Complaint Review: USBANK CORP.

Driving is actually a good analogy. Just as having a bank account is not a right, neither is driving. They are both privileges.

With a bank you need to abide by the terms of the account, "suffer the consequences" in terms of fees, or take your money elsewhere. With driving you either abide by the laws of the road, "suffer the concequences" in terms of tickets, or don't drive. Does everyone read every line of the vehicle code..No. But because you are driving you are required to know and follow the laws. If you get pulled over by a cop just try and use the "I didn't know" and see if that gets you out of the ticket.

Here in CA if you are a solo driver and drive in a Carpool lane you will get hit with a $350(or more) ticket. It does not matter if you were in the lane for 1 mile or 10 miles, the fine is the same. If you do the same thing 1 minute after getting the first ticket they won't say "Well you already got a ticket so we will just let you keep driving in the Carpool lane", they give you another ticket. Sound familar? If you overdraft by $0.01 or $100 the fee is the same, and if you continue to overdraft based on the terms you will continue to get OD fees.

The one place they are different, but probably would not be a bad idea for the banks to adopt the policy. This is that if you get enough moving violations they take your license away. Perhaps they should not allow you to have an account anymore if you get too many overdrafts.

For all of you people saying that USB shouldn't charge an overdraft fee for being over .11, let me ask you this: In your opinion, how far should someone's account be in the negative before you feel it's ok for the bank to charge a fee?

Let's get one thing straight: Overdraft fees protect the bank from people using their accounts as loans, thus destabilizing the bank. Obviously, the more the account is left in the negative, the less likely the chance is that the customer is going to come in and replenish the account. This is a fact.

Fees are justified penalties. Do you think if no one ever got a speeding ticket, people would voluntarily slow down and drive normally? No they wouldn't. The same logic applies here. Overdrawn is overdrawn. Over the speed limit is over the speed limit. If there aren't consequences, people are going to get out of control.

The truth is that we either follow what the contract says or we don't. If we don't, then we have chaos. If we do, then everybody involved MUST abide by the terms agreed to. Let's not get caught up in the silly idea of what is unethical and what is not; the truth is this: what is ethical to some is not to another. To say following a contract is unethical means we're OK with chaos and abandonment of what was agreed to. You may think that's fine - if you think a bank is bad when they follow a contract - just imagine when they don't have to follow anything. The contract limits what everybody can do under the agreement.

It's not unethical to follow an agreement. Bottom line.

Holy crap this is getting old. Nowhere in the terms and conditions does it say they can credit back debits when the customer overdrafts and then debit them again once the customer is in the negative in order to accrue more overdraft fees. Why don't you people understand this?

The truth is that we either follow what the contract says or we don't. If we don't, then we have chaos. If we do, then everybody involved MUST abide by the terms agreed to. Let's not get caught up in the silly idea of what is unethical and what is not; the truth is this: what is ethical to some is not to another. To say following a contract is unethical means we're OK with chaos and abandonment of what was agreed to. You may think that's fine - if you think a bank is bad when they follow a contract - just imagine when they don't have to follow anything. The contract limits what everybody can do under the agreement.

It's not unethical to follow an agreement. Bottom line.

Holy crap this is getting old. Nowhere in the terms and conditions does it say they can credit back debits when the customer overdrafts and then debit them again once the customer is in the negative in order to accrue more overdraft fees. Why don't you people understand this?

The truth is that we either follow what the contract says or we don't. If we don't, then we have chaos. If we do, then everybody involved MUST abide by the terms agreed to. Let's not get caught up in the silly idea of what is unethical and what is not; the truth is this: what is ethical to some is not to another. To say following a contract is unethical means we're OK with chaos and abandonment of what was agreed to. You may think that's fine - if you think a bank is bad when they follow a contract - just imagine when they don't have to follow anything. The contract limits what everybody can do under the agreement.

It's not unethical to follow an agreement. Bottom line.

No rip off there is a thing called a depository agreement and when you agree to that you agree to whatever fees will be charged in the event of overdrawing the account. I am sure that nowhere does it say 'you only get an overdraft fee if you overdraft 'x' amount of dollars.

"Not necessarily. Folks can FEEL or BELIEVE that they were wronged even though they weren't. When someone FEELS wronged because the other party to an agreement (contract) UPHOLDS the conditions of the contract, then that person's feelings are not justified or rational. The feeling of being wronged is real, but the facts would indicate that no 'wrong' has been committed."

That's fine. The bank is operating within the law. However, what they're doing is unethical and they'll be losing customers, as they did with me and everyone I know that had accounts with them. You can only rip people off for so long before they wise up and stop doing business with you.

"Not necessarily. Folks can FEEL or BELIEVE that they were wronged even though they weren't. When someone FEELS wronged because the other party to an agreement (contract) UPHOLDS the conditions of the contract, then that person's feelings are not justified or rational. The feeling of being wronged is real, but the facts would indicate that no 'wrong' has been committed."

