Complaint Review: Wood Forest National Bank - Dixon Illinois

I have been a customer of Wood Forest National bank for over 3 years now.  I have had several problems in the past of the quality that their debit cards are made out of and also being charged a fee for having a debit card that they charge businesses fees to use especially when I was told when I opened my account that I was not going to be charged for having a debit card that it was free. 

1. I never received a notice that there was going to be a fee for the card in the mail or electronically they just charged it and did not notify that they charged it. 

2.  on the same call in early August of this year I advised them that the card they were charging me for again had to be replaced due to the magnetic strip in the back coming out of the card and not being able to be read on any credit card machines.  I spoke with the Branch manager of the bank who advised me that she would credit me for the fee that I was not informed of and also order me a new card  free of charge and that I could either bring in the old one or destroy it. 

Well after past history of one of their employees taking a card when I had filed a dispute about a year ago for being charged for services not rendered and they never deactivated the card the employee that filed it kept the card took it home and was using it to the tune of 1500 in charges on the account over a 6 mo period.  Even better yet when they order you a new card they have you give over your pin number so she was able to obtain my pin number for the card. 

Always thought you should be able to trust your bank employees yea right not in a million years will I ever trust them again.   I couldn't change the pin number on the card cause I was not in possession of that card anymore.  I even asked them how there could be 2 different cards active on my account with my name on it with 2 different numbers on it when I filed the dispute and how their security department didn't catch that at times there was charges being done POS in 2 different states on the card and their response is that they do their best but pride them selves in being the best in the industry.

Any way to get to the point I Shredded the card properly safely disposed of it in 7 different containers in 7 different disposal centers so that it could not be put back together again and have the number..  So card destroyed no way for it to be  used right errrnt... wrong O they sent out a card with the same numbers on it same exp same 3 digit code on the back and it never made it to me and better yet it was activated right out of the gate before even being put in the mail. 

Even better as I know this from when I got my original card form this bank they send it out in an envelope marked Wood Forest National Bank Card issuing department.  Not Master Card Not Visa. not even blind in an envelope that it wouldn't be obvious that it had a card in it heck by the time my first card made it to me you could read the card number and the expiration date right on the envelope on the outside didn't have to guess what was inside of it as it was obvious and the envelope was half opened I immediately went into the bank complained and made them issue a new card to the bank itself.

Now we all know to use a Debit/Credit card as a debit you need a 4+ digit pin number correct?  Well according to them you can make charges on the internet and their clearing house will automatically convert it to debit w/o the 4+ digit pin number. 

So August to Sept no card so I call their 800 service they say there was no record of the card being ordered but there was a charge for it on my account pretty odd yeah right I wasn't surprised after dealing with them for over 3 years I was used to incompetence of that nature especially after their employee had used a card that they supposedly had to take to destroy it and replace it. 

lol yeah right they used that card.  So I escalated the call to a supervisor to whom stated to me she would contact the local branch and get back to me about it.  2 weeks go by no call so I call back ask what is going on as my online was locked out as well and I was out of town and couldn't go to my local branch see what was going on.  The rep on the phone put me on hold then transfers me to a collections agency telling me that I owe them over 400.00 bucks for charges and over draft fees made to my account from august to that time that were not paid up and if I didn't make a payment to them at that time they were going to report me to chex systems immediately to prevent me from opening an account with any other bank. 

Sure as they promised the action they did just that and the best part was it wasn't even 60 days that it was over drafted to get this charges made on the card that turned out to have been ordered by their local branch and never got to me but get this was a duplicate card with all the information matching. 

Now lets ask our selves this why in all that is holy would a bank knowing that mail does get stolen from time to time allow for a card to be sent out that is: A. The same exact everything duplicate card B. A card that is activated C. When they get caught with their pants down send me right to collections to screw me over for their error instead of doing the ethical thing and fixing their mistake and keeping a customer that would have stayed with them if they hadn't screwed the pooch.  Not one call not one notice in the mail about the over drafts and when their called on their error they try to cover their tracks with it. 

To this day I have a collections company calling me starting at 7 am and continuing to contact me all the way up to 10 pm at night out of Chicago making threats of coming to my house taking my car taking my house to which I know they cannot do to settle a debt.  Threats of going to my work place threats of filing false tips of fake disability threatening to strong arm me.  I told them I am working with the Regional Manager to get them to fix and resolve their error so that they would not have to harass me and break the law to which I would gladly turn over the conversations ( didn't have any but threatened them that I did right back with their own game) to the FTC and they said they were untouchable that the FTC couldn't do a thing to them that they were foreign with a US call.  So I then asked them if they were how were they planning to come to my house and do all to me they said they would do to me Considering my car is paid in full and that my house is as well so that there was no liens on the properties and that they couldn't touch them let alone the bank they are representing was not the loan company for either one.

I did file a complaint with the FTC against them and it is being investigated considering they still continue to Harass me daily from morning till night it will only end very badly for them as the cannot all before 9 am in the morning and cannot call after 9 pm at night and they call any where from 15 to 20 times a day and when I hang up on them they have been known to call right back.  If I knew that I wouldn't end up in a bad situation I would trace the number down to their US location and proceed to walk in their doors and tell them to go head try what they threatened to do to me and see how far they get when the cops show up with a camera hidden on me and then turn that over to the media.

There was a company in Rockford that I am sure many know very well called Camco that was shut down for the exact reasons that this company will more than likely get shut down for as well.

