Compass Bank had described me as an outstanding customer, that my account was in good standing with no discrepancies. I was expecting a check from a lawsuit I had just settled. I recieved a check in the amount of $2800.00, the amount matched what I was supposed to get. And just to be safe, I called the bank of the issuing check - but was told that they could not devulge any kind of information to me under the 'Privacy Act'. I went ahead and deposited it, and was just going to wait for it to clear.
A couple of days passed and I was checking my account online to see if the check had cleared, and on the website, the funds were in my 'available' balance and not my 'pending' balance; as though the check had in fact cleared. So I went happily about my life. Another week had gone by, and when I tried to use my card at a local fast food place, my card was declined. I was sure there must be some mistake, so I checked online and saw that I was severely overdrawn in my account.
I called the Compass branch where I opened my account to talk to one of the managers (Lisa Coonrod) to find out what had happened. Tthe $2800.00 check I deposited had been returned for NSF, which confused me because I was lead to believe the check had cleared. Sshe informed me that since I was such a good customer and my account was so good that they deposited the funds from the $2800 check into my account before the check had cleared, which she called 'good faith' money - and she said it was a courtesy to me.
I asked her who Authorized this decision to be made on my account without my knowlege, agreement or signature? And Lisa Coonrod told me that Compass made the decision as a courtesy to me. I asked her: how is it a courtesy now that the check had come back and I was overloaded with NSF fees? Tthat decision they made was hurtful to me financially. And not at all courteous. So then I changed the subject and asked her what could be done about the person who issued me a 'hot' check - and that we needed to go after this person because apparently I had been the vicim of a scam or fraud.
She was hostile and defensive and treated me like I was just trying to 'get one over' on Compass with this fake check, and said that in no way is Compass Bank liable and Compass did not make a mistake by the decision they made, and that it was my fault for making the decision to deposit the check into my account.
The next day... I recieved the REAL settlement check and felt I had no choice but to deposit it to try to take care of all the NSF fees before they got even more out of control. This new check was for the exact same amount $2800.00 - and when Lisa saw it she blinked her eyes and stood their with a blushed look. All she could say was 'Oh.' Apparently I was telling the truth about expecting a settlement check. We deposited the new check and this time Compass waited for the check to clear. But they would only refund half of the NSF fees.
After everything had cleared, I no longer had faith in this banking institution so I decided to close my account. The teller at the station (Olavarain - an african-american male) helped me with closing my account. I cut my debit cards up and I THOUGHT that was the end of Compass Bank for me.
Well I was wrong... A couple of days later, Lisa calls me to let me know that my account is at a negative balance. I asked her how this could be so when I CLOSED my account and made sure that everything had cleared? She said that it was an automatic draft, not a debit card purchase. I told her that I hadn't had recieved my new bank cards yet from my new account with Washington Mutual and I couldn't change the card info for those drafts until I did, but why would they allow them to go through on a CLOSED account? She informed me that automatic drafts will reopen a closed account. I asked her how was this possible if my cards are supposed to be rendered inactive and unusable — I certainly couldn't use them to buy anything at a store (declined). So why would anything else be allowed to go through on a 'closed' account AFTER the account were closed? It's not like these were 'outstanding' transactions. These were NEW purchases made AFTER the account had closed and now they just keep racking up NSF fees, and the managers Janet Green and Lisa Coonrod just laugh in my face as they REFUSE to lock down/freeze the account or reclose it. And why should they? Tthey are making a fortune off of me, and threaten me with bad credit.
This is how Compass Bank rewards you for being an outstanding customer.
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