Charter One Bank
Fictitious Debt

On August 28 I deposited $1,000 cash in my Charter One checking account because I wasn't sure of when I would need the money and didn't want that kind of cash on me. On August 29th I made a debit purchase of $50 with a $6.95 transaction fee.

I determined I needed to withdraw $900 on Monday, August 31st so I checked my account online and made a $15 transfer from my linked savings account to make sure I had enough money to cover the $6.95 transaction fees that were assessed with these $50 debit purchase for prepaid phone minutes.

When I made the withdrawal of $900 from my account that left me an available balance of $115.64. Now, this is where the issue started. The next debt posted was the $50 debt purchase leaving a balance of $65.64, which cleared just fine but when the $6.95 debt posted I was assessed a $25 overdraft fee. This $25 overdraft fee left $33.69 in my account.

On the evening of, August 31st I made another debit purchase of the same $50 with a transaction fee of $6.95 because I just knew I had enough in my account to cover these charges. Now, these two transactions didn't post until September 1st and of course both debts took my account into a negative balance and I was assessed two additional $37 overdraft fees for a total of $74.

When I received the notice in the mail from Charter One about the overdrafts it showed an additional $6.95 debt on August 31st. I immediately contacted customer service online and registered my complaint. Their response was the charges were justified and I was not entitled to a refund.

I got all my paperwork and really studied it to see if there was something I was missing but I couldn't find it. So, I went to the branch on 33 W. Grand and spoke with the Branch Manager. She looked at my account information and told me I needed to get a statement from the prepaid phone company showing their charges. She stated their system my have double charged me for the $6.95 for that day.

When I got a print out of the phone charges and returned the Branch Manager was busy so I talked with another personal banker. She kept trying to tell me my funds weren't available when they were clearly available. Then she kept saying I had two $6.95 debts on the same day when only one was showing on my statement and on their printout that was generated from their computer for the 31st date.

I never could get this resolved so in essence Charter One Bank took $99 from me. There was no reason I should have been charged the $25 overdraft fee on the $6.95 when I clearly had 65.64 available funds after the $50 debt, that was enough to cover nine $6.95 charges if they had of occurred. The two transactions on the 1st would have cleared if the $25 overdraft fee for the fictitious $6.95 had not been assessed for no reason.

Now, I have been assessed overdraft fees before. I don't have a problem when I know I didn't track my expenses correctly. I don't have a problem when the error is my fault. Since online banking gives you the option of monitoring your account better, I can keep better track. I've had some issues with another account in the past and they are holding that against me for their justification in taking and keeping this money.

This is a very unfair banking practice and I'm sure others have had similar experiences from what I've read in this report.

Company: Charter One Bank
Country: USA
State: Illinois
City: Chicago
Address: 33 West Grand
Phone: 3124941697
Site: charterone.com

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