Complaint Review: Citizens Bank - Riverside Rhode Island

James, I have a question for you. Is that the exact letter you wrote? If it is, you have a problem. I think the next time you attempt to write a letter of that nature, you have someone proofread it first. I suggest going into the bank rather trying to write a letter.

I'm in your corner, Ken, right up to the last part. I disagree that banks fail to educate consumers. When they open up an account, the information they need is handed to them. No online searches, calls to customer service, or consultations needed. All they have to do is open the pamphlet and read from left to right. This person, and the other posters with similar problems, however, didn't bother to read it. Then he went out and serial-spent and claimed ignorance to it all when the time came to pay the piper. Debit cards have been around for a while now, and I say if you're able to fill out the form and provide the documents needed to get one, you should be mature enough to handle the responsibility. However, if the customer insists on treating the debit card like a regular Visa, he should have at least put two and two together and treated his account balance like a spending limit.

I hate to beat a dead horse here, but do you keep a check register? You and you alone are responsible for knowing what you have in your account before writing a check or making a purchase. You have requested the bank to return overdrafts. Are you aware that the bank is going to charge you a fee whether or not they pay the check? I have a hunch that you are talking about overdrafts caused by your debit card. Are you aware that not all debit purchases hit the bank immediately? Depending on which system a merchant uses, and on whether you signed for the pruchase or used a PIN number, the purchase may hit the bank well after you made it. At this point, by law, the bank HAS to pay the merchant. When it does hit your account immediately, it is only a memo-hold on the funds. The hold may be dropped after a period of time (as short as 24 hours) if the merchant has not submitted the final transaction. Many merchants only remit their debits weekly, and it isn't going to hit your account until the merchant remits and it is processed. The moral of the story is this: you have no control of how these items are processed, nor do you have any way of knowing what has hit your account, and what is pending. If you don't have an accurate record of your transactions, and know what your balance is at any time, then what you have seen is what you get. The banks have failed by not educating the consumers better in how all this works. Most people think that because a debit card looks just like a credit card, that it works the same way; i.e. everything is apporved before the purchase. Sadly, this is not the case. If it is an option for you, apply for a line of credit overdraft protection. With this, they cover your overdrafts and you pay chump change in interest. (Assuming you don't carry a running balance, forever). Barring that, look at a local credit union. Generally speaking, they will transfer funds from a savings account to cover a check, and charge a very small fee (it is $3 at mine) to cover the service.

James Just because the account says you have money, doesn't mean it's there. You know you've spent the money, so why depend on the bank to tell you how much is there? You need to use cash/money orders until you learn how to keep track of your finances and balance a checking account. And, for the record, the bank isn't going to STOP all overdrafts. They can't. By the time it becomes an overdraft in most cases, you have already SPENT the money, so it's too late, it's already overdrafted.