August 1 This letter has already been sent to elected officials
I am writing today in reference to shameful and criminal acts by Bank Atlantic. On July 22 I logged into my account online too see that I had been charged $160 in overdraft fees in one day. This happened shortly after I was fired by a crooked employer who to this day still not has paid me money that I am owed. I deposited a check into the account from my wifes employer the previous weekend that cleared without issue, but not until the following Wednesday, the day after I was charged the fees. These overdraft fees were a result of me and my wife using my Bank Atlantic bank card to make purchases.
Having several conversations with multiple representatives from this bank, I have discovered that they have policies in place to ensure that these charges will be forced, and that they will in fact rearrange the order of any card transactions to maximize these charges. I asked again today why my transactions are simply not declined if I do not have available funds to cover the transaction. I was told by a bank manager that since I deposited a check in advance, their system would approve the transaction, and then charge me an overdraft fee if the transaction hits the bank before my deposit clears. So if I had not made the deposit, the transactions could have been denied and I would not have been charged the transactions. But since they knew there was more money on the way, they had the ability to simply take that money from me.
I have also been told that when these transactions clear, the bank system intentionally puts them in order from largest to smallest. This policy ensures that the maximum amount is taken out first, so that the account is considered overdrawn when the smaller transactions are applied. This allows for additional overdraft fees to be applied even if the account wasnt actually overdrawn when those smaller purchases were made.
This has happened at a time when I am having severe issues providing for my wife and child. As I mentioned, I was recently let go by a crooked employer who is refusing to pay me money he owes me. I was struggling to find a job when this happened, as are many other Americans right now. And I am still trying to find a way to borrow the money required to pay my families rent. I am also concerned about being able to pay for gas to get to the new job I start next week.
I have had several conversations with a number of representatives regarding the 5 overdraft fees that hit my account. I was treated like I was the single most worthless human being on the planet by some of the Bank Atlantic customer service reps, although a handful of people did express concern for my family. Taking $160 from my family while knowing that so many families are struggling to make ends meet is not how any professional organization does business. This is the single most shameful act I have had to deal with seen in my life. Knowing that I had $160 taken from me, I was told by Bank Atlantic representatives that I was being difficult, I was told to "get over it, " I was insulted several times, and my wife was treated in a similar manner. Because of my complaints, they are now closing my account.
This is a bank that is open 7 days a week, every time I go into the bank they ask me to refer a friend, and they give gifts to those who open accounts. Im sure if I did the math, I would find that they spend more than $160 on marketing per person to get these accounts open. So how do they justify pushing me to the side over this amount of money? This is a large amount to my family, but cant be much to a bank. I cannot be expected to believe that the way in which they handled these transactions to maximize the overdraft charges is legal. It certainly is not ethical, and organizations such as Bank Atlantic must be held to higher ethical standards. We see from the current housing and credit crises that there is a large economic impact when banks decide to brush aside ethics.
0 comments