U.S. Bank - experienced several problems

# 14 for May 16, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on May 15, 2003:

From: usuck bank [Email User]

RE: U.S. Bank - experienced several problems

Our U.S. Bank (aka USBank / USBancorp)Nightmare Adrian (Email User) In 1998, soon after the takeover of the "original" US Bank, we made a simple transfer of funds at a US Bank ATM from our savings account to our checking account. About ten days later we were notified by the bank that one of our checks had "bounced". When US bank "customer service" was contacted, they advised that the ATM transfer had never been processed. Thus started our nightmare. The bank proceeded to bounce every check written after the ATM funds transfer, a whole month's worth, and then charge various overdraft and penalty fees against our accounts. We eventually advised the bank that the problem was their error, that we expected FULL restitution for all funds improperly removed from our accounts, and that we would be assessing our own "penalty fees" against the bank for each check that was inappropriately overdrafted or returned NSF. The bank ignored us for more than 30 days, although by law, their own policy, and the customer agreement, they were supposed to respond to us within 10 days. Eventually, US Bank had expropriated some $ 200 from our accounts in penalty fees (they later returned about $ 100, and claimed all was now "right"). We advised the bank that we were going to withhold payment on our CreditLine account, in the amount that they had improperly removed from our other accounts,until such time as full restitution was made. The US Bank response was, in an unsigned letter, "sorry for the inconvenience", but there is nothing you can do about it and we are not going to pay further restitution. A court summons was served on Mr. John Grundhofer (then-CEO) a week before Christmas 1998 (Merry X-Mas Jack !). Within 2 days, US Bank began calling us on a regular basis (2 - 3 times per week) demanding payment on the CreditLine account. Given that legal action had been initiated such demands were inappropriate, and possibly in violation of various federal or state laws. We went to trial in February 1999, and won hands-down. The judge ruled that the customer agreement was reciprocal, and awarded us full restitution of penalty fee amounts removed from our accounts by US Bank, plus a small amount of "damages" for our "inconvenience". The judge gave a stern lecture to the bank's

representative regarding what he considered "highly unprofessional conduct" on the part of US Bank. We advised US Bank, immediately after the trial, that we would pay them the FULL BALANCE of the CreditLine account, when they satisfied the judgement, providing that they had not adversely impacted our credit. It was a "no cost/no embarrassment" option. But, they ignored it. US Bank finally satisfied the court judgement in March 1999. When we checked our credit reports, there it was: They first started posting derogatory information days after the lawsuit was filed, and then, without advance notice or demand, "charged-off" the account as bad debt just days after we won the trial. We notified the US Bank in May 1999 that the CreditLine account was in dispute, and attempted further negotiated settlement. Again, they ignored us. In fact, they didn't respond to the dispute notice until 3 months later: well after the required 30 day response limit. To add insult to injury, they tried to sell the account to a collection agency in June 1999, even though the account was in dispute, and they had yet to respond to the dispute notification [the collection company promptly gave the account back to them when the were advised of what was going on]. And, they continued to report the account as "charged off as bad debt", without indication of consumer dispute. After months of attempting to resolve this issue with the bank, we had to file a federal lawsuit against US Bank (fair credit) in 2000, to protect our ourselves and our credit history. U.S. Bank responded by using every tactic possible to extend the process and make it more costly to us. We settled with them in early 2002. It cost us a bundle in legal fees and costs, but we finally got them to remove the inappropriate negative information from our credit reports:

Comment On This

My friend Sean is having problems with his account at US Bank. He checks his account daily. When he was checking his account it showed that the charges he had made at various locations had had finished pending days before and showed that his account were still in good standing. Then 12/08/2008 he checked his account and found he was over drawn $30 something dollars he thought he had spent more than he should have. Today 12/10/2008 he checked his account again and it showed he was over drawn by over $200.00. He checked the account to see why he was over drawn by so much. The $30.00 from a few days ago was from charges that were suppose to have already been cleared days before and is now getting NSF fee's for all the transactions that had already showed posted to his account before 12/08/2008 when his accounts were still showing in good standing. He has called the bank to discuss with them the issues and stated to them that this is their fault since their bank choose to post the charges several days after the charges were themselves were shown on his account as posted. They will not work with him and have told him the balance he has to make good on. Also, they refused to allow him to cancel his account and are now charging him $8.00 a day for the over drafted account plus various additional charges.

IS there anything he can do?

Comment On This

US Bank charges you overdraft charges based on pending charges. They then recalculate your previous balances based on pending charges plus overdraft charges to justify overdraft charges based 'past projected' balance amounts.

It's a scam. They manipulate the math to work in their favor. When math is manipulated, it is no longer true. It's too complicated for most consumers to call them out on it. Their reps don't even understand the principle. They see their system as infallible.

If you struggling to keep your checking account in the black, you probably can't afford a lawyer.

I would be very interested in forming a class action suite to bring this matter to light.