FDIC Y2K Brochure

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Today in my bank statement, I got a brochure on Y2K from the FDIC titled "The Year 2000 Date Change." Mostly it is answers to FAQ's. Under the question, "What can I do to get ready for the Year 2000 date change?", it says, "It is always a good practice to check your transaction receipts and periodic statements, and to keep records of your deposit, investment, and loan accounts. If you don't already do so, you may want to start keeping records of banking transactions made a few months before January 1, 2000, and beyond. These records will help you to resolve any account errors that might occur due to the Year 2000 date change."

In answer to the question, "How can I get more information?", I thought this was rather humorous: "If you ask your bank or savings association for information about its Year 2000 readiness plans, be sure to ask the appropriate person. If the person you ask is not aware of the institution's plans, ask to be directed to someone who can answer your question."

On the back it lists the four federal regulatory agencies that supervise banks and savings associations.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation- for state-chartered banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve System: www.fdic.gov

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency- for national banks: www.occ.treas.gov

Office of Thrift Supervision- state and federally chartered savings associations: www.ots.treas.gov

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System- banks with state charters that belong to the Federal Reserve System: www.bog.frb.fed.us

Overall, I thought it was an informative brochure. It explained what the Y2K problem is and what can be affected by it. Just wondering if anyone else has received one of these?

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), October 15, 1998

Answers

I received a curious insert with my monthly statement from my bank. It implied, but never stated, that they were Y2K ready. They said the account numbers would be changed slightly, and that there would be an extra statement. No need to worry about a thing, though. No FAQ's, no statement whatever about Y2K, really. Just that there would be some minor changes in preparation for 2000, and all is right with the world.

-- Steve Hartsman (hartsman@ticon.net), October 15, 1998.

Gayla,

I've yet to receive any literature from my bank, but yesterday I got a great call from a friend who works in the Graphic Design field with me. She received a "booklet" from Wells Fargo Bank that raised many issues and really got her going. She went from awareness to acceptance in about 2 minutes as we talked on the phone. She basically skipped over denial all together. Amazing.

We're meeting next week to look into forming an awareness program in our community and look into viable business alternatives after Y2k. Both of us deal with clients that may not be around much longer. They are all small to medium in size and none have addressed Y2k.

She said the booklet was very well done and it helped her to immediately understand the scope and magnatude of the problem, especially on supply line disruption and how business relationships can be affected.

We're rollin' now... _______

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), October 15, 1998.


Steve, In some institutions when an account is created a date of creation can be encoded into the account number. This isn't unique to the financial world. To save space, letters are sometimes used as part of the code. A crude example might be A = 75 for a presumed 1975, then branch number say 001, then last 4 of your social security number, 9813, then a two position unique identifer (xx). So you get A0019813xx where xx is assigned after a data base lookup of current valid customers to insure uniqueness. You can see the problem if the program can't handle the 90's to 00 jump. Thus you might need a new customer # scheme. Bet they expanded your number.. right?

-- R. D..Herring (drherr@erols.com), October 15, 1998.

Wachovia (GA, AL, SC, NC, ...and whoever else they have bought later) has had a generic "touchy-feely" brouchure out that "we will okay, we are working on, etc." issued early August.

No specific details in it, but it does make you feel better, if that was all you had exposure to.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), October 15, 1998.


My impression is that most outfits are keeping their Y2K work very close to their chests until it is finished or nearly done. I expect a spate of 'we are ready for the year 2000' announcements starting any day now.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), October 16, 1998.


Paul, I assume (and would hope) that that "any day now" comment was meant to be sarcastic, right?...

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), October 16, 1998.

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