About a year after opening a chequing account with Wachovia, I opened a savings account and deposited 15,000.in 2 Months I made 10 dollars in interest. Since I had an account with another bank which payed noticeably higher interest, I decided I was going to close my wachovia savings account. I began transferrring money from my savings account to my chequing account in 1000 dollar increments online. Each time I did this, I was shown a message informing me that if I continued transferring funds out of my savings account the bank was obligated to report this to the government and that if these transfers continued, the government would compel them to close my savings account and transfer my savings into a non-interest bearing chequing account.
I thought this sounded preposterous and was incensed that the bank was telling me what I could and couldn't do with my own money (this wasn't a CD account just an ordinary savings account), but since I was going to close the account anyway, I really wasn't bothered by their bullying scaremonger tactics. Recently, I inadvertantly withdrew 40 dollars from my savings at the ATM. I meant to withdraw from my chequing account. I was charged a 45 dollar excessive withdrawal fee! After having 100s of dollars stolen in ISF fees, this was the straw which broke the camel's back. I once had someone deposit two cheques concurrently. A supposedly lost cheque, and the replacement I had given them. I had enough money to cover one of these 325 dollar cheques, but the bank bounced then both and assessed a ridiculous ISF fee. The usurious, predatory fee schedule this bank uses to steal it's customers' money really makes me wonder how they manage to keep any.
I am closing my accounts with Wachovia and expecting to be hit hard for my outrageous consumer proactivity. Hopefully my true story will cost them a few customers and at least compensate me with a small moral victory. I am waiting for the Obama administration to address the fact that banks make 60% of their profits in predatory fees. I fear I wait in vain.
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