Bank removed $50 from my savings, moved to checking then deducted $30 from checking for "inactive fee"
Complaint
Eileen Cowart
Country: United States
I opened an account with this bank in oct. 2008 to purchase a CD and was required to open both a checking and savings account so interest earned could be deposited into a savings account. The TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF YOUR ACCOUNG" lists Special Treatment of Checking Accounts. It states"if your account is a checking account, it will become a master deposit account, which will consist of two sub-accounts, a transaction account that serves as a payment account and a non-transaction account that is a savings account. I have never written a check but every month interest from my CD is deposited in the savings account. I just learned they have charged me thrity dollars for inactivity of checking and moved $50 from my savings to restore the $30 to the checking to maintain the mimimum of $200. Since it is clearly stated that the two are joined as sub accounts I feel this money should be refunded and that the unauthorized transactions were illegial. What action can I take to get my money back?
Comments
Ask them to waive the charge.
Emphasise that you brought your money to their bank, in response to their CD offer to earn interest on your money, not to pay fees or have yet another checking account, and that you set up the accounts in accordance with their recommendations for that specific purpose.
If you get stonewalled at the CSR or branch level, send a letter to the executive offices and BBB.
Your next level would be a www.occ.gov complaint, for deceptive marketing of the CD interest rate, taking the position that charging an "inactivity fee" on an account they required to buy the CD amounts to a misrepresentation of the CD yield terms.
If that doesn't work, find a better bank. If they are going to cause that much trouble over $30, you have a hint on how they will handle other problems. The most important requirement in any bank is integrity.