I have been a customer of National City Bank for a few years, and have been pretty satisfied. If I happen to overdraft, I usually just grit my teeth and pay the fee.
I was happy with NCB. My bank account was perfectly balanced with money to spare about a week ago. Now, it appears that I owe National City nearly $400.
An authorization charge was not removed from my account promptly when I made a $200 purchase from Best Buy. Hence, my actual $200 transaction went through aOK and showed up on my statement, but the $200 authorization hold sat in my "pending transactions" for two days. I was, in effect, double-billed for this transaction because the authorization hold froze the rest of my account. Until the hold cleared, I was charged four overdraft fees, at $34 a pop. Then four more. Then three more. Then the six-dollar fees started kicking in.
I called my branch office. They were very sympathetic, but their hands were tied - they could not do anything for me. I spoke with NCB's customer service, who seemed helpful at first - they told me that all they needed was a fax from Best Buy stating that one transaction was just a hold. I faxed them twice. Best Buy faxed them multiple times. They still have not fixed the issue (it has been over 10 days, now) and they never call me back.
The thing that infuriates me is that I DID NOT DO ANYTHING WRONG. I did not overdraw my account, I didn't even come close - I had nearly a $200 balance when the original transaction went through. I followed the rules, my bank account was balanced, and I didn't overdraft any transactions. Why is this happening to me?
I sent the service and support office a fax, and I am CC-ing their CEO and general counsel on the fax. I have told them that if they don't resolve this issue in 5 days, I will file a complaint with the Ohio attorney general and the appropriate regulatory authorities.
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