In February I applied online for a bank account with US Bank. I was given a free online checking account. After I recieved my account information I was supposed to recieve a terms and conditions packet that did not arrive. During this time since my account was in its first 30 days, US bank has a policy that any deposits are to be held for FIVE business days before the money is allowed for use. These terms were never sent to me, therefore I was never informed of this. THe catch is that cash deposits and government checks are exempt from this holding and should be available by the next business day. I deposited a check worth close to $10,000 for benefits that were owed to me by my late father from the VA. This was a government check so the funds should not have been held for FIVE business days. When I went to access the money with my US bank check card I was charged $34.00 NSF fee everytime I used it because according to them the funds were "not available" but they were in the account. The funds were supposed to be available and they held them from me and racked up over 400.00 in NSF fees. They never stopped me from using my card like most banks will if the funds are not available, they simply charged me the fees and let them continue to rack up. When I checked my activity online a few days later I had hundreds of dollars of fees taken out of my account. Since I used a lot of the money to pay off credit and other debts, this ended up causing me to go into the negative and overdrawn. When I called US bank about this they insisted that I had read and agreed to the policies and that they can hold any checks on a new account less than 30 days old for up to 5 business days. How can anyone survive waiting to access their money for a week? If you put your money in a bank, you are supposed to be able to use it. I never recieved an intro packet with my checks and card like I was supposed to. They argued with me and said that I had, when I really hadn't. I spoke to several managers and "directors" that day realizing I was being ripped off and my money stolen from my account by my own bank. I was hung up on several times and they were unbelieveably rude. A large bank like US bank should be able to refund the NSF charges without any issue. This is what most other banks will do for problems like this simply out of good customer service.in addition to this, the money was not supposed to be held because it was government money and that was an exception to their five day hold policy. I now have accrued 1300.00 in fees and interest and US bank is taking me to small claims court to collect fees and the interest and penalties that should never have been charged to my account in the first place. Please be ware of this situation, and DO NOT get a bank account with US bank.
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