Bank deducted funds from wrong account

[CaptainOriginal]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? CA

I have two checking accounts and one savings account at my bank. One checking account I share with my wife and the other one is my personal account. In March 2005 I requested a new debit card for my joint account because I misplaced my card at home. The bank sent me two cards, both with my name only on them. The papers that the cards came with gave no indication to what accounts the cards were linked to. I called the bank and they explained that one card was for my personal account and one card was for my joint account. Since I did not want to have extra active cards around, I tore up my old personal card. Also, I marked on the back of each card a P or a J, for personal and joint, so I would know which card is which.

Last week we overdrafted on the joint account. When going over the recent charges, I saw that the bank was charging to the joint account purchases I was making with what I thought was my personal account. Looking at the confirmation numbers that the bank was giving me, I noted that the numbers indeed matched the card number of the personal card, so I was not using the wrong card. I called the bank to explain that they charged the wrong account, however, they refuse to acknowledge any error on their behalf. Evidently, when sending the replacement cards, they linked one card to my joint account, and the other card to my personal account and my joint account. They also linked the VISA charge feature to my joint account for that card. When I called them when I originally received the two cards, the bank gave no mention to the personal card being linked to the joint account, and definately did not mention the VISA was linked to the other account. There are three overdrafts that were charged to my joint account for charges that should have been posted to my personal account. There were sufficient funds in my personal account to cover these charges. The bank gave me one overdraft back, but will not refund the other two. Do I have any recourse in this? I feel I've been treated extremely poorly by every level of customer service I have spoken to, and at this point I feel they are stealing my money from me.

[Veronica1228]

Originally Posted by CaptainOriginal

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? CA

I have two checking accounts and one savings account at my bank. One checking account I share with my wife and the other one is my personal account. In March 2005 I requested a new debit card for my joint account because I misplaced my card at home. The bank sent me two cards, both with my name only on them. The papers that the cards came with gave no indication to what accounts the cards were linked to. I called the bank and they explained that one card was for my personal account and one card was for my joint account. Since I did not want to have extra active cards around, I tore up my old personal card. Also, I marked on the back of each card a P or a J, for personal and joint, so I would know which card is which.

Last week we overdrafted on the joint account. When going over the recent charges, I saw that the bank was charging to the joint account purchases I was making with what I thought was my personal account. Looking at the confirmation numbers that the bank was giving me, I noted that the numbers indeed matched the card number of the personal card, so I was not using the wrong card. I called the bank to explain that they charged the wrong account, however, they refuse to acknowledge any error on their behalf. Evidently, when sending the replacement cards, they linked one card to my joint account, and the other card to my personal account and my joint account. They also linked the VISA charge feature to my joint account for that card. When I called them when I originally received the two cards, the bank gave no mention to the personal card being linked to the joint account, and definately did not mention the VISA was linked to the other account. There are three overdrafts that were charged to my joint account for charges that should have been posted to my personal account. There were sufficient funds in my personal account to cover these charges. The bank gave me one overdraft back, but will not refund the other two. Do I have any recourse in this? I feel I've been treated extremely poorly by every level of customer service I have spoken to, and at this point I feel they are stealing my money from me.

Your scenario is unfortunate, but not a legal issue. The only thing I can suggest is going higher up the management chain. Start with a branch manager, then go to the District manager, Regional Manager etc. Hopefully, someone along the way will agree that they treated you badly.

You will probably have more success if you go in person, and try to keep a cool head. If you go in angry and yelling, they will be resistant to helping.

Good luck!

[JETX]

I agree. If the situation is truly as you say... and you have some kind of proof of the accounts and cards, I really can't imagine your bank refusing to correct their mistake. However, if the bank didn't make the mistake and you may have simply marked the cards in error, etc., then the bank would not have to reverse any charges or fees.