Is it unreasonable to assume a bank would be able to keep track of numbers?

The BBQ Pit
1

Over the weekend, I have been screwed over by my stupid bank.

I am a college student and I have a debit card through a particular bank chain that is mainly located throughout the Chicago suburbs. I go to school a few hours away from the Chicago suburbs. I have been very, very good about keeping track of my purchases, calculating my balance after every purchase, etc. I have also been very good about checking my balance with my online account. You see, my statements are sent to my home address, so I rely on this online banking deal to make sure I am doing my math correctly.

On Friday evening I checked my online balance, and to my dismay it was $87.97 less than the balance I had written in my checkbook. I looked at all of the transactions listed online and all of the transactions in my checkbook ledger, and they matched up exactly. I must have gone through my checkbook at least 10 times, re-calculating the balance backwards and forewards. I had a friend re-calculate my balance, and he arrived at the same number I kept getting. I called my parents to see if they had the statements so I could see what that balance said. They can’t find the statements. So I decided to wait a day and check the balance on Saturday.

Saturday comes, the balance is still $87.97 less than what I have written down. It is absolutely impossible that I made a purchase of that magnitude and forgot to write it down–for one thing, I rarely use my debit card, so I would have remembered buying a shitload of stuff. Also, the summary of charges online does not have any purchases that I do not have listed in my checkbook ledger. I decided to e-mail the bank about this discrepancy, and see if there are any hidden charges or anything. I mentioned that I do not have access to my statements because I am living away from home.

I got an e-mail back today, basically saying that I should review my statements and visit a teller. And by the way, if it is an error in my part, they will charge me $35 for the trouble of them looking into it.

So I’m left upset, since I don’t have an answer to my problem. In retrospect, how much of an answer could I have hoped for? But I was even more upset because they would charge me $35 if it was my fault. Also, the nearest branch is 2.5 hours away, so it’s not very feasible for me to see a teller, and as I already stated, I don’t have my statements. Today, I went through my checkbook at least 5 more times, and I always came up with the same balance.

This might be a good time to mention that my online account does not offer an easy-to-find running balance–it just offers a summary of charges and then one balance at the end. After doing some clicking around, I did find a page where I can find the balance after each individual transaction. Lo and behold, the balance they offer after the most recent transaction is in accord with mine! I clicked back to the main page to see if that has been magically updated. Of course, it hasn’t. So now I’ve seen two different balances for one account, and I have the screen shots to prove it.

I e-mailed them again, basically saying that it’s obviously not my fault since they list two different balances, and could they please check into it. Except I said it even nicer than that.

As of right now, I haven’t heard back from them (reasonably so, since I only sent the e-mail an hour ago). But I’m just crossing my fingers that they realize their error (which they should). I personally think they should pay me $35 for the stress I’ve had to go through. Also, they’re a fucking bank! It’s their entire job to keep numbers! I don’t earn interest on my account, so it’s not like they have to even multiply or anything–just add and subtract! They expect me to keep track of my account to the letter (which I do), but they can’t be bothered to do the same, and they’ll charge me $35 if I say any differently.

Sigh…so after all of this, I’ve decided at Christmas I’m going to take my account elsewhere. I shouldn’t have to put up with these morons.

2

Yes.

3

Well, yes and no.

Yes in that’s it’s wise to keep checking your own figures, and tally them with those at the bank. You’re dealing, all the time, with the possibility of human error. On both sides.

But, no, as in it is the bank’s responsibility to take all reasonable duty of care when it comes to your funds. I hope you are able to take a complaint up the chain of responsibility within that institution, AwSnappity.

4

Maybe it’s time for new bank with a better online account feature. I can see all activity from my checking account, savings account and car loan from the same page. Plus, I can go back to the day I opened the account for balancing AND get copies of the cancelled checks instantly.