SO upon finding this out I immediately get back on the phone with them and inform them that I will report them to the Attorney Generals office in my state as well as FTC and FDIC for this behavior as the law states that an account cannot be legally turned over to a collections agency w/o notifying the person that you are doing that to in writing of the debt that is owed and then you have to wait 30 days after that send a certified letter then at 90 days you may take actions against them to collect the debt.  I know this as I have owned businesses in the past where I have had to do this to dead beats to get them to pay up. 

They did not follow the law thinking that I would be some poor dumb hillbilly that wouldn't know my a*s from a hole in the ground and they would get off Scott free on this.  I spoke with a regional manager who told me that I could not do anything about half of the charges as they came in as debits and I again asked him how can a person charge against my account with a debit card w/o the pin number and he gave me the same ole song and dance that there clearing house automatically does that for some vendors do save them on extra charges for a card being used as a credit card instead of debit difference on master card is Credit is 5% debit is 2.5 or was a the time is what he explained to me. 

I told him he will fix this or I will bring down the wrath of the law on their bank and see to it that they get an unexpected audit from the IRS as yes banks are not supposed to make profits if they are indeed not for profit however they are NA not a regular bank there fore they are a business not a FDIC regulated institution there fore they can make a profit just the same as a credit union can as well and various other types of banks. 

So their Regional Manager Brian back in November tells me that some of the charges are over 90 days old and cannot be disputed per their policy  Knowing that the card had a replacement ordered for it back in August and that I had destroyed the original card and yet the replacement never showed up and was reported that it didn't show up back in Sept which was within their dispute period never mind the fact that they should have shut the card off not left it active.

I even advised their employees that until I receive the new card back in August that I would not be depositing any checks as I don't write any checks I only use my debit card as credit and would not be putting money in a bank that I didn't at the time even have any checks for that w/o my permission they ordered checks for my account didn't ask me if I wanted them as I don't use checks their a pain in the butt to deal with most of the time a long line in a store is due to a check.  Their employee said an I quote that is fine you have a positive balance on your account at this time now and that there didn't appear to be anything pending against my account, and they would close the card out and that as long as I didn't write any checks for more than 13.00 that I would be fine. 

She then orders Checks and not their free checks she orders checks with anti theft stuff in them and a holographic image on the top as well as anti washable inked pens and charges my account over 30.00 for the checks and pens that I didn't order from them and did not request.  All I needed was my card no checks as again I don't write any checks to any place or any body, and if I need cash I go to their ATM if when their closed.  To which they charge you to use their own ATM even if it is to get a balance on the account they still charge you for that.  They charge you 1.00 to get a balance and 2.50 to take money out of their atms.  Oh yeah and a few of their fraudulent charges that were against my account were from over seas and they charged me fees for those as well and said that those came in as ATM charges and again how in the heck am I going to get hit with an ATM charge when an ATM requires a pin# to be entered into a key pad to do so.

I told him he will either take care of it or I will make his life miserable.  I had to threaten them this past Saturday with legal actions to get him to call me back.  Which he did telling me that 30 days later they still are researching the disputes.

Then he tells me that even if they had canceled the card like they were supposed to do so that the number is already tied to my account and that if a recurring charge came into the account that was a canceled service as there was 2 of those that they would not be able to stop them as they are recurring charges and that they are pre-authorized agreements with vendors and they say that is a law that they cannot go against. 

So what do I do I contact the FTC and ask them about it and what does the FDIC state that they cannot do that and if they did they would themselves be committing fraud by allowing charges to go against a card that is no longer active and has been reported lost damaged or stolen.  So I get back on the phone with this gentleman who always contacts me from a number that he thinks is blocked little does he know that I get called on a business line that records number that are incoming and blocked and records the actual number.  He tries to BS me into believing that its master cards policy to do that not theirs.  I stopped him in his tracks and informed him I just got off the phone with the FTC and they did indeed inform me that their actions are illegal and they might want to reconsider them.

Brian proceeds to try and buffalo me into thinking that they were wrong that there was nothing they could do about the charges and that the FTC cannot touch them.  Then states to me after he answers the phone as Brian that it wasn't Brian that I was speaking to that it was Bobby and that Brian was not available to speak with but he was same LEVEL manager with Wood Forest bank from a different Region in town for a meeting and had answered his phone for him.

I advised him that he is screwing with the wrong hick that I am not stupid and wont be treated as such.  I am in the process of filing complaints with all governing bodies that can go after them and hope that they get shut down or fined or even better taken over by the government like other banks have had done to them in the past for illegal behavior such as this and others like Amcore bank which had to sell because of their behaviors and employees that stole from people and many more.

At this time I am stuck using a stupid prepaid green dot card till I get this resolved and there are many places that don't take them so I have to go against my own rules most of the time and carry cash on me as allot of gas stations do no accept a pre paid card let alone and that is for another complaint but I am trying to get rid of Direct TV and go to Dish Network they don't take prepaid cards either which really screws a person over so basically until they fix this they have me over the barrel with it and I am screwed I cant open an account with any banks as they are legally required now to check Chex Systems as there is stuff reported to that aside from your credit report.

Any attorneys that would like to take this case Pro Bono and wait to get paid till it settles I would love to hear from as I am a disabled person that they are taking advantage of and that is wrong and they know it their employees know I am disabled so they think that no one would take it to represent me in this case and go after them and that I wouldn't have the ability to go after them being disabled consider there are many others out there that have had this very problem with them and the fact that they indeed jumped the gun and shot right to collections when they knew they screwed up will bite them in their Arse