5 chilling bank fee horror stories

Despite recent revelations that some are actually worth paying, there’s hardly anyone who won’t agree that bank fees can be a complete waste of time, money and financial efforts. When we know how to minimize them (like maintaining a minimum savings account balance, or avoiding checking overdrafts), dealing with those fees becomes just a bit easier. But people still get charged fees they’re unaware of, or worse — by accident, due to some egregious bank error.

Part comedy, part horror, and with a whole lot of financial drama, we asked people to share their most epic experiences with erroneous or surprising bank fees and how they ultimately dealt with them.

1. Now you see your money, now you don’t

When banks are not transparent with their customers: Nathan Sanow and his wife had checking and savings accounts tied to a wealth management account, which they shifted to Wells Fargo, explicitly requesting the bank to transfer the funds to a standard, no-fee checking product. Instead, the bank failed to move their funds to the free account, and turned off their visibility to it, so they began racking up fees without knowing it.

“The account was being deducted $25 per month that was completely blind to us,” Sanow said. “When my wife made a deposit and asked about the savings account she was shocked to see over $300 in fees taken out.”

The bank eventually admitted its mistake but only refunded the couple two months of the fees in question. The Sanows have since closed their accounts, but to make matters worse, they have yet to receive their remaining money. According to Sanow, the bank claimed an “internal error” and the check has yet to be drafted.

“Prior to this,” he said, “we had a sizable wealth management account, and now we have nothing, and I don’t think they care.”

2. Getting paid 65 percent for 100 percent’s work

Was the money lost in the transfer across the Atlantic? That’s what Scott Rubel’s niche printing company wondered when it was charged 35 percent in wire transfer and check cashing fees after creating materials for the L.A. reception of BAFTA, the British Academy of Film and Television Awards. Though the prestigious project required the most premium printing and graphics work, Rubel’s company only charged BAFTA $1,000.

However, after the work was completed, the awards show came and went, and the weeks went by before they finally received their (partial) payment — just over $600. The printing company was never informed of the exorbitant foreign exchange fees. “Banks on both sides of the ocean charge wire fees plus cashing fees,” Rubel said. “We were never told by Community Bank that the charges would add up so high, and they never suggested another way of accepting payment before this process was started.”

He added, “In the end, the money we made from this job barely covered the time it took to visit our bank and the frustration. We never even got an apology from the Duke and Duchess.”

Rubel’s financial suggestion: “This is a warning to all small businesses. Check with your bank before accepting foreign checks.”

3. The costliest 40-cent fee in the entire world

Michael C. Podlesny’s tenant who lived on his rental property told him one month that she’d pay the $900 rent in cash to avoid a late checking charge. Unfortunately, Podlesny was the one hit with the bank fee, an unwieldy number that cost more in principle than it did in price.

After depositing his earnings, Podlesny said that within a few days, his account balance revealed that he was charged a cryptic 40 cents. “They had a fee of 10 cents per $100 when you deposit more than $500 cash,” he said. “To make a long story short, I complained, and they waived the fee, but I removed all of my money from that bank and now bank elsewhere.”

4. The old fee-flip trick

His automatic checking account withdrawals were set up for deduction on the first of the month — the same day banks charge their normal fees — but this time, Raymond Selzer got a surprise after his financial provider allegedly debited the regular bank first to overdraft him.

Selzer expected the auto withdrawal and bank fees in that order but was surprised to learn later that day that his account was “in the red,” overdrawn, with a non-sufficient-funds fee, to boot. “When I looked at the online record, it suddenly said that the bank’s account fees had magically been processed first, and then the third party withdrawal had happened,” he explained. “They bounced my first withdrawal so they could not only collect their fees, but an NSF fee on top!”

Selzer brought the matter up with his branch manager, but excuses abounded. “He said, ‘The online record doesn’t necessarily reflect what’s actually in your account when you read it.’ So what good is the service then?! He refused to return the NSF fee as well.”

5. When paper statements are better than electronic

After being notified of a routine (non-criminal) financial audit, Lauren Cook was asked by the Internal Revenue Service to provide the last 24 months of her bank statements. Simple enough, except that her provider, TD Bank, told Cook that it only offers the most recent 18 months’ statements for free, with each subsequent statement costing $30 a piece — a transaction that would have cost Cook $180 for the remaining six months of banking records.

“I was on electronic statements, and, shame on me, I didn’t keep them,” Cook said. “I fought with [the bank] until they coughed up my six older statements. Now, I’m back to paper.”

Do you have any bizarre bank fee anecdotes or stories like these? Leave your comments below.