‘Deposit’ Leaves Bank With Soiled Carpet, Red Face

Embarrassed bank officials say they will issue a formal apology to a woman whose accounts were canceled after her 3-year-old son despoiled the bank’s carpet.

Vivian Harris of Oakland was notified in a letter recently that her accounts were no longer welcome at the Piedmont branch of Citicorp, where her son, Kyle, was denied permission to use the restroom.

Three weeks ago, Mrs. Harris was in the bank--where she maintained three checking accounts and a $20,000 money market fund--when little Kyle told her, “I have to go.”

She asked the teller to let Kyle use the bathroom, but was told it was against the rules.

The boy was in dire straits and was compelled to relieve himself on the bank’s carpet. The branch manager subsequently told Harris to find another bank.

“We plan to profusely apologize to the customer and offer to reopen the account,” Tonia Freeman, Citicorp director of corporate affairs, said Friday. “In this instance, Citicorp did wrong.”

When told of the pending apology, Harris was pleased but noted that she has transferred her accounts to a competing bank.

“I’m through with them,” she said.