How to assign a date read from an Access table to a variable in Access 2003 using VBA code?

I am developing an Access 2003 application using an MDB type file.

I have a table named  importMonthlyChecks from which I read a record and want to assign its date value in format MM/DD/YY to a variable field.

The first value for the field BankName which is a TEXT field with a length of 53 in the table importMonthlyChecks appears as follows:

Starting in position  5 is the value "DATE" and
Starting in postion 11 is the date value "10/31/13".

    DATE  10/31/13
--------------------------------------

I use the followng VBA code:

ssql = "select * from importMonthlyChecks where   Left(Trim(bankname), 4) = 'DATE' "
rst.Open ssql, con, 2, 2
dateFile = Right(Trim(rst("bankname")), 8)

However, instead of retrieving the value 10/31/13 in the variable dataFile,
I get the value 12:00:00 AM in the variable dateFile?

Do you know how I can get the dateFile to be assigned the value "10/31/13" from the table
importMonthlyChecks?