Complaint Review: Wachovia Bank - Charlotte North Carolina

We are Wachovia customers who have had the same problems as amny others regarding the way Wachovia processes their debits and deposits. We were actually told by a Customer Service Rep. that Wachovia does what it does to incur as many overdraft fees as possible "because they can and will do so until it is illegal"

We have been misinformed and lied to and it seems as every "Customer Service" Rep has different information to give. Sound familar? FYI...you can have an "Opt Out" condition place don your debit card so that debit transactions will not process without funds being available, but BEWARE...We asked for this to be applied to our account twice, were told it was taken care of, only to find out that the Reps LIED and did not apply the condition. Typical! After countless problems, we have filed a complaint with the FDIC and I began doing research. I found a letter that Wachovia sent to the Federal Reserve that many of you will find interesting. The link is...http://www.federalreserve.gov/SECRS/2004/August/20040810/R-1197/R-1197_164_1.pdf#search='overdraft%20fees%20and%20wachovia'

I know it's a long one, but worth. SOme of the statements made by Wachovia in the letter are as follows:

"Wachovia has reviewed the proposed amendments to Regulation DD (?Proposal?) and we support the efforts of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (?Board') to provide ?uniformity and accuracy of information? to consumers who may overdraw their transaction accounts. However, Wachovia has serious concerns about certain aspects of the proposed amendments and appreciates the opportunity to bring these concerns to the Board's attention."

YEAH, I bet they do...

"In its letter of January 27, 2003 to the Board concerning proposed amendments to the Official Staff Commentary of Regulation Z,1 Wachovia represented that it did not offer an overdraft protection program (bounce protection) of the type described in the Board's proposal. Wachovia has not changed its position on this issue, and it does not market a so-called ?bounce protection? program to its customers."

UH HUH...Just for fun...Call 1-800-wachovia and ask the Rep. if they have "Overdraft Protection"

NOW PAY ATTENTION....This is the good part:

"For many years, most financial institutions have employed some form of discretionary process for determining whether an item is paid causing an overdraft or is returned for insufficient funds (?NSF?). Many financial institutions, including Wachovia, have developed, either internally or with the assistance of an outside vendor, automated, risk-based analytics to determine when an item should be paid. Numerous factors such as average deposit balances, length of time on deposit, and number of overdrafts in a defined period, assist financial institutions in determining whether items should be paid creating an overdraft and in managing the risk of cumulative outstandings from the payment of overdrafts. Within this risk-based process, there may be a daily and/or aggregate limit of overdrafts permitted for each account, but these are subject to change on almost a daily basis, depending upon how the consumer manages the account. Wachovia does not disclose, guarantee, or market the operation of this process to customers in any way."

Did you catch that last part? Here it is again for you...

"Wachovia does not disclose, guarantee, or market the operation of this process to customers in any way."

and now for the funny part...

"Wachovia believes that the process currently applied by Wachovia to evaluate and pay or return items is administered in a way that protects our customers and Wachovia."

AH HA HA ROTFL LMAO

I encourage all of you to read the document in full and save a copy on your PC, as these things tend to disappear. Keep fighting, keep complaining. Write Letters, call your Congressional Reps., contact the FDIC, make noise! Their dau will come!

Oh yeah and there is a contact number on the bottom of the letter, where you can contact the Wachovia Schmuck who wrote it.

GIVE HIM A CALL! Let's flood his office with complaints and let him know just how his customers feel about their "polcies."

Shannon

MAYSVILLE, Georgia
U.S.A.

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