Complaint Review: Compass Bank

I've never had a problem with my compass account. The kid at the branch made it clear when I signed up that the bank was murder if you floated anything. So I arranged my bill due dates to a timeframe where my checks would always be posted. Problem avoided.

dont you people have better things to do ? I dont think this site was set up for you to bash each other. Did nay good come from this, was the problem solved? I was a compass bank cust and was burned severely for about $615 worth of charges. This was aol's fault not mine (they were taking money out of my account after cancleing service and the bank would not back me up even though aol admitted they were in the wrong) Learn your lesson and move on, but yes most banks work the same way. Including the bank that i use which is B of A.

Mark I totally agree with you on Compass Bank's posting madness. I previously held an account there because the free checking appealed to me. I work at a bank and refuse to bank where I work because if I can see my co-workers accounts they can see mine.

Banks are supposed to process credits before debits, when the cash letter is sent to the federal reserve, the credits are placed before the debits. Compass does not follow this. I have had a direct deposit sent to my account on a Friday and Compass has not posted my money to my account until Monday showing available funds on Tuesday. If anything came through anytime Friday through Monday and overdrew the account, I was charged an NSF fee and an overdraft fee of $6 per day.

If you call customer service and sound knowledgeable about the processing of credits and debits, they change their tune and tell you Compass is not an online bank so postings may occur later than normal. If this was true, how do debits (that were made Saturday or Sunday) post immediately and not a credit that was sent electronically on Thursday night for Friday posting not credited.

Many of you are blasting Mark about not balancing his checkbook or managing his finances properly, this is not a human error, it is more of a banking choice. They chose to hold the deposit, thus pooling it with other deposits and gaining interest by floating about $1 million of customer deposits. Banks can receive float interest over the course of a weekend. The processing departments in banks (large and small) run 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week.

Good luck Mark in getting your issues resolved. I was not and have written multiple letters on the NSF fees that were posted to my account because they are not an online bank. What is the point of direct deposit if I cannot have my funds when they are supposed to be available!?

Mark I totally agree with you on Compass Bank's posting madness. I previously held an account there because the free checking appealed to me. I work at a bank and refuse to bank where I work because if I can see my co-workers accounts they can see mine.

Banks are supposed to process credits before debits, when the cash letter is sent to the federal reserve, the credits are placed before the debits. Compass does not follow this. I have had a direct deposit sent to my account on a Friday and Compass has not posted my money to my account until Monday showing available funds on Tuesday. If anything came through anytime Friday through Monday and overdrew the account, I was charged an NSF fee and an overdraft fee of $6 per day.

If you call customer service and sound knowledgeable about the processing of credits and debits, they change their tune and tell you Compass is not an online bank so postings may occur later than normal. If this was true, how do debits (that were made Saturday or Sunday) post immediately and not a credit that was sent electronically on Thursday night for Friday posting not credited.

Many of you are blasting Mark about not balancing his checkbook or managing his finances properly, this is not a human error, it is more of a banking choice. They chose to hold the deposit, thus pooling it with other deposits and gaining interest by floating about $1 million of customer deposits. Banks can receive float interest over the course of a weekend. The processing departments in banks (large and small) run 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week.

Good luck Mark in getting your issues resolved. I was not and have written multiple letters on the NSF fees that were posted to my account because they are not an online bank. What is the point of direct deposit if I cannot have my funds when they are supposed to be available!?

Mark I totally agree with you on Compass Bank's posting madness. I previously held an account there because the free checking appealed to me. I work at a bank and refuse to bank where I work because if I can see my co-workers accounts they can see mine.

Banks are supposed to process credits before debits, when the cash letter is sent to the federal reserve, the credits are placed before the debits. Compass does not follow this. I have had a direct deposit sent to my account on a Friday and Compass has not posted my money to my account until Monday showing available funds on Tuesday. If anything came through anytime Friday through Monday and overdrew the account, I was charged an NSF fee and an overdraft fee of $6 per day.

