Complaint Review: First Convenience Bank - Fort Worth Texas

And still can find complaints against other banks for ridiculous fees.

Jodie Writes: *** Apparently, you didn't read the complaint thoroughly. Show me a complaint against any other bank for charging $25.00 to close a bank account OR monthly charges for having a debit card OR $2.50 for trying to transfer money (without your authorization) from your savings to your checking. THIS bank has fees that are so off-base it is ridiculous. And, yes, other banks do charge the overdraft fees and use the pay the highest dollar check first, but if you talk to them and let them know what is coming, you can save yourself the trouble. And, like with my bank, if you develop a good working relationship with your personal banker, and search for good customer service records, you can get the same results I have. **** As far as the challenge to show another complaint specifying the items she noted, not going to take the time to bother. I worked for the largest bank in the U.S. (so they say....won't say the name, it's no worse than the rest of them but definitely not Convenience Bank!), in General Banking Telephone Customer Service, and yes, indeed, they, as most do, charge "$25.00 to close a bank account OR monthly charges for having a debit card OR $2.50 for trying to transfer money (without your authorization) from your savings to your checking. THIS bank has fees that are so off-base it is ridiculous." In fact, said bank charged $5.00 for savings to checking transfer. The other fees may vary, such as $20 to close an account, but as I recall, it WAS $25. As for the baloney about "personal banker" - got plenty of calls, both before and after a customer had appealed to the branch staff. Sometimes it worked, but would've had a lot less calls if it had worked as easily as Jodie seems to think it does. Further cause for hysterical laughter: "but if you talk to them and let them know what is coming, you can save yourself the trouble.". "Let them know what is coming" - lololol! Doesn't work! Maybe at Jodie's magical bank, it does, but seriously suspicious that Jodie may have a very nice sized account balance or balances or friends at the bank! I can GUARANTEE YOU that 99% of the time, the branch personnel will respond with a statement that there is nothing they can do UNTIL "what is coming" actually hits the bank's computer and is processed, regardless of the fallout, OR advance notification. 100% guarantee that NOTHING will happen if you call on the phone, because there IS nothing that can be done by a phone rep. THERE ISN'T. No higher authority to appeal to, there is NOTHING we could do to stop something from coming through. Even "stop payments" on checks written are NOT 100% possible to stop, for numerous reasons I won't go off track here to detail. As for whether the "personal banker" actually CAN forestall the inevitable, would love to hear Jodie describe, IN FULL, exactly what the problem(s) was/were that her magical banker PREVENTED FROM HAPPENING. NOT what they reversed charges for, or made amends for, or whatever, but PREVENTED FROM HAPPENING. Anyway, hate to be so gloomy, but if anyone expects ANY BANK to care, good luck! If you get a good person, that's priceless, I will agree 100% there. I did whatever I could, whenever I could, to help get around the pretty much "set in stone" policies, but it wasn't easy. Most significant help I ever provided, as far as a dollar amount, managed to get a woman $360 refunded in NSF fees because wow, it was so not her fault. Had an out-of-this-world supervisor who approved it, but he, too, was few and far between. We were only allowed a "discretionary refund" amount of $90, and then only if the customer had not had more than 3 overdrafts in a six month period. It's not too easy for a customer to ingratiate themselves with the person on the phone who DOES only have limited ability for refunding. Yes, we can appeal to a higher authority, but you know if it's useless or not. Also, had "Refund Logs" to turn in each week. Management wasn't impressed too much if you filled out more than one or two lines. Being that income was related to performance, good incentive for phone reps to not be free with the refunds. I tended to buck authority a bit in such matters but I also am not in that position any more, because I wanted to be in "Customer Service", NOT "Get As Much Money For The Bank As Humanly Possible" Bank Service. Having said all that from a Phone Rep position, yes, appealing to a person in a bank branch may well yield more positive results. But plenty of experience with the customer being told BY THE BRANCH STAFF that they needed to call the 1-800 number if they wanted anything more to be done than what the branch was offering. This was pretty unfair to the phone reps, because if the BRANCH couldn't help them, pretty likely, there was no way in hell WE COULD. Branch Managers and Financial Service Reps in the branch most assuredly had more latitude in the amounts they could refund up to, and circumstances they could work around. When they referred it to the phone reps, it was because they didn't want THEIR statistics to be negatively affected, which is why they palmed the customer off to the 1-800 number. If the branch personnel can't do what you want, highly unlikely the 1-800 people will be able to. Not impossible, I am sure, but we all got plenty of "branch referred" callers, and I sure don't have any memory of it being a successful venture for the customer, 9 times out of 10. Wrote much more than I intended to, but Jodie is NOT speaking of common bank practice for most of the general population. If her bank is truly this wonderful, please, do tell us all how we can all have accounts there. I don't speak solely as a former employee, I am also a customer, and have been a customer of other banks, as well. I also read RipOff Reports regularly, and Jodie's assertion that these fees are NOT common is just plain wrong. She is also not correct in giving the impression that developing a banking relationship with branch management is an easily accomplished task. It is SOLELY dependent on the particular person or people you may be fortunate enough to have working there. And, as I said, if her bank can magically stop incoming transactions from occurring, I'd REALLY love to know who they are and how they do it. I am well aware that, OF COURSE, it CAN be done, a computer, even the banks!, only does what it is programmed to do, but am definitely unaware of ANY BANK that would admit that! It is NOT in their best interest to allow anything to not occur. I am sincerely sorry to be so negative, but I don't want people to be misled into thinking that, unless you are a large depositor, or have some real inside help from bank employees, that dealing with ANY bank is going to be easy or to your benefit when the bank has determined they are following policy, and they aren't going to budge. Banks are FOR PROFIT entities. They ARE a necessary evil. Yes, you can just use money orders and keep your money in the yard or under the mattress but the world is moving forward, not backwards, and refusing to acknowledge the very real importance of having bank relationships in this 21st century world - well, THAT would be a real disservice. Thank you.

