We (my husband and I) became a "statistic" in October. A company that had once employed over 8 employees was done with one simple eviction notice. Prior to that we had refinanced our house, taken out business line of credit and racked up credit card debt to keep our 10 year old business afloat. Needless to say, after October everything started to go into default. We now only had one income and we in process of filing bankruptcy. While trying to use my ATM to buy groceries, I was informed that it was declined. Knowing that I had money in the account I later checked my online balance. There was a charge from DOTS-payment to RVC account.
I called Wachovia to inform them that someone made an authorized draft on my account (which by the way was just enough to completely wipe out my account). They advised me that Wachovia had taken the money and that the "other party" on my account had an account in collections. I have two small children. When asked how I was supposed to buy groceries I was informed that it was "my problem". I tried to leave the accounts open because of checks that I had out, but eventually their fees ate up every dime and I had to close them and pay the NSF charges anyway.
After a few weeks of being irritated and venting, I called Wachovia and asked them to produce the "instrument" that allowed them to take funds out of my account. I was told, after bouncing to several departments, that when you open an account with Wachovia you sign what is called a Depositors Agreement and in that agreement is an Right to Offset. That means that they can take money from your account, without notice, for any monies owed to Wachovia. Wachovia has yet to give me an actual copy of this document, but I apparently signed it when I opened my account 12 years ago... So moral of the story... If you owe money, but still need to feed your kids, you better keep some cash out of the banking system!
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