- Report: #107454
Complaint Review: Wachovia Bank - Charlotte North Carolina
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Wachovia Bank
1101 W.T Harris Boulevard Charlotte, NC Charlotte, 28262 North Carolina, U.S.A.
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800-922-4684
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Wachovia Bank Warning! Former employee advises people: DO NOT BANK WITH WACHOVIA! Rip-off! Charlotte North Carolina
I am a FORMER EMPLOYEE of one of Wachovia's Direct Access call centers. I worked for Wachovia Bank during the First Union merger and have handled close to 15,000 calls with customers. I am voicing my displeasure at the way Wachovia conducts business and they manner in which their employees are treated.
First, Wachovia's business practices:
1) Unavailable funds charge. Before I went to work for Wachovia, I never knew what this charge was for. I had accounts at BB & T and Carolina First bank and never heard of an 'unavailable funds' charge before. By company definition (not exactly verbatim, but from memory as best as I can remember), an 'unavailable funds' charge is directly tied into your usage of a Visa Check Card (Wachovia does not offer Mastercard Check Cards). An unavailable funds charge results when you have items that have been authorized against your 'available balance' but have not posted to your 'daily balance'. (I will clarify momentarily).
For example, let's say you begin the day with 100 dollars in your bank account. You authorize a debit card transaction for 60.00. That would leave you with an available balance of 40.00. That night, you have a check that comes in for 50.00. Because of the 'authorization' of 60.00, your available balance AT THAT MOMENT is -10 dollars. Even if you have a deposit pending or coming in that night, Wachovia will STILL CHARGE YOU an 'unavailable funds' fee of 30 - 31 dollars, depending on which region of the country you are located. If there is no deposit that comes in while the debit card transaction is pending, and the debit card transaction posts to your daily balance, the debit card charge will cause your daily balance to become -10 dollars (The check written for 50 dollars posts against the daily balance and the available balance).
Then, for the same charge with the debit card, you are being charged an 'unavailable funds' fee and an 'overdraft fee'. THIS IS TOTALLY UNFAIR. I voiced my concerns over this charge to my supervisors and was practically laughed at.
2) Deposit Holds
A deposit hold is placed on an incoming deposited item to verify if funds will be available for the deposited items. In the meantime, your deposit is not available to cover any transactions that might come in for the duration of the deposit hold (anywhere from two to ELEVEN business days).
I have seen people rack up hundreds of dollars in unavailable, overdraft, and NSF fees as a result. One poor soul (who shall remain nameless to protect his/her identity) racked up over 1400 dollars in charges as a result of a deposit hold placed on her PAYROLL check.
I agree that it might be necessary to place a hold on a deposit to verify certain checks, such as out-of-state, large amounts, official checks, cashier's checks, etc. There is no excuse in having a hold placed for nearly two weeks, just because Wachovia doesn't want to take five minutes, call the back that the item is drawn off of, and see if the item has been paid. I have gladly assisted customer after customer with such an issue and was chided by my supervisors on the phone for 'taking too much time on the phone'.
3) Treatment of employees
During my time at Wachovia, I have seen cases where fellow employees who know how to pull the strings of my supervisors are promoted quicker than someone who is more deserving and better qualified. I have also seen many cases of employees who have been terminated for conspicuous reasons. It seems to me that anyone who 'thinks outside of the box' is not welcome as an employee at Wachovia. If you do not think the way that they do, then you are not welcome. That is very clear.
Scott
Columbia, South Carolina
U.S.A.
First, Wachovia's business practices:
1) Unavailable funds charge. Before I went to work for Wachovia, I never knew what this charge was for. I had accounts at BB & T and Carolina First bank and never heard of an 'unavailable funds' charge before. By company definition (not exactly verbatim, but from memory as best as I can remember), an 'unavailable funds' charge is directly tied into your usage of a Visa Check Card (Wachovia does not offer Mastercard Check Cards). An unavailable funds charge results when you have items that have been authorized against your 'available balance' but have not posted to your 'daily balance'. (I will clarify momentarily).
