I'm grumpy!

Member

I had an argument with my bank from Massachusetts (Sovereign Bank--boycott them bastage) yesterday and I'm still fuming. I had three personal accounts with them: one joint checking, one joint savings, and a checking of my own. When I first moved here I called to have all of them closed. Turns out I could not close two of them because the balance was over $100. I was told that my only option was to bring them down to -$100 and then they would send me a cashier's check. After argueing with nearly every customer service moron and team misleader of the aforementioned morons, I hung up and purchased enough stuff to bring my balances of the one checking account to nearly $0.00.

I then called to have a portion of the balance of one of the accounts transfered to another to bring both of them to -$100, but there was a snag. Because the one checking account balance was -$100 they hit me with a penalty fee (in the amount of $8.67) and suddenly my balance was -$6.24. You know what that means, right? That means they could not close ANY of my accounts because I had a negative balance. For weeks I called in protest, telling them that I'd be damned if I was going to pay for a friggin' penalty fee because the dumb bastage...well you get the idea.

What they did not tell me over the phone was that for every day I had a -0.00 balance they were charging me $5.00. So while I was straightening the matter out I had accumulated overdraft fees totalling nearly $100!!! I did not know this was happening until I received my bank statement. So of course I called to complain about this and demand action on their part. Still fighting mad, I wrote a letter of complaint, only to be told that it was not their fault that the balance dipped below $0.00, it was mine for not depositing more money into my account. Uh, yeah, and I am supposed to make a deposit into an account that I was trying to close!!!

Eventually I gave in and sent them a check to cover the overdraft fees and bring my balance up to $28.79. I fully expected them to finally close all acounts and the matter would be closed. Well, I received a bank statement a week ago (I was expecting a check, not another statement) for my own checking account and the balance was $126.71. !!!!!!! How could this be? I had transferred money from this account to the other to being them both to -$100!? So I called and you know what they told me? "We had to transfer all monies from account #1 to account #2 to close the account." You see what those morons did, didn't you? They stuffed money back into account #2, which meant that I could not close account #2. And I couldn't transfer the over-balance to account #1 because they had closed it!!

So, now we are at yesterday and I find this last bit out. I'm on the phone, pissed as all heck, and am told that I have to bring my balance down to -$100, which was much easier said than done because I destroyed all credit cards. The female moron on the phone said, "So write a check." I asked her, "If I write a check to pay for something, how long will it take for that to be reflected in my account?" And she said "I'm not sure I see where you are going with this." SO I get another moron (this time a male moron) and he says, "Well you can send us a letter telling us to close that account", and I tell him "I already did write a letter", and he said, "Was the letter notirized?"

By this point, I am burning mad

and now I'm even more angry because 5 months ago someone could have told me that I just had to have a letter notirized to close all accounts (even if the balance was over $100). But now I'm really pissed because I have to spend $10 to have someone notirize a letter........and.......

Oh what's the use. I just needed to vent.

burning mad

Member

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Banks know just what to do to screw people out of money. It's their job!

Member

And to top it off we aren't closing on our house the 18th due to some legal issues on the side of the seller. Now it looks like we'll close on the 28th!!!

Oh, and I woke up this morning to another infestation of ants. What the hell were they looking for, anyway? My countertops were spotless! I am convinced the woman downstairs has a side of beef rotting in her apartment and her hoard of ants are just coming up for a break while munching on the hindquarters.

I just want to me in my new house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe these are those notorious pregnancy hormones...

Frightened Inmate #2

I'm a notary if that helps any. Wink

Member

Banks do suck. I used to work for one; the amount of income they received from overdraft fees was ludicrous.

I know you're sick of them, but: Can you call someone high up on the ladder (or right them a letter?) and explain what happened, to whom you spoke, etc. I bet they send you a check for the overdraft fees. Banks make all kinds of money from situations like this because a lot of people get so tired of putting up with all of the run around (and rightly so).
However, if you can get the name of the regional banking manager in charge of that branch I have a feeling you'll get somewhere.

Member

Kristin: I wrote a letter of complaint yesterday and sent it to the corporate office. I severely paraphrased the whole situation (it does not translate well on paper--unless I can use profanity), so I'm not sure they will understand how complex this is. And it's been 5 months since I first took action on the accounts. I really just want it put to sleep.

On the bright side, Guppy moves around in there every day and responds to the sound of my voice. I am alone all day, so it's very quiet here. If I feel baby move I talk to my tummy and the movement stops. When I stop talking the baby moves. I even sing to him/her Embarassed

and like to think Baby can hear me and is delighted.

Member

Good! I hope you get some results from the letter.

That's wonderful about the baby. You're going to make a great mother.

Gone Fishin

Done this myself. Leave $.01 in the account and don't do anything. After a year's worth of inactivity and statements reading $.01, it'll get closed automatically. And if you're really lucky, you could get a check for $.01!

Adjunct

this is exactly why i am in a credit union ob

The Pinball

is it me or doesn't it seem it should be the customer's right to close their account on demand???? what the hell is with all those stipulations to close? federal regulations???

i worked for a bank for 7 years - not specifically in the moronic service department but i do agree with Kristin. I would write a letter to a VP - forget customer service reps and their supervisors (dumb and dumber).

i would have written the letter to the "manager" and copied a VP in their division.

frrrrrrrrrrustrating. but then, there's Guppy Wink

Member

what a pain Lisa. Hope you can get it straightened out for good. I would been steaming mad, too!!!!

Good thing Guppy is there to bring a smile to your face! Feeling movement is definitely the best thing about being preggo I think. It's truly amazing to feel someone in there moving around!!!!!!! pink love

I'm grumpy!

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