I am a FORMER EMPLOYEE of one of Wachovia's Direct Access call centers. I worked for Wachovia Bank during the First Union merger and have handled close to 15,000 calls with customers. I am voicing my displeasure at the way Wachovia conducts business and they manner in which their employees are treated.
First, Wachovia's business practices:
1) Unavailable funds charge. Before I went to work for Wachovia, I never knew what this charge was for. I had accounts at BB & T and Carolina First bank and never heard of an 'unavailable funds' charge before.By company definition (not exactly verbatim, but from memory as best as I can remember), an 'unavailable funds' charge is directly tied into your usage of a Visa Check Card (Wachovia does not offer Mastercard Check Cards). An unavailable funds charge results when you have items that have been authorized against your 'available balance' but have not posted to your 'daily balance'. (I will clarify momentarily).
For example, let's say you begin the day with 100 dollars in your bank account. You authorize a debit card transaction for 60.00. That would leave you with an available balance of 40.00. That night, you have a check that comes in for 50.00. Because of the 'authorization' of 60.00, your available balance AT THAT MOMENT is -10 dollars. Even if you have a deposit pending or coming in that night, Wachovia will STILL CHARGE YOU an 'unavailable funds' fee of 30 - 31 dollars, depending on which region of the country you are located. If there is no deposit that comes in while the debit card transaction is pending, and the debit card transaction posts to your daily balance, the debit card charge will cause your daily balance to become -10 dollars (The check written for 50 dollars posts against the daily balance and the available balance).
Then, for the same charge with the debit card, you are being charged an 'unavailable funds' fee and an 'overdraft fee'. This is totally unfair. I voiced my concerns over this charge to my supervisors and was practically laughed at.
2) Deposit Holds
A deposit hold is placed on an incoming deposited item to verify if funds will be available for the deposited items.in the meantime, your deposit is not available to cover any transactions that might come in for the duration of the deposit hold (anywhere from two to ELEVEN business days).
I have seen people rack up hundreds of dollars in unavailable, overdraft, and NSF fees as a result. One poor soul (who shall remain nameless to protect his/her identity) racked up over 1400 dollars in charges as a result of a deposit hold placed on her PAYROLL check.
I agree that it might be necessary to place a hold on a deposit to verify certain checks, such as out-of-state, large amounts, official checks, cashier's checks, etc. There is no excuse in having a hold placed for nearly two weeks, just because Wachovia doesn't want to take five minutes, call the back that the item is drawn off of, and see if the item has been paid. I have gladly assisted customer after customer with such an issue and was chided by my supervisors on the phone for 'taking too much time on the phone'.
3) Treatment of employees
During my time at Wachovia, I have seen cases where fellow employees who know how to pull the strings of my supervisors are promoted quicker than someone who is more deserving and better qualified. I have also seen many cases of employees who have been terminated for conspicuous reasons. It seems to me that anyone who 'thinks outside of the box' is not welcome as an employee at Wachovia. If you do not think the way that they do, then you are not welcome. That is very clear.
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