra pockets for past due, etc. The notes are usually arranged within the pockets according to due dates. It is a simple matter to take a month's notes out of the pouch and run through for the note desired. The due date may always be ascertained from the discount register or the liability ledger.

An excellent file for notes is made by The Rand Co. It consists of a wooden box about fifteen inches long by eight and seven-eighths inches wide by four and five-eighths inches deep (inside measure), with a neat handle and lock. The equipment consists of a guide card for each month and one set of daily cards. The daily cards are used only in the current month. At the opening of business, the daily card is taken out and inserted at the beginning of the following month. The notes for the current day are then in view and may be left in the box until called for, or such other disposition made of them as occasion requires. On the day following. the next card is removed and inserted in the proper place in the next month but behind the notes due on the first. The question may be asked, - May not a note be improperly filed and therefore not come up for payment, because only the notes for the current day appear? This danger is always present, and under no condition should final reliance be placed in a filing scheme to call a note to mind on the due date. The tickler is the best method. The advantage of a filing scheme is merely that a note is in less danger of being lost, and can be produced quickly when called for. The scheme which will enable the clerk to produce the note called for with the least thumbing and delay, is the best. When such simple and yet efficient methods are to be had for a small amount of money, there is very little excuse for any slovenly methods of filing notes.

Business Credit Extended Name

Figure 94. Liability Ledger.

A very good filing scheme is carried out as follows: A folder similar to that shown in Figure 95 on page 186 is filled out at the time the loan is made. The note is placed inside this wrapper and the wrapper folded on the lines "a" and "b." The folders are then sorted chronologically and the months kept in separate bundles, secured by a strap bound over light wooden boards. Demand and collateral loans are kept in separate bundles.

Figure 95. Note Wrapper.

When a loan is paid, the note is receipted and returned to the customer. The wrapper is dated and used as a charge ticket. If paid in cash the date stamp is struck opposite the word paid; if to be charged to the account of the maker, after the word charged. If the loan is to be charged to some one other than the maker, an appropriate memorandum is made on the wrapper. The only persons who are opposed to this method are the examiners who must open every wrapper to see the actual note and its endorsers.

Notes may be filed in numerical order and this method is in use, but it is not a good one.