It is no secret that banks and creditors are becoming much stricter after the housing collapse and with the unemployment rate at 12%. I have seen a lot of it first hand.

For Instance, PFF was recently bought out by U.S. Bank. As if it wasn't ruff enough that some customers complained about payments not going through, after a letter was sent out by U.S. bank stating otherwise, but U.S. Bank's ledger process completely changed the way prior customers did things with no warning. Under PFF, when transactions were in process they were not counted against the ending balance of the account. When U.S. bank decided to instate their policies, it was random, and without caution to the customer. Many were hit with 35 dollar overdraft fees for every transaction after the account, under new policies, became overdrafted. Personally I was charged with $280 of fees, in which the manager would only reverse half.

Not only was the ledger process imposed on pre-existing customers who didn't choose U.S. bank, but there was an $8 per day charge for being in the hole. After talking to 3 different employees the answer regarding the reversal of fees was still the same. Even after I explained that my only source of income was collecting unemployment. Where is the protection for consumers as the competition between banks becomes smaller?

Solution:

1. Talk to the branch manager

2. Call customer representative A service over the phone

3. Talk to customer service representative B

4. Talk to customer service representative C

5. If that fails, ask for their manager.

6. If all this fails call after normal business hours when, if your bank has a 24 hour line, outsourced (out of the country) represenatives will answer your call.

7. Repeat the above steps with them.

My problem was solved after talking to a manager from the outsourced call center. Not only has there been a problem with banks not having the best interest for the customer, but creditors are even worse lately.

Lately after reading about several different people having this problem, it happened to me. When you schedule a payment online to a credit card or whatever it may be, SAVE THE CONFIRMATION CODE. Don't bookmark the code, print it or write it down. Many AdAware type programs will remove certain bookmarks.

I scheduled a payment about a week in advance to pay my Bank of America credit card bill. A few days later I checked to see if the payment was still scheduled because I was worried about there being enough money in my account to cover it. The payment was still scheduled. When it was time for the payment to be pulled out of my bank account, it wasn't. So, I went into the scheduled payments section online and all evidence of a payment being scheduled was gone. To make a long story short, my intro rate was cancelled and after talking to two managers who never called me back, my intro rate has not been reinstated.

Is this an intentional reset of scheduled payments?

What happened to no double dipping when it comes to overdraft fees? Why will credit companies no longer help the customer? Where is the protection consumers need when the economy is worsening?

Yesterday I called U.S. bank to try to get new checks, seen as how the old ones say PFF all over them. They want me to pay for them. Leave a comment. Tell your stories.