Comments on: Wainwright Bank Stole My Lunch Money

By: Loren

Loren — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:33:43 +0000

I've never read your blog before I linked over from a post on the 'Get Rich Slowly' blog. But a few years ago I had a bank (National City, a local company that got bought out) do the EXACT same thing to me.
It was a checking account my roommate and I used PURELY to pay utility bills. So there was never much more than 100$ in it to begin with.
But I MAILED a water bill on Saturday morning (as in dropped it off at the post office so that it would arrive in 3-5 buisness days.)
I went to work, then stopped at the ATM outside my bank on my way home, I DEPOSITED the money into the checking account (on a Saturday night less than 12 hours later).
3 weeks later, I get a notification in the mail that my bank account has been over drafted for 3 weeks. And that if I don't fix it immediately they will take MORE money out.
Why was it over drafted? Because the BILL that I mailed got processed Monday MORNING, but the money that I deposited, didn't get processed until Monday at FIVE O'CLOCK. The bank HAD the money for the deposit since Saturday at about 10 pm, but still processed it LAST, even though the BILL couldn't possibly have been received until 8 am Monday morning because the water company isn't OPEN on the weekend. Then they didn't notify me of the problem for 3 WEEKS, right before they were going to begin CHARGING me for having an over drafted account!

Now I do all my banking with a non-profit credit union. And if I deposit a check in an ATM, it gets processed by the time I get home and check my balance online.

By: Loren

Loren — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:33:43 +0000

By: Fixed Expenses and Flexible Expenses: How to Budget for Both | Stocks!

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 08:02:52 +0000

[...] few months ago, my local bank and I had a falling out and my husband and I were suddenly very motivated to switch banks. We’d narrowed it down to two [...]

By: Sierra

Sierra — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:07:11 +0000

Thanks for the tip!

By: Jenn

Jenn — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:46:34 +0000

As a former employee of Citizens Bank, I can tell you that they process transactions the same way – largest debits first, and debits before credits. I now work for a mutual bank, as in we don't report quarterly earnings to shareholders. If you're looking for a community bank, you need to find a mutual or cooperative bank. Only then will you find fair banking practices.

By: Jenn H

Jenn H — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:38:41 +0000

If you are really looking for an awesome bank w/ that convenience factor I would try USAA. I'm so in love with them my husband is worried about his place in my heart! They don't have branches but you can deposit your checks from YOUR HOUSE using a scanner. It totally rocks. Check it out.
https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_logon/Logon?redir...

By: Jenn H

Jenn H — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:38:41 +0000

By: What I’m Doing With My Banking These Days — ChildWild

What I’m Doing With My Banking These Days — ChildWild — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 04:43:34 +0000

[...] Y’all may recall that a few months ago I fired my local bank after they stole my grocery money. [...]

By: Christopher White

Christopher White — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:56:07 +0000

I have news for you. Citizens Bank has the worst overdraft policies in the country, according to their own literature.
http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://admin....

By: pekmez

pekmez — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:57:53 +0000

I have no direct experience with them, but I am curious what makes you think that Citizens isn't doing exactly the same accounting tricks? They won't hose *you* because they offer the overdraft protection in a free package deal – but that doesn't make it right to reorder the transactions so that they hose other people, and I'm sure that for customers without overdraft protection their fees and rules are just as oppressive.

I can somewhat understand them reordering to say “no, you can't float money into the account the second the bank opens on Monday to cover the withdrawals that are waiting in the queue to process on Monday” but the weekend ATM withdrawal fees seem ridiculous.

(For your requirements I would probably have tried to go with Cambridge Savings Bank, which has a branch right in the Porter Square Shaw's shopping center. Again, I don't have personal experience with their policies, and actually I only bank with them by owing them money, not by storing it with them. (They own our mortgage.) And soon I will sacrifice that too because while I like to put my money where my values are, $5000+ now (what it would cost to refinance my mortgage with them rather than the broker who originally handled our loan) and/or a worse mortgage rate is a bit over the line.

But I like their customer service. If I hadn't been banking with Cambridge Trust Company for a million years, I would probably be using CSB for more banking.