Wachovia Bank All these posts regarding Wachovia Bank customer DISsatisfaction are validating to me! Jacksonville Alabama
I just have to put my 2-cents in to the forum of complaints against Wachovia Bank. I am close to 60 and I NEVER had a problem bouncing checks until Wachovia Bank bought out our local South Trust Bank here in Alabama a few years ago. I banked with South Trust for a decade before the buy out. I never had any problems with them. Prior to that I had checking accounts since I was 16 years old in other states. I NEVER bounced a check!
I banked with Wachovia for about 2 years after the buy out of South Trust and finally closed my account with them. I learned to really hate them, and all the double talk I got from their rude customer service department as well. I have a Master's Degree so I am not stupid! Imagine how it feels to be talked down to, like some kind of a flake/looser, or an idiot (and a flake/looser) after all the years I have managed by finances adeptly with other banks!
I was to the point of nearly having panic attacks every time I checked my on line banking statements after I had SEVERAL runs of bounced checks with Wachovia Bank. Their NSF fees cost me HUNDREDS of dollars over the short time I maintained my old South Trust Bank account with them. They were doing all kinds of funny stuff to cause NFS fees to start accumulating while I was frantically running around town trying to deposit more and more money to stop the s****.>
Because other banks are starting to adopt the same banking practices as Wachovia bank uses to flisk their customers now-a-days, and because NSF fees are going up and up every year, I simply opened a savings elsewhere and got myself a pre-paid debit card. I deposit my money on the pre-paid debit card and I can use it at the grocery store, all discount and department stores, and to pay my utility bills online or by phone.
My CASH deposits instantly onto my pre-paid card, no more waiting for Wachovia bank to post my cash deposits! (After 2pm on a Friday your CASH DEPOSITS at Wachovia Bank won't post to become "REAL CASH" until after Midnight the following Monday!) Using the pre-paid debit card, I do pay $9.95 a month for unlimited transactions. I realize that's not free but it's a whole lot cheaper than even one NSF fee at any bank. Plus, the peace of mind I now have doing my banking this way is PRICELESS to me!
Maybe if everyone started pulling their checking accounts out of the banks and doing business MY way, the banks like Wachovia would take notice and start doing business they way they used to, years ago. I think banks in general have just gotten real greedy these days and are looking for more and more ways to turn our money into THEIR money. Oh, and if you deposit into a PayPal account, you can use their debit card the same way. They don't charge transactions fees so no $9.95 a month charge like my pre-paid card. Also, they GIVE you 2.3% Money Market Interest on your funds when they are in there. There's no minimum balances to maintain if you use a pre-paid debit card or a payPal debit card, either. Remember interest on checking? I do! Where the heck did that concept go? Maybe it's time we took back our financial power from the big banks like Wachovia and close our checking accounts in protest!
Scounselor
Jacksonville, Alabama
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Striderq
Columbia,South Carolina,
U.S.A.
Sounds like Check 21...
#4UPDATE Employee
Thu, July 17, 2008
was the difference. About the time that Wachovia Bought South Trust, the federal government passed Check 21. This allows banks to send an electronic representation of the check to be paid on instead of sending the actual physical check. This meant the the 'float' time of giving the store you check and the time it hit your bank was shortened if not eliminated. I say this based on your use of NSF which indiactes the items were returned unpaid due to lack of funds in the account. If the items had been paid causing overdraft it would have been OD fees.
I'm sorry to hear this happened to you. I know it's an inconveniance but I don't see a ripoff here.
Edgeman
Chico,California,
U.S.A.
Is it just me...
#4Consumer Comment
Thu, July 17, 2008
Or does the original post read more like a long advertisement for prepaid credit cards?
Edward
Dallas,Texas,
U.S.A.
Another Unsatisfied Customer
#4Consumer Comment
Thu, July 17, 2008
Or should I say another victim of 'Eminent Domain' for Checking Accounts. Without your approval or consent, Wachovia swoops in and takes over your local bank and your account, both of which you NEVER had problems with previously. Please allow me to play Devil's Advocate for a moment.
Please be prepared for comments that suggest you LEARN to keep a check register. Oh, but wait. You probably already do. How else could you have had multiple checking accounts in different states, since you were 16 and never had this problem before? So, you've already got that covered.
Please be prepared for comments that suggest you LEARN how to add and subtract while using your Check Register. Oh, but wait. You already know how to add and subtract, mostly likely since a very early age, but you've certainly known how to do it since you were 16, since you never had problems with ANY previous banks. Apparently your math skills have to be up to par. So you've got that covered.
Please be prepared for comments that suggest you LEARN how to read and understand your account Terms and Conditions. Oh, but wait. Apparently you already know how to do this since you've had multiple accounts in different states, with all of them probably having their own DIFFERENT policies. Yet still no problems with any of them. So you've got that covered.
Well, when all else fails, please be prepared for sarcastic questions that ask what's so special about you? Do you honestly think that Wachovia actually is out to get you? Do you honestly think the powers that be at Wachovia actually has the time and energy to sit in a secluded office for hours on end, plotting and dreaming up ways to screw you over? Well, the answer to that question remains to be seen. But you have only to examine the evidence and draw your own conclusion.
It's obvious the Federal Reserve has NOW drawn its own conclusions, evidenced by its new proposals to Regulation AA otherwise known as 'Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices'. UNFAIR? DECEPTIVE? Surely not! Why would THOSE words be chosen and used by the 'Head', 'Top', 'Chief' BANKERS of the United States when having to deal swiftly and sternly with their out of control subordinates?