I hate my bank!!!!

Hi,

The moneygrabbing, callous, arrogant festering crotch rots who run the Bank
of Scotland have totally overcome any lingering sense of customer service in
their latest round of customer mailings - so much so I think I may need a
pregnancy test.

The current account I have has never exactly been a beacon of reasonable
charges or service provision but today I got a letter flatly informing me
that it will no longer pay any intrest on credit balances whatsoever.

O.k. it was only ever 0.1% and being in credit is not something I was
terribly familiar with.

But, just to make sure the nut got well and truly screwed to the sticking
place, they have also decided to change the overdraft rules beyond all
reasonable bounds.

Up till now I have had a free £100 overdraft with an additional £200 that
carried a penalty charge of 1.5% if it was used.

Sad to say I have to use the additional £200 facility most months for varying amounts of time to tide me over between the bills arriving and the next dribble of money. I don't think I am all that unusual in this ( I have several friends who live on the very edge of their overdrafts permanently despite good incomes ) and the charges tended to hover around the £0.64 mark per month for me on average.

The new rules however are that ANY use of an ARRANGED overdraft ( up to
£2500 ) will be charged at £1 per day!!!!!

That works out at an increase in my monthly charges for having a £300 overdraft of 4587.5%!!!!!!

How the bejeebus can that be legal or seen as a reasonable charge?

They graciously add that they will, however, no longer charge intrest on the
overdraft amount.

Big whoop. For that amount of charges to be levied through intrest at the
old level the overdrawn amount would have to be £2,000. (er..... that's if my
math is correct ).

Or, to put it another way, I am ( from the 6th of December ) effectively
going to be charged for an extra £1,700 worth of overdraft I do not have.

Merry bleedin Christmas indeed. :-(

So, in the run up to Christmas, I now have approximately six weeks to
somehow find an extra £300 or be charged £30 a month.

I guess this year I get to play the grinch who doesn't give any presents. :taz:


dr del

Sorry to hear that

That's nothing! I got charged 4 overdraft fees of $35 each last week for $5 and under charges. How did I go negative? LaQuinta kindly billed me for my cancelled reservation for Tinley that I canceled 36 hours before the date (and you have until 6 pm of the day of the reservation to cancel).

LUCKILY - LaQuinta reversed the charges (because I had my confirmation e-mail of the cancellation), but it took 3 business days for the money to go back into my account. Once that showed up, my bank agreed to reverse the overdraft fees, so it worked out in the end.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rabernet

That's nothing! I got charged 4 overdraft fees of $35 each last week for $5 and under charges. How did I go negative? LaQuinta kindly billed me for my cancelled reservation for Tinley that I canceled 36 hours before the date (and you have until 6 pm of the day of the reservation to cancel).

LUCKILY - LaQuinta reversed the charges (because I had my confirmation e-mail of the cancellation), but it took 3 business days for the money to go back into my account. Once that showed up, my bank agreed to reverse the overdraft fees, so it worked out in the end.

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Been there before, I'm leaving my Bank (Bank of America) cause of the stunts they've pulled on my account.

I've never had issues with banks..

Yay wells fargo I suppose?

I have Bank of America atm. I HATE THEM! I've had them for 8 months now and can not wait till my CD's are matured. I'm outta there! When I first opened up my account, they charged me monthly to keep my money in my normal checking and in my bill pay checking with them. I went off and got that changed around. As of this past Friday, they billed me once again for some monthly fee of $35. It took my account over by one cents and bang they nailed me with a nice over draft fee. MIND YOU I have my savings account hook up for over draft protection to both my checking accounts. I went storming in there on Saturday demanding that they fix it. I got talked down to, and we went around and around. I told them I wanted my money back now and for that cause. I wanted to close my account out and ya know what... they had the balls to tell me that I could not because my CD's are in a year maturity lifespan with them. WOW just wow. What a bunch of horrib;e people who don't know if they are talking to the right or left hand.

