At My Bank, NSF = Non-Sufficient Friendliness
by F.W.
I've had a checking account at a Compass Bank branch since November 2004. The branch's staff have always been rather cold and indifferent (except for a young puppy named Christopher). But I never had any real problems until this May.
Then I ran afoul of a classic bank trick: post debits before deposits on the same day, and ding the customer for multiple "Non-Sufficient Funds" fees (at $36 each!) on trifling debit card transactions. Four debits totalling less than $10 resulted in $144 worth of NSF fees.
I regularly pass a different Compass branch. I got in the habit of making my deposits there, and found the staff much more congenial. So I thought I might have better luck negotiating my way out of these NSF fees in there. I was right.
J.R., the branch manager, sat me down in his office and fetched me coffee. Then he did the dialing and holding to talk to my branch. The customer service manager there would only "forgive" one NSF fee as a "one-time courtesy." I pointed out that none of the debits would have bounced if the damned deposit had been credited first. J.R. went up the chain of command for me -- and I wasn't even his customer! We got another NSF fee "forgiven," but that was the best he could do. It was a lot more than "my" branch did.
So I opened a new account at J.R.'s branch before I left.
Last Friday, on my way to the pool hall, I took a four-figure check to my old branch, intending to deposit it in my new account at J.R.'s branch. The check was from a well-known publishing firm. I had deposited about 25 of this firm's checks in my old Compass account since I opened it, and the funds were always available the following business day. But not this time.
"I'm sorry, sir," said the drive-up teller, "I'm going to have to place an 11-day hold on this item."
That was a problem, since I'd mailed two hefty checks on my way to the drive-up window.
So I took my deposit back and went inside to speak with the branch manager, whose name and face had changed since I last saw him.
"Rodney" told me 11-day holds were standard on out-of-state checks. I told him to check my account history and he would find that he was wrong, at least in my case. His branch had credited a deposit from the same firm overnight, just four weeks ago.
Then Rodney said it was because my account (at J.R.'s branch) was new. I said no problem, let's deposit it in my old account at this branch and post it tomorrow, just like we've done for nearly two years.
Rodney said whoever had been doing that -- "and I'm gonna find out who it is" -- shouldn't have, and he would have to treat me the same as anyone else from now.
"So you intend to treat a well-established customer the same as any stranger who walks in off the street today?" I asked him.
"Now I didn't say that. Don't go twisting my words," he replied.
I really wanted to twist something else of his, but I moved on.
I asked Rodney to call J.R., my new branch manager, and see if he would accommodate me. So Rodney called J.R.'s office and cell phone, but got only voicemail. I told Rodney I had to go but I'd call him in an hour. I left my check and deposit slip on his desk.
Ninety minutes and three phone calls later, I got Rodney on the phone.
"J.R. wouldn't do it, either," he said.
So I returned to Rodney's branch and picked up my deposit.
Monday morning, I drove down to J.R.'s branch and explained the whole thing to him.
"So, you've deposited checks from this firm before?" he asked.
"About 12 checks worth over $20,000 in the past year, and there's never been a problem with any of them," I replied.
J.R. clicks his mouse and keyboard for a few seconds, and pulls up an image of the last such check I'd deposited, four weeks ago.
"Well, since this is the same outfit and that check cleared, there's no problem with posting this one to your account overnight," he said. "Rodney didn't tell me about that part."
"Thank you, J.R.," I beamed.
J.R. had even filled out the deposit slip and left me sitting comfily in his office while he made the deposit. When he returned with my receipt, I just had to ask him: "How come you're such a nice, helpful guy and Rodney's such a dick?"
"Now there's one more favor you can do for me," I said, "if you don't mind...."
"What's that?"
"Can you close my account at Rodney's branch from here?"
"Oh, sure!" It was done in five seconds.
"I really appreciate you, J.R."
I really despise you, Rodney.
>:-(
The author of this entry prefers to remain anonymous.
- - -
Link to this essay from your own web site or blog -- just copy/paste this HTML:
Comments
Well let me say this... Banks suck.
After working for Bank One for over a year, I'd never EVER do business with a bank. They are by nature a "for profit" business and will ding you anyway they can. I've had my personal account with a credit union since 1985 (except when I worked for B.O. and they required employees to have their pay deposited into a B.O account and they held my B.O. paycheck before posting it, causing an employee to have an NSF!)
My C.U. and as far as I know, others, post account activity immediately and I get my new current balance on every receipt. I don't mean to sound like a spokesperson for C.U.s but I'd certainly look into membership in a local credit union if I were you.
