I recently moved to Texas and needed a local bank to deposit my expense and tr Ave checks from my job. The purpose of these checks is to pay for my travel accommodations when out of town. I deposited a check on the day I was to leave on a certain trip. Then all h*** broke loose.
First, the bank tells me that they have to hold the check for 7 business days because they have never heard of the company (it's based in another state and unless one works in the industry, one probably would not have heard of it). Of course the teller tells me this after endorsing the check and writing all over it so my chances of taking it to a branch that the check was drawn on is zero. So, I deposit cash from my family account to cover what I need until the check clears.
While away on my trip I notice I am now negative 695 dollars in the account! How? I called and they told me they were holding ALL deposits, cash and check, until the check clears. My hotel payment and gas and oil change had put me negative because they were holding everything. I had never heard of such a sleazy practice.
In case you don't know, banks take your deposits and loan that money out and get interest. They keep the interest and then pay back your money when you withdraw it. That's the business model. And that is fine. But, when you take my CASH deposit and loan it and charge me overdrafts because you are holding it, then I get pissed.
I finally got them to reverse the charges which put me back in the positive.
I spend a little on the family when I get back (food and a rented movie) which still leaves me with enough in the bank to stay positive. I wake up this morning to find that the check still hasn't been released (I deposited last Wednesday) and that they put through check and deposit slip charges that should have gone through a month ago. So they waited until I was right there at the crusp of a zero balance before pushing those charges through. And because it is listed as two separate transactions (checks and deposit slips) have charged me two overdrafts of 70 dollars. All while my 600 dollar check is still being held. In this day and age you are telling me that a bank cannot verify a business, an account, and funds in less than 7 days? Very deceptive and reeks of theft.
I was using this account as a back up acct. I have a $50 direct deposit going in there because I was told I needed to have a total of $100 being DD in order to not be charged a acct maintenance fee. I have been charged the fee for the last 2 months. The first time that fee made my acct go negative so then I was charged a negative acct balance fee. I went in and got the fees reversed and was told that somehow my deposits were not within a 1 month period and that is why it happened. But as long as my deposits add up to $100 in each month I will not be charged. This time when I went in, after being charged the fee again, I was told that each deposit has to be at least $100. They don't even know what they are talking about and you always get different answers from different people.
Then this month I got charged their ridiculous $2 denial fee which made my acct go negative, and they promptly charged me a negative acct fee. So they do whatever they can do to charge you fees on top of fees. Then when I actually want to write a check and use my acct all the fees have used all my money and they pay my check but then charge me the overdraft check pay fee. Then the next day they charge me a negative balance fee. These fees are $35 a pop!
I went in to the branch to get these fees reversed and the person who helped me PROMISED that he would look in to it with his mgr and call me back same day. That was Friday and here it is Monday at 2pm and still no phone call. My branch is in a Walmart so they are open all 7 days! Also, the teller next to mine turned to talk to the mgr that was standing behind my teller to talk about me when I was standing right there! So please tell me why this issue wasn't taken care of right away? There are usually at least 3 or 4 people doing nothing in that branch and they are usually mgrs and supervisors.
I called the 1800 number to get help and the hispanic lady, that I could barely understand, tells me she can't help me since this "wasn't" a bank error. How is charging fees on top of fees and snowballing a person's account in to the negative not a bank error.
I am so furious with this ridiculous bank that as soon as i get this settled I am closing my acct and i will never bank with them again.
I would also like to caution anyone thinking about getting an acct with them to go for a credit union instead. Banks just want to take all your money any way they can. I will never use a bank again, no matter how desperate I am, which is the only reason I opened this headache acct in the first place.
First of all I'm a senior citizen. I was approached at Krogers while I was grocery shopping. The girl wanted me to open a checking account with $1. I told her no but she was very persistent. I told her I already had 2 accounts and I didn't need another one. She continued harassing me till I asked her if I was going to get charged if I didn't use it all the time and she said no. So I opened it with a dollar. About 2 weeks later maybe I put in $5. So I see this savings challenge on facebook and I thought I'd use this account. That's when I found out they closed it and took my $6. I think it's a shame they did that to me since I'm already on fixed income. That's why I think they approached me in the first place.
This bank is a major rip-off. My check goes in the last working day of the month. I have 2 bills that come out automatically. I don't use checks only ach and debit, but I keep a register. This is my first time to use this bank. I bring home abt 2k a month. The first thing I do is subtract my ach debts from my register that gives me what I have left. Then I bought groceries, oil change, and new tires. Since I get paid once a month I buy groceries for a month. After I deducted everything I had abt $300 left for gas and what nots for the rest of the month. Low and behold I get a letter stating I'm overdrafted. I said no way went to the bank and show them my register. Everything I deducted was everything they showed. They told me it's my error and need to learn math. I told them I know math I've worked it out with paper and a calculator. Told them to do the same. The manager calculated his computer and my register and found his to be wrong and said they are never wrong and can't explain the differences.
