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

[ron_newman]

Who was the manager that you talked to? I'm sending an e-mail about this to every @wainwrightbank.com address that I have in my mail database, with links to this LJ post and your blog post.

I'd like to cc it to you, but I can't find your e-mail address anywhere on your blog or your LJ profile.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

It's not vigilante action if we call it a grassroots effort. :-)

[ron_newman]

Here's the e-mail I sent to 15 e-mail addresses @wainwrightbank.com (some of which will probably bounce since they are years old):

Subject: Bad customer service at Davis Square branch

A friend of mine had a very bad customer service experience this week at your Davis Square branch, where the bank incorrectly charged her $92.97 in fees for an overdraft that never occurred. Instead of fixing the problem and refunding the fees, the branch manager gave her a totally false and bogus explanation, causing her to close her account and move it to a nearby competitor. Her story is posted on the Davis Square LiveJournal at

http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/2023338.html

and to her own blog at

http://childwild.com/2009/12/02/wainwright-bank-stole-my-lunch-money/

I've been a Wainwright customer for over nine years, and have always appreciated your bank's friendly and personal customer service, community service, and social responsibility. But you were not helpful to my friend, and her experience was sufficiently bad that I may withdraw my money unless the bank apologizes to her and refunds her wrongly-charged fees. The Davis Square LiveJournal has over 2000 members, some of whom may also be motivated to move their money elsewhere because of this. Please "Do the Right Thing" and protect your bank's hard-earned reputation. Thanks for listening.

Even though I'm not a customer...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

This story makes it even less possible that I'll switch to them at some point.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

for whatever it's worth, i'm currently shopping a new bank and wainwright is on the short list...though i'm not sure after this.

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

But that's not enough.

On Daily Kos this week was the story about someone who had a $5000 check deposit held up for a week "to clear" at Bank of America, forcing a trip cancellation. He wrote top management and the hold was lifted (the national bad publicity may have contributed). But, will Bank of America be changing its policy of sitting on large check deposits? Of course not.

What's important is that Wainwright change the policy, not the apology to one person.

Who gets the interest?

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

During that week? BOA? The issuing institution? There is a conflict of interest somewhere.

Re: Who gets the interest?

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

You have to ask? (BOA, of course)

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

If you hear anything back from them, I hope you'll post and let enveryone know (in a new post, since this one is getting unweildy).

redheadedmuse is a friend of mine, and I would be so thrilled to hear she got her money back.