If you call customer service and sound knowledgeable about the processing of credits and debits, they change their tune and tell you Compass is not an online bank so postings may occur later than normal. If this was true, how do debits (that were made Saturday or Sunday) post immediately and not a credit that was sent electronically on Thursday night for Friday posting not credited.

Many of you are blasting Mark about not balancing his checkbook or managing his finances properly, this is not a human error, it is more of a banking choice. They chose to hold the deposit, thus pooling it with other deposits and gaining interest by floating about $1 million of customer deposits. Banks can receive float interest over the course of a weekend. The processing departments in banks (large and small) run 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week.

Good luck Mark in getting your issues resolved. I was not and have written multiple letters on the NSF fees that were posted to my account because they are not an online bank. What is the point of direct deposit if I cannot have my funds when they are supposed to be available!?

Mark I totally agree with you on Compass Bank's posting madness. I previously held an account there because the free checking appealed to me. I work at a bank and refuse to bank where I work because if I can see my co-workers accounts they can see mine.

Banks are supposed to process credits before debits, when the cash letter is sent to the federal reserve, the credits are placed before the debits. Compass does not follow this. I have had a direct deposit sent to my account on a Friday and Compass has not posted my money to my account until Monday showing available funds on Tuesday. If anything came through anytime Friday through Monday and overdrew the account, I was charged an NSF fee and an overdraft fee of $6 per day.

If you call customer service and sound knowledgeable about the processing of credits and debits, they change their tune and tell you Compass is not an online bank so postings may occur later than normal. If this was true, how do debits (that were made Saturday or Sunday) post immediately and not a credit that was sent electronically on Thursday night for Friday posting not credited.

Many of you are blasting Mark about not balancing his checkbook or managing his finances properly, this is not a human error, it is more of a banking choice. They chose to hold the deposit, thus pooling it with other deposits and gaining interest by floating about $1 million of customer deposits. Banks can receive float interest over the course of a weekend. The processing departments in banks (large and small) run 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week.

Good luck Mark in getting your issues resolved. I was not and have written multiple letters on the NSF fees that were posted to my account because they are not an online bank. What is the point of direct deposit if I cannot have my funds when they are supposed to be available!?

Funny how, its always our fault, when you get an NSF fee. And according to the wise-asses on this forum, appearantly we are just irresponsible and are sucm of the earth. You all need to get a clue. I has nothing to do with income, intelligence, or accounting practices.

For those of you who have made comments like that, you are complete idiots. Anyone who takes this banks side is a scumbag IMO, this bank might as well be a bunch of loan sharks, they have absolutely no ethics at all and they treat customers like crap, according to them, we are nothing but 'cattle' to be harvested from, they want to take control of our OWN money away from us, and do not care how bad they screw people.

I am wondering how many hurricane Katrina victims that compass took advantage of?? You think they would be willing to work with someone who had just lost their house and had no access to the bank and accumulated a bunch of fees beyond their control?? I would bet my last dollar on they wouldn't even give a crap, they only care about lining their pockets with as much of our hard earned money as possible. They are worse that a Casino!!!! But what goes around comes around, hehehe.

But I am over it, guess what, I have 3 things I use now. I have a paypal debit card, which there is no way in hell you could ever get an NSF fee for using, and I have a checking account at another bank, I never EVER right a check, and I refused the debit card.

This way, I can draw the bank account down to the last $1 if I want, and I never have to worry about NSF fees, they have absolutely no excuse to charge you by delaying payments or re-arranging transactions in their favor.

At compass bank I had an NSF fee show up when I had done FLAWLESS accounting. They put in in the perfect spot, which bounced 4 checks that I had written, which I had more than enough money deposited for. I had deposited CASH to cover these checks BEFORE it wrote them, but compass researched and went through everything and figured out a way to re-arrange some items to make it "LOOK" like I had overdrawn the account. Also, its funny how they gave me no warning of this random NSF fee, and the chain of events had been started and compass basically told me to bend over because we are going to stick it to ya.

