imported post
T Vance wrote:
Just get a new bank. I used to use Nation City and I did not like them. They open late, and close early. Try TCF if you have one by you, or maybe a local Credit Union. Just my opinion.
Hahaha... not TCF. For real... besides the hours, there's not much else there. Not unless you like paying an average of $250 a year in fees (that's what the average account holder pays).
I won't publicly disclose my position, but I have very intimate knowledge of their operations... believe me. I used to work for them for years... not exactly an entry-level position, either. I'll say no more about my affiliation with them, though.
Just to give you a taste, they fabricate ways to cause multiple overdrafts. For instance, if you have $500 in your account then write a check for $450 and swipe your debit card for $51 on the same day the check hits the account; they will deduct the check against your balance then whack you $35 for going negative $1 from the card transaction. When the card transaction physically posts to the account a day or two later, they will whack you again. In effect, hitting you twice for the same transaction.
Or say there's $200 in your account and you swipe your card for $180... but on the same day, checks for $5, $10, $15, and $20 hits your account, they will ALWAYS post the larger items first in order to create more overdrafts. So what you'll see is $180 deducted from $200, then $20 deducted from the remaining $20... causing the $5, $10, and $15 transactions to charge you $105. The alternative is to post in the order they were presented, or to post lowest first (causing only a $35 fee)... but that would be too honest.
Another neat trick they started in the last 60 days is to start charging you for money you use from checks you deposit (until they clear). If you deposit a check for $1,000 with a teller, then turn around and withdraw $500 from the teller... you won't be charged. But if you deposit the check then walk outside to the ATM, or swipe your card for gas, you will pay a $35 fee for it.
I know the easy answer is "don't overdraw your account and there won't be any problems". But in these economic times, it happens to the best of us. Credit card companies are prohibited by an act of LAW from gouging customers... but the average TCF customer is paying upwards of 5,300% for their overdraft charges. In other words, the average TCF overdraft
amount is about $17... but the average overdraft
fee is $35. When you factor in the short time to pay back the "loan", the "interest rate" works out to be about 5,300%. It's ludicrous. They get around TILA (Truth in Lending Act) laws by referring to the fee as a "handling charge" rather than referring to it as fee for paying an NSF item. But ask any manager why they charge overdraft fees, and their default answer will typically equate the overdraft as a short term loan and that the fee is the price you pay for "borrowing" money. A direct violation of TILA (this goes for any bank, for that matter).
Nevermind the fact that TCF generates small fees here and there for miscellaneous things that might cause people close to overdrafting to get pushed over the edge.
A lot of banks are starting to do this, but TCF is getting out of hand with it. And where they used to be more accomdating with fee reversals, they are no longer this way. You are allowed one $35 fee reversal per year, basically (details vary, but that's the long and short of it in most cases). Over the years, they have morphed into a pretty awful banking institution. More so in the last 3 months.
There are ways to "negotiate" yourself out of these problems... though if you do it too many times, you're liable to get a friendly letter in the mail that says you've got 14 days to take your business elsewhere. PM me if you ever get into trouble with them and I'll tell you how to go about fixing them up good and proper.
