Compass Bank has gone over the deep end on charging fees. I was in the process of closing a business account with them. Thus, I was keeping just enough in there to make sure all of my checks and outstanding charges cleared.
Well, 2 months ago they decided to charge a $3 Check Imaging Fee to send copies of my checks. I never agreed to this, but they just arbitrarily charged the fee without my approval claiming they sent me notice in the mail which I've never seen (even though I didn't have any checks to image). This caused my very last check to be overdrawn by $2.
Since I'm in the process of closing the account, I have not paid that much attention the account over the last month. When I logged on after nearly a month since my last check was written I notice that for that $2, they charged a "NSF Charge" of $38 "OD Charge" of $38 (They appear to be charging me twice but just labeling it different) and then they charged an "OD Fee" of $7 per day!
Thus, if you don't check your balance DAILY and only monthly (as I did) you really get screwed - I have been charged a total of $245.00 for a $2 over draft! That is insane and is just stealing! They justify the $7 fee by saying they sent notice that there would be a daily charge of $7 for everyday there is a negative balance. Of course I never received such notice which they just slipped in somewhere hoping I would never see it.
When all is said and done, they have charged me the equivalent of 147,000% interest (12 months * $245 / $2 overdraft. That has got to be usurious and just cannot be legal. When I talked to them, they justify it by saying they are a business to make money and that it is not a matter of being fair or not.
I never agreed to these terms when I signed up for my "free checking" account. This seems to be a blatant violation of contract law b/c they cannot show me where I agreed to these terms or prove that I ever saw such notices. What gives them the right to arbitrarily change our agreement. I know it would never be upheld if I sent them an arbitrary notice saying I was changing the agreement and that I would now not be paying any fees.
There has got to be a nice class action suit in here somewhere. I have not even gone into the other stunts they have pulled such as the way they process transactions (which varies depending on the way it favors them the most - it is not consistent I can assure you b/c I've seen multiple ways they've processed my account). This kind of predatory banking practices have got to stop. And I don't want to here it from these rightous people who say it wouldn't happen if you track your funds better - I did track them and I still got screwed!
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