You gotta love how they arrange the charges to come out so you get dinged the hardest. For example, the most expensive get paid first, the your left with all the small transactions to get charged individually for(regardless of the order the transactions were made).:rage:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AaronP

Been there before, I'm leaving my Bank (Bank of America) cause of the stunts they've pulled on my account.

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I had Wells Fargo for a while. Somebody fraudulently used my account, so, they closed my account on me and told me I couldn't bank with them for a year. The hell with them too.

I feel you , I stoped all acounts and closed the 2 I had do to the fee's and reg. I really need an acount but, for now its all cash. I like it like that no credit cards If I dont have the cash I dont need what ever it is I'm looking at. Sorry about what the bank has done to you..

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Originally Posted by twistedtails

You gotta love how they arrange the charges to come out so you get dinged the hardest. For example, the most expensive get paid first, the your left with all the small transactions to get charged individually for(regardless of the order the transactions were made).:rage:

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They actually can't do that anymore, there was a class action lawsuit to stop it earlier this year.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AaronP

They actually can't do that anymore, there was a class action lawsuit to stop it earlier this year.

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I heard about that actually. As far as I know they are still doing it though.

Sorry doc for your troubles. I tend to stay clear of large national banks. I find I get the best service from small locally owned banks like Bank-plus here in Ms. We can tie our checking and savings together for overdraft protection, no fees for most checking accounts, and great customer service. it also doesn't hurt that Freakys wife is head teller at one of the branches. LOL.

im with tonkatoyman...small towns do have their good points, the banks would be one of them

Sounds like a financial management course is needed for some of you..... I see adds all the time for banks that dont charge for checking and savings accounts, if your not happy with the charges banks apply, you should pay attention to their terms of service prior to opening an account with them.... It only makes sense. You will, however, always get dinged for spending money you do not have so Im not sure why that would be the banks fault.

I have never understood overdraft charges. Think about it?

They are charging you money that they already know you don't have!

I have a Bank of America story. My hubby has been laid off, off and on, for the past couple months. The first week of lay-off is a waiting week with no pay. Then they process the second week at the beginning of the 3rd week. And now they send out debit cards instead of checks, which is great after you're established because the money is there right away, but it takes 7-10 bus. days for them to mail your card, so we essentially went 2 1/2 weeks without any kind of money from my husband.

ANYWAY, my car payment was coming up due (is automatically debited from my acct) but I needed to delay it a few days, so I called BOA to do a stop payment 2 days before the debit was scheduled. For whatever reason, it didn't "take" and the car payment was debited. I ended up with SEVEN overdrawn transactions because of it at $35 each!! I called to complain/beg/cry whatever it took....but they wouldn't budge (said that you had to do a stop payment at least 3 days in advance)! Not only that, but since my account was in the red for 5 days, they charged an additional $35 fee for extended overdrawn account!! At a time when I could LEAST afford it.
Realizing I have to take responsibility for my own mistakes (should have checked if the stop payment worked before I made those 7 other transactions) I even asked if I could be credited the fees and pay them off a little at a time, but nope.

And because I had lost almost $300 to their fees, I was short again the following pay period and over drew again a couple times just to get bills paid.

I work for gov't so I'm eligible for a credit union and I switched as soon as I had the minimum deposit to do it with. BOA should miss me...it seems my fees would represent a rather large percentage of their business, haha.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by twistedtails

I heard about that actually. As far as I know they are still doing it though.

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Yes, they are DEF. still doing it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AaronP

They actually can't do that anymore, there was a class action lawsuit to stop it earlier this year.

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Wachovia/Wells Fargo is still doing that.

Just found out yesterday that because some transfers didn't go thru in time and a check went to be cashed before the funds were "released", I got hit with a returned check charge................$200.....................WTF! $200 for a returned check charge? I NEVER got any notice that they were charging this fee. I called the bank and was told TS.
Tomorrow I am closing the account.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MasonC2K

I have never understood overdraft charges. Think about it?