Well, Compass, I am afraid that you are going to be the one getting it stuck to you. I refuse to put even one penny in the account to cover their fraudulent fees, and I am taking legal action against them, I will have every single check covered and every single fee refunded to me before I close with them.

I'm also not a banker. NSF fee= not enough money to cover funds! Simple as that. Why blame someone else for that?

Or maybe you're just another whining dumbass that can't balance a checkbook.

In balancing mine it looks as if I got through another week without the big bad banks screwing me for a NSF fee. Sorry, gotta run I just dropped my joint on my bank statement......

...or maybe its all the pot you've been smoking.

You are a waste of perfectly good natural resources. I would tell you to check out all the other PETA loving, tree huggin', tie dyed liberals who hate Compass Bank but I don't think your banker-a*s could take the truth. Houston.....hummmmm....home of some of the Compass "Executives".....maybe you should stop *ucking them long enough to look at the real world around you.

Sorry putz...staunch republican here.......go take advantage of the hurricane victims just like your banker butt buddies take advantage of senior citizens. You are cut right from the same cloth......oh...using check cashing stores as an example of American Enterprise at its best? Your ignorance preceeds you.

For being here to save all of us from the big, mean world of banks. All of these big bad banks keeping the poor working man down and only you to save us from them!!

Give me a break with your BS. You sound like some ambulance-chasing attorney chomping at the bit to file some frivolous class action lawsuit on behalf of all Americans who didn't pass the third grade.

Can't do basic math, can't balance a checkbook, must be the bank's fault!! Can't read the terms and conditions that you agreed to when you opened the account...must be the banks's fault that your are illiterate!!! COME ON!

Banks "just rob those who actually make this economy go...you add NOTHING.." Guess you never got far ahead enough in school to understand how the Federal Reserve system actually works. It's really got nothing do do with people like you that cannot properly maintain a bank account.

Check cashing business' exist in the American economy in order to help people like yourself that can't handle the complexities of a bank account. I would imagine thay they are bad in your book too... they take advantage of people by actually charging a fee for their services. How un-American is that? They certainly don't contribute to the economy by giving people jobs to support their family and pay taxes do they? Neither do the big bad banks. Everybody at the banks work for free just because they enjoying screwing the hard working American and contributing "NOTHING" to the economy.

Get a life, Mark.....your time might be better
off serving PETA or PUSH.

Oh, by the way....I'm in construction not banking before you decide to accuse me of "being too scared to make it out in the real world."

Go crawl under a rock in the desert and bake my friend.

Thanks.

R - I appreciate your willingness to see that I am not the typical "complainer". No one owes me anything in life. I have several kids and have provided for them well. I had no help for school, business, or life in general, other than God's grace (which is no small thing) It may interest you to know that I am a refugee from the banking industry and where I worked (not B of A)...we did treat people like this. Even when someone was past-due, we worked with them and tried to understand their plight.

This is different. Whether you end up agreeing with me or not, you know that given the facts (my account was always flush, never insufficient), their rules, policies, tactics, made it only appear to have a problem. the bank had the money, had use of it, and still did to me what it has done to so many others here. 3+ pages of Compass complaints and that's just people who know about this site. How big is the problem? We're going to find out.

We all know women couldn't vote until the 20's. Was it right? No. Was it legal, yes. There were no sexual harrassment laws until someone said enough and companies started paying for their ways. I don't need to lecture you. Likewise, you seem to have a keen grasp of history and current events...so you know that the right button pushed can start a tidal wave of support. I spoke to the Federal Reserve and they told me of gas stations holding $75 from people's accounts when they went to the pump, even if their purchase was only $35. It has the same effect what happened to me did. They are investigating and agree this is a problem.

I may or may not be the catalyst for initiating the change, but I am not someone who takes getting screwed very well and I have the power to act....so I am. When all is said and done, i hope Mr. Jones and all his Compass clique know it was ME that started the bal rolling and they have coming, a day of retribution coming much like the kind folks at Enron and Worldcom had. They can't say they haven't been warned.

