TCF and such

A few days ago, I posted a note that I was frustrated. I generally do this when I know I'm crankier than normal, and then lock it down to just the people around me. I tend to think that if I'm going to be cranky around them, they should at least get to know why. Unfortunately, I forgot to change the privacy settings on that note right away, and Facebook picked it up.

So... thanks to everyone who offered support.

If you're curious, what set me off about TCF was that they changed their account policies, and I didn't notice. I've had the account for 15 years, and I go through phases of using it and not using as is convenient. I never worried much about it, because it was a "totally free checking" with no monthly fee and no minimum balance requirements. Except that about a year ago, they stopped offering "totally free checking" and switched it over to some other type of account. The notification was at the top of a statement-- the same place that has, over the years, included such vital information as "visit our newest branch in City Nowhere Near You" and "refer your friends and we'll give you whatever item we could pick up cheaply in bulk". In other words-- someplace I'm pretty well used to ignoring. There was NEVER a separate mailing informing me that my account had changed to a different type.

So they started charging a $10 monthly fee, that I completely didn't realize was being charged. Eventually, it ate through what was left in the account, and dropped the account negative. Which is when the OTHER policy change bit me in the ass: instead of a "per item" overdraft fee, TCF is using Michigan as a pilot for their daily overdraft fee. Which means I got charged $10 every day that I was overdrawn thanks to the maintenance fee that I didn't realize I was being charged. By the time the statement with the overdraft on it arrived, I'd already been charged roughly an extra $30 in daily fees. Since I didn't know that it was a daily fee, and I was racing around trying to get the house prepared for a guest while trying to look casual and not let on that there was a guest coming (she was a surprise for CJ), I set the statement aside with a "I'll deal with this next week." It was, after all, only $20 overdrawn, and I knew from past experience with my uncle and my grandparents' account that they would let it sit for a month before doing anything drastic.

The day our guest arrived, I got a letter from TCF saying that my account was $100 overdrawn, and that if it were not dealt with within 10 days, it would be sent to a collection agency. The letter was dated May 18th, and arrived Friday, May 20th. Astonishingly, I opted to go to the airport to pick her up rather than to the bank to deal with the account immediately. She left on Tuesday, and when I went to the bank on Wednesday the overdrawn balance was at $230, including a $35 "collections fee", even though it had only been 7 days instead of the 10 days listed in the letter. It turns out that the overdraft fee is not only daily, it's also a sliding scale, so once it got up to $150 it became $25 per day instead of $10.

The branch manager was as helpful as she could be-- she did remove the collections fee and all the overdraft fees after the collections fee, taking $120 off of the $230. But it still cost me $110 to close the account. And yes, I realize that a lot of this could have been avoided by bothering to look at the statement now and then. Still, I'm pretty pissed about the lack of communication from TCF, the daily overdraft BS, and the collections fee being added 3 days before the stated deadline (even though that ended up being removed in the end). At this point, I really can't recommend that anyone use them.

TCF and such

A few days ago, I posted a note that I was frustrated. I generally do this when I know I'm crankier than normal, and then lock it down to just the people around me. I tend to think that if I'm going to be cranky around them, they should at least get to know why. Unfortunately, I forgot to change the privacy settings on that note right away, and Facebook picked it up.

So... thanks to everyone who offered support.

If you're curious, what set me off about TCF was that they changed their account policies, and I didn't notice. I've had the account for 15 years, and I go through phases of using it and not using as is convenient. I never worried much about it, because it was a "totally free checking" with no monthly fee and no minimum balance requirements. Except that about a year ago, they stopped offering "totally free checking" and switched it over to some other type of account. The notification was at the top of a statement-- the same place that has, over the years, included such vital information as "visit our newest branch in City Nowhere Near You" and "refer your friends and we'll give you whatever item we could pick up cheaply in bulk". In other words-- someplace I'm pretty well used to ignoring. There was NEVER a separate mailing informing me that my account had changed to a different type.

So they started charging a $10 monthly fee, that I completely didn't realize was being charged. Eventually, it ate through what was left in the account, and dropped the account negative. Which is when the OTHER policy change bit me in the ass: instead of a "per item" overdraft fee, TCF is using Michigan as a pilot for their daily overdraft fee. Which means I got charged $10 every day that I was overdrawn thanks to the maintenance fee that I didn't realize I was being charged. By the time the statement with the overdraft on it arrived, I'd already been charged roughly an extra $30 in daily fees. Since I didn't know that it was a daily fee, and I was racing around trying to get the house prepared for a guest while trying to look casual and not let on that there was a guest coming (she was a surprise for CJ), I set the statement aside with a "I'll deal with this next week." It was, after all, only $20 overdrawn, and I knew from past experience with my uncle and my grandparents' account that they would let it sit for a month before doing anything drastic.

The day our guest arrived, I got a letter from TCF saying that my account was $100 overdrawn, and that if it were not dealt with within 10 days, it would be sent to a collection agency. The letter was dated May 18th, and arrived Friday, May 20th. Astonishingly, I opted to go to the airport to pick her up rather than to the bank to deal with the account immediately. She left on Tuesday, and when I went to the bank on Wednesday the overdrawn balance was at $230, including a $35 "collections fee", even though it had only been 7 days instead of the 10 days listed in the letter. It turns out that the overdraft fee is not only daily, it's also a sliding scale, so once it got up to $150 it became $25 per day instead of $10.

The branch manager was as helpful as she could be-- she did remove the collections fee and all the overdraft fees after the collections fee, taking $120 off of the $230. But it still cost me $110 to close the account. And yes, I realize that a lot of this could have been avoided by bothering to look at the statement now and then. Still, I'm pretty pissed about the lack of communication from TCF, the daily overdraft BS, and the collections fee being added 3 days before the stated deadline (even though that ended up being removed in the end). At this point, I really can't recommend that anyone use them.