My latest banking saga…
Wow – been a while.
I hate banks. I hate bankers, I think when the glorious peoples revolution comes, they should be the first ones against the wall. (just kidding–sortof)
I think we should nationalize the banks, because as inept as the federal government can be it’s a simple equation:
inept != evil
Anyone who follows me on twitter (both of you) know that I’ve had a btt of a border skirmish going on with my local bank. (Well there’s no such thing as ‘my local bank’ anymore is there – my “local” bank is based out of Buffalo, NY)
I’ve been banking with Merchants and Traders “M&T” Bank (www.mtb.com) since they acquired my last bank, Provident. I’ve also been planning to leave for some time yet, but it hadn’t reached danger level yet.
I loved Provident, best customer service ever, convenient branches, Sunday hours, and a branch where I could walk in and EVERYONE there knew me. You know, like Cheers, only serving money instead of bad beer.
All good things must end. M&T bought them, they called it a merger, but it wasn’t. There is nothing left of the bank I was so happy with. Customer service is gone, my local branch is closing, and no more Sunday hours (and severely curtailed saturday hours – what’s the point of being open for 3 hours – seems like a waste of a lot of paperwork?)
M&T is also closing up half it’s branches in Virginia, Maryland, and DC, in fact in my area there is now a 40 mile radius without a branch, which would force me to drive 20 miles in any direction to find a place to drop a damned check off. They’re laying off employees and cutting branch hours.
This is the picture of a bank in trouble mind you.
So the *whole* story.
About two months ago, I got a call from the branch manager of my branch. Seems when the account was opened the agent who helped me forgot to get me to sign a piece of paper.
I signed the paper – end of story, right?
Nope, another month goes by and I get an illiterately written letter from my branch manager, but suspiciously not signed. In approximately 10 days my account was to be closed.
That very same day I walked the letter into the branch and quite literally said “what the fuck?”. (For added effect, I wrote it on the bottom of the letter.)
The teller explained to me that it’s a minor oversight, that corporate probably didn’t get the signed form (that I signed) and that it was nothing to worry about. Mike (the manager) would take care of it first thing the next morning.
When asked what to do about the letter, I was told to…”Ignore it – if you don’t hear from us everything is ok.” (**WARNING** never depend on negative notification when something bad might happen – lesson learned.)
April 15th – I get paid, deposit my paycheck in said account and go online and schedule online payments for some of the larger bills and more pressing bills to get them out of the way. I always schedule bill payments at the receiving site, not the sending site. Bank of America cured me of that habit.
April 16th comes along, the day the letter said my account was to be closed. All is good. Bought lunch and something stupid or another, debit card works wonderfully.
April 17th. Nothing. NO letter, no notice nothing. I go to use my card…DECLINED. I log into web banking (since I have other accounts I can still GET to web banking) and the account was closed and over 3100.00 was withdrawn.
I call customer service. Fat lot of good they do, they are great at helping you transfer funds or look up a check, when pressed with the question “Where’s my fucking money.” you get a lot of blank stares with foreign accents.
So I spend the weekend stressed. I can’t get a hold of the companies with whom I’ve scheduled bill payments until Monday, by which point the payments have already been attempted. Not to mention that to this point, NO ONE CAN TELL ME WHERE MY MONEY IS. The best answer I got is that it must have been withdrawn at the branch. (Lie #1)
Monday I call the bank and spoke directly to the branch manager, who I’ve had a pretty good relationship with up until now. “No problem, we’ll get it worked out and get the account re-opened for you.” (Lie #2) “I’ll call you this afternoon when it’s done.” (Lie #3)
Tuesday I call the bank “I’m having trouble getting a-hold of the person who closed the account, she’s the one who has to re-open it” (Warning – maybe Lie #4) “I’ll call you before 3pm and let you know where it stands.” (Lie #5)
Tuesday at 6pm (branch closes at 7) I call the bank. Ask for Mike, teller tells me he’s with a customer and can she have him call me back. “No thanks, I’ll hold.” -my response.