1) I had enough in my account.

2) Some funds were placed on hold but NEVER charged to my account

3) NSF charges assessed

Lots of bankers on this site I guess. Look up Compass on THIS site and you will see the real problem. or maybe you are too lazy and just want to take shots....either way, you don't have a clue....

Mark, possibly I was a bit harsh with some of my comments directed at you. You do appear to be a fairly intelligent and educated individual. I never thought or said you were an illiterate. Your grammar and sentence construction is in the 99th percentile here.

Unlike many other posters, I know you do understand the banking process, you just don't think the rules should apply to you.

BTW- I have been taken advantage of in the past.

Mark, possibly I was a bit harsh with some of my comments directed at you. You do appear to be a fairly intelligent and educated individual. I never thought or said you were an illiterate. Your grammar and sentence construction is in the 99th percentile here.

Unlike many other posters, I know you do understand the banking process, you just don't think the rules should apply to you.

BTW- I have been taken advantage of in the past.

Mark, possibly I was a bit harsh with some of my comments directed at you. You do appear to be a fairly intelligent and educated individual. I never thought or said you were an illiterate. Your grammar and sentence construction is in the 99th percentile here.

Unlike many other posters, I know you do understand the banking process, you just don't think the rules should apply to you.

BTW- I have been taken advantage of in the past.

Banking 101:

1) You have 'X' number of $$ in your checking account.

2) You don't write checks nor make withdrawals in excess of those 'X' number of $$.

Seems as though Mark would like to set up his own system of banking. Good luck.

Well, I wouldn't waste my time defending bank practices if I were in some other industry.....but I know you may think your comments may carry more weight by distancing yourself from them. Most people in this world do have the luxury of having a cushion in-perpetuity. That is tantamount to loaning the bank your money for free so they are still causing you lost opportunity by having to manage their fraudulent activites so closely.

Small "cushions" add up and the bank will use that to make money overnight thru interbank loans, consumer loans, securities, etc....sowhile I agree they are in business to make money, it is unethical and immoral for them to engage in the type of deceptive practices they have engaged themselves in.

If I strike you as some poor illeterate, mis-directed soul, ignorant of the world around him, please be assured I am a very successful entrepreneur and I resent the banks tactics. I got out of the way to make sure my customers know what they are getting into and even when they need the rules to be bent, if I can I do. If I can't, at least I'm not rude, disrespectful, and arrogant....and issue you have yet to address.

I prefer to have most of my money where it will do me some financial good and I don't keep large sums in my operating accounts. I have tw choices....move the account or condone their activities. I think I'll move the account to a bank where their activities are more in line with my objectives.

I will then work with my friends at the legislature and the A/G's office to 1) draft legislation REQUIRING complete, honest, and plain disclosure of bank practices and 2) See if our AG will look into the deceptiveness of the banks activities to see if there is some way we can make their day a little less bright.

Finally, I took your advice about researching B of A on this site and the only issue I saw was the clearing of items largest to smallest....I lived with that before because I never encountered it. Now you look up Compass and see how many pages there are of complaints. Where there is smoke, there's fire and even though your superior intellect has brought you to an intimate understanding of your world around you, there are many people who are not as sophisticated as you, the elderly, young students getting their first start.....and THEY don't deserve to be treated like that. Just think, someday you may be old and be in some sort of diminished mental capacity...not as sharp as you are now...so that means the businesses you frequent have no moral if not legal obligation to ensure your are giving informed consent to their tactics? I don't think so.

Good luck. I hope you are always as astute as you appear to be now and no one ever takes advantage of you. After all, it will be your fault.

Mark, I don't work for a bank. I never have. But I will stick with my original statements. You'll run into the same situation with BOA, WF or Bank One or whoever. You're either irresponsible or you simply don't have the means to maintain a bank account at a legitimate institution such as the aforementioned.

