This is topic I'm so angry at my bank I could spit in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
 
So my husband had some automatic bank drafts coming out of his old plumbing business account. They were for the leasing of a credit card machine and payments to the major credit card companies so we could accept credit cards from our customers. Naturally, since we no longer have the business, we wanted to get it all canceled so we'd quit essentially sending money down the drain.

He had already tried to stop it once, but the company that set up our merchant account no longer exists, they shut down and moved and we had no idea how to get in touch with them. So he goes to the bank, and says "Hey, I want this draft stopped, I've tried to stop it through the company and I can't get in touch with them, I no longer want the service, so please stop the drafts."

And the bank says - "No."

Are you kidding me? Doesn't the bank work for me, am I not the customer?

The bank says "You have to cancel it with the people who are making the draft." Wes says "Ok, no problem - I'd love to do that. But I can't contact them, so if you'd just tell me who is making the drafts so I can call them I'll take care of it."

The bank: "We're not allowed to give you that information." Um excuse me? It's my money, my account, and you can't tell me who it's going to?

The bank: "No, we can't legally give that info out."

So....Wes says, just close the account. That way, when they try to make a draft, they'll find out they can't, and maybe they'll contact me and we'll get it straightened out. The banks says: (you guessed it) "No. We can't close the account unless we have proof you've stopped these drafts and if you don't stop the drafts you'll be liable for legal fees and NSF fees when they try to make the draft."



So after more than an hour at the bank, and calling the branch manager, and then HIS manager Wes finally gets someone who will indeed cough up a phone number for who is making the draft.

I just find it inconceivable that a bank would protect the third party who is making the draft rather than work with the person who is supposed to be their customer. If it's my account, and my money, then why am I not entitled to at least know who is taking my money out of my account?

And just in case you're wondering what is on our statements, it's nothing but the first five letters of the company name and then some numbers, no phone number appears anywhere. Trying to track the company down with just that limited info proved impossible. We did call one place in Alabama with a name that we thought matched, but they'd never heard of us. Turns out the lease was sold to a company in California. So we called that company, go their address, and then wrote them a nasty letter, seeing as how they've been taking our money for a while without having ever contacted us, not even a phone call or note to the effect of "We noticed you weren't using the equipment and merchant accounts we set up for you, what's going on?" and told them not to make any more drafts. The bank has said they will close the old account after a set number of days to make sure the companies don't send through any drafts.

Seriously, though - the whole ordeal took more than three hours, and I think that's ridiculous. It made me think of a woman we know whose husband was a firefighter who ran his own business on the side, much like our previous situation. He was killed on the job. Imagine if she were trying to wrap up his business affairs and ran into this type of situation. The bank is more interested in protecting that third party company than me, the customer. Sorry, but that makes me angry.
 

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Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
 
Wow.

I hope you guys are never doing business with that bank again.

Which bank was it, if you don't mind my asking? I'd like to avoid them like the plague.
 

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Posted by peterh (Member # 5208) on :
 
Go ahead and spit if it'll make you feel better. No one here will mind.

I know sometimes even saying a bad word helps me relax.

Seriously, sorry you had to go through that...
 

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Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
 
Wow.

I would suggest that, once all the other paperwork is taken care of, you close that account and badmouth that bank.

So, um, which bank was it again?
 

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Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
 
Yeah, I wanna know too.
 

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Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
 
I can see Wells Fargo pulling something like that. As a matter of fact, they did.

I closed an account recently that my ex and I shared. He neglected to tell me that my name was still on it. I send him a letter informing him of this decision. Closed account late November. Got a letter weeks later telling me they were deducting $30 from my current account (the one I share with current bf). It has something to do with the old account but the letter was extremely vague.

I told bf to call and they refuse to tell him anything. It's his account they are removing money from and they won't tell him why! I call and they tell me to go to the branch where I closed the account, that they can't do anything over the phone.

I go to the bank and I'm ready to rip someone a new one. Thankfully the guy I closed the account with seemed to remember me and instantly made a credit to the account. Apparently, I closed the account and later that day a charge went through. Of course there was no money in it, so they took it from my other account, the one with money in it.

This is me badmouthing Wells Fargo.
 

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Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
 
Good thing they no longer service my mortgage.

Suntrust sucks, in that they will not ever decline a debit card transaction, they don't maintain accurate balances on their website, and online billpay is not free. Then, if you get overdrawn, they nail you with combined charges of $60 a day, making it damn near impossible to get out. Not unique perhaps, but damn, they're the modern company store.

