Pacific Beach Couple Says Bank Didn't Count Coins Properly

People usually take their money to the bank to keep it safe but a Pacific Beach couple turned to NBC 7 Responds for help when they say the bank may have lost their money.

Robin Woodley says Union Bank of CA lost half of his coin deposit. Learn more about how this man from Pacific Beach carefully kept records of his coins with NBC 7’s Bob Hansen.

If you’re fond of numbers and accounting then you would get along with Robin Woodley and his wife Deborah. Ever since Robin moved to the United States from South America in 1973, he’s kept meticulous records of his finances. 

“I have 43 years of records since landing in America of every account of money; what came in, what went out,” Robin said. 

Forget Excel. Robin has dozens of handwritten ledgers where he not only accounts for all his dollars and cents, he also keeps track of when and where the coins were minted. 

Last September, Robin and his wife acquired a box of one thousand Kennedy half dollars. They went through each of them to see if there were any collectibles. Robin noted the date and mint from where they came from, but found nothing valuable, so the couple went to their Union Bank branch to cash them in. 

The bank teller did not count all of the coins in front of them but handed them a slip for $500, Robin said. According to him, the bank teller said the coins would be counted at a separate location and if there was any difference in the amount, their account would reflect it. 

A few weeks later, Deborah noticed an adjustment of more than $250 taken out of their account when she read the couple’s bank statement. 

“We went to the bank together, to speak with the manager,” Deborah told NBC 7 Responds. 

The Woodley’s said there is no way any of the coins were lost on their way to the bank. Robin had received all thousand coins from the Bank of America, pre-rolled in a box he showed NBC 7 Responds. 

“It was so heavy, I couldn’t carry it in,” Deborah said. 

Robin has a printed record of every one of those thousand coins which details the the coin’s year and where it was minted. 

The Woodley’s said they appealed to Union Bank a number of times but nothing changed. Their guess was that maybe someone at the bank mistakenly entered in 500 coins when they meant to say $500 worth of coins, equal to the thousand half-dollars. 

The couple said Union Bank repeatedly told them, it reviewed its numbers but could not find any extra amounts unaccounted for in their records. 

“Maybe some customer got a bonus of $250, I don’t know,” Robin said. 

So in frustration, the Woodley’s turned to NBC 7 Responds. We contacted Union Bank on their behalf and this is what a spokesperson told us through email: "After thorough reviews, our teams concluded that the adjustment was accurate. However, we truly value the Woodley's nearly 20-year relationship with the bank and as such plan to coordinate a courtesy credit to their account."

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