BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - AS if dogs did not have enough to worry about - keeping cats at bay, remembering where they buried their bones and keeping their territory safe. Who would have imagined a dog having to worry about overdraft fees?
Well this is just what happened when a British bank drafted a letter addressed to “Noodles the Dog” claiming he had owned the institution $10.88 after his account became overdrawn.
According to The Leicester Mercury (TLM), a tenant was left bemused when he received a letter from the NatWest Bank in Leicestershire, Great Britain asking the household pet to make contact within 14 days to address the situation.
Rupert Chapman and his six-year-old Labradoodle Charley had recently moved into a rental home in Woodhouse Eaves, Leicestershire when he received the letter from the bank which was intended for the previous tenants who had moved out a few months before.
Not knowing the previous tenants and realising the letter was addressed to a dog, Chapman, according to TLM, said he saw it fit to reply to the financial institution with a letter signed by his dog Charley.
In the reply, a section of the letter read: "I have searched every nook and cranny in the house in an attempt to find sufficient funds to repay you. I have found four drachma and 24 pesetas behind the toilet pedestal and under the stairs. I was wondering whether this would meet your needs?
"I am sorry I do not have a forwarding address and Noodles hasn’t left any leads. I could check things out on the night chorus but frankly don’t wish to bring bad fortune on my predecessor, who has done such a good job of keeping the neighbour’s cats at bay,"
According to TLM, spokesman for NatWest Bank, Grant McDonald said that the situation was not unusual as the institution as "we get a lot of accounts like this".
"I worked in a branch years ago and people used to name their accounts after their animals and use them to pay for things such as vets' or kennel fees. I did work for a branch where a dog owner had trained his pet to bring his pass book in and pay in money.
"The new home owners do not owe the bank anything, this is the previous tenant's debt, so they shouldn't worry about it," McDonald was reported as saying.
Talk about barking up the wrong tree!
