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Wachovia Bank Lectures Me on Responsibility
July 13th, 2007 by StephenWelcome back! It's good to see you again. Please note that I am now publishing all new material at my hub site: StephenPSmith.com
I have to tell you all how much
I hate Wachovia Bank
. Wachovia Bank just loves to play little accounting tricks and games in order to maximize their fees and penalties, then when you call the Wachovia Bank’s so-called “(horrible) Customer Service” line to inquire about why your checking account has just been looted, a very polite young lady says that she can’t justify treating you fairly because it is your responsibility to manage your check register.
I have never been good at that.
Wachovia Bank
, and I am going to tell everyone I know, (and several thousand that I don’t) how poorly I was treated this morning by Wachovia Customer Service.
New Next Actions:
- find a new bank.
- encourage others to do so.
- tell everyone about Wachovia Bank’s pitiful customer service.
I went to the online Customer Service Center and sent an email describing how I was treated, and this was the automated response:
Welcome to Wachovia!
We will be happy to assist you by investigating why an Unavailable Funds
fee was assessed. Before we may proceed, each customer must be verified
prior to confidential information being disclosed or any account
activities being performed to guarantee the security of our customers’
information. Please re-submit your email through Wachovia’s Secure
Message Center by using the instructions below or call us at the number
listed below.1. Go to wachovia.com.
2. Enter your User ID and Password.
3. Click login.
4. From the My Accounts page, select Send Messages from the Customer
Service box on the right-hand side of the screen.Note: You may also send us a message from any page in the Banking
section by selecting the Send a Message option located on the right side
of the page.Once Wachovia has responded to your inquiry, a message will be sent to
your email address alerting you that there is a message from us. To
retrieve the message, log in to Online Banking, and select View Messages
from the Customer Service box.
If this response did not address your concerns, please send us a secure
e-mail:1. Go to wachovia.com.
2. Enter your User ID and Password.
3. Select Online Services Home from the Service selection drop-down list
and click Login.
4. From the My Accounts page, select Send Message or View Messages from
the Customer Service box on the right-hand side of the screen.You can also call us at 800-WACHOVIA (922-4684), 24 hours a day, seven
days a week.Sincerely,
Wachovia Online Services
So I went through this whole process and now what? Well, I sent an email looking for my money back and an apology. I will keep you posted.
Update: As of close of business on Friday, still no response. But I have found more examples of:
Wachovia Bank abusing their customers.
Update: I finally did get my $70 back for the phoney-baloney “unavailable funds” charges. But look what happened to this poor guy:
This is not what Wachovia does though. Instead, once it identifies the $105 in overdraft fees (which would not occur until AFTER the original $100 transaction is paid out), it backs that out of the available balance and pays it to itself BEFORE paying the original $100 transaction that precipitated the overdraft. By doing this, there are then also no funds available to pay the $100 transaction, and it nets them another $35 overdraft fee and leaves the customer with a negative balance of $170. I am told by my banker friend that the bank says it pays itself first because that protects the bank against the customer who says “Forget this, I’m going across the street to the other bank and opening accounts there instead of paying fees.” However, she also tells me that in reality, the banks report people who do not cover their negative balances to an interbank reporting agency, that each bank checks it before opening the new accounts, and that they wouldn’t open the new accounts for the customer until the prior bank is paid off or removes the report. If that is the case, this argument doesn’t hold water. In my circumstance, because they were all small transaction values, Wachovia was able to use this method to generate three more overdraft fees. I am absolutely appalled at this business practice.
If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/4evz76. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen
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July 13th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Stephen,
I’m curious what exactly happened to your checking account, i.e., why you called Wachovia in the first place.
Obviously, banks are supposed to watch out for their customers. But, legally speaking, customers have an obligation to monitor their accounts and catch things in a timely manner.
Don’t get me wrong: I hate Wachovia too. We’ll be switching banks as soon as we move in a month.
Best,
Andrew
July 14th, 2007 at 8:18 am
It all started back in January, when a hotel that we stayed at double-charged us on our debit card (3 nights, 2 rooms!) which caused an NSF problem and several overdraft charges. It took 10 days for the hotel to credit my account, then Wachovia refused to refund the overdraft charges. This was a substantial setback, and we have been trying to recover from this loss ever since. This last week was a tight one, and now they are playing games with what they call “unavailable funds” fees. Of course, the funds were unavailable due to Wachovia’s bizarre posting schedule: where transactions are posted to your account largest-to-smallest, regardless of the actual date of an electronic transaction or the actual arrival of a check. And direct deposits of paychecks “don’t count” until midnight of the day they go in.
July 16th, 2007 at 10:26 am
Man, that situation really sucks. It’s always stinks how those fees cause more overdrafts.
I didn’t know that direct deposits weren’t counted as “available” until midnight. That’s weird.
Good luck!
July 16th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
may i recommend usaa.com. I’m not an employee for them just on the move a lot and they let me do everything from home even deposit from my scanner and refund atm charges.
peace,
david s
July 19th, 2007 at 10:51 am
UMMMM, in reply to david s, not everyone is eligible to become a member of usaa.com as I found out after accessing after seeing its offer of being able to deposit checks from home. To become a member of usaa.com, you must meet their requirements:
* Children of USAA members.