For example, let's say you begin the day with 100 dollars in your bank account. You authorize a debit card transaction for 60.00. That would leave you with an available balance of 40.00. That night, you have a check that comes in for 50.00. Because of the 'authorization' of 60.00, your available balance AT THAT MOMENT is -10 dollars. Even if you have a deposit pending or coming in that night, Wachovia will STILL CHARGE YOU an 'unavailable funds' fee of 30 - 31 dollars, depending on which region of the country you are located. If there is no deposit that comes in while the debit card transaction is pending, and the debit card transaction posts to your daily balance, the debit card charge will cause your daily balance to become -10 dollars (The check written for 50 dollars posts against the daily balance and the available balance).
Then, for the same charge with the debit card, you are being charged an 'unavailable funds' fee and an 'overdraft fee'. THIS IS TOTALLY UNFAIR. I voiced my concerns over this charge to my supervisors and was practically laughed at.
2) Deposit Holds
A deposit hold is placed on an incoming deposited item to verify if funds will be available for the deposited items. In the meantime, your deposit is not available to cover any transactions that might come in for the duration of the deposit hold (anywhere from two to ELEVEN business days).
I have seen people rack up hundreds of dollars in unavailable, overdraft, and NSF fees as a result. One poor soul (who shall remain nameless to protect his/her identity) racked up over 1400 dollars in charges as a result of a deposit hold placed on her PAYROLL check.
I agree that it might be necessary to place a hold on a deposit to verify certain checks, such as out-of-state, large amounts, official checks, cashier's checks, etc. There is no excuse in having a hold placed for nearly two weeks, just because Wachovia doesn't want to take five minutes, call the back that the item is drawn off of, and see if the item has been paid. I have gladly assisted customer after customer with such an issue and was chided by my supervisors on the phone for 'taking too much time on the phone'.
3) Treatment of employees
During my time at Wachovia, I have seen cases where fellow employees who know how to pull the strings of my supervisors are promoted quicker than someone who is more deserving and better qualified. I have also seen many cases of employees who have been terminated for conspicuous reasons. It seems to me that anyone who 'thinks outside of the box' is not welcome as an employee at Wachovia. If you do not think the way that they do, then you are not welcome. That is very clear.
Scott
Columbia, South Carolina
U.S.A.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Edward
Dallas,Texas,
U.S.A.
A Ripoff Years in the Making
#2Consumer Comment
Wed, April 29, 2009
Here you have this virtually five year old report filed by an ex-employee, and five years ago, this ex-employee was light years ahead of everyone in voicing DISBELIEF and SHOCK with respect to one particular business pracice. You guessed it. The Unavailable Funds Fee. A fee that I'm now projecting might soon be illegal. Here's why, as I'm still looking for ANYONE to help explain the outcome of this scenario where a NEW customer begins spending with an OPENING BALANCE of $500. Walmart $100, Posted Balance=$500, Hold Bucket #1=$100, Available Balance=$400 Home Depot $300, Posted Balance=$500, Hold Bucket #1=$100, Hold Bucket #2=$300, Available Balance=$100 Best Buy $625, Posted Balance=$500, Hold Bucket #1=$100, Hold Bucket #2=$300, Hold Bucket #3=$625, Available Balance=($525). If I swipe my card at Walmart at 10am, and Home Depot at 11am, the funds for those two purchases are held in that TIME STAMPED ORDER, with a positive Available Balance of $100 remaining. Then I swipe my card at Best Buy at 12pm and this overdraws my Available balance. This ONE FEE I understand and ACCEPT, no problem. BUT! When the Walmart and Home Depot transactions post, they will each be charged a fee ALSO even though NEITHER of them overdrew the account. I'm stipulating that all three transactions arrive and post in the same order they were made. Referring to the Visa Policy for debit card holds, the Walmart and Home Depot funds were HELD FIRST and they will remain on hold for up to three days or until the merchant collects the funds. So when these two transactions are presented for payment the VERY NEXT DAY, those funds are STILL ON HOLD and therefore AVAILABLE to post these transactions. Once they post, the hold is then released. But Wachovia's logic is there's not enough funds to COVER and POST the Walmart and Home Depot transactions because those funds are UNAVAILABLE due to the Best Buy hold. That's impossible because the Best Buy funds were held LAST, only after the funds for the first two transactions were already SAFELY HELD FIRST and SET ASIDE. That my friends is a contradiction, a RIPOFF, and possibly soon to be illegal.
