AboutJim Meadows Expertise I can respond to most questions concerning consumer and business relationships with US financial institutions. My expertise touches on deposit and loan issues and particularly on strategies to navigate through bank policies personell and practices. I have a degree in Economics, attended law school, Graduate Shool of Banking, and Commercial Lending and Compliance Schools.
Experience I have twenty years experience as a bank CEO. Most of those years were spent operating a bank focused primarly on serving consumer/retail needs. I helped pioneer deposit and loan products for low/moderate income individuals. I currently serve on multiple bank boards and am Chairman of a Commercial Bank in Atlanta.
Question I opened my account with US Bank almost 16 years ago when I became disabled. I had been having difficulty managing my account(but had an excellent track record and a 720 credit rating.(There are too many issues that incurred, so I will try to stick with the main) An unauthorized electronic check was rejected from my account with a fee, that pitched an already dipping balance incur overdraft fees, so I called my bank right away and told them I did not have any checks on this account, or authorize this electronic check, they had me talk to the fraud division, who said to open a new account immediately at my branch, and they would be freezing my account with it's attached premiere line. Over-all, my SSDI checks were not set-up for automatic deposit with it being the day before my checks came in, but my automatic withdrawals were, there-in lies a 386.00 balance of overdraft fees, and that is after a couple of reversing fees. By the time the fraud was through being investigated, they had sent my premiere line to collection with a minimum payment of 985.00 (was hard at 276.00) my old account was closed without notification, and I'm left with around the same amount to owe the bank, as the kept telling me not to worry, I did not have a choice in opening a new account and freezing the other that was tied to iy, but would never have opened a new account etc. So I feel they should reimburse all fees incurred and some rectification or clarification for my credit, because how could I explain no account history and the closing of the account. This has been a nightmare, along with the fact that 3 branch employees including the branch manager treated me like --and still has not rectified the situation but call to see how things are and tell me more bs, they never returned my calls, until I called their boss and actually left me on hold for over 20mins twice in the last two weeks, do I have any rights here? Or did I receive the double your robbery challenge?
Answer Tracy, You have rights but the bank has deep pockets to thwart any claims you might make against them. I think your best plan of action is negotiation. You might in writing, request what you have described, reversal of NSF fees and a OD Line payment which you can afford. Make sure your letter is factual and detailed. Make sure to describe your source of income and limited ability to pay. Go to the bank's website to determine to whom your letter should be addressed. Good Luck, Jim
