Stories like this are the reason why banks need to be heavily regulated

Same here. The Depression made a LOT of folks hate banks. Actually, I am fairly certain my dad used stronger terms than "conniving thieves"

 

I think you're referring to me instead of Dick. It was a transfer delay. My wife had enough money in her checking to cover the 3 lowest bills. She went to the bank to transfer money from a CD to the checking so the fourth one would be fully covered, and she'd have some left over for her expected other expenses. The manager, after doing the paperwork, said she would have the funds available in the next day or two.

She wrote out the checks the next day (It was for local stuff, like our water and sewer bill, a plumber bill, and some other stuff that I can't recall right now), figuring even with the mail, she'd have plenty of time. She also took some of the CD money for her pocket cash, so she didn't have to make an ATM trip.

When she finally needed money again, she goes to the ATM, sees the negative balance. The checks were all paid five days later. The same day that the money transfer took place. My wife pointed that out to them, and they made some excuse that it takes a long time to process transfers. My wife pointed out that she had the paperwork, and they claimed that they had something in the fine print that said they weren't responsible for the amount of time that it would take to process the transfer (Like it takes 5 days to type in a few numbers in the computer. This ain't the 19th century). She got hit with four overdraft fees.

This B of A branch also messed up numerous times by getting my wife's accounts and my mom's accounts confused. My wife would deposit money, and it would show up in my mom's account, and vice versa. At one point, my mom complained, and they suggested my wife should write her a check for the money instead of correcting the error themselves. Stupid people.

 

My current bank did that once, but in a good way. I was on a trip a few states over, tried to pay for something with my bank credit card, and it wouldn't go through. I called my local branch (I know the manager there), and they said they had put a hold on the card because they were worried that it had been stolen, and had been trying to contact me at home.

 

I think one of the laws in the federal banking reform took care of this. What happened with my wife was a few years back.

 

Why bother? Just hire a six-year old and pay him 30 cents an hour.

P.S., sorry about the post-padding. There was a lot to respond to here.

 

I use BofA. It's the only bank that's in the city I live in and my family's hometown. A banker in our branch confessed to us that BofA will waive just about any fee if you complain enough. No worries, I can do that if my own money is at stake.

I refinanced my BofA mortgage elsewhere because their PMI is bloated compared to everywhere else (yes, I have a PMI. I'm working on it). I keep checking and 2-3 savings accounts with BofA with no issues. My money situation is hardly complicated, though.

 

You better watch your ass with credit unions, too. I have accounts with a credit union and accounts with BofA, and I sense little difference in appetite for fees. At the credit union, I am required to maintain a $5 minimum balance. Once I wrote a check that took my balance down to something like $4.87. Did they charge me a maintenance fee? Oh no, they charged me a $28 overdraft fee.

My most egregious banking story involves Citibank. For a time I had a checking account there that, if I used the debit card, gave me airline miles. Because they had only one branch locally, I didn't keep my main account there. Rather, on payday I'd figure up which bills I'd be paying with the debit card and then deposit that amount (with a modest cushion) into that account with cash. The balance would get low, like $8, every month, but there was no minimum and I watched the thing like a hawk. Anyway, one month I deposited something like $2,200 in cash. On the way out I remembered I meant to keep $100 in cash. Rather than walking back into the lobby, I walked over to the ATM and withdrew $100. Although the ATM told me my available balance was something like $2,204, and it allowed me to withdraw $100, I got popped for a $35 overdraft fee for that transaction because the deposit (in cash) had yet to technically be posted to my account. Mind you I could have simply deposted $2,100 and all would have been fine. Fortunately I happened to check the balance the next day, prior to paying any bills, because otherwise I'd have gone negative and would have had at least one or two more charges. They refunded the charge, but I closed that account very shortly thereafter.

 

Yes, it did. The same banking reforms that the banks fought tooth and nail, backed by you-know-who. Also, the same banking reforms that sparked the banks to introduce the debit-card fees that were so widely reviled.

 

I hate BOA. I hate BB&T worse.

Switched back to a credit union almost two years ago now and love it.

Was fed up with BB&T after they decided to put a "courtesy" hold on a check I deposited for three business days without telling me; meanwhile the checks I had written against it all bounced to the tune of $35 per check in fees.

When I went to ask about it, the lady at the counted told me I would have been better off just showing up and cashing the check, then depositing the cash. I could have avoided the situation entirely. When she refused to put the $105 back in my account for the NSF charges, I bolted and haven't looked back.

BB&T still sends me a statement each month, even after I closed the account, and recently they have been adding $10/month in maintenance fees. I've tried to get this situation resolved as well and am getting the runaround.

Haven't had a penny in the account, which was closed in February of 2009, and they are still trying to charge me $10/month?

Unreal.

 

Yea, I was wondering what with all the love being expressed for credit unions, do they just swallow fees and allow negative balances and all that kind of stuff? I am not against credit unions, have an account at one myself, but I doubt they are the sweet grandmother many are painting them to be. Not when you're ultimately talking about money.

 

Shut up and eat your smaller slice of bigger pie, America. These grotesque CEO salaries aren't going to just pay themselves, you know.

www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/dec/14/executive-pay-increase-america-ceos

 

Aren't banks already heavily regulated in the United States?