Overdraft charges/poor customer care

Wow, your mad because your bank charged you for overdrafts because you
weren't responsible for your money? Having a child has nothing to do
with this. Millions of people have children and don't bounce their
checkbooks like that. You are just looking for an easy way out and are
using your child as a way to get of your irresponsibility. That is
sad. ONe suggestion - Just get off your lazy butt and get a job!!!!

The only comment i have for you is even if you do decide to go to
another bank/credit union, you still need to pay your fees. If you do
not, your account will get charged off, closed, and your fees will get
sent to collections. Once it does that, it will show up in CHEXsystems
that every single bank uses to help decide whether or not to let you
open an account there. If you owe even a small amount to another bank
they will refuse you service, and then were will you be? And they dont
come off for... 2 years i think? (Chexsystems does not work the same
way credit reports do, but they are similar) Not only that but the
collections WILL show up on your credit report as well.

125 is a small price to pay to keep your credit in good standing,
whether you choose to remain at WAMU or not.

If you cannot be responsible enough to pay your bills, how can you
take on the responsibility of having a child??

Wow, if I had known having a baby could possibly get me out of
financial responsibility I would have had about 14 kids by now. By
that time I could possibly be off the hook for my mortgage.

You must be kidding me!!! I am sorry, but since when not taking
responsibility for yourself is "in"? People like you seriously just
make me angry. People like you who don't take responsibility for your
own actions simply don't deserve anything. Instead of demanding
refunds, maybe you should take a hard look at yourself and realize why
you got there to begin with. Yes you have kids, but hey I go to
school full time and I pay it on my own...does that make it ok for me
to just run over my balance at the bank and demand a refund for it? I
think not!!! So stop complaining, pay off your debt, learn from it
and never do it again. It's that simple. Sometimes you gotta bite
the bullet and this time you actually have to! By the way, why did it
take you a year to actually complain about this? Is it because now
you are tight for money again and this is the easy way out?
Seriously, if they do refund ANYTHING it'd be out of their
COURTESY....not your demand. Read the terms before you agree to
something and start acting like an adult.

I have to agree with Erik. I've been in the situation before, but the
big difference is, I made it clear that I was aware they owed me
nothing, that they were MY mistakes, and was polite and agreeable.

I got every one of them waived.

When I seperated from my husband at age 34, I'm embarassed to say I
had never handled my finances until that point. Needless to say, it
did not go well for the first year or so.

Divorce is a life changing situation, just like yours, when you had
your child.

The difference is, I accepted personal responsibility that it was MY
mistake..I didn't blame it on my situation or threaten to take my
business elsewhere. I know, without a doubt, that it was this attitude
that got my fees waived.

Perhaps next time you should try it.

Bad customer service because of a problem you created yourself?

Brother.

Baby or not, you over-drew your account over a year ago and were
charged the applicable overdraft fees. You asked Wamu to issue a
refund and they said no.

You are now demanding a credit for half of those fees or you are going
to change banks. If I were you I'd continue my research and move my
money because I seriously doubt that Wamu is going to cave into your
demand.

Nice try - - time to move on.

Oh - - and by the way - - Wamu's high customer service survey scores
are from satisfied customers who properly manage their accounts and
stay on top of their bills.

Looks like you've got them over a barrel. But here's the problem. You
have no bullets in your gun.

The bottom line is that you spent money you didn't have, regardless of
the underlying situation. Yes, overdraft fees suck. I've had them
myself, but I have managed to get them refunded to me. And I'm
perfectly willing to tell you my secret, if you want it. Go grab a
pencil and paper. You'll want to write this down. Ready?

I didn't threaten them.

We all make mistakes with our finances from time to time. Banks
understand that. So if you were to go to them and say that you had
some unforeseen problems and accidentally overdrafted and you're
really sorry about it and, if it's not too much of a problem, would
they consider waiving some of the fees just this once? That's
perfectly reasonable, and they might just go for it. They might not
too, but you never know until you try.

On the other hand, if you go in with all guns blazing and complaining
about everything that you hate about the bank and that it's all their
fault that you didn't plan ahead adequately and they better give you
your money back right now or you'll take my money elsewhere, what do
you think is going to happen? Do you really think they're gonna go out
of their way to help you? Why should they? You're already ungrateful
for any help they could provide you, and what's to stop you from doing
this again in the future? Nothing. Why should they show you any
leeway? You're not giving them any.

In this life, you get back what you give. You're an adult now. With
that comes responsibilities, and when life throws you curve-balls, you
need to know how to handle it. This is not how an adult handles their
problems. If you want them to extend you some courtesy, try showing
them some first.

Best of luck to you.

You have a kid. That means you are a big, grown-up person now.

Take some personal responsibility. It doesn't hurt to ask the bank to
credit some of your NSF fees, but they don't have to. And when they
don't, you need to pull up your big girl pants and move on.

You can move to another bank, but you will find that all banks treat
NSFs the same way. Just look at some of the other letters on this
site. Everyone is a special snowflake that thinks the bank shouldn't
charge THEM for overdrafts.

Good luck with your baby.

I've never had a kid. Congratulations on the joyful event you're not
the only one with a life that gets in the way. During the space of
one year I've had a few unjoyful health experiences. I had abdominal
surgery (14" scar, many weeks recovery) and a three-week stint in the
psych ward. While in the hospital the second time, I had a treatment
that wiped out parts of my memory and severely affected my short-term
memory/concentration. Knowing that I might miss something because of
poor health or poor memory, I tried to organize my finances to be
idiot-proof so that I could be distracted by my life, pay my bills and
not run up fees. And guess what? I wasn't perfect. So I had to pay
the fee for a late credit card payment. Too bad, so sad, my
responsibility.

