During these times of financial crisis, we are encouraged by many to not panic. Don't take your money out of the stock market or the banking institutions. However, these are the ones that are ripping us off.
I had a balace in my account with Wachovia of $70.65. I made a $42.80, $27.80 and $13.13 that posted on October 15, 2008. On October 14, I was charged $105.00 for three nonsufficient fund fees. I think if they weren't such idiots they would have known that I should have only had one overdraft fee of $35.00. My first two purchases should have covered leaving me a balance of five cents. But as if this was not enough on October 16, 2008 when my direct deposit posted they charged me another $105.00 fee which they called the overdraft charge. Now I have a total of $210.00 in fee charges.
What's the point of the bailout, they can get money from ripping customers off.
I went into the banking center on Pantersville road, the bank manager was sitting at the desk laughing and flirting with security. I pardoned the conversation not knowing she was the manager and asked if I could speak to the manager. She asked in reference to what. I said to discuss my account. She then asked for identification and pulled up my account on the screen and turned the screen to face me. I felt uncomfortable with this practice and asked if we could go into an office for my privacy. Her respond was no and she proceeded to discuss my account. I told her I would go to another bank, thank you for your time you have a good day, and as I proceeded to walk away, she said it will be this way at any bank because you have nonsufficient funds. I continued to walk to the tellers counter and withdrew my remaining balance. I have direct deposit and I know it is a process to change this, but from now on when my money post to my account I will withdraw immediately, until I can close the account. I am not even considered a middle class person, I am below that in status, therefore an attorney is out of the question. What do people like me do? Are we forgotten? or just Ignored and disrespected.
Report to your state and federal banking commissions and any other agencies that regulate banks. You can make a formal complaint. It can be placed on the Better Business Bureau's site too. I have had the same problems with this bank with their shoddy practices and rude, deceitful employees. You can take it to your local TV and radio stations too. You can search Wachovia bank complaints on any search engine and see for yourself the sheer volume of complaints, but for some reason people don't post it to the BBB. My best advise is to change banks.
The one thing that I have learned is that nothing is free in this world. Not even "Free Checking"!
My girlfriend attempted to withdrawal $2, 000 from the drive-thru teller and they accidentally gave her another customer's ID and $300. She drove off but of course after realizing what had happened, she returned the ID and money to the brance and the teller explained to her that because it was after hours, she could not withdraw the $2, 000 she initially did until the next morning until they get it all figured out.
After calling back the next day, they told her that the withdrawal processed. She is still attempting to resolve the situation and get her $2, 000 back.
Ridiculous!
Wachovia has perfected the practice of bundling transactions! They take all of the transactions and conveniently sort them from highest to lowest. I was told that this is because "generally the highest amounts are the most important". So this activity by Wachavia takes the most money from your account as possible first so that all of the smaller transactions have a greater chance of being posted to a negative balance thus a $35 fee for each one. The best advise that I can give you is to keep good records. Wachovia/Wells Fargo is not in the business of taking care of their customers. They have informed me that the do not do any processing over the weekend (Friday, Saturday, or Sunday). So they take all of the transactions for 4 or 5 days and apply the same policy.
You are not alone...They did the same thing to me. I had 46 dollars in my account made a purchase for 10, and 13 dollars. On that same day automatic payment for my gym was processed, because of that I should I have gotten one overdraft fee. Although I had the 46 dollars on there, they charged me $70 for overdraft before taking out the payments, when I called they told me that they will credit back my account 35 dollars. However, I will be charge another 105 dollars due to the fact that the payments were not yet processed. the employee that I talked to over the phone informed me that if I deposit money to cover the previous fees on that same day, they will not charge me the 105 dollar fees. I checked my account today, they end up charging my account anyways. I am waiting for my next deposit to take my business elsewhere. I use to like Wachovia...but now I feel like they are taking advantage of their customers.