Superstarr1126
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Calling other banks
#3Consumer Suggestion
Tue, April 28, 2009
Due to the privacy act, a person can not just call and ask if a check is good. Most banks will not give out any information about an account. Only if it is the owner of the account calling. Therefore, checks have to be put on hold until they clear the other bank. I have worked in banking for 7 yrs and deposit holds are a must! Too many checks come back returned, for many reasons, and the customer is then out that money if it was made available too early. Rules and regulations are in place to serve a purpose, not to get on your nerves!
Hawkwheels
Hanford,California,
U.S.A.
I KNOW FIRST HAND HOW THIS BANK OPERATES
#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Tue, March 31, 2009
am a former wachovia employee and I have experienced several things while working for wachovia and after...first and foremost I have always prided myself in being honest and helping in anyway that i can I am a 27 year old woman and i was trying to make this my career. While working for wachovia I have experienced racism, heard things that are not appropriate in a professional work enviornement and also witnessed other employees force balancing and basically stealing from the bank. I contacted the hr department while working there on two occassions and basically all they said was did i address the situation with my manager, and i let them know my manager is the situation...basically they told me there was nothing that i could do and if she feels there is no grounds for any further action then it wouldn't go anywhere. In detail one of the employees took a survellince tape because a customer claimed she didn't close out one of her accounts which in our case happened quite often being that wachovia is being bought out by wells fargo a lot of customers were closing out accounts because they stated they didn't want to be a part of wells fargo bank. Well this employee basically wanted to view the "evidence" before hand and i spoke up and called and also talked to my manager and nothing was ever done. One of my co workers always forced balanced his drawer and again i called and nothing was done...I decided that wachovia was not for me and i wanted to explore some other avenues and spoke to my manager in regards to leaving 1 1/2 hours earlier to go back to school they denied my request so i quit.... three weeks later i get a phone call from their fraud investigations department stating that a customer claims she didn't close out a 57k cd with me and that my accounts were being frozen. It seemed as though i was a problem from them since i quit and they figured I would basically expose what was going on inside of the bank, and they wanted to try and pin something on me...they are crooks and something needs to be done about this bank. I am only one person but i will not allow them to bully me, they have threatned to arrest me and said that my kids were going to be picked up by cps and i wouldn't see them for a long time so i should just turn myself and the money that i stole in and pray that a judge have mercy on me....I am still at this moment upset and saddened that these companies can threaten and harrass me and i feel helpless i'm not rich and i never stole from anyone they are basically saying i am guilty without proving anything
J. LYNN
Southside,Georgia,
U.S.A.
DEPOSIT HOLD EXPLANATION
#5UPDATE Employee
Wed, October 13, 2004
At Wachovia deposit holds are recommended on accounts that are less than six months old and/or balances on an account are lower than the check amount. We will take a copy of the check to try and contact the bank that the check is drawn on within a couple of days, but some banks will not give that information because of the new privacy act that went into affect this year. As a whole if the check is a known payroll check we usually don't hold it. We also offer direct deposit to help avoid holds, which allows the customers check to go directly into the account automatically. We do try to assist our customers the best way known. The customer is notified that a hold is placed and the funds are not immediately available. It is not the banks error if the customer writes checks against money that is not available, that is the customers error. I personally take the extra time to call on checks when needed. I think the above complaint is biased because of that person being an EX EMPLOYEE.