5

I feel your pain. I recently had a third-party check bounce in my account. I was charged $30 for the bounce and $10 for the return. Plus, they put my account on hold. Now for the kicker, when I get the check, it dosen’t belong to me or anyone I know. In fact, on the endorsement, the account number is someone else’s. WTF! This is your job. For one week I was left with no money. So if I make a mistake you charge the hell out of me, but if it’s your fault I just have to take it. Whatever happened to that bank error in your favor collect $200 like in Monopoly.

6

I hate banks. I’ve had countless service charges reversed.

7

I belong to a credit union. They are a gift from the old man in the clouds.
BT

8

Your answer may just be hidden fees. If the money was there but ‘clearing’ on any of your checks, they’d pay the check an bang the balance for the ‘fee’. Then there are minimum balance fees, ATM fees, check printing fees, etc. They get you for everything but the branch manager’s toupe (and she’s a woman).

Still, reconciling your account is a what they do. Ask for a printed transaction history and the problem will become readily apparent.

9

See if there’s a credit union you can join. They are a much better alternative to banks.

10

I, too, agree that you should move to a different bank. Fortunately for you, you HAVE those screenshots so you can show them it’s their fault.

However, please do ask important questions when you switch banks. Make sure you’re happy with the services they offer.

[hijack]
And CU’s aren’t the greatest all the time, either. Having used nothing but a Credit Union when I lived in Michigan, I naturally checked out the CU option first when I moved to Indiana. The ONLY CU available at the time required a $500 minimum balance in any account I had, required a Savings Account ($500 min. bal.) to open a Checking account, which would require its OWN $500 minimum balance in it, they were only open from 9am to 2 pm on weekdays, had NO arrangements with any of the ATM vendors and NO ATM of their own, so any ATM transactions I’d do would be a cost of around $5 each when everyone was done taking out their fees, AND they charged an extra fee for Direct Deposit!
No-thank-YOU.

Went with a bank that’s right across the street; I’ve had great service with them, no problems, and I’m sticking with them for now.
[/hijack]

11

Gotta concur with DogMom. Some CU’s are better than others. The one I’m with now also has no ATM’s of their own, charges fairly hefty fees for using someone else’s ATM, and is only open from 9 to 1 to boot. (9 to 12 on Fridays during the summer, even!)

Still, given the hassle AwSnappity’s been through, I’d certainly recommend it to the OP, as despite the above caveats, my experiences with CU’s have been remarkably hassle-free.

12

There is another possibility, the two balances may be different if one reflects cleared transactions, while the other includes “held” transactions, meaning the final confirmation has not reached the bank. Now, since you don’t have any of these uncleared transactions it may mean that the bank screwed up and assigned a charge to your card when none was there. Or someone else charged or attempted to charge something to your debit card, in which case the bank can’t really be to blame.

This last one is exactly what happened to me. There were $500 in these uncleared debits on my account, so even though I had cash in my checking account, I couldn’t get to it. Turns out there ws some car rental compay that put in the initial charge claim, but they hadn’t finalized the transaction (whatever that entailed). Since it seemed someone was using my card number without my permission I had to go through a whole stolen card/number thing etc. But it was eventualluy handled in a staisfactory manner.

13

Alright, an update.

Well, first of all, I would like to correct the statement I made in the OP that the bank screwed me over. They didn’t really screw me over, they just gave me unnecessary stress and vague answers. But I still hate them.

As for the $87.97. I got an e-mail back today saying that they are holding a portion of my latest deposit, and that they are also holding a purchase I made last week that has not yet shown up on the list of transactions. I can understand this. However, they list both balances as “Account Balance”–not “Available Balance” vs. “Balance”–so you can probably understand that it is confusing. (And honestly, I didn’t even know that ‘holds’ existed until Gangster Octopus mentioned them as a possibility.)

As of right now, there is not a $35 fee on my transaction summary for having them look into the discrepancy of balances, and hopefully there never will be one.

Anyway, thanks for your support. This chapter has finally come to a close.