Alright, that’s it. I’m fed up with Wachovia. Truly and completely just irate and pissed off. The customer service only left me more angry as the voice on the other end of the phone stone walled me entirely reciting memorized litanies about this and that.
Yes, the overdraft fees were warranted, but their system is engineered to maximize the fees.
Consider this, their online interface scrolls off the screen, so it takes up a lot of space. But as I was informed on the right, the balance shown there is not the balance I actually have in my account. It’s the single line, in the middle of the screen, amid the text that says “Available balance as of 11/10/2006: $25.61” which completely blends in with the text around it.
So when the balance says $181.78 it means $25.61 thanks to the pending deposit and the check card holds.
So the most visible part of the screen is wrong. How… convenient. The unavailable fund fees have to be a major cash cow for them. I overcharge my card by $1 they charge me an additional $35 for it. Talk about a deal!
This means it’s time for me to go shopping and do my research. I know all banks are evil, but Wachovia has finally convinced me of their evilness and I’m eager to find the bank of lesser evil. The main selling point is their online banking.
Wachovia has finally crossed my threshold for evil, it’s time to find a new financial overlord.
I second Suntrust. I also work there, so I may be biased.
Seriously, though, customer service is a top priority. If that’s what your looking for, you’ll get it there.
Regarding the overdraft thing I assume you mean that they put the largest item through first, which may make several or all of the next things in the batch overdrafts. It is aggravating, but I think that’s pretty much universal.
You might consider a credit union; I’ve been very happy with mine.
Thanks for the input on Suntrust, but I think I’ve decided to go with Citibank. They’ve got a great online bank site and the online banking is something I’m really keen for. One feature which really caught my eye was SMS alerts for low balance or deposits or posting of transactions.
This brought to mind that it would be very cool to have a checkbook app for my cellphone. Quasi PDA ish, but if I could keep a register on my phone, it’d be awesome…
Actually, I take back my recommendation for SunTrust. They have charged me $14 for online banking. I’m going down there this morning. They either put it back and never charge me again or I’m going over to Washington Mutual, which doesn’t charge for online banking.
They’ve never charged me before, probably because I had a (paid off and unused but still open) home equity loan. I’m not playing this game, not when I can go across the street and get the same thing for free.
We went with a Federal Credit Union in Central Florida many years back and LOVE it. It is the best. No Fees. Free checking. Online banking with a user-friendly site and helpful people available.
Before that I had been in a few different ones and ended up walking in an demanding ALL MY MONEY here and now at the service desk.
I think they have softened their membership requirements in recent years and well worth looking into. Additionally, they have the best rates for CD’s, Money Markets, Loans and such than most of the other neighborhood banks.
BTW, I am not affiliated with them other than having my accounts there.
My BB&T (Southern National) checking account charges me $7 for every transfer from my “Constant Credit” reserve into the checking to cover an overdraft. My credit union charges me 50 cents. Go C.U. I make sure I use the CU account except for a few items as BB&T still returns the cancelled checks to me every month and the CU does not.
I’ll confirm that Wachovia maximizes overdrafts, and their online accounting can be quite deceptive in that regard. If you bank with Wachovia, you much keep all your transactions in a register, they’ll ding you mercilessly if you make a mistake. They’re clearly doing it for the fee income.
I am now taking back my taking back of my recommendation of SunTrust.
It turns out when I got the home equity loan, that bumped me up into a higher bracket of service, and because of the loan amount, what would have cost me $14 a month was free.
When I paid off the loan, I was not “downgraded” into the free checking I had before, so they charged me the $14. The man was very nice, downgraded my account (oooh, no free travelers checks! I will lose the six cents of interest I earn each month! :eek: ) and refunded me the $14. So, everything is as it was.
