I hate my Bank - part II

[Iggy]

Knowing how things work at that bank is a very good thing. And you might not have been abusive, I wasn't there, I don't know. But I do know when customers get like that (abusive) here it makes the boss a lot less likely to be helpful and fast. That is all I was trying to say...

Debit cards can be a big pain in the butt. But the bank can't really send a letter every time something changes, it wouldn't be cost effective. I know that a lot of people probably don't care about the bank being cost effective, but that is why they do it that way. Policies seem to change several times a year and most of the time it doesn't affect everyone so it would be silly to send it out to everyone. And to pinpoint each person it might affect is time consuming and not efficient.

One thing I forgot to mention, we have information on our version of the overdraft system where the bank lets you be overdrawn to a certain amount. If you had asked about it they should have given you their brochure on it so you could see how it works. We don't automatically tell people about it because we assume (I know, making an ass out of you and me) that everyone is going to keep track of their account and will not need to be overdrawn.

I do agree that they should tell you these things, but to go over every possible scenario with the policies would take forever and the teller might not have even known that the amount they let you overdraw could change. Our little deposit agreement thing we give with all new accounts says that the policies can change at the bank's discretion and that the customer will be notified as the law requires.

Did you read all of the information they gave you when you got the account? I doubt it... very, very few people do. But that isn't to say you have to. You should be able to ask your teller how things work and get an accurate answer, but that isn't always the way it works. The way the bank sees it most of the time, if they gave you a disclosure saying that the policies will change at their discretion, then they are free and clear.

Many people don't like the way the system works and therefore choose not to have accounts. That is fine. Ultimately the bank is out to make a profit (as are all business) and so they will only go so far to keep the customer. They can't make everyone happy, and more people prefer to have things paid and pay the overdraft fee than have them declined. And so the system caters to the majority. But you should ask your bank about opting out of their system so that they won't let your account be overdrawn. But be forewarned, you will most likely still have the fees if something tries to come out of your account that would give your account a negative balance.