[Rant] Well, fuck

[Ravenpoe]

So, about a week ago I posted here about my shiny new video card I just put in my PC. It was expensive, but I decided why not, I'll treat myself.


It would seem the universe is now telling me that was a mistake.


The buyer I bought the card from mistakenly charged me for two. A costly mistake, but one that was discovered and eventually rectified. No problem, right?

I don't keep a large amount of money in my checking account, so when this double payment hit, I became overdrawn. My bank will automatically transfer funds from savings to cover this, but they charge a $40 fee for doing so. Shitty for something that turned out to be a mistake, but oh well, that's life, right?

Except they charge this fee for every single transaction. Since this mistake want immediately discovered, every normal everyday transaction I was making with my debit card was incurring another $40 fee. There's one transaction on there for $0.49 that then incurred a $40 fee. And they didn't bother to alert me to any of this until my savings account hit negative, which incurs it's own sets of fees for going below the minimum balance required for the account.

So now when I look at my accounts, all I see is large red numbers. And my bank is being less than cooperative about waiving and fixing this because, well, fuck me I guess.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Oh, hey, my paycheck was direct deposited this morning aaand it's gone.

I have eight dollars in my pocket and haven't bought groceries this week yet.

This could be problematic.

 

[Shakey]

That's insanely expensive. Don't let up on them, and at the very least switch to another bank.

 

[strawman]

Wow, that's bad! Keep the pressure on your bank, they shouldn't be charging that for each transaction, maybe once a day, but man, I'd be changing banks if they didn't take off all but one of those charges.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Wow, that's bad! Keep the pressure on your bank, they shouldn't be charging that for each transaction, maybe once a day, but man, I'd be changing banks if they didn't take off all but one of those charges.

If they don't waive the fee, I'm certainly never going to bank with them again. Once I can understand, but this adds up to a couple thousand dollars over almost two weeks.

 

[strawman]

a couple thousand dollars over almost two weeks.

That's insane. Utterly insane. Look into the laws in your area, and possibly check with an accountant or lawyer - it'll be worth it if you can recover even half that amount.

 

[Ravenpoe]

That's insane. Utterly insane. Look into the laws in your area, and possibly check with an accountant or lawyer - it'll be worth it if you can recover even half that amount.

I am hoping that this is all just a big mistake, an automated system doing crazy shit, and that the reason I got no help previously was because I was calling outside of office hours and dealing with their outsourced customer service, who probably can't do anything about it.

So since they didn't leave me enough money to even get lunch today, I literally have nothing better to do during my lunch break than to go bitch at them in person.

 

[strawman]

One of the reasons we've liked using smaller regional banks - you can almost always talk to someone only one or two levels from the president on short notice, and the president with an appointment, and they've always been very, very reasonable with fees.

Not that it matters, since our little regional bank of choice has been bought 3 times in the last several years, and is now part of the Chemical bank corporation. Still headquartered in Michigan, but with over 200 branches (now that they've absorbed Talmer, who absorbed Michigan Commerce, who absorbed Ann Arbor Commerce), there's no chance we'll get the personalized service that made us choose Ann Arbor Commerce in the first place.

 

[Denbrought]

That really sucks, I hope your bank comes through for you. Reminds me of when BofA was class-action'd for reordering people's transactions to maximize overdraft fees.

One of the reasons we've liked using smaller regional banks - you can almost always talk to someone only one or two levels from the president on short notice, and the president with an appointment, and they've always been very, very reasonable with fees.

Amen. Mostly this is why my main bank is a county-level credit union. Even so I have any sort of overdraft protection turned off, and check all my accounts online as part of my daily routine.

 

[Shakey]

My credit union will charge $1 to transfer $50 increments from savings to checking. They will most likely credit it back as well without me even asking, so I've never actually been charged that.

Whether they credit you back or not, they are going to screw you again. I would switch as soon as it's straightened out.

Also, file a complaint with the FDIC. https://www.fdic.gov/consumers/assistance/filecomplaint.html. That may be considered excessive and against the regulations of what they can charge.