It shouldn't matter what the order of checks is etc, you should always keep enough money in your account to cover your obligations and then some. Of course banks are going to do things that are to their advantage. What business isn't, but fees at banks are completely avoidable. Read the rules when you sign up, if you don't like them or can't read them, you're free to walk.

I feel that the fees charged for the use of a foreign ATM are a bit steep. So I don't take money from foreign ATMs. Fee avoided! But someone else may feel it's quite reasonable. If you would like to avoid fees keep track of your account carefully or keep a large buffer instead of pissing and moaning.

Face the music "banker".....you work for crooks and it pays your salary so I see how you would want to turn a blind eye to the facts. The truth is, I dont bounce checks...never have....not even when your pathetic "bank" charges me when I have more than enough in my account to cover their incompetence. That's OK...you make my point well about the arrogance of you "people"...get a life....

Too scared to make it out in the real world so you just rob those who actually make this economy go....you add NOTHING....you only take. ....so go pretend you actually work and keep stealing your customer's hard earned money....eventually, you will run out of people to screw and then you will have to find some other parasite company to leach off of until you encounter a justice you can't control.

Let's face it Mark. You and many other posters on this site are too irresponsible to have bank accounts. You'll have the same issues at B of A, Wells-Fargo, Bank One, etc. You should conduct your financial transactions at one of the many check cashing establishments that litter the valley. I'm sure there's one within walking distance of where you live.

If you're responsible and maintain the proper balance, the order of debits vs credits or the highest to lowest bullcrap should never even be a factor.

Maybe the next time you throw some rubber around the bank won't cover your butt, and the person YOU ripped off has the cuffs thrown on you.

I'm sure B of A will be thrilled to have your pathetic a*s as a customer

Let's face it Mark. You and many other posters on this site are too irresponsible to have bank accounts. You'll have the same issues at B of A, Wells-Fargo, Bank One, etc. You should conduct your financial transactions at one of the many check cashing establishments that litter the valley. I'm sure there's one within walking distance of where you live.

If you're responsible and maintain the proper balance, the order of debits vs credits or the highest to lowest bullcrap should never even be a factor.

Maybe the next time you throw some rubber around the bank won't cover your butt, and the person YOU ripped off has the cuffs thrown on you.

I'm sure B of A will be thrilled to have your pathetic a*s as a customer

Let's face it Mark. You and many other posters on this site are too irresponsible to have bank accounts. You'll have the same issues at B of A, Wells-Fargo, Bank One, etc. You should conduct your financial transactions at one of the many check cashing establishments that litter the valley. I'm sure there's one within walking distance of where you live.

If you're responsible and maintain the proper balance, the order of debits vs credits or the highest to lowest bullcrap should never even be a factor.

Maybe the next time you throw some rubber around the bank won't cover your butt, and the person YOU ripped off has the cuffs thrown on you.

I'm sure B of A will be thrilled to have your pathetic a*s as a customer

.but save your breath. I am not nave concerning bank practices. Compass is out there to rob people regardless f the other practices of banks out there. I had an account with B of A and moved to Compass so I know the difference from experience.

"It's what you agreed to when you opened your account."

(Obviously you think that because they include some obscure document in the paperwork opening the account outlining a particular policy, the customer has been informed. Not true. Why do you think they don't spell it out in PLAIN ENGLISH? Do you honestly think anyone would do business with a bank who handles their customers in this manner? Also, it gives them no cause to be rude and arrogant. Where is that allowed in their disclosures. How about this everyone.go open an account at the bank, sit down with the banker, and read everything they put in front of you and ask questions, then document their answers. About two hours later, if you like everything they've disclosed, finalize the opening of the account. I'll bet not too many Bank officers would like having to spend that amount of time to open your account.

"I'm not sure but I think that BoA does the same. Not all but most banks do."

Maybe so, but for some reason, I never had a problem with B of A that caused me to encounter this practice, which is reprehensible no matter who is doing it.

"You should be doing this anyway regardless of what order credits and debits are posted."

