It hit the news last night that the bank which holds my money is being sued in Federal Court. Why? Because they stack the deck against folks who run too tight on their funds. Instead of clearing checks as they come through, they will deduct the highest amount first, so that the account will drain faster, thereby allowing them to charge an enormous amount of overdraft fees on the multiple smaller checks or debits.
Granted, people should be more careful with their bookkeeping. However, this practice is simply a case of predatory practices. The banks are taking advantage of the financially challenged, and in many cases, just piling more debt on to them. It's wrong, and it needs to be stopped.
Unfortunately, my bank is not the first one to be caught doing this. It needs to be halted across the board. We need to go back to first in/first out, when it comes to checks and debits.
I have only been with Associated Bank for a couple of months, but just last week I had an incident with them myself. I had deposited a check from my boss (my quarterly payroll). They have a normal two day hold on paper checks (which I think is ludicrous anyway), but this time I got a letter in the mail telling me they were holding it for 5 days! Why? The letter said, they "had confidential information that the check might not be paid." I went ballistic...I knew this was an absolute falsehood because I DO THE BOOKKEEPING!!!!
No one could tell me why they were holding the check--they all made guesses. I was livid and I let them know that the way their letter was worded was akin to slander. They had no confidential source. There were PLENTY of funds to pay the check. After I got my personal rep on the case, she discovered that it was because my account was new. I told her that this practice was absolutely wrong, and that their letter was not only deceitful, it was an outright lie. I asked her, "What would have happened, if I had written checks on this account, based on the typical 2-day hold? There would be the potential for numerous bounced checks, if my balance had been too low." She admitted that it wasn't a good situation, and was handled poorly. I asked her why the concerned rep did not pick up the phone and call me or my boss's bank?
In the end, they simply verified the funds were good and cleared the check (which they could have done without all the hassle) from the very beginning. I let my rep know that they seriously needed to examine their procedures, and that this had better not happen again, or I would take my business elsewhere.
I refuse to become a mattress stuffer, but it's shameful what these banks do--raping people with extremely high credit card interest rates, faked overdraft fees, refusal to reconfigure failing loans. My hope is that Associated Bank, and all the other banks out there that are preying on financially disadvantaged individuals will learn their lesson, and start acting more ethically towards their customers.
Having dealt with many banks in the USA that all do this practise, I can tell you I feel your frustration. I have been screwed royally by every single bank I have dealt with since I was just staring out. It is predatory to say the least. One time with Bank Of America, I only had a partial pay cheque because it was a slack week at work. Low and behold they(BofA) paid/bounced one DEBIT charge because it was literally 2 cents short and that sent a whole avalanche of fees and charges and other bounced cheques that ultimately ended up taking all but $3 of my pay cheque. That was not fair. Little did I know also, that these American banks, will pay out debit charges at the till when you are a few cents short out of 'courtesy'. That 'courtesy' is at a charge of no less than $25 per occurrence. It is obscene. Oddly enough, I have NEVER had one issue with my Canadian bank with these cash grabs.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I use a credit union. I have never had one problem and I have been going there for 15 years. In fact they usually go above and beyond to make sure you are taken care of. A few years ago, I didn't know they held a drawing every xmas and I received a $50 check in the mail. I thought it was a mistake so I called and they said that every year they draw out the names from all the customers and send $50 to the winner. Awesome customer service too. Only once did I have a rude teller. I called them up and told them about it and that teller was not there very long. Just my 2 cents. Nice blog BTW!! I have joined blog spot, now all I have to do is figure out what to share. lol
ReplyDeleteWells Fargo just got a piece of my mind--they sit on automatic payments when my account is alright (sometimes up to 2 weeks, and my husband's Eagle charges usually take 2 or 3 weeks), but by gosh, if it's low, they push everything right through. This week, everything posted instantly. I...hate...banks... Leeching, bloodsucking, no-good bastards. (3 creatively-concocted overdrafts of $35 each makes a usually sweet-natured person nasty)
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