 

[Ravenpoe]

My credit union will charge $1 to transfer $50 increments from savings to checking. They will most likely credit it back as well without me even asking, so I've never actually been charged that.

Whether they credit you back or not, they are going to screw you again. I would switch as soon as it's straightened out.

Also, file a complaint with the FDIC. https://www.fdic.gov/consumers/assistance/filecomplaint.html. That may be considered excessive and against the regulations of what they can charge.

I just called them to see if I could get an appointment with the branch manager, told them my problem, and was told the branch manager was going to investigate and call me back. I'm going to withhold the pitchfork until after I hear back.

This actually is a smaller, local credit union, so I'm still hoping this is a mistake and just bad automation that they'll be willing to fix. If not, then I'm going nuclear, but they've always been pleasant to bank with previous to this.

In the meantime, I'll be searching the local super market for free samples.

 

[Shakey]

Credit Unions have their own governing body, the NCUA, so that would be an option if it gets to that.

With it being a smaller CU, it could just be bad logic for overdrafts. I just think it should be a pretty obvious mistake,and shouldn't take that much work to correct. Give em hell though.

 

[Dave]

Sue the guy who double charged you for the amount of the overages. This isn't the bank's fault, nor is it yours.

 

[strawman]

In the meantime, I'll be searching the local super market for free samples.

Well, three boxes of mac n cheese and a pack of hotdogs will give you 4,000 calories for something less than a $5 bill. For bonus points cut the hotdogs into octopus and boil them with the macaroni.

That is, of course, just the main dish for one lazy meal (that my kids can cook) at my house, but should last a regular person two days. Intersperse Ramen noodles and beans and rice so your taste buds don't feel like committing suicide after the first three meals.[DOUBLEPOST=1476713909,1476713840][/DOUBLEPOST]Oh, and ballpark franks are best for octopus - they expand (intumescence FTW) when heated, so the tentacles splay naturally.

 

[fade]

The bank should waive these fees. I've always had good luck just straight up asking them to do so. Even on the occasion that it was my fault completely.

 

[Ravenpoe]

So, I just left the credit unions offices.


The good news is, after being a very pissed off customer to the branch manager (who did seem like a nice lady) they have agreed to waive all the fees.


The bad news is that because they say this isn't their fault, and that they don't normally waive fees, an $80 fee would occur for "account maintenance"

So, let me get this straight. To get rid of these frankly ludicrous fees, you're going to charge me a fee? You are basically telling me either pay $80 or you will hold my entire savings for ransom until I do?

"I'm sorry, sir, that's the policy."

Well, I suppose I don't have much of a choice then.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Yes, I'd like to close my account.



I didn't actually tell her to close my account. I will wait for this refund to clear, transfer everything to a new account somewhere else, and then close it. I don't trust them at the moment.


In other news, the local Wal-Mart now has a sign at their sample station limiting two samples per customer. This is my lasting legacy.

 

[Squidleybits]

I'm glad to hear that they waived the fees. While it isn't called interest, it sure seems like it and I believe the US has caps on how high an interest rate is legal. Once you hit overdraft, you are borrowing money. A $40 fee on $0.49 is criminal.

Sorry! Predatory lending drives me bananas. I rant. It was a caring rant though I hope [DOUBLEPOST=1476733684,1476733653][/DOUBLEPOST]PS - even $80 over a misunderstanding is terrible. Shame on them.

 

[fade]

Yeah, I'd find a new bank. I'm especially surprised a CU gave you the business, since they're generally less "evil" than banks.

 

[Chad Sexington]

This is horrible. I'm sorry to hear it, and I'm glad there's some resolution, but, as I'm a bad person, this:

In other news, the local Wal-Mart now has a sign at their sample station limiting two samples per customer. This is my lasting legacy.

made me laugh out loud.

 

[jwhouk]

And the sucky thing is that you can't even get Paypal or other support from any of us because of your CU.

Yeah, I'd report them to the NCUA or whatever CU association they are part of.