She comes back and again, tells me that he’s still with a customer, but that my problem is being worked on (Lie #6), and that he’ll call me back in the morning. -WRONG- I tell her this can’t wait for morning and thank you, but I’ll hold.
Mike gets on the phone and tells me:
* It’s absolutely their fault for losing the paperwork in the first place (working on getting that in writing)
* corporate is unable (refusing) to re-open the account
* a check is being cut as we speak
* I can expect it in 5-7 business days
Now mind you that 5 days have already gone by since the day they stole my money. I’m supposed to wait another week to ten days? (unlike banks, I measure time as it passes, not what it looks like on a fucking calendar)
I don’t fucking think so. Tonight I’m drafting a warrant-in-debt. In virginia it only costs $35 to file a lawsuit and you don’t need a lawyer to do it.
I’m thinking a few extra thousand for putting me through this, the damage to my perfect payment history with my mortgage company, etc. are all in order. (I’ve re-scheduled the payment from a different account, if they don’t close *THAT* one I should be good) I’m lucky in that it happened during a time when it’s not a life-or-death problem for me.
Because *THEN* you’d be reading about me somewhere else. You put my kids at risk there will be more than words.
Banks can #suckit
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Got the letter –
The gist:
All our fault,
Paperwork fuck-up
we accept full responsibility and liability for the failure.
Wait – what was that last part?
Oh, I’d be PISSED! I hope you win that lawsuit – make em pay.
Update:
M&T Bank is *MAILING* me a check. They say it went in the mail yesterday (I’ll check the postage cancellation when I get it to see if that was lie number..what is it now, 7?)
It baffles the mind that in a situation where a customer has multiple accounts with the bank that they would MAIL a check when simply depositing it into another account is more simple/less costly and would have made EVERYONE happy. Say…maybe **PUTTING THE MONEY BACK IN THE ACCOUNT IT CAME OUT OF TWO DAYS BEFORE**
Meanwhile – I’ve opened an account at another bank…I’m not happy with this one either, but I suspect I’m not going to be happy with ANY banks at this point.
They’re *ALL* crooks. #nationalizethem
Well it was a lie, but not like I expected. It was in the bank on Saturday. I received the check today.
So the lost money is found, but that doesn’t help the fact that it was lost in the first place now does it.
Part of me just wants to try.. I’m pretty good at writing a discovery motion that will cause major angst…and in a situation where there has been a long-standing relationship with an institution before a buy-out, a request for all correspondence and documentation dating back to the start of *MY* relationship with (then) Provident bank is a good start.
Yes, I’ll be more than happy to have everything taken care of and for lenders to not hold any of this against me.
Anything I chase them for over and above that is gravy, and is more for fun.
Clearly the bank screwed up. And the bank manager admitted it. Here’s my advice.
1) Try to get as much in writing from them as possible. E-mail is great. If you can get the bank manager to apologize or admit it was his bank’s fault in an e-mail, that would be great.
2) Try to work it out with them before suing. They may very well reimburse you (they have been known to do that). They should:
a) Reimburse you for any fees they imposed.
b) Reimburse you for any fees your payees imposed.
c) Send a letter to each of your payees, explaining that it was their fault, not yours.
More than likely they will attempt to contact your payees and get them to reverse the fees they charged you by sending them a letter. Then, if the fees don’t get reversed, they’ll reimburse you. This happens a lot, and banks are usually good about taking care of it if it was their fault. But, then again, you never know. But I would definitely first try to work with them, be nice, just tell them that you incurred fees and you need reimbursement and a letter to your payees saying the late payment wasn’t your fault.
As for being compensated for what they put you through, well, it’s one of those things that falls into the “shit happens” category. I think if you come out of this with all your fees reimbursed/reversed and your standing with the payees unblemished, you should call it a day and not worry about it.