Recently, I moved to Muncie, IN from Columubus, OH. During the job transfer, my electronic deposit needed to be renewed. While waiting, I received one paycheck on July 29 and made the deposit at a BankOne branch in Muncie. All went fine.
I received and deposited my second check since moving to Muncie on August 12 at the same Muncie BankOne branch as my prior deposit. (I kept the deposit receipt by chance). Living, as most Americans now do, paycheck to paycheck, I needed to pay bills online. I paid the bills on Friday which promptly posted to my account THAT DAY. Usually, no big deal as my paycheck deposit becomes available the following Saturday. Not this time! My check never showed pending. I called Saturday to complain (mostly because I was hungry and needed to buy groceries - - remember I just moved to Muncie which took up most of my funds). They told me the deposit would not post until August 17th (5 days). I tried to explain my dilema to the uncaring and rude customer service agent. My complaining must have worked because the funds became available that Saturday afternoon.By this time, my available balance was negative $600.00. Well you would think this is the end of the story... But NOOO!
Today, August 17th, I went to the grocery store again and my debit card was denied! What the... I called the bank and to my suprise I now had a $1,104.00 negative available balance. I finally spoke to a customer rep. Who told me my deposit was put on hold and he could not "unhold" it. He gave me the number of the department who could give me details. So... I call them. Turns out, according to that rep., that my check was "randomly" selected to verify funds from the drawee. Ironically enough, I work for a First Merchants Bank in IT. Anyway, the agent claimed that because my check was deposited at an ATM, they could not physically look at the image, and some more blah blah blah, to verify the funds availability. Now, interestingly, I did not make my deposit at an ATM, it was a branch with a real live teller (remember, I just happended to have the receipt). Did not matter much. The rep. Told me that because of the Chase/BankOne merger, her department could not "unhold" my deposit. She told me that my check would be held until August 23 (11days from deposit). However, I could "plead" my issue with the branch manager of the bank where I made my deposit. So, now I am reduced to begging a branch bank manager to p-l-e-a-s-e let me have my hard earned money. I plan to do this tomorrow as I have -$1,104.00 in my bank account and I have no gas, no food, past due car payment, and past due insurance payment!!! Up to this point, I have been told that all debits to my account have cleared and I have no NSF charges. But, I am waiting for that shoe to drop soon. This should be illegal.
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