I Would Have Dropped Them, But They Did The Honors
Written: Feb 20 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Checking that Pays, Free Interest Checking, Online Banking
Cons: CUSTOMER SERVICE, cruelty
The Bottom Line: Basically, US Bank has good products, but terrible service.
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| cdjunkiejr's Full Review: U.S. Bancorp |
US Bank is a huge bank that is in most states. They "promise" small-bank service, but simply cannot deliver. Here I will try to review US Bank as a whole or a "hole," and not just on my unusual experience.
US Bank is all over. You shouldn't have a problem finding a branch somewhere. I went to the local branch and was greeted by a very nice woman who would become my "personal banker." I was in US Bank for no more than 15 minutes, and in that short amount of time, I opened three accounts: a student interest checking account, a savings account, and a college credit card account. I walked out with several things including papers, brochures, and packets of advertisments telling me how great my experience would be here and that I was in good hands. I believed them. I was given three starter checks, but they printed them out and they had my name on them so I didn't complain about the overall small quantity I was given.
While at the bank, I was told about one of US Bank's most impressive feature: Checking that Pays. Apparently, it is unique to US Bank. The program is relatively simple. You use your check card for everyday purchases (US Bank makes TONS of money for your efforts) and US Bank will pay you back 1% of your purchases in November. Great idea. I didn't buy into it though. Instead, I opted for another program, the WorldPerks check card program. This time US Bank will pay you 1 mile for every $2 you spend plus give you 4,000 miles to get you going. Great idea, sign me up. (but please forget to tell me about the $20 fee)
Unless you have direct deposit, making deposits is a drag because the cut off time is 2 PM, which is ridiculous. There are ATMs that are owned by US Bank all over, but they only allow you to withdraw, not deposit. Instead, you have to go to an actual bank to make the deposit. This is quite different than say, Bank of America, who wants to burn down the banking centers and make you exclusively use ATMs.
Since I have the Student Checking package, I got my first box of checks free and they were at my door on the Saturday after the Wednesday I opened my account. Pretty quick. I was not able to select what number I could start at, but instead had to start all over at 1001. I was told that I would be given 4 free foreign-ATM transactions per month, a nice gesture.
The bank has a nice, full service website where you can do the usual like pay bills, view transactions and balances, transfer money, etc., but also allows you to change address, apply stop payments, change your PIN, and much more. They give you pretty much no reason to call the 800 number.
The 800 number is something else, folks. You will probably never be treated as badly by someone as you will by these people. In fact, my personal banker warned me and told me to call her with my questions, which would be fine if she was ever at her desk.
I had to call customer service when my account showed two overdraft fees of $28.00 each. This happened when they took out the annual fee for my check card, and I was never told about it. Of course, the 800 number rep didn't believe me and transferred me to someone who said that their policy is to only be able to remove one charge. So I had to run to my other bank, Wells Fargo the next day, and pull out enough cash to cover the overdraft plus the $20 fee. Then I went to the bank to cash it and that's when my horror story starts.
Basically, US Bank has good products, but terrible service. So as long as you never have a problem or don't report any mistakes the bank makes, you'll have a good experience with this bank.
MY HORROR STORY:
Granted, my story is unique and will not happen to everyone. Also, if you're bored easily, you may not want to read it. It's pretty long.
I went to the bank to deposit money to cover the overdraft. I waited in line at the ATM. My PIN wasn't working for whatever reason so I went to the drive-up teller. I put my money in the tube and waited. About 10 minutes passed and I can no longer see any teller in the window. Then, several tellers came up and looked at the computer at one time. They looked at me and the look was returned. What was going on? Then came the news.
"James? We're sorry to inform you, but your account is in the process of being closed." I was so angry, but I didn't say anything rude.
Instead, "Do you know why? I don't overdraw my account or do anything bad and I never got notice." To Myself: That's why my bloody PIN wasn't working.
"We have no information at this time. You need to speak to your personal banker. Have a nice day." Then she sent the tube back to me. I drove away absolutley stunned. Since I was about 20 minutes from the branch where I had opened my account, I pulled over into a parking lot and call my banker. She was unavailable and it forwarded me to the 800 number people. Oh goody. After waiting on hold for what seemed like an hour, I was presented with the usual unenthusiastic voice "Thank you for calling US Bank." I explained my story and was put on hold and transferred to someone else... apparently, some regional manager.
"Hello? My name is Kirsten, regional director. How are you?"
I replied with, "confused and not too well, thanks to you. I hear you closed my account."
After a pause (and I apologize for being so dramatic BTW) she responded, "Yes, I did. It's Minnesota state law to close any account with a ChexSystems record."
"What!? I don't have a ChexSystems record. And even if I did (which I don't) they wouldn't have opened a new account for me. She checked it!"
"No, it was not checked at the time of the account opening."
I said, "OK, well whatever. What happens now."
"What do you mean, sir?"
I asked this woman how I could fight this, I didn't have a ChexSystems record. So I begged, "Could you override this until I can fax you a copy of my record to prove there's nothing on it?" She refused and sounded like she didn't believe me! Now keep in mind that I've never had a check returned in my whole life, I don't have a record! I ended up then hanging up on her and calling my banker and I got through this time. She was already informed and was quite rude to me. She told me there was nothing they could do at this point, and here's the interesting thing, every deposit and withdrawl from now on would be returned. I had written three checks that morning and a direct deposit would be coming in three days later. I was so mad, I knew I was burning my bridges, but I hung up on her.
For the next month, I was wading through notices from collection agencies that checks had been returned, paying them along with $30 fees, all thanks to US Bank. And my paycheck was delayed for weeks because of the direct deposit.
I got the ChexSystems thing cleared up with US Bank right away, but they wouldn't reopen my account and pay those checks or even apologize. To this day, I do not know what happened with ChexSystems. I do not have a record, but my lack of a record caused me many problems. And FYI, US Bank is not on my list of banks to consider and I don't think it should be on your's.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
cdjunkiejr
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Location: Superior, WI
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 3 members
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