Posted on 09/29/2012 3:52:32 PM PDT by null and void
Two weeks ago a dear friend of mine decided to file for bankruptcy. As part of gathering the fees she went to her bank (which in the spirit of protecting the guilty, I won't name, let's just call it "Pursue") to close her accounts and get a money order.
She closed out her CD, checking account, savings account and surrendered her ATM/Debit card and Pursue credit card.
This week she gets a notice from Pursue. Not only did they fail to actually close her credit card account, they made an auto-payment to another bank.
Now they want her to send them the money.
That's not going to happen.
It's also not why I'm posting this.
A few months ago I to had occasion to close a couple accounts with my bank "Stagecoach". I've been getting monthly statements showing a 1¢ balance in each.
I haven't bothered to do anything about it, but now I'm starting to wonder:
Are American banks under orders to do all they can to avoid actually closing out accounts?
Is this an effort to camouflage the exodus from the banking system, brought to you by the same people who stop counting someone as unemployed when their unemployment benefits expire?
Or am I just being a nut-job again?
Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!
To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I dont add you to the list...
So go withdraw the penny.
I’ve had a 3-cent balance in an account. To the contrary, I’m seeing how long they’ll keep it open. They’ve sent me checks, but cashing them isn’t worth the cost so the cycle continues.
I haven’t had that experience personally, but it is the #1 reason why I never set up auto-debit payments for anything. I was offered a small rate decrease in my mortgage if I allowed them to do this, and I refused.
I’m steadily employed, and have worked steadily for over 25 years, and I still know that jobs are lost all the time and the next one could be mine.
Hope it works out for your friend.
Yes, you are a “nut-job”; however, you are a “nut-job” who lives in Realville.
Up is down, right is wrong, etc....you know the drill.
Thank you, I’m sure it will, she’s in good spirits.
A few years ago I tried to close a Capital One credit card account and they kept charging me a fee to do so. That kept a balance on the account and open for about three months, repeating the cycle. It took a threat (letter) of legal action to close it.
Yes. I had to close an old trust account of my mother’s at Citi Bank. They gave me a big run around about it. Finally I went in and told them that I was going to write a check for deposit in another bank and I wanted the know the exact amount that was left in her account at that moment so that I could close it. I got the balance and went directly to another bank and deposited a check for that amount in one of her other accounts. Lo and behold, the account is still open and shows a balance of 12 cents. This happened in July. Arrrrrgggggghhhh!
I recently closed an account. When I called to close it, the banker told me I would have to come into the bank to do that. I pointed out that, since I had opened the account by phone, I should be able to close it by phone. The banker agreed, but first I would have to wait until all checks and drafts had settled, and the account was zeroed out. That took several days, but I finally got it done. I did get the impression that they didn’t want me to close it, but then, why would they?
Don't know anything about the first part, but unemployment compensation (and whether you receive it, or not) has nothing to do with the way the unemployment rate is calculated.
When you close an account, ask for a WRITTEN notice .....not email...that it has been closed. I have done this with every account and never had any problem.
I don’t believe the card holder can close the auto deduct out. It has to be done on the other end. I believe that’s the law.
She should have stopped the auto payment before closing the account. Sorry....her fault...not the bank’s.
I’ve had trouble recently closing credit card accounts. Just wasn’t happy with the modified “rewards” structure. The customer service drone wanted to know why I was leaving the XXXXX “Family” after 12 years. I told her just close the account. She literally tried to psycho analyze me and wanted me to speak with her manager. Unreal.
Apparently the other bank is going to refund her money. Go figure.
Nope. I closed three account when Washington Mutual went to CitiBank, no problem at all but that was then and not now.
I do have a joint account with my adult daughter, and the bank said I could not take my name off the account. We would have to close it and she could open a new one.
I found that to be weird, they said under the new banking regulations they are not permitted to do what was normal three years ago.
First thing, for your friend, have her advise the bank that they *will* cancel her card and not permit any transactions on any closed accounts related to her, or she will contact the state attorney general’s office.
The bank will do nothing, so then she contacts the state attorney general’s office and lay out the situation of what they have done. And she should be sure to say that if the bank has committed any criminal offense, she will be glad to file charges against them.
What they have done is petty, so little will happen directly, but what will happen is that the state attorney general’s office will contact the bank to let them know what is going on. This *will* get their attention.
Nothing weird about it. That’s the way it has been done for as long as I remember....about 50 years.
Yeah! My wife closed her account at Citizens RI, six months after we moved to Texas. She kept her account dormant for those six months, then notified Citizens of the request to close the account, and transferred out the entire balance.
Citizens continued to charge her a monthly account maintence fee for the next year, which we refused to pay.
They then sent the dormant account to a collection agency, who sold it to another agency, who sold it to another agency, etc., we even wrote Citizens showing them the initial correspondence, and a copy of the final transfer check which stated “close account.”
Still get mail from Citizens, and from “special deals” to pay the fees from yet another collection agency.
Screw them all!
Twice I have had the same problem closing out credit cards. The latest was a MC through a credit union. I closed my account (they sent me a check for the balance) and I called the credit card company tied to it and asked them to cancel the credit card — it had a zero balance for several months as I knew I was going to close it.
That was two years ago — this week they sent me two updated cards with the same account number with instructions to call to activate.
A phone call to them resulted in an “I don’t know” response when I asked why the account was still open.
I don’t think they ever close any account — I don’t know why — as it happen to me before.
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