Man Loses Job, Car Cashing Legitimate Check

This story goes under the heading of, "I can't Believe it". You need to watch the video at the link to hear the story in the man's own words, but here're the highlights.

Last June, 28-year-old Ikenna Njoku of Auburn, Washington was reportedly imprisoned for four days after trying to cash a Chase check the bank itself had issued to him.

He received a tax rebate check in the amount of $9063.21 because he qualified as a first time home buyer. The check was supposed to be direct deposited into his account as Chase but the account had been closed due to several past overdrafts. The Bank ensured that they collected the overdraft fees of $600 and mailed Mr. Nijoku the remainder of the money in the form of a Chase Bank cashier's check.

Mr. Nijoku attempted to cash the check but ran into problems as the agent for the bank didn't believe the check was legitimate. He had to leave the bank to run an errand expecting that the matter would be resolved but returned to find the bank closed. He called the Customer Assistance hotline and was told to return in the morning when was arrested by police for forgery.

The bank discovered the problem within a day and left a voice mail with the detective handling the case, that was on a Friday. However, the detective was on vacation and Mr. Nijoku sat in jail for the weekend. When the detective returned Mr Nijoku was released.

Mr. Nijoku lost his job since he wasn't able to report to work on the Friday after he was arrested. His car was towed and sold at auction because he wasn't able to use the refund to pay off the loan on the car. In the year since the incident he has never received an apology or heard anything from Chase. An attorney is now handling the matter for Mr. Nijoku.


Full story and video here:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/...l?icid=maing-grid7|maing9|dl1|sec1_lnk2|76882

 

Wow. Note to self never bank with Chase.

 

Poor fella. I have a feeling this sort of problem obtains in similar banks too. It appears the morale of many employees is now low in many big companies, not just financial institutions across the U.S.There is this sense that people really don't care anymore.

I am not sure why this seems the case. I had a couple of transactions in the past and I wondered whether I was dealing with a company in a first world country because of the unsophisticated level of client service. It never used to be like this. I think something is generally wrong.

 

lawyer time

 

He waited a year? Should have been a few months before getting a lawyer.

Considering it came from their bank, how hard was that for them to research??? The law gives then 24hrs minimum. What's more, Chase ALREADY deducted THEIR $600 in over-draught fees..so the money had cleared when they did so and issued him the balance. I mean, a simple check of his bank records would have shown the clerk the IRS deposit, their deduction and the issuance of the Cashiers from them.


What a nightmare for him. Hopefully he will be well compensated at the end of this mess!

 

Obviously, the teller racially rushed to judgment because his name looks African as do his looks,and that it was a Cashiers Check...even though he produced 2 forms of ID.

( he was a construction worker before he lost his job)

ps:He actually lost his job because he lost his car, and not because of the car note -

*CHASE kept his check for 5 weeks for evidence...even though it was cleared!

 

If he was in jail, whether he had a car of not, he couldn't report to work...So, it makes sense that he lost his job because he couldn't report to work on the Friday in question.

Also, a quote from the article in the link I highlighted stated, "The check that had landed him in prison was reportedly seized as evidence and he lost his job for failing to show up while in prison."

In the video I thought that he said he wanted the money quickly so that he could pay off his car? I never said that his job was lost because of a car note?? I think that was the inference that you mistakenly made in this case.

 

this is one of those thread titles that just loses me

I think it should read.

Man loses job and car while trying to cash a legitimate check.

but it's not that major though.

 

Question...the reporter (James Sunshine) wrote he didn't turn up to work on Friday and he lost his job but where did he get his information from? It wasn't in the video (which I just watched) nor the (other) article I read which quoted his lawyers -
"According to his lawyers, without a vehicle, Njoku couldn't get to work, and so he lost his job too."

I also think you misunderstood my comment when I said...

