A deposit was made to my "totally free checking account" on January Thursday 27th, but since the deposit was in at 3 PM instead of 1:59 PM, it was held and first posted to my account on Monday Jan 31st at midnight. This was a state government check (which is supposed to be liquid immediately). Evidently Friday does not exist for AmSouth bank as it does for everyone else. Even though my register and their online system showed the funds available on Friday Jan 28th.
Despite them having my money as a credit memo, when a direct debit came through a day early AmSouth paid the item and slapped me with a $30 overdraft charge, starting a cascade effect.
Monday January 31st, in the evenings mail I found an overdraft notice for $60. It was too late and the bank had closed, so I had to wait until Tues. Morning to make a deposit. After making my deposit, my deposit receipt still showed me with a negative balance.
So home I went to pull my online banking records and matched it with my Quicken register. (Still assuming I had made an error). Where we found that the $60 was now $150 in OD charges!
Everything matched perfect to the penny (before their over draft charges that is), showing me in the black with money to cover all items, up until the over draft charges started multiplying.
We printed everything out and went to the local branch (Crystal River) for an explanation. That is when we learned that the deposit was held an extra day and the direct debit came out a day early. Mind you the bank already had the money.
So we looked to see what was still outstanding and found a total of approx $30 worth of checks so I borrowed $60 from my boyfriend to make sure the balance was high enough to cover these items. He asked the head teller if he needed to get cash, or would his local company check clear in for the same days business, (it was well before 2 PM) and he was assured that it would be credited on that days business. We were told the $60 would more then cover the outstanding items, plus the negative balance. Which it did!
Weds morning, I checked my online banking to find the deposit credited, the 3 items deducted plus another $90 in over draft charges!!!
I wasn't panicked yet, I was sure that when I went to see the manager at the branch I opened the account at (Inverness) it would all be taken care of, since I had been a customer for 9 yrs and never had this problem.
So off we went first thing in the morning to see the manager of the Inverness branch, and when we arrived, he wasn't in yet, so we talked with a representative who informed us about the banking after 2 PM on a Thursday doesn't get credited until Monday at Midnight!
When the manager finally arrived, he was not in the least bit sympathetic to anything that had happened and basically refused to look at our register time line and other print outs, and told us it was up to them how things got credited and cleared! As a good faith gesture on their part, he credited me back $60 of the $240.
They stole from my account because of their shady bookkeeping and need to be held accountable for what they have done, not just to me but others.
Please note, had he credited back the $90 they took at the end, I would have still been annoyed, but not felt as I had been ripped off. The final over draft charges still boggle my mind as to how they were justified, when the deposit and the 3 items paid were posted on the same business day, and on their own print out shows the deposits going in before the items paid.
As a result of all this, I am in the process of moving my accounts out of AmSouth, a daunting task, considering 2 direct deposits I receive from Social Security (I am disabled and on a limited fixed income) and direct debits that must now be moved to another bank.
Beware of The Relationship People.
Although they did live up to some of their 6 basic values.
1- do more then is expected (their creative bookkeeping was certainly unexpected)
2- if something is wrong they make it right (for themselves, but not their customers)
3- make time for people (so they can take their money)
4- improve someone's life (their stock holders, but not their customers)
5- Make a difference (they sure do, my son and I wont be eating the same this month to recoup these charges)
6- Do the right thing (are they joking???)
0 comments