A week ago (8/10) my mother called me and said she was receiving little postcards for me from compass bank. I told her to open them and see what they were. She said they were postcards stating that my account was overdrawn.
Surprise #1 Cards with my Name Address and account# were going to a different address than when I had opened the account (no address change was ever placed by myself the sole account holder).
Surprise #2 my account (which by records was in good standing) was now over drawn -78.00. The next day I went down to the bank to deposit money into the account.
Surprise #3 I spoke with the teller and my negative balance was $-144.00. I asked her to show me the records of the transaction. Which is when I learned that... If you are overdrawn in your account they (no one identified who THEY was) place the check through 2X's. The overdrawn account is charged the initial 36.00 and then a day or two later an additional $36.00 for the second time through. This translates to 72.00 per check fee.
Surprise #4 The teller informed me that this is standard practice for all banks. I asked her if she really believed that? And then asked if I could close my account. She said" Not until the overdraft fees were paid and the amount of the checks that had "NOT BEEN PAID!!!" during this entire process." So in essence, My checks were not being paid and any money I placed in the account was paying a hefty $72.00 fine per check to be processed 2X's in a couple of days time.
Three days later and 180.00 paid in fees. I went and spoke with the salesman at the front of the bank. Who gave me the total runaround about what my options are as a customer at their bank.
#1 Close the account and they could do absolutely nothing for me.
#2 Keep the account open and continue (this ridiculous) process until everything cleared.
# 3 Nothing.
So, I informed him that there was another option for me. One he would keep the account open and when another check came through they were going to call me and I would come down and pay it. Because I was not paying another dime into the account that they continued to fee from. I needed to speak with a manager or someone that could do something for me. I left my Phone # and said if one more transaction comes though on that account I better receive a phone call.
I went home to do my investigation of checks that had come through on the account and not been paid. From the three said repeatedly processed checks that "had not been paid" by Compass Bank (told to me by both the bank teller and sales man at the door). Two of the checks had been verified as paid by both my student loan company and my chiropractor. One of the three checks (40.00) amount to another company was the only check that had not been paid. I had paid 180.00 in fees to a bank for a 40.00 check that I believe today they are still placing through the account. The student loan check which compass claimed had not been paid and was one of the reasons I could not close the account. That is fraudulent for sure... More to come as the story unfolds.
Lynne
Denver, Colorado
U.S.A.
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