I switched to Band of America last May. I have not been overdrawn once. Balancing is made easier by a website that updates instantly and by free billpay, which is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Actually, wait. It's much better than sliced bread. Oh, and they also give me overdraft protection, which I have never needed yet. So I'm much happier now that I've left . . . SUNTRUST . . .
 

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Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
 
I closed a credit card about two years ago: and six months ago I got a statement.

A company which I had previously had an account with (but had also closed that account) had made an automatic deduction from my card. Instead of it failing because the card was cancelled, the bank put it through then sent me a bill.

I rang up and explaining I had cancelled the card and the bank told me it didn't matter: even though it was cancelled, anyone debiting from it who had the relevant numbers could do. It was then up to me to make a complaint, which the bank would pass on to the debitor. If they couldn't prove I actually authorised the transaction, *then* the bank would reverse it.

In my case it turned out fine - I filled in the complaint, the company admitted they had made a mistake and the money got taken off my card and the card re-cancelled.

But it made me angry that in effect, I can never truly cancel/close the card against further transactions.
 

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Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
 
imogen, the same thing happened to us too. When we got DSL we attempted to close our dial up account and we switched ISP's. The old ISP kept billing us. We notified them, they didn't stop. Then, we called them, and they said "Well, we see on our records where you've attempted to close the account, but you must provide the last four digits of the original credit card that opened the account."

Well, that card had been canceled more than two years before and I didn't have the number. So, I asked the bank (yeah, same one) why they still allowed charges on old credit cards that had been cancelled, heck it was expired too! They said they still had to process it.

And the name? AmSouth bank. AmSouth
 

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Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
 
Belle, I had a similar problem with AOL. No problem with the bank, who did not give them any money or pass along any bills. But I couldn't convince AOL that I was me. But here's the thing: I didn't want to *cancel* AOL, I just wanted to give them updated billing information. In other words, I wanted to keep giving them money. I would have expected them to want it. They didn't, and when the bank would not pay them, they canceled my acount, and I've never looked back. Who's the stupid one? A O L
 

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Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
 
But here's the question: Is it the bank you should be complaining about, or is this really what the law requires the bank to do? If they can't legally do the things you want them to do, it could be the law you should complain about.
 

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Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
 
If there's a law that says I MUST treat people poorly, I'm not going to obey the law.
 

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Posted by Theaca (Member # 8325) on :
 
What's your definition of poorly. We have privacy laws, HIPAA laws. There are always going to be people who have been ill-treated under privacy laws. The laws can be a real pain. But, you just can't pick and choose who to be nice to if you might be held accountable.
 

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Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
 
Well, how come my bank apparently did not behave as Belle's did? Was one following the law and one not, or did the law change?

-o-

I suspect it's not law at all, but rather corporate policy.

I can't document that, but it's my gut feeling.
 

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Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
 
If it is law, then I will definitely complain about it. If someone is taking money out of my account, I think I should have the right to their contact information. Please note we weren't asking for their account numbers, we just wanted to call them.
 

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Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
 
And on the few occasions I've needed to get in touch with a company who's taken money out of my account, I've had absolutely no problems at all. Perhaps it's because I bank at a credit union, though, I do know they're exempt from some of the banking laws because technically they aren't a bank.
 

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Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
 
The only problem I have with my bank is that they hardly have any ATMs around here associated with them, so I almost always have to pay a $1.50 or $2 fee to get money out by ATM.

--Enigmatic
 

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Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
 
The only business I authorize to take money out automatically is my bank for mortgage payments back when we had a house. Otherwise, I use electronic bill pay.

Belle, I realize merchant accounts don't allow that and you were pretty much stuck there. But for anything where one has discretion, I wouldn't use auto-bill pay.
 

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Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
 
As an incidental though related matter, 2 dollars for an ATM withdrawal is highway robbery. You'd have rioting in the streets if you tried that in Norway. My Norwegian bank, in fact, doesn't charge me at all for ATM withdrawals.
 

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Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Enigmatic:
The only problem I have with my bank is that they hardly have any ATMs around here associated with them, so I almost always have to pay a $1.50 or $2 fee to get money out by ATM.

--Enigmatic

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quote:

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As an incidental though related matter, 2 dollars for an ATM withdrawal is highway robbery.

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quote:

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That's why you go to WalMart and buy a candy bar with your debit card and then get cash back. The candy bar costs less.

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Or always take cash out when you buy groceries or go to Walgreens . . .
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 

quote:

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ITA

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ITA?
ITA?
ITA?
ITA?

quote:

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Or always take cash out when you buy groceries or go to Walgreens . . .

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quote:

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Originally posted by Icarus:
I Totally Agree.

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