Well I can it's called stealing my money! I closed this account and dared them to come after me! Will I get my money back doubtful.
Please be careful when choosing banks, up until yesterday I have not had a problem with 1st Convenience. Yesterday my husband and I went to deposit his pension checks. We had no problem until the young lady looked at our account and looked at the check and responded with "we may have to put a hold on the check". She went to call to verify the check, came back to us and told us there was no funds on the account. This is when everything began, my husband calmly asked her "what do you mean there is funds in this account". she said they could not verify so they wold have to put a 7 day hold on it. She brings this form for him to sign and on it the reason they were putting a hold on it was because it was over 5,000.
If this young girl had to explain to begin with that they had to put a hold on it due to the size of the check we would of understood, but to tell us there was no money on the account was uncalled for.
I get up the next morning to check our bank account, and noticed they had credited us the full amount of all checks deposited the day before, but nothing had been in to the available status. ok no problem. After reading some other incidents that consumers have had the lovely privlege of dealing with 1St. Convenience, I started to get a little concern, so my husband, since it is his money, for busting his butt, called the company who sent him the checks, this is where we find out that the larger amount check had been cashed. This is where I lose my cool.
I call the 800 number on the back of my card, and do not remember who I spoke with, and explained the situation to her and was polite about it, then she started to state that they had put a hold on the account to verify funds, I told her I was aware of that, but my question was we found out that this check has been cashed, so where are the funds and why are they not available in our account. She had no answer.
As of right now, we still have not had the money put into available yet, due to , according to this person, "the bank sends them a letter to release the funds", so anyone who is thinking of using 1st. Convenience, please rethink it. As soon as this crap is over, our account will be closed and we will be going to another bank.
After months of getting negative fees we decided to go to the bank and ask for help. The bank teller told us that they offered a service of $2 every time you would have insufficient fund they did not let us know that if within 3 days you did not pay a $35 charge + any negative money continue to build up no phone calls to let the customer know! you pay a fee and they recharge I called the main bank line and although I had my receipts and my bank statements she was very rude. Please if you associate with this bank ask a lot of questions because they even charge when you call for your balance.
1stcb's overdraft policy is designed to generate multiple overdrafts. I had a postive balance with 5 debits showing as 'pending' on their website from the day before. The balance was postive even after accounting for the 'pendings'.
An unexpected item went through that put me into the negative - so they charged a $35 overdraft fee on each of the 5 items. $175 total. Be careful, 1 overdaft will cause all the pendings to go into overdraft.
No matter what your financial situation is, if you bank with them you are in big trouble. I have no idea where to begin, but since I've had an account with this bank it has been a nightmare! Your account balance is only subjective - I pay particular attention to keep records of my transactions and what I have in my account, but they somehow find a way for that number to be incorrect. According to their representative: When you make a purchase, the merchant has XXX amount of days to collect the funds at which time the funds have not yet been deducted...blah, blah, blah...long story short they make you think you have more funds than you do so you make a tiny purchase and then they hit you with a POS reject fee and an NSF Fee. This has happened a number of times and I am at a boiling point now. They rejected payment for my water bill, which was made using my debit card!!! I had no idea it had occurred and now I am sitting in my home with no water. I just checked my account and see that a SINGLE transaction I made with Amazon - which they didn't approve in the first place has racked up over $100.00 in fees...WHAT?!?! You didn't even approve it, but you've charged me $12.00 in POS reject fees (there were 3 items, each $2.00 reject - CHARGED TWICE) and a $35.00 NSF fee for each item! I hate this bank, they are only out to steal from their customers and I have no idea how on earth they can get away with their shady business practices. I could write so much more, but I am so angry that I just want to cry right now and can't spend one more second in front of my PC. I wish there was a way to get back at them and I hope that someone brings about a class-action lawsuit because they are ripping people off, I know I can't be the only one experiencing this with them. THey will ruin me financially if I continue to bank with them. Of course I discovered this after business hours so I have no one to talk to. I don't think it would make a difference anyway because I've found nearly 100 other complaints about the same subject but it seems like they are just getting away with this mess scott free. Do not bank with them! I want to use all caps so badly, but it was recommended not to do that for readability. I hate them!!! You are far better off getting a Green Dot card from WalMart than to trust this shady bank. I wish I had taken time to read reviews on them before I opened an account, they've already screwed me out of several hundred dollars. I have learned a costly lesson in all of this though, I will never do business - especially dealing with my finances with any other company before thoroughly investigating them first. I thought they were safe, they are not!!!
