The subject is NSF fees, more specific Citizens Bank's unethical collection and processing of Overdraft fees. Everyone knows that when you open bank accounts you sit with an associate and they give you all the details and ask you to sign your rights away to your money. They expect you to trust them to hold your money and never question any transaction. At least recognize that everything will eventually be your fault and they will collect as much as they can from you before you close your account. They justify their excessive fees and practices of fraud by a paper that you sign. Now remember the whole time you are looking at your new account papers they are steadily talking to you making friendly conversation and gaining your trust. There is no discussion or disclosure of fees at that time and when you ask the representative any questions concerning this matter they skirt around the issue trying to reassure you that they will take good care of your savings.
However, be aware that this is how they begin to flip the tables. Did you know that the banking industry collected over $3,000, 000,000 in revenue generated from bank fees. How is it that they need to be bailed out by our government? CEO's and Presidents of National banks have taken huge bonuses leaving their companies with very little reserve. All because of greed. You can read up on this in the daily news articles. Every week there seems to be a new bank that has a pending lawsuit. The most recent is Bank of America. President Obama is finally holding them accountable since the SEC did not think it needed to. Read about it in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times or even BusinessWeek. It will all end one day, hopefully soon.
I'm outraged because I'm a college student trying to make my way in this world. My husband and I opened a checking and savings account with Citizens Bank in Wyomissing, PA earlier this year. We were so glad to make a large deposit and start saving for a house. We both work and are conscientious about keeping our finances in order. So, when I looked at my account and saw that it was overdrawn I began calling the assistant bank manager asking questions and making plans to clear up the issue. All along I thought I had OD protection, little did I know that she did not add this link on my account. How nice of her to make an error in the banks favor and then make it out to be my fault. Oh, by the way there was money to cover the transactions that I made with my debit card in my savings account. Well, of course I did not find any documentation in my papers to support my claim of OD protection at the time that I opened my account. To make a long story a little shorter, my account stayed overdrawn until I got paid again 12 days later. Overall, Citizens Bank took over $120 from me because of $38 in transactions. Again, I had funds to cover my transactions in my savings account. Mistakes happen, that's why there is overdraft protection. However, that service is just a reason for the bank to charge you even more money and access more funds once they have depleted the balance in your checking account.
I filed a complaint with the BBB and the bank representative tried to justify the banks actions by citing the new account document that I signed in the beginning. The part that he continuously referred to was that I authorized the bank to take any money they felt that they were owed from my account to the highest legal limit. I wonder how many lobbiests in Washington it took to make that clause legal? How many legal loopholes are involved in banking? How many billions of dollars have been stolen from Americans in cases like this arrogant interpretation of legal bull crap. I hope that there is a class action lawsuit against Citizens Bank. I also hope that all banks are made to revise their fee structures and conduct business ethically. Until then, bank with your local Credit Union. They are much more friendly, honest, helpful and cost efficient!
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