Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

I don’t keep a lot of money in Checking – everything goes in Savings. I’m a little paranoid about someone getting a hold of our debit card and draining us dry.

My husband made a large, unexpected purchase on his debit card and then several smaller purchases throughout the day. Since I only had 1K in checking – the first charge (1400) but us in NSF territory. Even though we were technically overdrawn by 400 dollars at that point, they did not decline any of the other purchases he made that day. When he called me to tell me what he purchased, I figured they must have just taken the money from our Savings account and that was why they didn’t decline further transactions. I still immediately transferred 3K into our checking account from Savings to cover the ‘overdrawn’ amount and give us a little more money to work with debit wise.

A week later I get a notice showing FIVE NSF fees (each 35 dollars) for each of the debits that they authorized when we were ‘overdrawn’. I asked the bank why they didn’t draw the money from savings and apparently they don’t ‘do’ that. I asked them why they authorized the charges when there was no money in the bank and they said it was done as a courtesy. They extended us over 1K as a courtesy? What if we didn’t have the money to give back to them? They said that the money in savings supported the amounts being debited. I told them it sounds as though they didn’t decline the money because they figured they could make more money by letting the funds go through. They didn’t deny it.

I am so frustrated and disgusted with this bank because they won’t even consider even a small courtesy adjustment since it was obviously an error. They refused. I called WAMU and pretended to be a client frustrated with another bank and gave the reason why. The person who answered said that they prided themselves on customer care and would have refunded that money as a courtesy. When I said “Great.. because the bank that did it to me was YOURS..” they quickly backtracked and then HUNG UP!

Anyway – the upshot is that I need a new bank that values it’s smaller individual clients. Anyone want to make a recommendation that is NOT WAMU/Chase?

Thanks!

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

when they were wamu only this happened to me also and they reversed one of my bank fees as a courtesy- I would call back and get a supervisor or if you can go into a branch- they are so much nicer in person.

I think most major banks do this- I have a citibank account but havent overdrafted so I cant tell you if they are better or not- maybe TD Bank?

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

Citi did this to me the other day. They said they would pay the check and not charge me...well what do you think happened...yep a charge for $34. They are all BS. The little consumer means nothing.

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

I've actually had Chase for many years, started back when they were Chemical Bank!! I have Overdraft protection, and in a case just like yours, my DH put a huge purchase on our debit card and was overdrawn... But we had no fees at all because of the overdraft protection! We just made sure we paid back the overdraft account because their interest rates are like 22%. But that's a shame that you were charged $35 for each transaction! That's total Bull. Were you originally a Wamu customer?

My other accounts are at Citbank and I've had no issues.

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

Unfortunately, whenever you go over, you risk your transactions either being denied (which can put certain people in a bind), or getting charged the overdraft fee. The only thing is, I *think* my bank (Citibank) charges you when you go over, not for each time you go over on the same day, you know?

One thing we did so that we avoid this is that we signed up for overdraft protection (kinda like a line of credit) so that if we ever did go over, we would have that cushion and we would just pay it back from savings or the next time we get paid.

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

We bank with HSBC and I'm sure they'd pull the same baloney so I wouldn't recommend them.

Have you considered looking into a credit union? From what I hear they are very customer service oriented...

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

I had/have wamu. but I can not stand chase. DH has always banked with TFCU so we made the switch (for the most part) over to them this weekend. I feel like I will never be 100% happy with a bank, but teachers def. covers you with your money in savings if you don't have it in checking.

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

I HATE Chase bc of this. I have paid so much in fees and their response is "you should have checked your personal ledger". Although I still have Chase I also have TD Bank and they are super convenient. They also do not allow any purchases to go through on your debit if you don't have the funds.

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

it's true Jeannie....most banks employ this practice.

they eff you at the drive-in, so to speak.

I would call and try to get some of them reversed, but the banks are trying their damnedest to make money off of us right now.

booo hiissss!!!!

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

Most banks do the same thing though unfortunatly. Mine does. they will contine to approve.

You actually have to "sign up" for a program to have them take it out of savings if you go over ( learned this the hard way!) ....

Did you compalin enough to get the charges taken off ? In that situation, you could probably get at least 4 of the 5 NSF charges taken off.