"He actually lost his job because he lost his car, and not because of the car note"

I wasn't saying you said he lost his job due to a car note....The first part of my sentence just explained that it was actually the other way around (lost car, then job), and the second part stating "and not because of the car note" prefaced an excerpt which outlined he had lost his car because of his inability to pay towing/impound fees (and not the car note loan/note).
I said car "note" because the OP article (unless you wrote it) stated that his car was "towed and auctioned because he wasn't able to pay off the loan on the car", which leads the reader to think it was subsequently repo-ed. So I see how confusion occurred on both our parts.

 

If that is the case, how long do you have, to pay your tow and impound fees before they auction the car?

 

Thirty days, usually. Not sure in Auburn, could be less.

 

I feel like there is information missing

 

Not sure what you mean. Are you wondering why he didn't get his car out before auction?

 

I just want to know more, It a horrible story.

 

I actually don't see any confusion on my part. I took my comment directly from the story I read. For whatever reason, while it added nothing qualitatively to the issue, you felt a need to suggest that your version was correct, and there's no reason to make this assumption.

It's one thing to suggest that there're alternative versions, but quite another to claim your version as one as correct. I guess I'm saying that a more gracious person might have made that assertion, at most.

In fact, it's not uncommon for posts to contain mistakes, either because there're differing views of an issue, people get some facts wrong or even that people make grammatical mistakes.

Few people go the trouble to actually point out such "mistakes" though as they might be considered as being self-aggrandizing or impolite. This is especially true if those comments do nothing to further the discussion. In this case, the ultimate facts, that he lost his job, that he has no car, that he was imprisoned for a mistake of the bank, are without question, and they are the important issues. The insertion of superfluous "corrections" distracts from the issue, rather than adding value to his plight. That's my perspective anyway....

 

In the video he suggested that he wanted his rebate placed directly in his account because he wanted to pay off his vehicle. I could be wrong, but my sense was that he was close to the time when his car would be repossessed and and that he needed the money immediately. Considering that the check was seized as evidence for several weeks this was probably the reason that he's couldn't pay off the loan. It also explains why the "owner" of the vehicle was able to sell the car so quickly, because it was repossessed. There might be a question as to whether the "owner" towed the car directly or another agency towed the car and the vehicle was subsequently picked up by the "owner" who disposed of the vehicle.

 

Thanks Swirly, that piece was a bit confusing.

 

Yeah, you confused that I said you aid he lost job because of his car loan. I never said that.
Reading your post to me, you've taken it too personal and blown it out of proportion. Out of all my comments, you took one line that was just pointing out a reverse fact on the story that I came across - which was his lawyers (who know might know more than a reporter) stating the victim lost his job because he lost his car.Furthermore, the actual victim speaks in your HP link, and doesn't mention his not being able to show up for work for one day cost him his job. Can we agree on that?

Whoever OP'ed the opener (now apparent to me it was you) posted a scenerio that had me questioning the kind of horribly assanine company fires their employee because he was ONE day absent. To me, that's cruel. So when I happened to read his lawyers comments on ABC news.com, it then made sense why they would fire him....so I posted it, that's all. My goodness, I wasn't even directing it to YOU, nor did I post it to "challenge" your version, or point out your "mistakes". In fact, I didn't even realize you personally typed all those paragraphs of a story that is readily available from a link via cut & paste. I seriously thought you had done so for such a long OP story.

It's not your place to say that a fact reversed doesn't affect a story's details. People who read the story have questions - that's NORMAL! It seems you are too busy focusing on how I dared offer a reverse, instead of the actual content. If you think people don't point out things in stories/topics all the time here and other forums, you must not blog much at all. You think that's "impolite" on a message board?? Give me a break! In fact, in the Neo-nazi thread, there was just one such incident done to me, lol. You've also done it yourself.

BTW, I actually find the fact that THE BANK towed his car AND had him arrested, which helped cause the man to no longer be able to drive to work from there on out...added even more to the disgusting piling on that this man received. So what if I added it, Mr. Sensitive.

 

Going by what the reporter asked Mr. Njoku on video as to why his car was sold at auction, he told her that he couldn't pay the (towing/storage) fees to get it out.

If you dont have spare cash, those fees can kill you, and they pile on daily. It happened to me once, and my BFF's auntie just lost her's the same way last month.