Posted on 09/29/2012 3:52:32 PM PDT by null and void
Two weeks ago a dear friend of mine decided to file for bankruptcy. As part of gathering the fees she went to her bank (which in the spirit of protecting the guilty, I won't name, let's just call it "Pursue") to close her accounts and get a money order.
She closed out her CD, checking account, savings account and surrendered her ATM/Debit card and Pursue credit card.
This week she gets a notice from Pursue. Not only did they fail to actually close her credit card account, they made an auto-payment to another bank.
Now they want her to send them the money.
That's not going to happen.
It's also not why I'm posting this.
A few months ago I to had occasion to close a couple accounts with my bank "Stagecoach". I've been getting monthly statements showing a 1¢ balance in each.
I haven't bothered to do anything about it, but now I'm starting to wonder:
Are American banks under orders to do all they can to avoid actually closing out accounts?
Is this an effort to camouflage the exodus from the banking system, brought to you by the same people who stop counting someone as unemployed when their unemployment benefits expire?
Or am I just being a nut-job again?
I left Wells Fargo an account with $4.69. I wanted to close it but they had paperwork that they said would take 30 minutes.
Thanks, I’ll pass that on.
I had no problem closing “Statecoach” after they announced they were going to charge me to use my own money.
They didn’t even ask why.
Your a nut-job. Get a cashiers check and close it. Done
3-4 months after I closed them, I got a joint statement from Bank of America saying that there was a balance of 44 cents in her account. I called the bank to make sure they had actually closed the account, and they had. They advised me that the 44 cents was the interest the account had earned before it was closed. I was told that in order to stop the statement from coming, I could go to the bank, have them reopen the account, issue me the 44 cents, then reclose the account. It seemed like such a waste that I said it wasn't worth the time. I had continued to get periodic joint statements with that same 44 cent balance.
This summer I closed both my savings and checking accounts with Bank of America in person. At that time, the teller noticed that my sister's account sill had the 44 cent balance listed. She also mentioned that there was interest due on my account, so she kindly completed the necessary processing to refund me the interest due from both accounts. I told her what the Customer Service people had told me about reopening and closing my sister's account just to get the refund cleared, and she said that it wasn't necessary, that she could simply process it as a transaction on the computer. I did recently get another joint statement, but it showed a zero balance. I'm not sure how many more I'll get, but if Bank of America likes wasting their money on postage and paperwork...that's they're problem.
If you have a local branch of your bank that you can go to, I'd suggest telling them you want that penny refund to totally clear out your account. You may still get a statement from them, but you'll know there's no money left in it.
My late husband had to appear in person (before he was “late”) THREE times at “Solar Confidence” before they finally honored his wish to close the account.
Highly recommend that you take that to your states Attorney General (or an attorney)and all 3 credit bureaus.
It will cost you a lot of money from a lower credit score if you ever take out a loan.
Hum? I have taken my name off accounts before with no trouble, we just went to the back and the both of us signed a statement and that was it.
Maybe, before the regulations the banks had more leeway.
Your late husband should have been late to close the account.
No, this isn’t a new thing. It’s a scam the banks and credit card companies have been playing for decades. Wells Fargo wouldn’t let me update the signature cards when the president of our club died. A couple of the tellers went to the funeral and the bank sent an arrangement because she was a long time customer and well known in the community. Still, they gave me the run around and wanted me to bring her in. What?!? Idiots! Funny thing, she’d already told me they wouldn’t let her update the signature cards a few years before when she first became an officer for the account so she just left it alone. WF admitted they never check signatures... real secure there, huh. They wanted me to sign over mortgage to my house and give them all my info - uh, NOOO! So, I went over to the teller and wrote out a check for the full amount. Yes, I signed my name and ...drum roll... they didn’t check to see if I was on the account. I got the money and told them what they could do with the account.
Citibank kept the interest running after we’d paid off their credit card. I’d call to find out what the amount would be a week later so they’d have my check within that time but for some reason, they never managed to get it posted in time. Imagine that! I let loose on them and they finally closed it with a snippy attitude that they were doing me a favor.
All of that is part of why I’d never have automatic payments. That’s just giving them more reason to mess things up
That’s their job.
You call to cancel a card, and you immediately get sent to the bank’s card retention department. The folks there have incentives and get bonuses based on how many cards they “save”. Amex is the worst one for this. They’ll keep you on the phone forever trying to get you to stay by offering to waive fees, lower interest rates, free balance transfers, etc....until you almost have to resort to profanity to get them to cancel the card.
bttt
I closed an AMEX card just the other day. Took me about 2 minutes, no hassle at all. Got an email confirmation within an hour and they are sending a followup snailmail. The only thing they asked for the next day was for me to participate in a survey, which I refused, and that was the end of it.
If an auto-payment to another bank took place your friend should have made other arrangements for that payment before “closing” the account. I understand it can take some time to do it but that’s the consumer’s responsibility.
Well, he wasn’t late when he tried to close it! LOL! That would have been like something out of Monte python, if an urn full of ashes showed up to close the account.
I bet they STILL would have given him a hard time. (sigh)
Checking accounts are a bit tricky. People who received your personal checks have up to six months to cash it. Banks want all the checks you wrote cleared before you close the account, otherwise there will be bounced checks and penalty fees against you.
Same here I had a small account that we went in and added my mom on so that her SS checks could be auto deposited. When she passed on I went down to take her off andtheyy closed the account and reopened another one. Told me that was the only way to do it.
I had major frustrations trying to close an account at Stagecoach” at their main branch locally after thy refused to do a chargeback on a debit card fraud on my account and the bank manager called me a liar on top of it.
Went to their little branch office inside Wally World, and not only was it a piece of cake to do there, the branch manager told me that she was going through the same hassle with HER account there: Her own employer siding with fraudsters over a branch manager, and said that she would close her account there if she could, but it would cost her her job.
No, you're not being a nut-job. Contact the bank and demand they close the account so they cannot assess you any monthly fee's for their maintaining a minimum account.
A minimum account is any account that does not meet minimum deposit levels, for which the bank can assess fee's.
An account with 1 cent in it certainly qualifies as a minimum account. The last thing you want is them sending you bills or demands for monthly account maintenance fees.
(Disclosure: YES I work for a multi-national bank and YES that kind of crap does in fact happen.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.