Wachovia bank has charged me and my significant other outrageous NSF fees. We have so many different situations and scenarios, so we are going to list the one that we feel is MOST outrageous.
My significant other was charged close to $1000 in one month in fees by Wachovia Bank. We went online to look at the account to try and figure out what was going on, and could not figure it out. Finally, we spoke to a representative who told us 3 different procedures that Wachovia follows to charge us these fees and "STEAL" our money
The sad part is that WACHOVIA customer service representatives truly believe that these charges are "OK", when it is so easy to see that it is "Highway Robbery" and if you don't know that Wachovia Follows these procedures, they will just keep taking your money like it's their job.
These procedures that I am going to mention were told to us by the WACHOVIA Customer Service Representatives... And I repeated the procedures back to the representatives at least 3 times for each one, to make sure I was hearing these "schemes to steal our money" correctly!!!
First off, has to do with your balance. When you withdraw money from your Wachovia account from an ATM machine, the balance they print on your receipt is not your CORRECT BALANCE.in order to get your ACTUAL CORRECT BALANCE, you have call the 1-800 number and speak to a customer Service rep to find out because the account balances that you get on your ATM receipts or online are not accurate or up to date. So, say you tap the ATM machine for $100 and your balance says $200 - but you may have things that are either on hold, like when you put gas in and it holds $1 - then the actual comes out later.
Or one company I use to order from online, for example, when I submit the order to the company online, and use my debit/Visa Card from Wachovia, the company then reports it to Wachovia. So if the order was $50 - it will show up on my online Wachovia account as $50 debited from that company and it is listed as a pending action but is not deducted right away. Then when the company shipped the order to me, it is once again listed on my Wachovia online account, and it actually looks like it is taken out twice. But using the earlier example where Wachovia says I have a $200 balance. Wachovia lists the $50 order from this company so it looks like it is already taken out of your balance, but the truth is that they do not actually deduct it from your account until the item shipped from the company.
So, sadly, you have to physically call into WACHOVIA BANK and SPEAK to an ACTUAL CUSTOMER SERVICE REP from WACHOVIA to know your actual balance. And who has time to do that every time you go to use your Wachovia debit card that they want you to use and make it look like such a great thing to have. And this now leads into another problem...
2) Procedure #2..."HIGHWAY ROBBERY". THIS IS SO UNFAIR that it literally makes me sick every time I think about it. Now - if you think you're boggled just trying to figure out your balance - you'll really be thrown when you hear this. So, say your balance on the ATM receipt says $200, but that's not the actual, because as we said earlier - you now only have $150 - because you ordered $50 from THAT company... And it wasn't listed yet - and you really only have $150.
So, for example - you're out shopping with your daughter for some odds and ends... Just little things. You start charging things or using your debit from Wachovia. You think you have $200 when you leave for the Mall. Then in a meantime - an automated bill for $150 for your cell phone comes out of your account (you forget about it and you don't know - unless you called into Wachovia for an updated ACTUAL BALANCE before you left) - so now your at a ZERO BALANCE! (Because you didn't even know you were at $150- you thought you had $200) But you're at ZERO!
You go to the mall and go to 6 different stores and charge, in order, say $25, $59, $69, $12, $9, $10 - totaling $184. And not one of these charges was declined. The next day, 24 hours later, you run up to the store and want to get milk and cigarettes, using your debit, figuring you have $16 left, the bill is $11, and it doesn't go through. You call into the automated system - and your OVERDRAWN on your ACCOUNT $184 and you are now freaking out trying to figure out where you went wrong because you had $200 before you went shopping the day before and you made sure you didn't go over your limit.
Well, something very similar happened to us, and when we called Wachovia Customer Service to figure it out... We were told (now sit down for this one) that since Wachovia cares about their customers, they will allow you to go under in your checking account up to $200, when your out using your ATM/Credit CARD, IN ORDER TO AVOID EMBARASSMENT WHEN YOU ARE OUT SHOPPING OR EATING DINNER OR WHATEVER... And not only do they allow you to go under in your account $200 - but then they charge you a $35 NSF FEE for each transaction used when they ALLOWED you to go from 0 to NEGATIVE $200, so you would not be embarrassed.
