I have been a Compass Bank member for 5 years. I recently had moved and changed my address with the bank. I changed my address on a Monday and my account was Froze evidentially sometime Friday afternoon. Needless to say it was Saturday Morning before I realized there was a problem when I tried to put gas in my car and my card declined. I had just received a Payroll direct deposit on the Friday and distinctly remember seeing it in my account on that Friday morning. I immediately logged into my account and to my surprise my deposit was no longer showing. My previous balance was Froze and showed a zero posted balance even though there were funds available. The two pending transaction on my account were showing negative even though I had more than $1000.00 actually available. Being that this was a Saturday morning there wasnt anyone available that could help me, or give me answers, or even a simple explanation. The only note on my account per customer service was from corporate security that said Frozen for Review. I hadnt had any problems prior to this and could not come up with any reason as to why would happen. Customer Service said that they would contact me Monday to help me resolve the issue.
I was given a womans number in Corporate Security 205-297-1535. I could not understand her name on her voicemail but left two messages for her to call me back prior to Monday. Monday morning about 10am after waiting patiently with no response from either, I decided to take off work and visit the local branch to get some answers. After making several phone calls the gentleman was able to get a hold of someone in the corporate security office to explain the Freeze. Evidentially, my address change which by the way was still in the same city, Red flagged my account. They froze my savings and Checking and cancelled my Bank cards without even trying to contact me. He was not told that he just needed to verify my address and E-mail the lady who hadnt returned my calls, nor did she answer or return his during the time I was at the branch office. This gentleman apologized to me and said that he did not understand why this happened simply because of a change of address. He also stated that my account was unfroze at that time, but my funds were not going to be available until the account processed at midnight; even though prior to the freeze I had funds available. My direct deposit that I was supposed to receive 4 days earlier would post back at that time as well.
My concern and problem here is with compass banks procedures for handling this matter. I was told that a note to freeze the account had been placed in the system on Wednesday. The bank had ample amount of time to contact me, notify me, or ask me to come in for any reason. I use this account for my primary source of funds and do not carry cash. This weekend when I went to put gas in my car which was already close to empty, I planned on making a trip to the grocery store as plenty of people typically do on the weekend, I had bills that needed to be paid / drafted out of my account. When you expect your money to be available and all of a sudden its not it can create a rough situation for any consumer; especially for a single hard working mother of two. Not only did I have to borrow money to get through the weekend, but I had to take off work on Monday to try and sort this out. Finally Tuesday my account shows to be back to normal. No apologies or explanations from corporate, still no returned call from the lady who froze the account with a better explanation, nor any compensation for any trouble and expense I incurred due to this. My advice if you use Compass, is to get an alternate account at another bank, and dont change your address. I have a vacation planned and will not be leaving that Friday with my money sitting in Compass bank. I will definitely have cash on hand, and place funds in another bank account. Hopefully this will prevent me from being out of town with no financial source available for the entire weekend ever again. Beware of Compass procedures.
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