That's fine. The bank is operating within the law. However, what they're doing is unethical and they'll be losing customers, as they did with me and everyone I know that had accounts with them. You can only rip people off for so long before they wise up and stop doing business with you.

"Not necessarily. Folks can FEEL or BELIEVE that they were wronged even though they weren't. When someone FEELS wronged because the other party to an agreement (contract) UPHOLDS the conditions of the contract, then that person's feelings are not justified or rational. The feeling of being wronged is real, but the facts would indicate that no 'wrong' has been committed."

That's fine. The bank is operating within the law. However, what they're doing is unethical and they'll be losing customers, as they did with me and everyone I know that had accounts with them. You can only rip people off for so long before they wise up and stop doing business with you.

""It's all about how the consumers feels. If they feel they were wronged, then they were. ""

Not necessarily. Folks can FEEL or BELIEVE that they were wronged even though they weren't. When someone FEELS wronged because the other party to an agreement (contract) UPHOLDS the conditions of the contract, then that person's feelings are not justified or rational. The feeling of being wronged is real, but the facts would indicate that no "wrong" has been committed.

OD/NSF fees have been around for DECADES. The only differences between 30 years ago and now is the AMOUNT of the fee. I remember when an NSF fee was $5, now it's $30 something.

It doesn't matter if the overdraft is 11 cents, 1100 dollars or even ONE CENT-the fee will be assessed.

What's worse for most folks is when a check is RETURNED for NSF. Then the account holder gets nailed by their bank for the NSF and the PAYEE assesses a "returned check" fee. A double wammy for sure, and this double wammy will be assessed for a check that is written for ONE CENT more than what's in the account.

This best thing any account holder can do is be educated to the terms and conditions of the account and conduct their banking accordingly to avoid these OD/NSF fees altogether. In fact, the overwhelming majority of bank account holders (globally) DO NOT INCUR THESE OD/NSF fees. Further, folks need to READ and UNDERSTAND the terms of ANY AGREEMENT/CONTRACT before signing or agreeing to the terms. If you don't like the terms of an agreement or service, then do not sign or USE that service.

I think $35 is steep for an overdraft fee, but what I THINK doesn't count. It's what is stipulated in the agreement (terms and conditions) with the bank that matters-not my feelings.

A $30 charge for an $0.11 overdraft IS a rip-off. You're missing the point here. Regardless of age, just let the consumer pay the $0.11 and be on their way. They shouldn't have to be on their way to the benefit of the bank and their policies for 11 cents.

You can continue to tell everyone "the way it is." But "the way it is," doesn't explain the consumers side, especially their thoughts and feeling they were wronged in the situation. It's all about how the consumers feels. If they feel they were wronged, then they were. Don't try and dispute their feelings of the situation. Relate with them. Trying to explain to the person about your accusations and assumptions of their situation doesn't help at all.

In this situation age MAY matter... depending on how the account was opened. Most minors that have savings accounts are opened as a UTTMA (Uniform Transfer To Minors Account) If that is the case...
1. The only withdrawals that can be made have to be made by the custodian/guardian, not the minor.
2. These types of accounts should not have any service charges
3. These types of accounts should ONLY be able to be accessed through a physical trip to the bank, which means if you only had $49.89 in the account and you mistakenly thought you had $50 and you completed a withdrawal slip, it is the tellers error for overdrawing this type of account.
UTTMA accounts should never be allowed to overdraw, there should be no ATM cards attached or any kind of over draft protection, as that usually pertains to a checking account anyway.

Howerver, this sounds more like the lack of customer service on US Bank and not a bank rip off. Unfortunatly most tellers are too busy being pushed to make sales and not to complete your transaction if it is something of this nature. (Not making the bank any money)

My recomendation to you is to speak with the Branch Manager or Assistant Manager. Let them know the situation, but do not become hostile or irate, because trust me... you get more honey with bees! Let them know you understand that errors happen, but be insistant that they fix this... in a nice way.

If you were charged off, it's most likely a bank loss especially since it was bank fees that were charged (for the most part). I don't know any bank that would send you to check systems for that dollar ammount, however I would recomend following through on your end to make sure this gets taken care of properly.

So what if he was 14 years old? Minority does not absolve anyone of overdraft fees; that's the great thing about a computer doing all of the transactions. They don't look at one's age, sex, class, wealth, poverty, skin color, nationality, or anything of the sort. The system only looks at one thing: whether you have sufficient funds in the account. If you overdraw by $0.01, you will incur a fee.

Pretty simple. Not a rip off.

Ok, someone under the age of 18 cant legally have an account in their own name. Their must be another adult signer on the account, a guardian, a trustee, something. So, you are saying that YOUR account was negative 11 cents? Well, if it was negative, it was negative. the 30.00 fee is an early closure fee if an account is closed with 6 months of opening. Many banks charge such a fee. Just pay the 30.11 and be done with it.

Just how did the overdraft on his savings account happen?