They are charging you money that they already know you don't have!

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They are charging you points on the money that they had to put up so that whatever you bought could be paid for. They feel like, if we have to come out of pocket because you cant manage your money, then you should have to compensate us for paying your bills for you......

I realize things happen and sometimes you get caught in a bind. But that comes back to financial management also, plan for the worst so in case it happens you are prepared. Dont let yourself get strapped to the point of having to live paycheck to paycheck that way you can put money aside for a rainy day or whatever you call it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

The moneygrabbing, callous, arrogant festering crotch rots who run the Bank
of Scotland have totally overcome any lingering sense of customer service in
their latest round of customer mailings - so much so I think I may need a
pregnancy test.

The current account I have has never exactly been a beacon of reasonable
charges or service provision but today I got a letter flatly informing me
that it will no longer pay any intrest on credit balances whatsoever.

O.k. it was only ever 0.1% and being in credit is not something I was
terribly familiar with.

But, just to make sure the nut got well and truly screwed to the sticking
place, they have also decided to change the overdraft rules beyond all
reasonable bounds.

Up till now I have had a free £100 overdraft with an additional £200 that
carried a penalty charge of 1.5% if it was used.

Sad to say I have to use the additional £200 facility most months for varying amounts of time to tide me over between the bills arriving and the next dribble of money. I don't think I am all that unusual in this ( I have several friends who live on the very edge of their overdrafts permanently despite good incomes ) and the charges tended to hover around the £0.64 mark per month for me on average.

The new rules however are that ANY use of an ARRANGED overdraft ( up to
£2500 ) will be charged at £1 per day!!!!!

That works out at an increase in my monthly charges for having a £300 overdraft of 4587.5%!!!!!!

How the bejeebus can that be legal or seen as a reasonable charge?

They graciously add that they will, however, no longer charge intrest on the
overdraft amount.

Big whoop. For that amount of charges to be levied through intrest at the
old level the overdrawn amount would have to be £2,000. (er..... that's if my
math is correct ).

Or, to put it another way, I am ( from the 6th of December ) effectively
going to be charged for an extra £1,700 worth of overdraft I do not have.

Merry bleedin Christmas indeed. :-(

So, in the run up to Christmas, I now have approximately six weeks to
somehow find an extra £300 or be charged £30 a month.

I guess this year I get to play the grinch who doesn't give any presents. :taz:


dr del

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Will the baby be het for anything? :rolleyes: Sorry i could not let that one slide :rolleye2:.My god they are rip off jerks :mad:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by STEW

They are charging you points on the money that they had to put up so that whatever you bought could be paid for. They feel like, if we have to come out of pocket because you cant manage your money, then you should have to compensate us for paying your bills for you......

I realize things happen and sometimes you get caught in a bind. But that comes back to financial management also, plan for the worst so in case it happens you are prepared. Dont let yourself get strapped to the point of having to live paycheck to paycheck that way you can put money aside for a rainy day or whatever you call it.

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Have you seen the economy lately?
LOTS of people have no choice but to live paycheck to paycheck nowadays.
WE aren't getting bailed out by the government.

Adapt and Overcome...... Do what you have to do.

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Originally Posted by STEW

Adapt and Overcome...... Do what you have to do.

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It isn't exactly just that simple.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

The moneygrabbing, callous, arrogant festering crotch rots who run the Bank
of Scotland have totally overcome any lingering sense of customer service in
their latest round of customer mailings - so much so I think I may need a
pregnancy test.

---

:8::rofl: Oh my gosh too funny!!!!

I feel your pain! The US banks aren't any better! Apparently in the fine print of my savings account they charge me every money that my savings account is under $200. It was supposed to be a savings account for poor people as I'm a college student and poverty stricken! Anyway I wasn't too happy to find that out. I'm lucky to have anything in my savings account let alone $200!!!