* Active-duty officers and enlisted personnel.
* National Guard and Selected Reserve officers and enlisted personnel.
* Officer candidates in commissioning programs.
* Recently retired or separated military personnel.
* Former USAA members.
Unfortunately, not everyone fits into that category.
It would have been much better had you suggested a bank that offers banking from home that everyone (within much less stringent categories - I am aware that some credit-challenged people cannot get bank accounts most anywhere) can open a bank account at.
July 24th, 2007 at 11:41 am
STILL JULY n Im dealing with the same Crap That Stephen Dealt with Bogus unavailiable funds fees on my account when I know the money was there to cover it and they cant explain clearly why and they dont want to send us to a supervisor or corporate office I have a problem solver for all of you CONTACT THE OCC and file a complaint as a matter of a fact file several complaints I had no problem with Wachovia but now I believe they stink like bull S* OCC = Office of the Comptroller of the currency
August 21st, 2007 at 4:35 am
As much as I would like to sympathize, I simply cannot (see reason 1). I don’t agree with outrageous bank fees, but these fees can be avoided with proper planning and smarter banking.
Here is how to protect yourself next time:
1) Why, why, why the hell are you using a debit card for a hotel stay, or anything period? Debit cards are good only for one thing: To withdraw cash in a foreign country from an ATM. That’s it. Any place that takes a signature debit card accepts credit cards.
Hotels, car rentals and gas stations (especially pay at the pump) will place an authorization hold on purchases which may take a few days to clear. This can hit your available balance, even if you have sufficient funds.
2) What if you need to make purchases using a debit card (with PIN ) such as Arco which does not take credit cards? Get an ATM card instead. This is one without a MasterCard or Visa logo. By default banks issue debit card in the name of customer convenience because they make more money off signature transactions vs. PIN based. On top of that, if the card is stolen, what are the chances someone can use the card? 1 in 9999 because a PIN is required. A signature debit card can really be used by anyone.
3) You saw what happened when the hotel messed up. They messed up with your money. If you had used a credit card, then they would have messed up with a credit line. This gives you time to sort the problem out, and even dispute a charge. As you saw, it’s harder to dispute a charge when the money has already been debited from your account?
4) If you’re afraid of getting into debt or worried about late payments, many banks can automatically the full statement balance if you request this.
5) If you cannot pay your credit card bill in full every month, well then you should not overspend. If you worry about spending too much, then go all cash for a month. Seriously. You’ll feel the impact of spending more by handing over bills vs. swiping a card.
6) Set up overdraft lines of credit or savings transfers to cover your checking account. Many banks charge a fee of about $10 only when needed, plus finance charge. The best banks/credit unions offer interest only overdraft for the days you are in a negative balance. Pay this back within a few days and the finance charge will be a fraction of an NSF and dishonored check fee.
November 6th, 2007 at 11:09 am
[…] read more | digg story […]
June 4th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Stephen, i’m dealing with similar problems just like you. I will stop using wachovia bank ASAP
July 21st, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I had a CD with Wachovia for a substantial amount that matured on July 6. On June 20, I gave written authorization to transfer the money into another account outside Wachovia upon maturity of the CD. It’s Now July 21st and after numerous phone calls, I still haven’t got my money. While the ” check is in the mail” Wachovia is holding a lot of free money. Either they’re in trouble or it’s corporate shenanagans. Stay away from Wachovia
July 21st, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Hi Tim. Wachovia sucks. That is all I can say.
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:04 am
We all know how to play this. You reply with a word you immediately think of when you see the previous one.
e.g.
I POST:
stapler
YOU COULD REPLY WITH:
office supplies
Then it continues on.
OK, the starting word is:
TOMATO
May 15th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
askmrlee, that’s real easy for you to say if you have the credit or are easily able to get credit cards with low interest rates. all of us are not in that boat and banks, credit card companies nor anyone else should have the right to inconvenience us to their gain. If the hotel charges you too much and takes forever to refund you then the bank should be able to track that and they should work it out that’s called good customer service. The problem is that these banks are so big they’ve gotten use to bullying people and getting away with it. Also, it makes no sense that if you purchase something for 200 and then somethings for 20, 10 and 75 the 200 comes out before the lower amounts regardless of what time or day (if its the weekend) you made the purchases. This just gives banks a way of collecting 3 $35.00 fees instead of 1 and its not fair to consumers!
June 21st, 2009 at 2:51 am
I never heard about http://www.wachoviabank.com like this before. Thank for this.
December 1st, 2009 at 12:11 am
Dear Friend,
I was just looking for forum to present my ideas and my three years of incessant,protracted and silent struggle with wachoiva.
Despite three years of struggle, I am nowhere and yet to find a clear answer from wachovia.The repeat reply is the as has been given above.go to wachovia……
it is unfortunate that wachovia is yet to find a responsible person to give an explanation for our queries.