Big Bank You Win!
August 1st, 2007After reading several articles and comments on the internet, I realize I am not alone in my quest. Here’s the short version on why I am closing my checking account with my bank:
Day #1 (Friday):Â Check deposited into the ATM to bring my account to a positive balance.
Day #2 (Saturday): Available balance reflects the deposit. The check has posted and has changed from a “pending” status to a “cleared” status. I started paying bills insuring that I do not overdraw my accounts due to any recurring withdrawals.
Day #3 (Sunday): Available Balance reflects the deposit and the transaction still shows as “cleared”.
Day #4 (Monday): Receive email alert showing my available balance as positive. Online banking still show the transaction has “cleared”. The check clears the issuing bank.
Day #5 (Tuesday): Receive email alert showing that I have a large negative balance. I was sure there was some type of mistake.
I call customer service and talk to the agent who explains there was a hold on my check for 10 days from the initial deposit. I explained my situation and asked the hold to released. I understand the reason for the hold but take issue with the fact that it showed up as an “Available Balance” and as a “cleared” transaction. The agent just kept reciting policy to me. I then asked to speak to a supervisor.
I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with the supervisor reciting policy to me. I kept explaining that I understood the policy, but need to talk to someone who can release the hold. She said “no one at ‘big bank name’ can release the hold”. I think the CEO along with a few others probably have the authority to release holds on checks. The supervisor agreed to waive the overdraft fees.
I was able to make another deposit that could be credited that next business day (Thursday). My balance was positive for a few days, but then went negative because of all the overdraft fees from the hold. I went into my local branch to try to handle this in person, but they were unable to talk to me because the account in question was from another state. I have traded several emails with customer service only to have policy reiterated back to me and telling me how much they value me. They have refunded all but one of the overdraft fees. The hold is supposed to be released tomorrow either at 9AM or 5PM depending on which email you read.
I consider myself a smart person (for the most part) and find this very frustrating and discouraging. Here I am trying to make mends of my financial situation and then have to deal with this. Not to mention now I have to figure out which of the 14 payments they actually paid and which they returned for NSF fees.
My issues:
- There are 10 day holds on checks deposited in my DC account, but no holds for checks deposited in my CA account. This is because the CA account is a new account and its history is not associated with my DC account. This is a good thing for me, but seems kind of stupid that because I chose to deposit it one account vs. another on my ATM card there is a 10 day hold.
- The transaction in question should have remained pending or at the very least not show up as a “cleared” transaction in my online statement.
- Do not send me a daily alert telling me I have X dollars as available balance then take it away the following day.
- Customer service should try to listen to the customer point-of-view and at least attempt to understand the problem instead of just spitting policy back, both verbal and text.
- Be clear about when the hold will be released (even show it on my online statement). Some say it will clear at 9am and some say 5pm (and what time zone is that? I’m assuming the time zone of where the account.
While I do have complaints about the policy, I understand the policy and reasons for the hold. It is my responsibility as a consumer of bank name’s products to be aware of the policies affecting deposits and holds. However, I disagree with the way this was handled. They did finally change my available balance, but the transaction still shows up as cleared online.
I am not sure what it is yet, but one of my goals will be to help other consumers out there who are struggling to maintain their financial situation. There are some good resources there already and stories very similar to mine.
Checkout Wesabe and Article about BOA’s customer service.
