Banking Facts

Just before the US started bombing Baghdad, nearly $1 billion dollars was stolen from the Central Bank of Iraq and is now the largest bank robbery in history.

Forty percent of American adults cannot fill out a bank deposit slip correctly.

Jeremy Clarkson once published his bank account number and sort code to prove that the information couldn't be used to steal money. Someone used it to set up a monthly direct debit from his bank account to a charity.

In 1995, Patrick Combs got a promotional check for $95,093.35 in junk mail. He endorsed it with a smiley face and deposited it at an ATM as a joke. The bank cleared the full amount. It turned out the fake check accidentally met every legal requirement of a real one. Six lawyers told him the money was legally his. He returned it anyway.

Wells Fargo held both mortgages on a Florida condo. When it foreclosed, the law required it to sue all lien holders, including itself. So it hired one law firm to sue Wells Fargo and a second to defend Wells Fargo. The defense admitted it held the mortgage, then denied everything else.