Says WHO? If I make a deposit and a withdrawal on the same day and I make the deposit first, B of A credits the deposit and gives access to the funds immediately therefore, no problem. Compassnopethey want your money and will do whatever they need to to steal it from you.

"Never use a check card for hotels, car rentals, gas purchases, resturants (car rentals, gas and resturant purchases are usually above the actual cost until the debit clears). All bank cards operate like this. The hold can be in place for several days. Banks usually inform you of that. See #1 above."


Again, understand the underlying principle.I have the moneyit is at my Bank...in MY account.they don't release the funds..they just hold them..the transaction isn't complete until services are rendered..periodand that is when they need to be worried about my account balance.not before.if I do something to cause them to REALLY be out of pocket and not potentially out of pocket, then I deserve the NSF chargeotherwiseno way.

"That is a function of the store not the bank. The same is true no matter which bank you are using. If I remember correctly, the store has up to 15 business days to credit your account."

Wrong again. It is a function of VISA or Mastercard AND the bank, not the store or merchant at all. The merchant does the transaction and it is IMMEDIATELY drawn from their account. Who has your money for the extra 2-3 days? If they can clear debits like that, they can certainly clear credits the same way. That is why there is pending legislation in congress to require just that very thing.


"Read through some of the reports on this site for BoA. You may want to reconsider your choice. Also read your terms and conditions. They most certainly DO NOT credit your deposits right away. Depends upon the deposit and when it was made."

WellI was a B of A customer and I know you are wrong-o on that point. The ONLY time it doesn't credit right away is when you deposit thru the ATM. Even then, they credit your account $100 of the deposit IN ADVANCE of them even processing your deposit. Not sure about of interested in other people's problems with B of A. They did right by me before and the only reason I switched in the first place was because I had my merchant account already at Compass and I wanted to simplify. BIG mistake.

"I would echo your suggestion on researching the bank or credit union to do business with. Unfortunately, most do not and select a bank mostly for convenience."

Gee thanks. Nice of you to share my sentiments on something. I now have a warm fuzzy and will sleep well. Please stick to what you know and if you are a Compass employee, which wouldn't surprise me, then you've said and done everything every other Compasshole has donetow the line soldier. You may be wrong, but you will all go down together.

"1) They are rude and arrogant and think that just because they put out a pamphlet in 6pt type several pages long, it gives them the right to do whatever they want."

It's what you agreed to when you opened your account.

"2) God forbid you make a mistake that results in an NSF charge because they bought a program to clear items from your account with the sole purpose of MAXIMIZING NSF fees. They clear items from largest to smallest and tell you they are doing it for your own good!"

I'm not sure but I think that BoA does the same. Not all but most banks do.

"3) They post debits before credits. Make sure the money is in your account before the deposit or wait until a day after the deposit to spend the money. They will nnail you with bogus NSF fees."

You should be doing this anyway regardless of what order credits and debits are posted.

"4) Don't use your debit card to reserve things like hotels. The money may be in your account, but if anything clears while that hold is there, they treat it as if you don't have the funds in your account and charge NSF fees."

Never use a check card for hotels, car rentals, gas purchases, resturants (car rentals, gas and resturant purchases are usually above the actual cost until the debit clears). All bank cards operate like this. The hold can be in place for several days. Banks usually inform you of that. See #1 above.

"5) When you use your debit card, the money comes out now. When you return something and the store crdits your card, it takes days for it to post."

That is a function of the store not the bank. The same is true no matter which bank you are using. If I remember correctly, the store has up to 15 business days to credit your account.

"6) B of A is a much better choice because they credit deposits right away and they are flexible when you make a mistake. Research your banks and crdit unions to find which one is the lindest to their customers. Compass Bank gives lipservice but doesnt deliver."

Read through some of the reports on this site for BoA. You may want to reconsider your choice. Also read your terms and conditions. They most certainly DO NOT credit your deposits right away. Depends upon the deposit and when it was made.

I would echo your suggestion on researching the bank or credit union to do business with. Unfortunately, most do not and select a bank mostly for convenience.