So my girlfriend and I decided, we wanted to have a joint checking account to pay all of our bills out of. We were attracted to Compass bank because they had this wonderful advertisment for Free ATM usage whether it was at their bank or not. All you had to do was take in your reciepts with fees and they would reinburse you.
After signing what seemed like a 20 page agreement, I began depositing and using the account as intended for the first month. Since this account was primarily for bills, I "zeroed" it out when all the bills were paid and never had any use for the small overdraft protection that is offered.
It was at the end of the month when this account was "zeroed" out that Compass decided to draft a service charge of $15.95. Because of this charge my account was overdrafted and I was charged $32.00!! Naturally I complained because it was my impression that this was a "free" checking account that shouldn't be subject to service charge. To which it was rudely explained to me that I had to maintaing a minimum balance to avoid the charge. This was clearly deceptive to me when I opened this account.
I told them I would be happy to pay their service charge, but I was not going to pay their stupid overdraft fee and I wished for my account to be closed. They refused, and proceeding to tell me that my account could not be closed unless I paid both fees and "zeroed" the balance. I went ahead and paid the service charge, but told them they cold keep the account open as long as they wanted but they would never get their $32.00.
About a month later I started to get phone calls, and ignored them. Then I got a collection letter in the mail claiming my account was overdrawn to the tune of $418 and if I did not pay this amount they were going to report me to the credit bureau. I immediately called and told them there was no way in hell I owed them that much.
As it turns out, if your account is overdrawn for more than three days, they charge you $6.00 for everyday that the account remains negative. After so many days, they stop and turn it over to their collections department. Finally you end up getting a bad mark on your credit report if you don't pay them.
Well, negative credit reporting doesn't bother me because my credit isn't good to begin with and I've always been more of a cash person. So Compass is never going to get that much money from me and I decided that people should be aware of this scam before they get "hooked" by these types of advertisements.
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