Complaint Review: Elevations Credit Union - Boulder Colorado

I've been "banking" with Elevations Credit Union (ECU) for over 7 years (not sure of the exact date; probably closer to 10).

Recently I started an LLC and decided to open a business checking account.  I thought to myself, what better place to open such an account than with a credit union with whom I'd never had a serious problem for nearly a decade.

As I went through the process of opening the account, I received an email (dated 12/02/11) from the ECU employee with whom I had been working -Jack A. Rappleyea, Account Services Specialist II - stating that he had taken the $25 necessary to open my ECU business checking out from my personal checking account with ECU.
 
I was more than a little unsettled that an ECU employee, without my express, prior consent, could withdraw funds from one of my accounts, but I didn't raise the issue or report it to anyone at ECU because I had written proof via email correspondence that that the employee had done so.

Checks had also been ordered for this account, per Mr. Rappleyea's email correspondence to me.  I was never informed that I'd be charged a fee for these checks.

Subsequent to opening the business checking account with ECU, I never once made any charges to the account.

On January 6, 2012 I was shocked to receive an unsigned letter from the "Collections Department Elevations Credit Union."

The letter informed me that:
 
"...we (ECU) are exercising our rights under the terms of your Membership Agreement to CLOSE your checking account...We ask that you write no further checks, and that you destroy your remaining checks...Our records indicate that you owe the Elevations Credit Union $57.73...If you fail to pay the remaining amount due or make other payment arrangements within 10 days, we will thereafter proceed with additional collection or legal action to recover the amount due through legal process...We are also reporting information your NSF history, any amounts owing, and the circumstances of your account's closure to e-Funds Corporation.  This may affect your ability to open an account at other financial institutions...We may report information about your loan and deposit accounts to credit bureaus.  Late payments  missed payments or other defaults on your account may be reflected in your credit report"

To summarize -

1) My business checking account was closed with no explanation as to why.

2) I owed ECU $57.73 with no explanation as to why.

3) If I failed to pay ECU $57.73, I'd be taken to court.

4) Implicitly negative "information" would be reported on my "NSF history" (nebulous banking industry term of art) and the implicitly presumably negative "circumstances of my account's closure" would be reported to the e-Funds Corporation, which apparently is some banking/financial industry chamber of commerce which has the power to blackball people from opening accounts at its member's institutions.

The letter was George Orwell's "1984" come to life!

Upon having read the letter, I was simultaneously bewildered, enraged and frightened.

How would I explain to my potential clients that my business checking account had been unexplicably canceled and that I was now being treated like a dead beat dad by a credit union with whom I've had a steady relationship for nearly a decade?  ECU was ruining my nascent business!

I immediately called ECU's customer service line.  In my subsequent conversations with various ECU employees, no one identified herself.

The first ECU rep I spoke to said she had no idea what I was talking about and put me on hold for several minutes. 

Eventually another ECU took my call and pretended she didn't know who I was or what I was calling about (I know this because later in the conversation she revealed facts of my case that could only have been known by someone had been told of them prior.)

The long and the short of the second coversation was that I had been charged for the checks for my business checking account, which apparently amounted to roughly $15 dollar.  Mind you, I had not been told I'd have to pay for these checks, nor had I been sent any sort of bill or invoice for these checks.

Rather than take $15 dollars from my business checking account (an ECU employee had, after all, without my prior, express permission, taken $25 from my personal checking account to open the business checking account), or having simply sent me an email, letter or made a phone call telling me that I owed $15 dollars for the checks, ECU intentionally let the payment go delinquent to accrue the $42.73 in fees it could collect from me by not informing me the charge was due.

I asked the second representative why had I not been informed that I owed ECU any outstanding balances on my business checking account and she replied that I had 20 days to pay for the charges to the check, i.e. she didn't answer my question.

When I asked her why hadn't money been taken from my account to pay for the checks, in a similar fashion as to the money that had been taken to open the business checking account, she said that it was necessary to take the money from my account to open the business checking account, i.e. she didn't answer my question.

When I asked was it ECU's policy to take money from its depositor's account without prior, express authorization, she told me to read ECU's "Membership Agreement," i.e. which was tantamount to telling me in a very polite way to f off.

When I asked her to transfer me to the department which could tell me what ECU's policy is on taking funds from a depositor's account without his express, prior authorization, she "transferred" me, and the phone went dead, i.e. she hung up in my face!

The whole series of experiences I had trying to suss the situation out with ECU was something out of a Kafka short story.

My business checking account was closed because I owed my credit union $15 for checks it never told me I'd have to pay for.  The action on ECU's part was beyond extreme.

Had I received a single phone call, letter or email stating, you owe this amount of money for the checks you ordered and you should pay us or we'll close your account, I would have instantly complied.

Instead, ECU didn't tell me I owed any money, let fees accrue and closed my account without any reasonable warning, notice, or any regard as to what thoughtlessly closing my business checking account might to do my start up business. 

And to top it all off, not only was the account closed, ECU issued thinly veiled threats that it would ruin my credit rating and my ability to do business with other financial institutions if I didn't pay it for services/products for which I never received a bill or invoice!

And when I called ECU to resolve the matter, I was ignored, condescended to, stonewalled and ultimately hung up on.

The whole experience was traumatizing and ECU's intentional behavior toward me has caused me extreme emotional distress.

I would strongly discourage anyone who wants to be treated with dignity, fairness, respect and who doesn't want to be bullied to never have anything to do with Elevations Credit Union.