US Bank Beware of Overdraft charges Wenatchee Washington
After receiving $175.00 in overdraft charges last week, I wrote to US Bank to ask them to consider helping us to reduce some of these fees. I am from Canada, and I have used debit cards extensively in my 41 years. Never in my life have I ever seen a bank that would allow charges to be made, knowing that there weren't sufficient funds in our account. We were off by about $2.00 and they just kept letting things be charged instead of declining. I could almost hear them rubbing their hands in glee and cackling about the stupidity of people that live from paycheck to paycheck. After I wrote to them, I got this reply:
I have reviewed the account and have determined that the fees you have been assessed are not due to a bank error. Since these are valid fees, we can not credit them back to your account.
Please let us know if there is anything else that we can assist you with.
Sincerely,
Cindy Leach
Email Operations
U.S. Bank 24-Hour Banking & Financial Sales
This is my reply to that email:
Thank you for clarifying US Banks stand on Customer Service. My husband and I have decided to switch all of our deposits to a Credit Union as they are more interested in Customer Service than in the almighty dollar and who is right and who is wrong. My husband and I have banked with US Bank a long time and we recently went through some very stressful times with his layoff and my immigration fees (I am Canadian). To have our bank rob us of an unnecessary $175.00 was the last straw.
You might want to rethink your policy to include room for at least one mistake a year, as our new bank does. We acknowledged a mistake made by US Bank in the past. After asking them not to charge us for our checks to be returned us, knowing that we ordered checks with a duplicate, $5.00 per month was still charged to us. We didn't make a big stink about that one, but this one has us fuming.
With a little research, I realized that we aren't the only unsatisfied Customer of US Bank, just one of hundreds.
http://groups.msn.com/USBankComplaints/links.msnw
Looks like we are joining a large group of people. Given that we both work for some of the largest businesses in our city, I'm sure we will hear more complaints about US Bank.
After this fiasco, I called my local Branch and left a message for the Branch Manager to please call me. I never did get a reply to that.
Today, over a few dollars, we went into overdraft again. Charges that were made last week, finally went through. Today, we were assessed $105.00 dollars more for overdraft fees. For a country that is in recession, I am amazed that a bank is willing and able to assess these fees and hurt the blue collar workers. I think it is awful that my husband and I are working two jobs, trying to get caught up and still have a hard time making ends meet. Yes, I could have had overdraft protection.
Being fairly new to the US has me learning to adapt. I have never wanted to go back to Canada as much as I did today. We spent a lot of money on immigration and I have worked since the day I got my green card. I think it's a travesty that unsavory and shady capitalist corporate bloodsuckers are making money off the navet and bad fortune of its patrons.
My Husband and I will be in Thursday afternoon to close our account. We will beg and borrow to pay off the almost $300.00 in overdraft fees that we have paid over the past few days. All to make sure that our account is closed and we are done with US Bank. We will also be sending this letter out after that, to every news agency, government entity and Bank that we can.
We truly hope that this doesn't happen to any other family, that lives from day to day, hoping to make it through a very lean time in life.
Canuck
Wenatchee, Washington
U.S.A.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Nancy
Steilacoom,Washington,
U.S.A.
Checking accounts in Canada
#7Consumer Suggestion
Mon, February 04, 2008
I am sure checkign accounts in Canada come with a CHECK REGISTER too. Learn how to use one. It is not rocket science. Especially if you are living paycheck to paycheck is even more reason to keep better track. Debit card transactions are NOT debited from your account the minute you use it. That is another reason why you need to keep track.
Canuck
Wenatchee,Washington,
U.S.A.
Thanx
#7Author of original report
Mon, February 04, 2008
I see by your handle that you are a bank employee. Thanks for the advice...too little, too late. It was a hard lesson learned...one I will not repeat. Yes, I do keep good track of my expenses. But there were unforseen circumstances that led us to be in that position. Between my husband's layoff and my nephews stay in Intensive Care in Canada, it was impossible for me to be checking my acount every day.Now I know that I have to be hyper vigilant in watching to make sure that things go through when they should. As my previous post said, this is something that hasn't happened before, nor will it again.
Canuck
Wenatchee,Washington,
U.S.A.
Thanx
#7Author of original report
Mon, February 04, 2008
I see by your handle that you are a bank employee. Thanks for the advice...too little, too late. It was a hard lesson learned...one I will not repeat. Yes, I do keep good track of my expenses. But there were unforseen circumstances that led us to be in that position. Between my husband's layoff and my nephews stay in Intensive Care in Canada, it was impossible for me to be checking my acount every day.Now I know that I have to be hyper vigilant in watching to make sure that things go through when they should. As my previous post said, this is something that hasn't happened before, nor will it again.
Canuck
Wenatchee,Washington,
U.S.A.
Thanx
#7Author of original report
Mon, February 04, 2008
I see by your handle that you are a bank employee. Thanks for the advice...too little, too late. It was a hard lesson learned...one I will not repeat. Yes, I do keep good track of my expenses. But there were unforseen circumstances that led us to be in that position. Between my husband's layoff and my nephews stay in Intensive Care in Canada, it was impossible for me to be checking my acount every day.Now I know that I have to be hyper vigilant in watching to make sure that things go through when they should. As my previous post said, this is something that hasn't happened before, nor will it again.
Canuck
Wenatchee,Washington,
U.S.A.
Thanx
#7Author of original report
Mon, February 04, 2008
I see by your handle that you are a bank employee. Thanks for the advice...too little, too late. It was a hard lesson learned...one I will not repeat. Yes, I do keep good track of my expenses. But there were unforseen circumstances that led us to be in that position. Between my husband's layoff and my nephews stay in Intensive Care in Canada, it was impossible for me to be checking my acount every day.Now I know that I have to be hyper vigilant in watching to make sure that things go through when they should. As my previous post said, this is something that hasn't happened before, nor will it again.
Bankworker
PITTSBURGH,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Banks wouldn't be in business if all they cared about was customer service
#7Consumer Comment
Mon, February 04, 2008
"The customer is always right". Well that theory is long gone since the customer is not always right. So if banks focused more on customer service than they did on capitalizing on the errors of customers, there would be no banks. Nice guys finish last always which is why smaller banks and credit get swallowed up and bought out by bigger and more powerful ones. As long as banks allow adults to get checking accounts, banks will always charge fees for the errors because people lack the fundamental basic math skills to keep track of their balances. I'm not necessarily referring to you, but in general. If you allow your account to for any reason go into a negative balance, a bank has the right to charge you absolutely anything they want to charge you because you agreed to those terms when you opened the account. Accept responsibility for your mistakes and move on.
As far as your note to them, I will only say that those notes get laughed at by bank personnel that read them because it's entertainment. They don't care, and most people are only there to collect a paycheck. As long as banking is still a billion dollar industry, one heck maybe even hundreds of customers don't make or break them because there are 3000 times that many customers that know how to manage their account and not overdraw.
Good luck.