Wainwright Bank Stole My Grocery Money

[redheadedmuse.livejournal.com]

After almost 10 years of doing business with Wainwright, I finally jumped ship this week after they charged me almost $100 in overdraft fees - even though my statement shows no overdraft at all.

As I said in my open letter to them, this is not just my issue. Banks are poised to rake in over $38 billion in overdraft fees this year, and Congress has just approved new regulations making the kind of sneaky accounting and overdraft "protection" racket Wainwright is using illegal. Those regulations haven't gone into effect yet, but I would have hoped our neighborhood "progressive" bank would be ahead of the curve in this important social justice issue.

I'm disappointed that a local bank that advertises itself as "banking on values" would treat its customers this way. It's a deceptive and predatory practice that traps financially marginalized people in a painful cycle of debt they can't get out of. Shame on you, Wainwright.

Comments

[whaler.livejournal.com]

That's too bad, I hear credit unions are your best bet.

[bkdelong.livejournal.com]

Agreed. We've been with the MIT FCU for years and keep moving things over to them as the banks get worse.

[jadelennox]

My CU is amazing.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Yep, I've stuck with the MIT Federal Credit Union even though my MIT job ended 5 years ago.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

This. I've been a Credit Union member since 1984.

[cos]

That's weird, because I've had Wainwright do the opposite for me: They deliberately rearranged transactions in order to avoid charging me overdraft fees, on a couple of occasions, years ago. On at least one occasion, I found out (when I called) that someone at the bank did it by hand, specifically for that reason.

[elements.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way - I've used Wainwright for 9 years, and had them bend over backwards to help me in a variety of circumstances. Two weeks ago, I had to go over my debit card daily limit due to a family emergency, and the Wainwright manager I spoke with basically dropped everything for 20 minutes to help me get the extra money freed up as quickly as humanly possible. I don't doubt the OP's story, just saying that it's a shock that this would happen from Wainwright.

I will be happy to go in in person and ask about this situation too. Perhaps we could even arrange a group meeting for concerned local Wainwright customers about this incident. I know people like Ron and I have been active proponents of Wainwright on this blog in the past; maybe it'll mean something to them if a bunch of folks from the leading local blog come in and express serious concern.

In the meantime, guess I'm glad I kept my Harvard employee credit union account even after they laid me off :).

[turil.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had a similar positive experience with them. I had originally signed up for a fancier account that required a minimum balance or they'd charge me a monthly fee. When I had no money in the account anymore (the fee was larger than my balance) they changed my account to a free one without me even asking (I was planning on getting around to it, but never did), rather than putting my account into the negative.

[ron_newman]

I suggest that you walk into their office and talk to them directly about it again. Tell them about your blog post. Maybe I'll print it out and bring it in, too.

[redheadedmuse.livejournal.com]

That was the very first thing I did. The letter I linked to above is long, so I didn't repost it fully here, but it's a recap of the long conversation I had with the bank manager.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Your letter is very clear and makes its point strongly. Might I suggest that you cc it to a) the Mass. Division of Banks (http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocaagencylanding&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Government&L2=Our+Agencies+and+Divisions&L3=Division+of+Banks&sid=Eoca) and b) Mike Capuano's Issues Director:

Kate Auspitz
Issues Director
Office of Congressman Capuano
110 First Street
Cambridge, MA 02141

if you haven't done so already?

[redheadedmuse.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I hadn't. That is a brilliant next step!

[misterthorn.livejournal.com]

Cambridge Savings Bank has more than once called me up in situations just like this, and, in my opinion, bent over backward to help make sure I didn't get hit with late fees or penalties. The tellers at multiple locations have made the effort to get to know me. I like them, and recommend them.

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

Having accounts with both -- and being similarly situated where I am often running around moving money from one to the other to make sure checks don't bounce -- I can say that I agree with this point of view. I like CSB better than Wainwright, and have found them much more helpful recently in addressing things like this.

When we started with Wainwright 4.5 years ago, I felt like they really did try to help us out. Now, though, I feel like they deliberately try to catch us out.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

...and yet, Citizen's was painted as the Big Bad a few years back when they moved into the area.

i'm just glad i didn't open an account with them, 'cause this post would've caused me to close it PDQ. here's hoping somebody up the food chain makes it right.

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

The thing that confused me about your complaint is the following:

"so I raced to the bank on Monday morning to deposit the check I received in Saturday’s mail..."

Now, the Expedited Funds Availability Act (which is the Federal law that determines how long a commercial bank can hold your deposit before making the funds available) says that hold time for availability can be something like $100 on the first business day following deposit and the balance on the second business day.

Do I read you correctly that the crux of why you're upset stems from the fact that funds from a deposited check weren't immediately available?

[angerona.livejournal.com]

No, I think she's saying that she would've understood the overdraft charge for the deficit that came from her tuition bill posting on the same day as the checks were deposited.

What she's particularly upset about are the two overdraft charges for two cash withdrawals on Saturday, when there was plenty of money in the account.

I'd be upset about that, too.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

One of the major points of the current national debate stems from the fact that most of the major banks will not allow you to opt out of this "service" (many of them have since changed their policy as a result of the recent negative publicity). Does anyone know if Wainwright allows you to opt out?

[ignignokt.livejournal.com]

I opened an account with them because I didn't qualify for membership any local credit unions (or so I thought at the time). They're nice people, but due to the kind of rigamarole you talk about in your open letter, I didn't get my debit card for over a month, despite being promised it every week, each time with a different explanation.