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

an overdraft account would of covered this, not savings....

if you didn't have money to repay them, they would go after you and charge more fees

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

i use wachovia. if you have a savings with them and you overdraw the checking, they automatically transfer it over from the savings. i've had it happen a few times.

they will still charge an initial fee though.

wamu sucks..

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

Try and see if they will reverse the charges, especially if you had put the money in right away!

I have Bank of America and (knock on wood) haven't had any issues. I've had them since they were Fleet. I don't know much about their overdraft policies since it hasn't happened to me, but I'm sure since they are a large bank, they would do the same thing.

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

They won't reverse the charges. Banks make money off those charges and the manager's compensation is based on charging you those fees.

All banks charge fees if you overdrawn.

Do you have the Wamu Free Checking? It covers your first overdraft fee.

Look into overdraft protection or an overdraft line of credit. I believe HSBC offers it, DH used to have it when he banked there.

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

I don't doubt it's a common practice. I wish they'd DECLINED the transactions rather than charge me for them... but whatever.

My issue is that I really believe that they should offer some refund as a courtesy. Especially since I am a loyal customer. The adament refusal to even offer a small token or acknowledgement of that just burns me.

I would like a bank that is a little more customer friendly. If that exists.

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

I have had that problem with Wamu in the past. I tried to get an overdraft line of protection- they said they only had that for people that had 10k in Wamu savings.. I have ING so that was NG.

I eventually closed the Wamu account and opened a chase accout (b/f they owned Wamu- and still operated differently)- and linked my checking acct to a chase credit card I already had as overdraft protection.

They charge $10 to pull $ out of your CC but it's WAY cheaper than the $35 each time.

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

well I had a similar situation last week-

Citi only hit me ONCE for the $34 instead of 5 times

I still don't get how it happened- I check my account 2 or 3 times a day

like you I keep very little in checking- I have over draft and I had plenty in savings

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

At my credit union, when I overdraw, I also have a huge fee (but that's when savings doesn't back it up)....

I can't recall if it's merely drawn from savings instead, if they charge a fee... I suspect they do NOT......

FM me if you want the name of my credit union

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

I hate WAMU. The same thing happened to me. I have a savings account there with alot of money attached to a checking account that has mininal money in it. I wrote a check out of the account months earlier and never relaized it wasnt cashed. Well I used my debit pay pass to buy coffee at 7 11 everyday and got banged for 7 $35 overdraft fees. The worst thing was that it was for $2 charges a pop at 711. They would not remove them. Neeedless to say I flipped out and took my money out of the account.

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

same thing just happened with me! I had 2 charges (total accident, I had the wrong acct # ) and I have never ever everrrrrrrrr overdrawn before. they would only take off one charge, so I had to pay the other 35.00 such crummy service!

oh and I had a boatload of $ in our joint checking bc we got our tax return! they saw we had $ in there, but only took off one charge

Message edited 4/21/2009 3:56:49 PM.

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

I use Teacher's Federal Credit Union. They allow you to overdraft from your savings... It's a $2.50 fee, but if you have $5000.00 or more in your account it's free. They would have def. refunded the fee if it was a 1 time error too. Chase is such a rip off!

Re: Stupid WAMU/Chase... can your recommend another bank?

We had an old Dime account which later became Wamu and they would transfer from savings to checking to cover an overdraft if necessary with service fee. We had to set it up for that instead of the overdraft protection which was a $10 fee. When Chase took over they told us that as part of the conversion to Chase we could no longer have the terms of the old Dime account, we had to convert to the Wamu free checking, and they would no longer offer the overdraft option with no charge. They did set up something that has a $10 fee - better than the $35 but I'm paranoid about it.

One really good solution I discovered with Wamu/Chase - you can set alerts on your checking and or saving accounts. I have it set to alert me if a withdrawl over $200 is made or if the balance drops below $500. You can select any amount for the alert and it will send to multiple e-mail addresses that you enter, including mobile devices. Figure out what minimum works for you and you'll be notified if you're going below your comfort level. It won't guarantee no fees but it certainly will help minimize problems. The option is under the Notifications and Alerts options.