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Beware when banks change hands
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ddsmith5656 said:
on October 29, 2009 10:06 AM ET
I have used National City as my bank for years and recently they were sold to PNC. 3 of my accounts, 2 checking and 1 savings were transfered from no minimum requirement balances to accounts that require medium to high minimum balances. On the one the penalty for not retaining the minimum balance is $11 a month. The paperwork you receive for this take tremendous. By cross referencing the paperwork with the small book they sent I found the change in my accounts. I called NC and they said if I was over fifty years old this penalty would be waived but NO WHERE in the documentation is this stated. So I called PNC. They said they try to move my accounts to ones of the same statis and if I didn't like the new accounts I could change them after Nov. 9th. I asked them about the penalties and they said over 50 the penalties are waived. I asked them to show me in their book that describes accounts where this is stated and they couldn't find it. There is an account for over 50 but that is NOT where they put my accounts. I am afraid the very elderly are going to be taken advantage of due to these penalties. I know there are elderly that look on bank institutions doings as unchangable and will not realize they can change these accounts. I tried to find a place in the AARP website to email them to see if they could check into this. This is my first day on the site and I couldn't find a place to send email directly. Can someone at AARP check into this bank tranfer tactic? |
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Where to complain about bank practices gets pretty confusing because different banks are controlled by different regulators. But here is a handy list of who to complain to depending on what kind of bank it is:
If you have a question or want to file a complaint, the following tells you how you can contact the appropriate banking regulator:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve SystemFederal Reserve Consumer Help
PO Box 1200
Minneapolis, MN 55480
Phone: (888) 851-1920The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve oversees state-chartered banks and trust companies that belong to the Federal Reserve System.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Compliance and Consumer Affairs
550 17th Street, N.W.
Washington. DC 20429
Phone: (202) 942-3100
Toll-Free: (877) 275-3342
Hearing Impaired: (800) 925-4618 or (202) 942-3147The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation regulates state-chartered banks that do not belong to the Federal Reserve System.
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Office of the Ombudsman
Customer Assistance Unit
1301 McKinney Street, Suite 3710
Houston, TX 77010
Toll-Free: (800) 613-6743The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency regulates banks that have the word "National" in or the letters "N.A." after their names.
National Credit Union Administration
Fraud Hotline
Federal Investigations
1755 Duke Street, Suite 6043
Alexandria, VA 22314-3428
Toll-Free (800) 827-9650
Phone: (703) 518-6330The National Credit Union Administration regulates federally charted credit unions.
Consumer Programs
1700 G Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20552
Phone: (202) 906-6237
Toll-Free (800) 842-6929The Office of Thrift Supervision oversees federal savings and loans and federal savings banks.
At the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's website, you can also determine the regulator for a particular bank and trace inactive banks to their successor institutions.
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If this is a state bank, you can contact your State's Banking Association - I found my state's on our Attorney General's web site. If it is a National bank, call (800) 613-6743 "Office of the Controller of Currency" to make a complaint.
We should all do this when we encounter bank problem.