It's called planning ahead. If your having a baby (generally you know
at least a FEW days before it comes out) maybe you should evaluate
your financial situation. In this case, you spent money you did not
have. Your waiting a year to complain about it, and to top all that
off, you can be held criminally liable for bad checks, because you did
not have the funds, yet you decide to post that on a public site,
good for you!

You really have a lot of nerve giving them a 30 day time limit to
credit the fees when you waited a year to make this complaint.

Let me give you a tip: Do not read the post from the person a couple
of posts down unless you are not interested in the concept of personal
responsibility, and think your inability to balance your bank account
is a good reason to go to the BBB or file a lawsuit. (LMAO at that
one!!!)


Let me give you another tip: Don't spend money you don't actually have
and you won't have to worry about overdraft fees, ever. It's really
that simple! Consider that $125 the cost of learning to balance a
checkbook.

I'm sure WAMU is really worried about someone who overdrafts their
account taking their "money" (or lack thereof, apparently) away from
the bank.

No does not mean they provided you with poor customer service. No
means no. You caused the overdrafts by not monitoring your finances.
You're a parent now, learn to accept some responsibility for your
actions.

The bank is under no obligation to pay you back the overdraft fees
(which, compared to my bank, $25 dollars is pretty cheap for an
overdraft fee anyway). However, maybe if you would have explained
your situation to them in a calm manner, they might have credited you
for the cost of one or more fees. Back in my high school days, I
amassed about 5 overdraft fees in about a two-week period. I was
prepared to pay the fees, since it was my fault after all, but I
explained to the bank what happened - I forgot to deduct one large
check that I had written from my check register, and that one mistake
had caused these five charges. I also told them that I was under the
impression that after my account went into an overdrawn status, that
my debit card would start declining everytime I tried to use it. The
bank explained that their debit cards never decline at the point of
sale, which I don't understand because I used to work at a grocery
store and people's debit cards would decline all the time, but they
were nice enough to cancel all of the fees except for one. I have
never made another mistake again, and I still bank with that bank to
this day.
If they decided not to cancel those charges, I would still be their
customer because I know that it was my fault. I would just chalk it
up to a learning experience.

Let me give you a tip: Do not read the posts from the people below.
They will be filled with hate and telling you it is all your fault and
you should just take it.

I had overdrafts from WaMu too. I contacted the BBB and got them
refunded. Try that route. If that doesn't work, file a small claims
action.

Someone below made a good observation. This happened over a year
ago.

You have all these complaints about what banking with WAMU has been
like, but only when this happened did you bring up the laundry list.

Your mistake resulted in a penalty. It is as simple as that. All
banks I know of charge high overdraft fees. There is a solution -
don't get yourself into this situation. Be aware that if you do,
there will be a price to pay.

It sounds like you have many reasons to leave this bank, and
ironically your own mistake is the straw that broke the camel's back.
Good luck with your next institution. I bet it won't have as catchy a
name - Wah Moo. That's a good name for a baby to say; you may want to
rethink your decision.

Things happen. Life is complicated when you have a baby. It's
overwhelming.

And, yet, this isn't a reason to expect the world to pick up the
pieces for you.

Consider the $125 a small amount of money when it comes to baby
expenses. Sure, this money could be used in other ways. But if your
life was so hard during that time that you couldn't keep up with
ensuring that there was enough money in your account to cover your
checks/withdrawals, then consider the $125 the cost of convenience of
not having to worry about it.

You are right... banks are pretty tough. In fact, you'll find that
most banks have these same policies. Switching banks will most likely
lead to the same thing (or worse). Credit unions, they say, are a
little better. So if you want a place that will bend the rules for
you, I'd suggest going to a bank or credit union and have them put in
writing that they'll excuse overdrafts, or whatever else you want out
of a bank. When you find one that will guarantee you forgiveness for
your errors, go with it!

It's interesting that you're willing to chuck the bank for one problem
in 10 years. You're annoyed at THEM for being so strict and
unforgiving? Seems like you have no patience for anyone else's
mistakes. Why should they forgive yours?

I'm puzzled by this. I am pregnant with my first child, and from the
moment I found out, my husband and I have been saving extra money.
Even though I get one year paid maternity leave from the government,
it is about half of what I make now.
Why does it matter why you got the overdraft? You got it, and now you
are whinning because you dno't want to pay it. If you can't pay then
don't overdraft the account.
You don't deserve a credit and I think that WAMU might like to see you
go.
the word WAMU makes me laugh.

can you please explain to me what obscure line of reasoning you're
using that equates refusal on WaMu's part to refund ANY of the
overdraft fees that YOU caused with bad customer service???

The name of the game is that you don't bounce any checks AT ALL. You
don't get special points if you ONLY do it once in a while.

I have a very young baby at my house too and I know how it can be when
funds are tight, but now is the time to be even MORE diligent with
your finances, not less.

Chalk it up as a lesson learned and be more careful next time.

Why is this dragging on a year later (I had my first child in June of
2006)? Give it up.
You were not given poor service, you were treated like every other
customer. If you go elsewhere, you will still get treated like
everyone else. Face up to your responsibility and move on.

Sometimes banks will waive overdraft fees for some people. That's
very nice of them. It's not something those customers are entitled
to, though. You signed a contract that gave them permission to charge
you overdraft fees. And if you move the financial accounts of your
entire household elsewhere, you will be agreeing that whoever that
"elsewhere" is can charge you overdraft fees.

I've had two children and still managed to stay on top of my bills
after their births. They don't owe you anything.

I could see them waving perhaps one of the fees, but three of the five
created in such a short time? Nope.

Sorry, but I don't see how this is "horrendous customer service"
because they wouldn't wave the overdraft fees you admit YOU created.