While a large majority of women in the U.S. choose to take their husband’s last name when they get married, it’s certainly not some unheard-of practice that should wreak havoc at a national bank. But Bank of America employees in Albany decided they could not possibly recognize a new bride as her husband’s spouse since she hadn’t changed her name to match his.

The tale is documented by Albany Times-Union writer Pete Iorizzo, whose new wife chose to keep her last name. Not long after their wedding, he endorsed and designated “for deposit only” a pile of checks — mostly made out to “Mr & Mrs. Pete Iorizzo” — they’d received as wedding gifts, which she then took to the bank to deposit in their joint account.

At the bank, she was told that since she was not, in name, “Mrs. Pete Iorizzo,” she could not deposit the checks into their joint account. She offered to show her marriage license, but was told that the checks would all need to be re-written by the gift-givers.

Not exactly thrilled with that idea, the newlyweds called the bank the next day and spoke to an assistant branch manager who told them the same thing. The branch manager also said no.

From the Times-Union:

The manager told me a member of her family also had chosen not to change her name, but she got ahead of the problem by requesting before the wedding that anyone wishing to give a gift make it out to “Cash.”

I pointed out that this was not only outrageously tacky, but also reckless.

As often happens in situations like this, the problem was resolved by simply going to another branch, where a more reasonable teller not only took the deposits without question but also offered his congratulations when he noticed all the checks were for a wedding.

Pete vs. Bank of America [TimesUnion.com]

Thanks to Steven for the tip!

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