There's many other things, but that was the most recent bull hunky they pulled on me.

I stopped using banks a couple of decades ago because of the ever changing rules and fees. I only put my money in and use checking at Credit Unions which are member owned and operate under different rules. I don't know whether you would have an equivalent system in Scotland or not.

i use wacovia. i have had no problems with them, been with them for over 10 years. one time my account got hit buy 3 $75 charges that were not mine. i got hit by 3 $30 over draft charges too. the account only had $10 in it. i called the bank told them it was a boguss charge. they froze my account and told me to go to my local branch and speak to a rep. when i got there the lady was expecting me. all i had to do was sign a peice of paper for each of the over charges and within 24 hours they had refunded my $10 and got the leans off my account. they even closed my old account and set up a new on with different numbers just incase someone had goten my info somehow. i like my bank! lol but i am sorry about yals experence. banks are just like insurence companys, all they want is your money, they dont care about you! lol

dale

Quote:

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Originally Posted by STEW

I realize things happen and sometimes you get caught in a bind. But that comes back to financial management also, plan for the worst so in case it happens you are prepared. Dont let yourself get strapped to the point of having to live paycheck to paycheck that way you can put money aside for a rainy day or whatever you call it.

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I wish it were that easy. Everyone *knows* how they are supposed to managed their money, but once you get stuck in the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck, it's amazingly hard to break that without a change in income or living situations. Once you get strapped that bad....you are always playing catch up, and the money that you should be able to set aside is paying the fees and whatnot from the previous month. It's a bad cycle to be in, but it's where many people are.

On a different note, I love my bank. I've used Arvest (only in the OK, AR, MO ish area) since they opened, and they have always been very fair, I thought. Before that I just kept cash, b/c I knew my mom had *so* many problems with Band of America...

I'm sorry about the crap they are dragging you though, Dr. Del... hopefully you can find a way to get it sorted out before it gets too bad =/

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Originally Posted by AaronP

It isn't exactly just that simple.

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What else you gonna do? It is that simple

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Originally Posted by STEW

What else you gonna do? It is that simple

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You took what can take years to do and boiled it into 1 sentence, that's why it isn't that simple. Or as the old saying goes "Easier said than done."

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Originally Posted by AaronP

You took what can take years to do and boiled it into 1 sentence, that's why it isn't that simple. Or as the old saying goes "Easier said than done."

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I wouldnt know........ I guess I dont live in the same world as you or anything.

Lots of people are living paycheck to paycheck now since their savings dried up when one spouse got laid off. I know a few people who are now in this situation.

Its odd that the bank of scotland has been advertising here in the US, we think to get people to use their bank...
I am with a credit union and do overdraft more often than I would like..
My cousin in law was with a normal bank and over drafted more than she would have liked, they froze her account and refused to do anything to help her.
She has since moved to another bank...
Good luck.. is there any other banks you could use??
Carol

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Originally Posted by STEW

I wouldnt know........ I guess I dont live in the same world as you or anything.

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Well I'm glad that's working out for you, but on Earth, things take time and effort.

:O Is that what it takes? Very well.....

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Originally Posted by STEW

:O Is that what it takes? Very well.....

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Well I'm glad you have all that cash saved up to live off but I have to say, I'm a college student. I have to have a job that relates to my field of study because when I graduate I am expected to have exp. On that note, Its hard to find jobs on campus because of layoffs and teachers being dropped, no funding for certain research projects or it runs out. So I get to work a small lab job that pays 8 and hour for 10 hours a week because they are closed on weekends and I have classes. I get 160 bucks every two weeks. That pays a car payment with 10 left over. On top of that, I have a partner that lives with me that brings in 365 every two weeks. That covers the powerbill, the internet, and basic cable as well as groceries and phonebills as well as credit card payments. I get scholarships from school but you know what?! Scholarship funding is being dropped and I'm getting less and less each year. So If you think its so simple to "manage your money" and "do what you have to do" then I have to think you must be on some high horse ahead of the rest of us. I don't think I know anyone thats not 60+ with land sale money saved up or rich from birth that doesnt live paycheck from paycheck right now. I don't overdraft on my account and its only happened to me once when the bank messed some stuff up, but I think you make it sound likes its way easier than it is.