Now, that isn't nearly as big a deal as what happened to you, but I have noticed that they're lacking when it comes to having their shit together. When I get around to it, I'm moving my stuff to a credit union.

[cos]

That's actually a very different issue. Wainwright, like many small banks, doesn't handle its own debit and credit card services, they outsource that to another company whose business it is to handle cards for small banks. Unfortunately whoever Wainwright uses for their cards (I forget who it is) is often very slow to send people new cards.

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

Well, isn't that special.

I was thinking about switching from Bank of America to Wainwright, but, if the choice is between one scummy bank and another scummy bank, I'd rather pick the one with ATMs everywhere.

(And, yes, I'm thinking about credit unions too. )

[leko.livejournal.com]

I've been pretty happy with Central bank. I've never dealt with an overdraft there, but they have been helpful with questions I've had in the past, and SUM network ATMs are completely free, which is nice since they don't have many of their own.

[masswich.livejournal.com]

The whole overdraft debacle is why I don't actually use a debit card anymore- I just use a credit card and make sure I have enough to pay it off every month. No way to charge me overdraft fees if I don't debit...

I'm not being smug, just suggesting another way to handle the problem. My experience with banks is that a lot of it depends on who you talk to there.

[wavilyem.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree more. I know that not everyone has the good credit and financial restraint to have credit cards and pay off the bills in full each month. But if you do, they're a very good deal if for no other reason than the cashback you can get with a Discover card or the like.

You know guys?

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that this blog may provide good leverage to resolve local problems such as this one. Many people read it. Businesses want to have a good reputation on it or they may lose customers. I like this. I wonder if this leverage could be amplified, somehow.

Citizen's

[serious-noir.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting @ your experience - I was unaware of the rather bank nefarious practices discussed.

@ Citizen's - I've had an account there for a long time (since they bought whoever I had my account with before...who bought the one before). One thing I have noticed is they often take what seems to me to be an overly long amount of time to actually post deposits I make, even on local banks. I had one occasion when a check for > $19k did not post for well over a week even though the issuing bank had cleared it within a day after I deposited it. (I checked with the issuing bank by phone).

Citizen's had no good explanation other than "that is the time it takes" but it left me wondering if these delays actually provide them with short term, no interest loans. Don't know of course but that one experience left me skeptical of the posting delays.

Re: Citizen's

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

If I remember correctly, any check over $10K has to be held for at least 7 business days. This is a federal banking regulation. I suspect it is to prevent money laundering and the like. We all know the actual transactions takes fractions of a second via computer...

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Just so you know, at Citizens, I did get a letter back in summer saying they were going to start charging ridiculous amounts of money for overdrafts. I see you applied for and got a small line of credit for overdrafts, but don't forget to make it priority #1 when you get paid. Their penalties for overdrafts, should you forget, are higher, and Citizens DEFINITELY stacks their charges so the highest come in first, if there is a choice. Been a customer for many years.

[turil.livejournal.com]

It looks like, from your difficult-to-read-with-all-the-ads-all-over-the-text blog post, that the bank was completely right here. You didn't have enough money in the account when they went to pay your student loan bill. And you know that it takes time for a deposit to be processed, so you knew that you wouldn't be in time to fix your problem. And now you're angry at the bank? Misplaced anger it seems, to me. It's easier to blame them than take responsibility for your own actions. It's the way we humans are much of the time.

I do agree that you should have the option of not having overdrafts at all, as it would be far better for most of us to have the bank simply not spend more of our money than we have in the first place. For me, I want a bank to simply say "sorry, no" when someone asks for my money and I don't have enough. But that's a whole other issue, really.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm pretty OK with someone having the fiscal responsibility to opt for not having a paid LJ account when they have other things that need to be paid for. You do realize that no-ad free accounts no longer exist, right?

Also, the problem is Wainwright deliberately delayed and ran out of order charges made before the tuition charge which lead to multiple overdraft fees, when those prior charges were well within what was in the account at the time they occurred. The OP should probably say "turning a single overdraft into multiple overdrafts" rather than "charging overdrafts when there weren't any" (referring to those additional overdrafts beyond the tuition-based one), but it's still the case that the bank is the party refusing to take responsibility for its actions, not the OP.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

I haven't liked Wainwright since they pulled the "we're part of the SUM Network, except when we're not" crap a few years ago. I tend to think of that as when they started to act like a bank for profit instead of a bank for people.

[turil.livejournal.com]

It is a bank for profit. It's a for profit business, obligated to make money for it's stockholders. Sure they are nicer than most huge banks, but they aren't a non-profit organization, and to expect them to be is to be delusional.

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry this happened to you. I closed my Wainwright account after about 6 months as it was a complete disaster any time I needed them to take care of something for me. They accidentally sent me checks on a joint account with only one name, getting that remedied took multiple days, phone calls etc. Other annoying issues similarly arose. I now have an account with Boston Private Bank and Trust, which has offices in Kendall and an ATM in Harvard. They are really helpful and friendly and actually recognize me when I go in, even though I go in maybe four times a year -- shocker!

[ron_newman]

With a name like 'Boston Private Bank" I always assumed that you had to be rich enough to own a hedge fund in order to bank there. Not true?

Jeebus! over 120 comments!

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

This is a Godzilla thread...

[pushupstairs.livejournal.com]

I refuse to keep my money with any organization that has "bank" in the name. Ever since my used-to-be-stellar bank (Lowell Five) butt-raped me out of $300, I've been with credit unions and will never look back.