Conn. bank teller refuses to let Black woman withdraw from own account

“She hands me my license and she says, ‘I don’t feel comfortable giving you the money.’”

Mar 19, 2021

A teller at TD Bank refused to give a Black woman funds from her own bank account saying she didn’t feel comfortable giving her the money.

Gwen Samuel, a Connecticut businesswoman feels that she was the victim of explicit racism at a TD Bank branch in Southington, CT. “I got inside, I had my TD bank card and my license,” she told a local Fox affiliate. “They were cordial. I’m not even gonna say they were rude.”

Samuel, who is President and Founder of the Connecticut Parents Union, said she had to wait for longer than expected but was surprised at what she was told when the teller returned to her station.

“She hands me my license and she says, ‘I don’t feel comfortable giving you the money.’”

The businesswoman says she was left confused and repeated the teller’s statement back to her. “She said, ‘well, you just deposited the check yesterday.’”

The check had cleared, the teller confirmed that, but, she again said that she didn’t feel comfortable giving Samuel funds from her own account.

Humiliated, Samuel said she left and made a withdrawal from the nearby ATM, she then went to another branch and was able to make another withdrawal from her account with no problems.

Samuel said she is considering moving her account to another bank.

In a statement to FOX61, TD Bank said, “At TD Bank, we proudly serve diverse communities and customers and do not discriminate in the services we provide or the products we offer.”

The bank notes that it had a “constructive conversation” with Samuel to address her concerns and we apologized for her experience. The service did, it notes, did not meet her expectations or theirs.

“We listened, learned, and assured her that we will do a better job in the future at the store, where we will be working with the staff to ensure consistent procedures and clearer communication when customers visit our store for bank transactions. We value her relationship with TD and hope to continue to serve her in the future.”

Have you subscribed to theGrio’s new podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!

TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!