I had a checking and a savings account with Bank One from about July 1996 until December. When I went to close my accounts in I went to the bank and closed them, then opened an account with a different bank which had totally free checking.
About a week after doing so, I recieved a letter in the mail stating that I had overdrafted my account. I wondered how on eart this was possible, since the account had been closed. Apparently, I had forgotten a couple of automatic bill payments which came out of my account each month. So Bank One had reopened my account when those transactions were presented to their bank.
So I basically told them to close the account again and that I would not pay their "overdraft" fee because they never should have paid the automatic bill payments in the first place when they were presented on a closed account. They said it was standard policy. I think it's just "standard" idiocy.
This fight went on for a while, then a few months later, after receiving some more bills from them saying they want the money I "owe" them, my mother (who was the "primary" holder of the account because I was a minor when the account was opened) and I wrote them a formal letter stating that we would pay the amount that they paid out to the companies but not the overdraft fees, since this was the bank's mistake. Enclosed with the letter was a check for the amount we owed them minus the overdrafts. We recieved no response from Bank One, but they did cash our check.
Earlier this year, my mother received a phone call at work from a collection agency regarding this matter. The collection lady was rude and would not listen to anything my mother said when she tried to explain that the situation should have been resolved with that letter and check. The collection agency got a dial tone after being told not to contact her at work again. May I also note that my mother is an accountant and has rarely been late on a bill in her life, let alone ever had a collection agency come after her.
About a month after this, I received an email from Bank One asking me to log on to their site because I had not in quite some time. The reply I sent went something like this: "I haven't held an account with your company in over a year. This just proves your company's incompetance. Do not send me anything further."
From my experience, I would NEVER recommend Bank One to anyone searching for a new financial institution. I recently found that First USA is also a Bank One company. Coincidentally, they have quite a few consumer complaintss as well. This company should NOT be in the business of handling other people's finances.
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