I am a POA and a signer for my ederly mother's account with First Convience Bank also know as First National Bank Texas and Fort Hood National Bank (this serves are country's armed forces as Fort Hood is one of the major launching points for Iraq). I should have been suspicious of any company that operates under so many names and only has a P.O. Box as the address for their corporate headquarters. However I fell victim to the bak being located at a Walmart and it was just easier to open the account there. Little did I know what a mistake I made.
As a former manager for Citibank and a paralegal, I am well aware of my rights (I recently won a settlement acting pro-se against Citibank:) The first offense was handling a settlement agreement for a family member. I had spent 18 months working on this settlement. We deposited the money to take care of this on a Tuesday and were told and the deposit slip indicated it would be ready on Thursday, other wise we would have gone to the bank the funds were issued on and cashed the check.
On Friday, we went in to get the certified check, only to be told that the teller made a mistake, and that because we might be "terrorists" using the Patriot Act to hold funds to make them more money (my family have been Americans since the 1500's and fought in every war for this country, I take great exception to this defamation). It took us almost three hours and threats of a lawsuit to finally get the funds that had cleared the other bank the same Tuesday night they had been deposited!
Note to other consumers - the federal clearing house now clears checks in 24 hours. Just some ammunition if you run into the same thing.
Next, I wrote a check to a group that my children play athletics. The team mother altered the check and deposited into her own personal account. I had already paid 350 and the check she altered was for 500 dollars. We left the team because they breached their contract and because the team mother said I had "paid nothing". As there were no copies or originals of checks sent with the statements we were not aware of alterations until we went to ask for copies. The reason for no copies?
The bank had issued checks on the savings account instead of the checking account.
We had no way to stop payment on the additional check this woman had and further, we filed to have the funds backed out of the account of the team mother who altered the check. First, the bak said that it was past 30 days till we pointed out that because of their error we could not have possibly known. Then they said the team mother had paid the league. No way to prove that was our money and further they said we got value for the $500 altered check, disregarding we had already paid 350.
It does not matter. If a check is altered without consent from the maker, the check is void and a crime has been committed.
After fighting them for months, I contacted the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Finally after fighting with them, they closed the account without any notice in retaliation for the complaint with the OCC. That was on a Tuesday. I had $45 dollars in my wallet and my elderly mother had the same. They claimed they closed it on Sunday so that it would not look like retaliation. First, my OCC complaint has been on file since last year. Second, I had transactions on the Tuesday they closed it and and also on the Monday. Third, their security people who handle that are not there on Sunday!
It is now Saturday and I recieved notice of the closure but no funds. I am a diabetic and almost died because I am having to use the wrong insulin to at least keep me out of a coma. I had a 19 blood sugar. 100 is normal. My mother has a steint in her artery, which requires a medication to prevent the red blood cells from blocking the steint. Neither of us had enough money to buy our meds. I have 6 kids. Both my mother and I drive gas guzzlers and we have been without any access to our money for 5 days.
First Inconvience would not even verify that my drafts to my credit cards had gone through! One of their security people actually said that he hoped I died. I had the phone in speaker phone and my kids heard this.
Other damages - my mom's credit is damaged because credit companies look at how long you have an account. Mine is damaged because I was a signer. My son is looking good for a scholarship in sports but he was supposed to go to a tryout two hours away and because they have tied up our funds deliberately, he is losing a four year scholarship all expenses paid. Not to mention his two younger brothers were supposed to tryout and missing one whole year of being on the team can drastically affect their ability to get a scholarship.
The next issue. I tried to get the bank to verify funds for the credit card. The jerk who wished I would die said if I went into bank I would be arrested. So I called Saturday to try to get the funds verifed again (I know the funds went through the monday before the they closed the account). I was told by the same department that the jerk works for, that if I needed anything to go to the local branch. I called someone I know there and they were told to call the police if I showed up. I am a law abiding mother of 6 who had been nothing but nice (I even assisted in saving one of their clerks who had low blood sugar and the other clersk were giving her diet soda!) for over a year of their screw ups and now I am being treated like a common criminal. They were trying to get me arrested to discredit me in the lawsuit I will file as soon as the OCC is through with them.
They have illegally kept 500 dollars from me and charged 2 dollars per check written on the savings account that they issued checks on. Their mistake. They should pay.
They have designed their banking system so that you can never get past their call center. I have even called the KIlleen chamber of commerce, the OCC, and the Texas Secretary of State, and even they don't have any information to get past this call center. As you may have read in previous complaints that they have a rude and inept call center. That is an understatement.
Last, I require ADA accomdations and part of that is to keep me from being stressed out. I notified the bak when we came in as did my mother about her ADA requirements. None were ever met.
I wonder how many of our fighting men are getting bilked overseas and don't even have a clue (this bank is used by a lot of military families). Think about today and how much money you have in your wallet and what would happen to you if your money in the bank disappeared for five days and counting (they said they might hold it indefinitely). What would happen to you?
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