Fucking banking bullshit.

The BBQ Pit
1

DISCLAIMER: My husband works tech support for a living (well only til next week). I understand that there’s only so much that can be taken care of over the phone, and that the people on the other end are doing their damn best to help me and there’s not too much they can do. But I’m going to fucking rant anyways.

I check the balance on my checking account several times a day when I’m expecting charges to come through, just to give the piece of mind. Oh good, I’ll say. That’s paid off.

I went to do this today. At about 2:30, everything was hunky-dory. Everything is in the black to a comfortable level although there are still two outstanding charges I’m waiting for, which my balance can easily accomodate.

I nip off for a bit to get some stuff done. I checked my balance again about half an hour ago (what, me obsessive?) only to find I was in the fucking red. To the tune of several hundred fucking dollars. The charge was by a phone company whose name is sounds like “mint”. Several hundred fucking dollars for a point-of-sale in OVERLAND PARK wherever the fuck that is, I googled and the first thing that came up was Kansas, and guess what, Toto? We don’t fucking live in Kansas, we’ve never lived in Kansas and if I ever am forced to move there, I hope Margaret Hamilton sends her flying monkeys to put me out of my fucking misery.

So I call my bank (they sound like, “Poshington Fuck-you-tual”) and they say that the only thing they can do is:

[ul]
[li]Cancel the card[/li][li]Put the money back in the account in FIVE BUSINESS DAYS[/li][li]Dispute the charge[/li][li]Put the money back in the account in FIVE BUSINESS DAYS[/li][li]Send a NEW ATM/Debit card – which by the way I just had fucking replaced because their cards suck big green donkey dick with the suction of 10000 black holes[/li][/ul]

OR I could call Mint and have them take the charges off. So I tried that. But of course while their accounting department is open, their fraud department is NOT. Because accounting can do shit if they don’t have a phone number registered to whatever fucking charge that is on my account to go by, and of course I have never bought anything from them, so I don’t have a fucking Mint cell phone with a Mint number. So I resigned to cancel the card.

So whatever, I had Fuck-you-tual dispute the charge. But the fun part is, now I am overdrafted, have no fucking money til payday (Thursday, luckily – but I think I mentioned that it takes FIVE BUSINESS DAYS to have the charge recredited to my account? Yeah I thought I’d mentioned that) but have TWO other charges (that I know I made) coming in – one from dinner on saturday night, and the car insurance. Which means I’m getting slammed with, COUNT 'EM! Three overdraft charges. Which I have to call in seperately to dispute. Oh and my overdraft limit isn’t high enough to accomodate the incoming financial shitstorm.

So, a hearty fuck you to both the bank and the fucking phone company. And to the no-talent assclown stealing my credit card number, I hope you get whatever it is coming to you, shitstain.

2

Wow, that sucks in a big scary way.
I went through some real shit when my purse was stolen. Some places were very professional and took care of things right away. Other places seemed determined to make my life as miserable as possible. You’d think there’d be some sympathy for someone who was the victim of a crime, but some places prefer to treat the victim like a criminal – and try to make a few bucks off the victim to top it off.

3

Ah, good ol’ Poshington Fuck-you-tual. There is a reason their checking accounts are free, dontchaknow?

I had an account there for about three months. During that time, I received a notice from the bank informing me that, due to a security breech, my account information was placed in jeapordy. Mind you, they admitted the “breech” was entirely their fault.

Not a week later, a $300 charge from some web company went through my account. At the time I was working about 10 hours a week and going to school- meaning my check was MAYBE $85 a week. My balance, prior to the random debit, was about $100 and, because I thought I had plenty of money, I had been going to Starbucks and the like throughout the day. Of course, the random $300 charge went through first.

I ended up getting hit with 5 over draft charges (the four that I actually charged were all under $5 each). If I recall, their OD charges are about $25 or $35 a pop.

I tried customer service via the phone- no help. So I went into a branch. They told me there was nothing they could do for a few months and that I needed to deposit the money in 5 days or I would be sent to collections. They didn’t care that I was a high school student (end of my senior year, so I was 18) who barely got 10 hours a week in at work.

I closed my account that day.

I still haven’t paid them.

My credit report is clean and they have never contacted me, neither has their collection agency-- a year later.

4

Holy fuck, Diosa! I’ve had similar probs with them but nothing that bad. Nonetheless, I’ve about had my fill of PoFu. The Highwayman’s law school loans are through Smells Largo and he gets a break on the interest if we have an account with them. Smell you later, stupid bank!

laina ugh I know. They do like to treat you like shit. First thing out of the rep’s mouth when I blabbered through the sordid tale was “so, did you or your husband make the purchase?” Uh no, that’s why I’m calling and a little POd that I have no money for the week.

Although to be fair, the gentleman at Mint was very nice and put me at ease (at least as at ease as I could be given the situation).

