Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests venting about my bank

yesterday evening i ordered a DVD burner off of ebay. i payed imediately via paypal, but the page was having issues. i ended up paying twice. so i called paypal and they got me in touch with the customer service number for the ebay customer i bought it from. they promptly refunded the accidental second payment, and all was well.

come to find out my bank had already approved the second payment request paypal sent them. this caused me to go into the negative by $0.76. ontop of that, the dremel i bought yesterday put me into the negative by about $58. my gripe is that the bank SHOULD NOT have approved a second request for money from paypal knowing that it would send me into the negative. so now i owe my bank $60 in overdrawn fees (30 per transaction) for something that they shouldn't have approved in the first place.

luckly my mother works for the bank and got in contact with the branch manager and got some forms we will have to fill out and no charges will be incurred. still a stressful situation nonetheless.

~Andrew

i'm not sure how that's the banks fault. it's a crappy situation for sure, but not their fault.


i have a better one for you....

some credit agency issued a bench garnishment for someone with the same name as me, and proceeded to suck all of my money (over $3,000) out of my checking account. they literally took every last penny, and left me at zero! i had checks for rent, car, bills etc. all in the mail still!! talk about a stressful situation! i ended up getting it resolved... a week later!

Since you consider it the bank's fault, I'm assuming you have overdraft protection on your account?? If not, it's totaly your fault.

Transactions will process on your account, it's 100% YOUR responsibility to manage your account (unless you have overdraft protection).

How about this one: I once dealt with a by phone/internet/abm only bank (This "bank" operates kiosks in and is closely associated with a very large grocery chain here in Canada).

I had a cheque (someone elses, not mine) bounce on me after I had already withdrawn the money from the account. What do these brainiacs do? They disabled the ABM card for both withdrawls (which you can expect), and also for deposits! On top of that, they refused to admit the card was disabled, and refused to do anything to rectify the problem. Long story short, they ended up closing the account, and I paid them what was owed... however, about 3 years later, I find out they've placed a item on my credit report: Banking Machine Abuse!

Still working on getting that removed...

Moral of the story, don't deal with "fake banks"....

-- Steve

I once took out $2700 in cash from my bank to buy my laptop. I had $2800 in the account ... so basically I was emptying my account. The teller didn't even ask for ID, and when I questioned her about it she said she didn't need it (I had put in a $70 deposit at the same time and I guess she assumed I was me?). It's not the first time I've seen lax security at this branch ... needless to say I dont' keep much cash in that account anymore and will probably get rid of it after graduating college.

I work for a bank. The bank is not responsible for your transactions. The bank does not "approve" each and every transaction. As far as electronic debits they cannot refuse many of them unless the account is disabled. Could you imagine if banks had a person who looked at every transaction. "oops looks like paypal messed up for $50 bucks" They do pull aside very large transactions to check them.

I'm sick of hearing from customers who can't claim responsibility for their actions. If keep your account so close to the edge of being overdrawn then you should get line of credit to protect it. If you overdraw your account 5000 or 5 cents its still negative... you should be keeping a check register for every transaction you do. People always blame the bank. How is it the banks fault for a messed up paypal page or money being accidentally drawn from your account? If you cannot handle a checking account then don't have one. If you get screwed because someone else messes up their account information... then its not your fault and you will be refunded.

On the other side of the story, bank regulation protects the consumer against all forms of fraud. If your account falls victim to fraud then you are completely protected. You will get the money back within 10 days (unless several $1000)

The other misconception is that the bank shouldn't make money. Do you know how much it costs to run a bank? Do you know how much it costs just to insure a bank? The fees you pay for being irresponsible or lazy are what keep your bank running. If you don't want to pay don't overdrawl and be smart with your money or keep your money under the couch. (if the fees are generated by something that was not your fault such as bank error or unauthorized debits then they will be refunded)

As for banks not ID-ing... it depends on the situation. Some branches are terrible about that (but again if its fraud then you will get your money back anyhow). But most bank policy allows tellers to not take ID if they have in the past and you are a regular customer. $2700 check isn't huge and doesn't always require ID if the customer is known. It really depends on the type of check, who the check is from, your current account balance, etc. (but many banks are too lax about this)

Banks make mistakes but the electronic age has brough a new generation of customers who do not keep track of their accounts but refuse to attach protection.

Blaming your bank is like filing a lawsuit against mcdonalds for spilling coffee on your lap.

Well hey if i spill coffee on myself and sue and WIN, whos the idiot there? But i do have a gripe with banks and the fees they charge. The money people put into a bank is used by the bank for investments and what not. That makes them a large amount of cash. I get pretty po'd that i have to pay a service charge when i want to deposit money in the bank. and please the amount of interest i get on my accounts is nothing. My main gripe just to reiterate is the amount of charges i have to pay just to use a bank. I think its quite outrageous.

I wanna know why my bank is closed on Saturday when Martin Luther King day is not until Monday.

I hate that. Banks get days off that they don't need because, well...they're banks. Now I have to wait until Tuesday to finish balancing my checkbook!

-SAV

doesnt your bank offer online or web banking? if not, you need to switch banks.

Exactly. I can either go online or call a 1-800 # 24 hours and listen to an automated voice that tells me my balance, what checks have most recently been processed up through the previous month, etc.