people could get a second job or work a temporary job to hold them afloat until times get better...... Do what needs to be done, there is always a way. Im not on a high horse but sitting around crying cuz the economy is down does not pay the bills

Quote:

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Originally Posted by STEW

people could get a second job or work a temporary job to hold them afloat until times get better...... Do what needs to be done, there is always a way. Im not on a high horse but sitting around crying cuz the economy is down does not pay the bills

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Wow, you really think it's that easy, do you? :colbert:

Here, you come to where I live and apply at nearly every possible place that is even feasible for you to work at and see how that goes, seeing as not one of them are hiring.

:rolleyes:

Some of us were not blessed enough to go to college for many reasons, and must now compete with those better qualified for these jobs.

But I personally am not complaining. Yup, economy sucks. Yup, just lost my MINIMUM WAGE paying job and have busted tail for a couple months now looking for a new one. Yup, sitting at home working at a text message service for pennies on the dollar.

But I'll make it, always have and always will. :gj:

Why i use a local bank, and also why i check my bank balances SEVERAL Times daily. EVERY receipt is saved. Every charge is later calculated out that day so i know exactly how much i have in my account at all times.

I try to have at least 30.00 in my bank that i dont touch and basically " Do not have ", and generally also round UP on every charge i make. This is to protect me from going into overdraft.

When i was 18 or so to about 20, i never did these things, and went into overdraft several times. It is NOT fun. I learned the hard way, but now im proud to say i have not gone into overdraft in a very long time.

Right. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying that acting like its that simple isn't going to work. Last time I checked, one of the problems is because we CANT find those extra jobs you seem to know about.

i got an overdraft once, but once i figured it out it was their mistake.
i wrote a check for 50$ they said bounced and then at the same time i was charged for an overdraft, but when i checked my balance after i got a letter about it with the 50$ plus the fees around 20$ my account was negative what the fees where.
needless to say 2 banks caught hell for that one and i also nailed them for the late fee on the bill that the original check was wrote for.

I've had that same thing happen to my sister once. The bank paid back everything, tho, so it was ok in the end I suppose. I'm to afraid to use checks. I use debit so it just goes right through or cash. Checks kind of just freak me out. Lol. I don't think I could keep up with them.

Walmart and jobs like that are always hiring.....get a hold over job that you are probably way over qualified for but will still help. Some sitting at home are just too good to work at jobs like these but still complain. Cutting costs is also a very simple thing to do if you lay out a budget and actually think about all the money that is wasted monthly on wants instead of needs..... This stuff isnt that hard if you look at what your faced with and take control of it. So I say its simple.... Use whatever words you like.

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Originally Posted by STEW

Walmart and jobs like that are always hiring.....get a hold over job that you are probably way over qualified for but will still help. Some sitting at home are just too good to work at jobs like these but still complain. Cutting costs is also a very simple thing to do if you lay out a budget and actually think about all the money that is wasted monthly on wants instead of needs..... This stuff isnt that hard if you look at what your faced with and take control of it. So I say its simple.... Use whatever words you like.

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Also consider that many of us have to pay for child care when we go to our jobs. If I paid child care so I could get a second part-time job, I would spend more than I made, most likely. Not to mention, I would lose those hours with my children, not being able to attend their ball games, help with homework, or just spend time together.

And sometimes, you can cut every "want" out of the budget, and still, water heaters blow, cars break down, roofs leak, and any other multitude of things happen that completely wipe out that couple hundred dollars you had finally saved...

You all are all right..... Im wrong..... Live in the hole, I honestly dont give two ____'s........