5

Irony of all ironies (sp)- I switched over to Smells— it is much, much better.

6

OK, early 20s. Hubbs is probably 22 and wifey is 19 or so. Railing on about being robbed online.

Husband is charging online porn, or maybe online gambling to their account. I’ll bet it’s gambling.

7

We had this happen last year to the tune of $1500. We use BoA. They credited the account the following day.

Sorry they screwed you so bad, The Sausage Creature.

8

The problems we’ve had with BoA were in the opposite direction (debit card erroneously tagged and frozen on an out-of-town trip). Fortunately, I always carry some backup cash, and the problem was straightened out quickly.

9

Ah, Mint. I know exactly what you’re talking about, and I know what happened. It happened to me.

Overland Park, KS is their billing office. All my Sprint(yes, it’s them) charges are shown from there. About a year ago, they hit my bank account for the tune of around $900. I have an actual cell phone account with them, so I called in, and they wouldn’t do anything. Nothing. Not a bit. They stonewalled, the wanted stuff faxed to prove I didn’t do it, they wouldn’t think about crediting the money back to my account. My bank, through all of this, was wonderful. They called Sprint and got me on a conference call. The bank manager got really angry with the Sprint rep, saying that he didn’t see the problem. Sprint finally admitted it was fraudulent, but wouldn’t credit back the money. Finally, my bank issued me a credit saying that they would deal with Sprint. Union Planters was the bank, btw.

Upshot was, it was a rep for sprint that hit my account to pay another account off. Ended up with many free things from Sprint because of this.

10

Actually, I’m 24 and my husband is 33. Did you not read the part where I said it was a charge from fucking Sprint and that the card was stolen, fuckwit? Take your bullshit theorizing somewhere else.

11

Get a credit card, stop using the debit card, and this will never happen again.

Pay off the balance every month and you’ll never know the difference.

12

Even better, get a credit card with a rewards program. I have a UPromise credit card which puts 1% of everything I charge into a college fund for my niece, and I charge pretty much everything except the mortgage and utilities. Some people collect air miles. My sister’s card donates 1% to one of her favorite charities. As mentioned, you need to pay the charges in full every month for the system to make financial sense. I write my charges down in my checkbook as I make them, and substract the amount from my balance, as if they were a debit. When the statement comes, I make sure the charges match my checkbook.

Advantages:

  • Your money sits in your checking account for up to a month, earning interest (for what that’s worth right now).
  • In case of emergency, you can use your cash and carry a credit card balance for a month or two.
  • You only have to verify the charges once a month when the statement comes.
  • Disputed or fraudulent charges will not put you into a financial bind.
  • Credit card companies are good about handling fraud (at least that was my experience when my purse was stolen).

I’m not preaching at you – because what happened to you was awful. But it’s something to consider for your future peace of mind.

13

Yeah, because there are never any fraudulent charges on credit cards. I understand that when you are saying “never,” you mean no more overdraft charges, but you’re forgetting the over-limit charges which most banks tack onto credit cards with excessive balances.

14

No, I mean with a credit card you will never have money sucked directly out of your bank account by a fraudulent charge. You have time to see it on your bill, and contest it with the credit card company before they get your money, not after.

And if you never carry a balance, you won’t have any troubles with over-limit charges due to excessive balances. A credit card that you don’t carry a balance on is functionally identical to a debit card, except it offers much better protection against fraudulent charges.

If you don’t think you have the self-control not to carry a balance, get an Amex.

15

[nitpick] Not just billing, but the entire world headquarters [/nitpick].

(daughter of a sprint employee, 25 years)

16

Thanks for the suggestions on the credit cards, but I already knew that :stuck_out_tongue: The Highwayman and I have only just begun to establish credit (well, I’m establishing. He’s re-establishing) so we’ve been attempting to get a “regular” credit card without much luck so far (we have a gas card and a retail card, both with no balance).

laina thanks for the advice. I’ll be taking it as soon as possible given the situation.

17

What about secured credit cards? I think that those help to build credit, and are available to everyone.

18

Zuma, you are an asshole.

19

I just moved and started an account with those jerks about a month ago (WM, I mean). I deposited 400 dollars cash in the ATM on Tuesday, and today I went to get a cashier’s check to pay my first month’s rent and deposit on my new apartment, only to find that they put a seven-day hold…on a deposit of cash! WTF? It’s cash, for crying out loud, and they were all, “we put a hold on all ATM deposits for new customers for verification purposes.” IT’S FUCKING CASH! There is nothing that needs to be verified!

My fiance and his family, who suggested I open a bank account there since that’s who they all bank with, are all insistent that it’s a really great bank and they haven’t had any problems, but I have doubts. I miss my old credit union. :frowning:

20

Oddly, this is a result of more fraud on credit accounts – it motivated the banks to put these protections in place.