When Your Bank Robs You

I sign agreements all the time. Often, I am too trusting that the fine print is harmless. I assume I understand the conditions, but do not realize that there are other, even more important conditions buried in that 6 point print.

Late last week, as I walked in the door to my house, my eldest son handed me his bank statement from an old Savings Account. We opened this account three or four years ago, deposited a little money and have not used it much. My son wasn’t making any money at the time, but I was trying to teach him to save even from what little he had.

Now he is older and earning money through his own entrepreneurial endeavor, and he wants to make more substantial and regular deposits into his savings account. He decided to open the latest statement from this savings account to check it out. I usually throw them out since he has not deposited anything for a long time.

“Dad, look at this” he said as he handed me the statement. I could not believe what I saw. On 5/5/07 his balance was $72.05. Today his balance was $28.

“I thought this was a savings account” I said to my wife who was standing next to my son. She was as disturbed as I was about what our bank, First Tennessee had done to my son.

Mind you, according to the fine print, they did nothing wrong legally. It was my ignorance that allowed the bank to take $44 out of the savings account in the form of fees.

Starting in June and for the rest of 2007, they charged my son a $5.00 dormant service charge, plus a $9.00 service fee.

“This is a Savings Account, isn’t it?” I asked the customer representative on the phone. I called the bank to figure out what had happened. “And yet you are taking most of his money out of his account for some stupid dormant fee?”

“Yes, sir that fee is assessed when an account has gone dormant.” The customer representative told me so matter of fact that it was apparent she was so indoctrinated by bank policy that she failed to realize that my son lost his money - he didn’t save it.

I dismissed that representative and asked for the next up the chain.

The second representative that I talked to showed compassion for the situation and gave me the number of my branch who would have to handle the situation.

My branch made it right. They got rid of all of the fees and his balance is back to normal.

The damage is done, though. Neither my son, my wife or I want his money deposited into any account at that bank. We feel robbed.

The ten cents of interest he earned during this 7 month period has helped a bit - obviously.

The bank has his money in an account and then justifies a practice of charging ridiculous fees simply because he did not make regular deposits. That isn’t right on any level.
Read the fine print. You may find that you do not like what you see.