Dear Editor
EDITOR, a few weeks ago I went to cash a cheque at a local bank. I could not find my Guyana ID card, so before I left home I grabbed my newly issued driver’s licence.I have been using my new driver’s licence to conduct financial transactions. However, my brother and several other persons had told me of the horrors they experience at that bank, so as a precaution, I also took with me my Barbados ID card.
When I arrived at the counter I presented the cheque and my driver’s licence. The young lady told me that the bank does not accept the new driver’s licence as ID. I then gave her my Barbados ID card. Much to my dismay, I was told that the bank does not accept national ID cards from other countries. At this point I asked to speak with a supervisor.
The supervisor told me just what the teller had told me. So I asked the supervisor to please explain the rationale for these decisions. She told me that she does not make the rules. In an effort to have the cheque encashed, I suggested that she call the issuer (they have his number), so as to verify that the cheque was indeed written to me. I was thinking that with two pieces of IDs and a phone call to the account holder, that would have been sufficient to prove that I was who I said I was.
I was told in no uncertain terms that I would not be allowed to cash the cheque without my Guyana ID card or my passport. I had to leave the bank and return with my passport. Last week I heard that one man had hundreds of millions of illegal money on his account. I would not be surprised if I heard that his account was at the same bank. These pathetic rules are only smoke screens.
Regards
Pastor Wendell Jeffrey