Apparently, you didn't read the complaint thoroughly. Show me a complaint against any other bank for charging $25.00 to close a bank account OR monthly charges for having a debit card OR $2.50 for trying to transfer money (without your authorization) from your savings to your checking. THIS bank has fees that are so off-base it is ridiculous. And, yes, other banks do charge the overdraft fees and use the pay the highest dollar check first, but if you talk to them and let them know what is coming, you can save yourself the trouble. And, like with my bank, if you develop a good working relationship with your personal banker, and search for good customer service records, you can get the same results I have.

On this site alone you can find tons of complaints on other banks such as Bank of America, Wachovia, Wells Fargo and Fifth Third just to name a few. What you will also see is that 99% of the time it is not the fault of the bank but the fault of the consumer not reading their terms and conditions and not maintaining a check register. Most banks do their debits first and then their credits, they also do the debits from the highest to the lowest. Therefore if you have $500 in your account and you write a check for $475, one for $50 and a $10 debit, hoping that only the $475 check will bounce you will be wrong, it's the last two transactions that will bounce. Even if you run to the bank and deposit $100 you still run the risk on the last two bounces because the credit is processed after the debits. You also cannot rely on ATM or online balances because they do not take into account any pending transactions, ie: checks that have not yet been presented for payment. Is this system right? For the consumer, no but for the bank, yes. Is it legal? Yes, as long as they disclosed their methods in the small print of your terms and conditions.

I Have A Question For J - If These Policies Are The Same At All Banks - Why Is Yours The Only One Being Reported? I don't see these reports on Bank of America or Bank One or Wells Fargo, etc. The reason being: it's not true. In essence, they may all have these similar policies, but the truth is: Bank of America (my bank) tries very, very hard to make sure that any account issues that arise with my account are not dealth with by a computer - they go across my personal banker's desk first and then he has the opportunity to correct anything that would be out of line. My bank simply cares more. I have had a similar situation as this come up and my banker (Thomas Norman) made sure that a 45 cent difference did not mean that I had to pay a $33.00 fee. In one situation I can think of that happened 3 years ago when I was still finishing my bachelor's degree and working at the same time, my employer's bank did not make the ACH deadline and our direct deposit didn't go in on time. I have an automatic payment come out of my account each month and had several debit transactions that all appeared on the same day as my deposit was supposed to show up and my automatic payment was to come out. My banker saw the issue come across his screen (which, by the way, at the time showed him that I was being charged $297 in fees for 9 transactions that would overdraw me by $114). Instead of just letting that happen, he called me to ask about the direct deposit that he knew always came and didn't for some reason that day. After calling my work and finding out what had happened, I called him and told him what I found out. He put a hold for 2 days on the automatic debit; forced the 9 debit transactions and deleted the fees, allowing me to have absolutely no problems and letting my deposit take care of everything the next day. By the way, I do NOT have overdraft protection. I just have a good banker who cares about me, even though I am not a high deposit account and NEVER maintain a minimum balance. I hear horror stories all the time from my friends, family and especially my fiance who, until 3 weeks ago, banked with First Convenience, and I always tell them: if your bank doesn't provide customer service, do something about it. Either, deal with them as minimally as you can, or go find yourself one that will do the job. With some very bad prior banking experiences, I shopped around and spent about an hour with Tom talking to him about his customer service philosophy and discussing my banking needs. He seemed truly interested and has been very hands-on and conscientious since. We are consumers - even when it comes to banking - and we need to take our buying power into our own hands.

