I spoke with
Dwight the teller
Terri Atchinson Asst. Manager
Brandon Williams Branch Manager
Jamie Esch West Texas District Manager
Gretchen Perham (Call center) 800-432-1000
Please let me clarify my name is Marcy W wife of Steve W who is the account holder. Although I am not on the account Steve talked to Dwight who authenticated and verified all of Steve's information and had Steve's permission to talk to me, I am the one who handles all of the financial transactions.
On March 09 I made a CASH deposit into my Checking Account in the amount of 500.00 at the Joe Ramsey location, I spoke with the teller (Dwight) about having to transfer some money into the Savings account because I had withdrawn all but a 1.28 out of the account earlier in the day. I understood that you had to keep 25.00 min.in the account so I was anxious to replace the money. I said that I was going home to make the transfer but I wanted to be sure that this deposit of CASH was immediate and put in before the 4:00 P.M. Cutoff, I knew that I was close to 4:00, Dwight stated that YES it was immediate and there would be no problem with the transfer. He asked if I wanted him to go ahead and make the transaction but since I had already completed the transaction I felt it would be easier to just transfer online.
I arrived home and went online and transferred 250.00 from checking XX21 into savings XX83, the deposit showed as available on March 9.
On Tuesday March 13 I went into the online accounts and had a negative balance, I started checking and noticed that I had been charged 35.00 X 3 for overdraft fees totalling 105.00. It was too late to call the bank on Tuesday, so as soon as Steve returned from work on Wednesday Marcy 14 at 3:05 P.M. I called the banking center at the above number.
I spoke with Dwight first, he answered the phone. I was then transferred to Terri Atchinson who identified herself as the assistant manager, at first she was very understanding and helpful, she said that if I would hold she would check to see if she could return the money back into the account. She came back on the phone and told me that since the I had been overdrawn a number of times in the last 365 days and the fact that Bank of America had returned 175.00 in overdraft fees within the last 6 months that she was unable to help me. I told her that yes we had some trouble with the account in the past but Bank of America HAD NOT RETURNED A DIME BACK INTO MY ACCOUNT IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS, that there had been some refunds over a year ago due to fraudulent charges but not in the last 6 months and not in the amount of 175.00. I told her that I was online and looking at the account with a 6 month view. She stated that she could not help me. I asked to speak to her supervisor.
I was then transferred to Brandon Williams who identified himself as the Branch manager. I stated the same story to him that I had previously stated to Dwight and Terri. He told me that there was nothing that he would do, the bank policy is clear and that his teller would never have told me that information. I explained that I would never have transferred 250.00 or any amount knowing that it would cost me 105.00 in overdraft fees. But he said that I had 3 debits that would cause me to go into overdraft. I explained to him that I was looking at the account and the 2 other items were covered by the amount that was already in the account. The ONLY reason there were 3 items in overdraft was because of the transfer. He was unsympathetic and very rude. He refused to give me the name of his supervisor and that he was on vacation anyway. He told me there was NOTHING that I could do but to accept it. I told him that I wanted the name of his immediate supervisor. He refused but said that he would have somebody call me back.
After only a few minutes (less than 5) my phone rang and on the other end was Jamie Esch 806-335-6881 who identified himself as Southwest Regional manager. He stated that since I was not the account holder he could not answer specific questions about the account but could answer general questions. I explained to him that Steve was sitting right beside me with the speaker phone on and WAS involved with this conversation. He again stipulated that he would not answer specific questions. He asked what I needed and I proceeded to explain to him the situation, he stopped me right off and told me that he had talked to Dwight, Terri and Brandon as well as checked the status of my account. (All in less than 5 minutes) he stated that the decision had been made that Bank of America would not return the 105.00 because his teller NEVER told me that and because I had been in overdraft 6 times in 365 days that he was refusing to do anything more.
I asked for his immediate supervisors name and he told me that he would never reveal this information, that he was my last stop, the decision had been made by him and he stated the same comment that Brandon had made Look you can't do anything about it except to ACCEPT it and move on. I told him that this would not happen and Thank you for your lack of help and I hung up.
I then proceeded to call the 800-432-1000 which is the customer service number, I asked the lady who later identified herself as Gretchen Perham to please verify Steve's information and that I would need to be the one to talk to her because I had the knowledge of what was going on. She did not have a problem with this. She asked me what had happened and that she understood the situation, she stated had the same question as to WHY would I transfer 250.00 from one account to another just to pay 105.00 in overdraft fees. She said that this would be easily cleared up and that she understood. She stated that the banking center should have taken steps to clear this up. She could believe that I was treated in the manner that I was because it was clearly a bank error and not my error. She stated that the employees at the bank were wrong and that she would get the money returned to the account immediately. She said that she needed to put me on hold and would be back after 25 minutes on the phone she stated that the bank itself had put a control on the account that would NOT PERMIT her to put the money back into the account. She stated that she had gone to her supervisor but since the banking center had put this control in there was nothing that she could do. She also stated that this was irregular practices for Bank of America. She said that she tried to override the control and her supervisor had tried as well. She said that she simply could not override the control. She apologized profusely but her hands were tied. I asked her what other remedies I had and she said that she had no idea. So I did a search on the internet and came up with The Reserve Bank.
I have enclosed the account statement that is in question. I simply cannot understand that transferring from one account to another after depositing CASH could cost me 105.00 in overdraft fees. I am not stupid, if I had known that the cash would not post until the following Monday I would not have transferred. I find it odd that the Cash deposit did not post until Monday but the transfer which was made obviously after the deposit posted on Friday. I don't believe that this is fair nor legal. If it is legal then it should not be.
I hope that you can be of help to me. I do not intend to let this drop and I will take it to court if need be. I feel like this is deceptive trade practices.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Sincerely,
Steve W
Marcy W
Marcy
Greenville, Texas
U.S.A.
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