First Convenience Bank Reviews
I recently moved to Texas and needed a local bank to deposit my expense and tr Ave checks from my job. The purpose of these checks is to pay for my travel accommodations when out of town. I deposited a check on the day I was to leave on a certain trip. Then all h*** broke loose.
First, the bank tells me that they have to hold the check for 7 business days because they have never heard of the company (it's based in another state and unless one works in the industry, one probably would not have heard of it). Of course the teller tells me this after endorsing the check and writing all over it so my chances of taking it to a branch that the check was drawn on is zero. So, I deposit cash from my family account to cover what I need until the check clears.
While away on my trip I notice I am now negative 695 dollars in the account! How? I called and they told me they were holding ALL deposits, cash and check, until the check clears. My hotel payment and gas and oil change had put me negative because they were holding everything. I had never heard of such a sleazy practice.
In case you don't know, banks take your deposits and loan that money out and get interest. They keep the interest and then pay back your money when you withdraw it. That's the business model. And that is fine. But, when you take my CASH deposit and loan it and charge me overdrafts because you are holding it, then I get pissed.
I finally got them to reverse the charges which put me back in the positive.
I spend a little on the family when I get back (food and a rented movie) which still leaves me with enough in the bank to stay positive. I wake up this morning to find that the check still hasn't been released (I deposited last Wednesday) and that they put through check and deposit slip charges that should have gone through a month ago. So they waited until I was right there at the crusp of a zero balance before pushing those charges through. And because it is listed as two separate transactions (checks and deposit slips) have charged me two overdrafts of 70 dollars. All while my 600 dollar check is still being held. In this day and age you are telling me that a bank cannot verify a business, an account, and funds in less than 7 days? Very deceptive and reeks of theft.
I was using this account as a back up acct. I have a $50 direct deposit going in there because I was told I needed to have a total of $100 being DD in order to not be charged a acct maintenance fee. I have been charged the fee for the last 2 months. The first time that fee made my acct go negative so then I was charged a negative acct balance fee. I went in and got the fees reversed and was told that somehow my deposits were not within a 1 month period and that is why it happened. But as long as my deposits add up to $100 in each month I will not be charged. This time when I went in, after being charged the fee again, I was told that each deposit has to be at least $100. They don't even know what they are talking about and you always get different answers from different people.
Then this month I got charged their ridiculous $2 denial fee which made my acct go negative, and they promptly charged me a negative acct fee. So they do whatever they can do to charge you fees on top of fees. Then when I actually want to write a check and use my acct all the fees have used all my money and they pay my check but then charge me the overdraft check pay fee. Then the next day they charge me a negative balance fee. These fees are $35 a pop!
I went in to the branch to get these fees reversed and the person who helped me PROMISED that he would look in to it with his mgr and call me back same day. That was Friday and here it is Monday at 2pm and still no phone call. My branch is in a Walmart so they are open all 7 days! Also, the teller next to mine turned to talk to the mgr that was standing behind my teller to talk about me when I was standing right there! So please tell me why this issue wasn't taken care of right away? There are usually at least 3 or 4 people doing nothing in that branch and they are usually mgrs and supervisors.
I called the 1800 number to get help and the hispanic lady, that I could barely understand, tells me she can't help me since this "wasn't" a bank error. How is charging fees on top of fees and snowballing a person's account in to the negative not a bank error.
I am so furious with this ridiculous bank that as soon as i get this settled I am closing my acct and i will never bank with them again.
I would also like to caution anyone thinking about getting an acct with them to go for a credit union instead. Banks just want to take all your money any way they can. I will never use a bank again, no matter how desperate I am, which is the only reason I opened this headache acct in the first place.
First of all I'm a senior citizen. I was approached at Krogers while I was grocery shopping. The girl wanted me to open a checking account with $1. I told her no but she was very persistent. I told her I already had 2 accounts and I didn't need another one. She continued harassing me till I asked her if I was going to get charged if I didn't use it all the time and she said no. So I opened it with a dollar. About 2 weeks later maybe I put in $5. So I see this savings challenge on facebook and I thought I'd use this account. That's when I found out they closed it and took my $6. I think it's a shame they did that to me since I'm already on fixed income. That's why I think they approached me in the first place.
This bank is a major rip-off. My check goes in the last working day of the month. I have 2 bills that come out automatically. I don't use checks only ach and debit, but I keep a register. This is my first time to use this bank. I bring home abt 2k a month. The first thing I do is subtract my ach debts from my register that gives me what I have left. Then I bought groceries, oil change, and new tires. Since I get paid once a month I buy groceries for a month. After I deducted everything I had abt $300 left for gas and what nots for the rest of the month. Low and behold I get a letter stating I'm overdrafted. I said no way went to the bank and show them my register. Everything I deducted was everything they showed. They told me it's my error and need to learn math. I told them I know math I've worked it out with paper and a calculator. Told them to do the same. The manager calculated his computer and my register and found his to be wrong and said they are never wrong and can't explain the differences.
