Complaint / Review
U.S. Bank
US Bank Dishonest and unfair overdraft fees ripoff

I was unfairly charged 10 overdraft fees of $31 each for five overdraft purchases. This wiped out my checking account and caused a great amount of stress.

The problem began with one mistake on my part. My online pharmacy charged me twice, when I was expecting only one charge.

Several unfair practices were then put into play by the bank:

1."Pending" charges were subtracted from my ledger balance before they were paid.

2. The bank received a batch of charges and "pending" charges on the same day. The "pending" amounts were subtracted from my ledger balance first, from largest to smallest. The charges that were not pending — purchases that were actually being paid on that day — were processed next, again from largest to smallest, maximizing the number of overdrafts.

3. When I made the purchases that caused the overdrafts, the purchases were not declined at the stores. They were paid, despite the insufficient funds, so that I could incur overdraft fees. The true balance showing insufficient funds also was not shown on an ATM statement I requested until at least one day later.

4. Overdraft charges are essentially fees for short-term loans made by the bank to cover insufficient funds. The fees are exorbitant, and it was never explained to me that I could turn down these loans in advance. To my knowledge, I never agreed to the terms of these loans.

When I contacted a branch manager to complain, I was told that I should not trust ATM or Internet balances, because they did not show pending charges. I was not told about this when I set up my account.

The bank also did not offer to refund any part of the fees, even though I was a new customer, having set up the account about two months earlier.

I have documentation of what happened in the form of my Internet bank statement, which shows that the pending charges were invisible on the day they were processed, so I could not know what was happening on that day, especially since I did not realize my mistake with the online pharmacy purchases.

I also sent letters to the local bank president and U.S. Bank Community Board of Directors for Jacksonville, Illinois.

I hope someone will initiate a class action suit over this bank's practices. It is my understanding that other banks, such as Bank of America, have been sued for the same dishonest practices and had to pay out settlements.