I believe I am a victim of bank fee gouging by Key Bank of Amsterdam NY. On December 22 I deposited an amount of around $120. When the teller gave me my receipt, it had an available balance of $85. After asking why the difference, the teller stated I had a NSF fee. I said okay, well now I am covered. She said nothing. I proceded to purchase a few items with my debit card, careful to keep under the $85. On December 27, I went online to see that I had over $850 in NSF fees! What I later found out was that there were fees that did not hit the account until the evening of December 22. I also had a payroll direct deposit to cover the bills I pay electronically through the "Bill Pay" system. After depositing the money on December 22, I believe I was given a false sense of security that the $85 on my receipt was actually "available."
After speaking with the Assistant Manager of the branch on December 27, she was able to refund $200 of fees, which consisted of $32 NSF fees, $28 recurring fees, and $4.50 excess overdraft service charges. When I asked why did the debit and online Bill Pay transactions go through when there was no money in the account, and is there any way that I could avoid this from happening in the future, she stated that I could fill out a form to stop any transactions from posting to my account, but the bank is not allowed to offer this service unless the customer asks for it. Well, I had applied for an overdraft account threes times, and was never advised of this form until now.
After speaking with customer service at the corporate level, I was advised that waiving of fees is at the branch's discretion. I continued up the ladder by speaking with the branch manager who told me that since it "was no bank error, " they were unwilling to assist me any further. Her manager did not even return a phone call. I understand my mistake was honestly believing that I had money in my account when I did not, however, over $800 in NSF fees for very small transactions in a matter of 5 days... Two of which were holidays is unreasonable. How can a bank believe that they are not ripping off the customer when the "system" goes crazy by assessing a ridiculous amount of fees? Is there a limit? I was told that each customer has a cap.
I was told that I have until February 10 to come up with the additional $470 that I owe in fees (I paid $200 in good faith already) or I will be reported to collections and Chex Systems. I do not want this to affect my credit, but I think it is unreasonable, and very bad customer service. I have thought about going to the media, and also sent a letter to the Attorney General.
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