Now you under $184 from what you spent when you DID NOT have the money in your account. PLUS 6 times $35 (NSF fee) = $210 in NSF FEES. So now add $184 (from 6 transactions) $210 (NSF Fees) = -$394 (UNDER in your ACCOUNT). You're NOW $394 under in your checking account because WACHOVIA BANK was so concerned about YOU being EMBARRESSED when you were out shopping!!! Thank you WACHOVIA! You are sooo wonderful!
How is that even legal? The sad part is that we were out $1,000's of dollars before we even realized what was happening!!! I told them to EMBARRESS me and DECLINE the darn card!!! Let me know where I'm at.
Last, but certainly not LEAST, is another procedure that WACHOVIA truly believes they are doing you a favor out of the GOODNESS of their HEART - which we all know - that they could care less about us, as their customer and they only care about how they are going to STEAL our money EVERYDAY and they are ALLOWED to get away with this
But # 3 is if you have $600 in your account (but you think you have more, like $700, because who can keep up with all the $35 fees they are throwing at you left and right) Anyway - you pay your bills and mail out 6 bills - and the amounts are $603, $12, $10, $17, $25 AND $16 totaling $683.
Now regardless of what order the checks come in - say they come in like this... $16, $12, $17, $25, $10 and the last one $603. Wachovia CLAIMS they are doing YOU A FAVOR and PAY the highest ONE FIRST, because they feel that the highest bills are your most important!!! Well, once again, thank you wachovia!!! Can you believe that - So they pay them HIGHEST to LOWEST... And NOW you have bounced EVERY SINGLE ONE of THEM! Now costing you, yet another $210 in NSF Fees!!! And your not aware of this - so how are you suppose to write them in your ledger to keep it up to date - because they are not listed right away on your online account and the balance is always at least 24 hours behind, which they have admitted to me..
So this is like a domino effect... And there have been times - which I went up to deposit money - because my balance told me I was in the negative
So, for example - If I went to the ATM and the balance said I was at a negative -$198. I go up to the bank and deposit $200 to bring me a little above in my account.in the meantime, they charge me for 5 NSF fees (that's 5 x $35 = $175 in NSF Fees, that I am unaware of) bringing my account down to a NEGATIVE - $173. And now since they charged me these fees, and brought me under - I am now charged another $175 from their NSF fees that brought me under, yet again... It is a viscious cycle... One that is ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to get out of. They are STEALING from us. Literally STEALING!!!
But if you work there - you are in the GOOD - because you can go in and just ERASE those FEES whenever you want - and I know this because I know someone who worked there before.
They told me use a ledger - I said I do - but they randomly keep taking these NSF fees out - which constantly bring me under in my account and then they charge me another $35 for each $35 that brought me under in the FIRST place. Something needs to be done about this and WE want our money back. I am disgusted and so upset to the point that I cannot even pay my bills because of the money they are taking.
I stopped using my Wachovia account and went back to Commerce, now TD Bank - and they have even more FEES that they have taken - and I am reporting them to. I don't care if I have to take this personally to the President of the United States. I am getting my money back that they STOLE from me. Wachovia, TD and PNC (which is where I'm at now) do nothing but STEAL your money. I just started with PNC, so they really have not taken from me yet, but I checked on some of their policies, and they do the same thing!!! What a disgrace! It's an absolute disgrace, to Americans, who are struggling, in the first place to stay afloat, financially. And if you have money - you're fine, but if you are living paycheck to paycheck - and you start this VISCIOUS CYCLE with the bank - it is ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to get out of!!! The Rich get RICHER and the POOR GET POORER!!!
Cheers898
Sicklerville, New Jersey
U.S.A.
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