Complaint Review: AmSouth Bank

Thanks for the thoughtful batch of replies about my little AmSouth problem.

Todays mail took off a copy of my Rip Off Report complaint to the VP/Branch Manager for AmSouth, if they bother to go to the site they will see what your opinions about their lack of service are. I guess this hit a nerve for so many replies in 2 days.

I 'was' a 2 term notary in Fla and a 1 term in another state. As I recall (it has been a few years) we could charge a modest fee to notarize, I never did but it was allowed. Perhaps it changed here in Fla as the notary refused any payment.

The point made above about the notary needing to notarize any documents presented to them is entirely valid. I recall an incident at a college in Calif when I needed to have a loan document for a Pell grant notarized and the business office flat out refused. Their notaries were paid for the college for college business ONLY. I raised quite a lot of Hell about it and pointed out that there was no such thing as a 'notary private', the Pres. changed the policy.

It does not matter if the college (or AmSouth Bank) paid for your stamp and insurance, you are still an official of the State and I do like to point out that a Notary Public is the 'lowest form of State employee' - pun intended. During normal business hours with appropirate ID presented a notary who actually has their stamp available should always notarize the presented documents, if of course all is in order with the document & ID.

I probably should have insisted on my 'rights' to have the item 'notarized' but frankly I was so pissed off that I forgot that detail and don't really know if there was a notary there. In any event it didn't even require a notarization, just someone from the bank mgmt to 'attest' that the copy was of the original document and probably imprint it with a rubber stamp with the banks address. The people I did deal with were not tellers but a customer service woman in an office and later her supervisor.

My general theory is that if I have my 9k money there and am getting at best 3.5% from that in my money market and zip for checking and they are lending it out at 20% or whatever they get, then they d**n sure ought to provide such a simple service when I requested it.

After the fact as 'research' I did call the Wachovia on 23rd St and was told they do such document attestations/notarizations all the time. But by then the matter was concluded.

Thanks for your interesting input on this.

I've gone to the bank several times for notary services. It's never been a teller that is the notary, it's always been a "Service Representative", as in below the branch manager, and at a desk, not a teller window, or the Branch Manager.

Cory is right on the money about the perils of being a Notary. I was a Notary for more than 20 years, and I let it lapse last year for these same reasons.

That doesn't change the fact, however, that one has to ask to become a Notary, and once you are a Notary, you are not allowed to refuse legimate requests for service. The Notaries are acting as agents of their state, not of the bank. If the bank wants them to be there to service the bank's customers, they also have to accept the requests from non-customers. They just cannot have it both ways.

Back in the "good old days" many people at the banks and credit unions were noteries. Then times changed. Now, the teller are "clocked" on how many transactions they handle in a given period of time. If they're screwing around with having to notarize something, it goes aganist their record. The higher-ups don't want to hear any excuses. The tellers don't make any more money for proving that service yet they have to attend extra classes to become and maintain that title. If I remember, some classes are given at night and they may not be paid for it. The worst part is that the person is LEGALLY LIABLE for any mistakes or actions that may come from their preforming their duties yet they're not compensated for it.

It's a wonder no one, at a bank or credit union wants to be a notary these days. All these posts about how the banks and CU's are screwing the customer, just another example of how the banks and CU's are screwing their employees also. I don't blame you for closing your account.

Notaries are required to provide services when the document and request is appropriate, and they are not allowed to charge for the service. If you have certainty that there was a notary on duty at the bank, then you should call the Secretary of State for your state and file a complaint against the notary.