Well I can it's called stealing my money! I closed this account and dared them to come after me! Will I get my money back doubtful.
Please be careful when choosing banks, up until yesterday I have not had a problem with 1st Convenience. Yesterday my husband and I went to deposit his pension checks. We had no problem until the young lady looked at our account and looked at the check and responded with "we may have to put a hold on the check". She went to call to verify the check, came back to us and told us there was no funds on the account. This is when everything began, my husband calmly asked her "what do you mean there is funds in this account". she said they could not verify so they wold have to put a 7 day hold on it. She brings this form for him to sign and on it the reason they were putting a hold on it was because it was over 5,000.
If this young girl had to explain to begin with that they had to put a hold on it due to the size of the check we would of understood, but to tell us there was no money on the account was uncalled for.
I get up the next morning to check our bank account, and noticed they had credited us the full amount of all checks deposited the day before, but nothing had been in to the available status. ok no problem. After reading some other incidents that consumers have had the lovely privlege of dealing with 1St. Convenience, I started to get a little concern, so my husband, since it is his money, for busting his butt, called the company who sent him the checks, this is where we find out that the larger amount check had been cashed. This is where I lose my cool.
I call the 800 number on the back of my card, and do not remember who I spoke with, and explained the situation to her and was polite about it, then she started to state that they had put a hold on the account to verify funds, I told her I was aware of that, but my question was we found out that this check has been cashed, so where are the funds and why are they not available in our account. She had no answer.
As of right now, we still have not had the money put into available yet, due to , according to this person, "the bank sends them a letter to release the funds", so anyone who is thinking of using 1st. Convenience, please rethink it. As soon as this crap is over, our account will be closed and we will be going to another bank.
After months of getting negative fees we decided to go to the bank and ask for help. The bank teller told us that they offered a service of $2 every time you would have insufficient fund they did not let us know that if within 3 days you did not pay a $35 charge + any negative money continue to build up no phone calls to let the customer know! you pay a fee and they recharge I called the main bank line and although I had my receipts and my bank statements she was very rude. Please if you associate with this bank ask a lot of questions because they even charge when you call for your balance.
1stcb's overdraft policy is designed to generate multiple overdrafts. I had a postive balance with 5 debits showing as 'pending' on their website from the day before. The balance was postive even after accounting for the 'pendings'.
An unexpected item went through that put me into the negative - so they charged a $35 overdraft fee on each of the 5 items. $175 total. Be careful, 1 overdaft will cause all the pendings to go into overdraft.
No matter what your financial situation is, if you bank with them you are in big trouble. I have no idea where to begin, but since I've had an account with this bank it has been a nightmare! Your account balance is only subjective - I pay particular attention to keep records of my transactions and what I have in my account, but they somehow find a way for that number to be incorrect. According to their representative: When you make a purchase, the merchant has XXX amount of days to collect the funds at which time the funds have not yet been deducted...blah, blah, blah...long story short they make you think you have more funds than you do so you make a tiny purchase and then they hit you with a POS reject fee and an NSF Fee. This has happened a number of times and I am at a boiling point now. They rejected payment for my water bill, which was made using my debit card!!! I had no idea it had occurred and now I am sitting in my home with no water. I just checked my account and see that a SINGLE transaction I made with Amazon - which they didn't approve in the first place has racked up over $100.00 in fees...WHAT?!?! You didn't even approve it, but you've charged me $12.00 in POS reject fees (there were 3 items, each $2.00 reject - CHARGED TWICE) and a $35.00 NSF fee for each item! I hate this bank, they are only out to steal from their customers and I have no idea how on earth they can get away with their shady business practices. I could write so much more, but I am so angry that I just want to cry right now and can't spend one more second in front of my PC. I wish there was a way to get back at them and I hope that someone brings about a class-action lawsuit because they are ripping people off, I know I can't be the only one experiencing this with them. THey will ruin me financially if I continue to bank with them. Of course I discovered this after business hours so I have no one to talk to. I don't think it would make a difference anyway because I've found nearly 100 other complaints about the same subject but it seems like they are just getting away with this mess scott free. Do not bank with them! I want to use all caps so badly, but it was recommended not to do that for readability. I hate them!!! You are far better off getting a Green Dot card from WalMart than to trust this shady bank. I wish I had taken time to read reviews on them before I opened an account, they've already screwed me out of several hundred dollars. I have learned a costly lesson in all of this though, I will never do business - especially dealing with my finances with any other company before thoroughly investigating them first. I thought they were safe, they are not!!!