I Have A Question For J - If These Policies Are The Same At All Banks - Why Is Yours The Only One Being Reported? I don't see these reports on Bank of America or Bank One or Wells Fargo, etc. The reason being: it's not true. In essence, they may all have these similar policies, but the truth is: Bank of America (my bank) tries very, very hard to make sure that any account issues that arise with my account are not dealth with by a computer - they go across my personal banker's desk first and then he has the opportunity to correct anything that would be out of line. My bank simply cares more. I have had a similar situation as this come up and my banker (Thomas Norman) made sure that a 45 cent difference did not mean that I had to pay a $33.00 fee. In one situation I can think of that happened 3 years ago when I was still finishing my bachelor's degree and working at the same time, my employer's bank did not make the ACH deadline and our direct deposit didn't go in on time. I have an automatic payment come out of my account each month and had several debit transactions that all appeared on the same day as my deposit was supposed to show up and my automatic payment was to come out. My banker saw the issue come across his screen (which, by the way, at the time showed him that I was being charged $297 in fees for 9 transactions that would overdraw me by $114). Instead of just letting that happen, he called me to ask about the direct deposit that he knew always came and didn't for some reason that day. After calling my work and finding out what had happened, I called him and told him what I found out. He put a hold for 2 days on the automatic debit; forced the 9 debit transactions and deleted the fees, allowing me to have absolutely no problems and letting my deposit take care of everything the next day. By the way, I do NOT have overdraft protection. I just have a good banker who cares about me, even though I am not a high deposit account and NEVER maintain a minimum balance. I hear horror stories all the time from my friends, family and especially my fiance who, until 3 weeks ago, banked with First Convenience, and I always tell them: if your bank doesn't provide customer service, do something about it. Either, deal with them as minimally as you can, or go find yourself one that will do the job. With some very bad prior banking experiences, I shopped around and spent about an hour with Tom talking to him about his customer service philosophy and discussing my banking needs. He seemed truly interested and has been very hands-on and conscientious since. We are consumers - even when it comes to banking - and we need to take our buying power into our own hands.

I Have A Question For J - If These Policies Are The Same At All Banks - Why Is Yours The Only One Being Reported? I don't see these reports on Bank of America or Bank One or Wells Fargo, etc. The reason being: it's not true. In essence, they may all have these similar policies, but the truth is: Bank of America (my bank) tries very, very hard to make sure that any account issues that arise with my account are not dealth with by a computer - they go across my personal banker's desk first and then he has the opportunity to correct anything that would be out of line. My bank simply cares more. I have had a similar situation as this come up and my banker (Thomas Norman) made sure that a 45 cent difference did not mean that I had to pay a $33.00 fee. In one situation I can think of that happened 3 years ago when I was still finishing my bachelor's degree and working at the same time, my employer's bank did not make the ACH deadline and our direct deposit didn't go in on time. I have an automatic payment come out of my account each month and had several debit transactions that all appeared on the same day as my deposit was supposed to show up and my automatic payment was to come out. My banker saw the issue come across his screen (which, by the way, at the time showed him that I was being charged $297 in fees for 9 transactions that would overdraw me by $114). Instead of just letting that happen, he called me to ask about the direct deposit that he knew always came and didn't for some reason that day. After calling my work and finding out what had happened, I called him and told him what I found out. He put a hold for 2 days on the automatic debit; forced the 9 debit transactions and deleted the fees, allowing me to have absolutely no problems and letting my deposit take care of everything the next day. By the way, I do NOT have overdraft protection. I just have a good banker who cares about me, even though I am not a high deposit account and NEVER maintain a minimum balance. I hear horror stories all the time from my friends, family and especially my fiance who, until 3 weeks ago, banked with First Convenience, and I always tell them: if your bank doesn't provide customer service, do something about it. Either, deal with them as minimally as you can, or go find yourself one that will do the job. With some very bad prior banking experiences, I shopped around and spent about an hour with Tom talking to him about his customer service philosophy and discussing my banking needs. He seemed truly interested and has been very hands-on and conscientious since. We are consumers - even when it comes to banking - and we need to take our buying power into our own hands.

First off, sorry to hear about your negative experience with the bank. I do work for this bank and I deal with this usually on a weekly basis. I suggest you stop into one of our braches and kindly ask to speak with the manager, or assistant. They are the most knowledgable and would be happy to explain the way the mastercard works and give you something to take home if there is any other questions. They all work generally the same at all banks, it's just an understanding that is needed. Usually when you open an account, there just isn't enough time to go over ALL of the little things you need to know. We mostly cover the big items then hand you a packet that explains the rest. Most people just sign on the line and never do their homework on something VERY important to them. If you can find your copy, I suggest you read up. If not, any branch would be more thatn happy to get you a copy. We have been in business since 1905 and growing VERY rapidly. That's not because we are doing bad business. I am diligently replying to every complaint that is posted until every one of them has a respose. I feel that most of these are a result of the customer just not understanding, so I will try to clear it up they best I can. I'm sorry to hear about the unhelpful service, but unfortunately every company has some bad eggs somewhere. Hopefully you have a good egg nearby, and they can help you keep this from happening in the future. Regards