Posted by: Mel | July 24, 2006 8:53 AM
I opened an account at Washington Mutual, soon after moving to California. It seemed every time I went into the bank (rather than just using the ATM) I had some sort of negative experience. In fact, right at the beginning there was a problem with getting checks for my newly opened checking account (they never arrived), and upon going in to clear that up, I learned the very friendly man who helped me open the account hadn't filed any of the forms he needed to, and had since been let go, so we had to go through all the paperwork again. Nevertheless, when my husband started his own business, we opened an account in the business name at WaMu, because it was convenient to do all of our banking at one place.
We thought.
We accepted a check in foreign currency from an overseas buyer, to make things convenient for our customer, after confirming with WaMu's customer service over the phone that it could be deposited in our account after a certain time period and for a certain fee. When we got the check, drawn on one of the largest banks in Great Britain, in pounds, we took it inside our local WaMu branch to deposit it.
The first teller had no idea what to do with the check, so she called her "manager" over. The manager told us that she couldn't do anything with the check. "Really?" we asked, "because we phoned WaMu customer service, and they said there would be a delay in depositing it in our account, and a fee, but that it would be no problem." No, she couldn't do anything, we should contact our customer and have them send a check in US Dollars instead. "Um, no, we are not going to do that. Is there someone else we can talk to?" "No."
Exasperated, my husband asked "So, you're telling me that this check, worth a few hundred dollars, is essentially worthless here. Can you give a suggestion on what we should do?"
Her response was classic, and more forthcoming than I would have expected: "You could go to Bank of America. I'm sure they could do something with it."
After confirming with her she really would rather send us to open an account at another bank than just process the stupid check, we did just what she suggested. The man we talked to at Bank of America was confused by the story we told of what had happened at Washington Mutual. His suggestion was that processing a check like that takes a little extra work (thus the fee) and that woman just didn't want to fill out the forms, etc. It seems a stupid reason to drive away customers who have dealt with your bank for several years, but it seems that is just what she did.
Of course, we closed all our accounts at WaMu, and reopened them at Bank of America. There was a world of difference between our treatment on a regular basis there, from the crappy service we always received at WaMu. We never had any problems at BoA, and it was a real shame we had to change banks again when we moved back to Ohio because there are no locations here.
A sidenote, when we went to close our accounts at WaMu, we were aching to tell the branch manager why we were leaving, because the woman who had sent us elsewhere was still employed and there that day. He did come over to talk to us, momentarily, when he saw that we were there to close accounts. He walked up and asked "Is there anything we can do to make you stay?" We both said "No, I don't think so," and as I took a breath to go on with what had happened on our previous trip to their bank, he lost focus, turned, and walked away without even an "I'm sorry you feel that way." It was easy to see where the woman picked up her customer service skills.
I considered writing a letter to corporate, but I decided if they were that disinterested in what would cause customers of several years to leave their bank, they could keep their idiot working there, at least we wouldn't have to deal with her anymore.
I think the moral of the story is that not all banks seem determined to screw their personal banking customers (or in the case of WaMu, their business banking customers as well). It is inconvenient to have to switch banks, but it can be well worth it.
Posted by: Liz | July 24, 2006 9:33 AM
Compass Bank is one of the worst banks I have ever had the mispleasure to have used and I was a banker for about 20 years.
I was closing an account because of their weird posting for the day closing time (4pm) plus lots of other little "you gotta be kidding" policies they have.
Later, I received an NSF notice on the closed account. It was overdrawn by TEN CENTS. It took a couple of days but I went in and made a ten cent deposit and figured it was all done.
A week later, I received a notice that with all of their NSF fees, they wanted $122.00. Yup, that was one hundred and twenty two dollars for a TEN CENT overdraft. Oh yes, they said the NSF charges would have been the same if the overdraft were only ONE cent too. All other banks I have ever worked for or dealt with usually allow a $2 to $3 overdraft without any fees as they know we all can make small addition errors.
Talking to the branch manager, area manager, corporate customer (lack of) service got me a "generous" $62.00 credit, leaving me owning $60.00 for a TEN CENT overdraft.
It took a call to the president's office and they took several days to finally just wipe it out!!!
Most banks are fine. Its the person you are dealing with that makes the difference at any given time. But Compass Bank is definitly the exception. All of the people up and down the line were the same, i.e. "customer service" and "common sense" were phrases they would have to look up in the dictionary as they were totally unfamiliar with them.
Posted by: Boris | July 24, 2006 10:35 AM