Inproper bank debit caused NSF fees

[viscious]

Hello I am a resident of Denver Colorado.

My electric company is Xcel Energy.

I normally pay my electric bill over the phone using an electronic check for an account I have with compass bank. (they ask for the account number and routing number to process the payment).

On May 9th, I had an electric bill of 478.86 that I needed to pay. I knew that my compass checking account did not have enough funds to cover that cost. So I gave them the checking account number and routing number of a checking account that I keep for emergency purposes.

When the lady on the phone tried to run the charge through she said "Oops I made a mistake, please hold on one minute".

After a minute or so, she came back on the line and said everything was fine. I said ok and hung up.

I noticed a week later that when Xcel charged my account they charged the wrong account. Instead of charging my emergency account, they charged my compass account. Because of this my compass account overdrafted for that charge, as well as for seven charges afterwards, and I have $304 dollars in overdraft fees.

I called xcel energy as soon as I realised what happened. They said they were sorry for the inconvience and that they would reverse the 478 dollar charge, and then re charge the correct account.

I then went to compass bank and explained the situation to them , and I asked them if they would refund the NSF fees once xcel reversed the original charge that caused them. Compass bank said, that it was Xcels fault and that excel should refund my NSF charges.

I have not been able to get back in touch with excel to talk to them about this, but I imagine they are going to say no way.

If that is indeed the case, I was wondering what advice you guys could give me.

I realise that $304 dollars not a huge sum of money, but it is definatly money I cannot afford to loose right now. For one, I wont be able to pay my rent and could get evicted. Another problem is, I am under a Debit Consolidation plan, and if I miss a payment that plan will default. So the minor mater of $304 dollars could very quickly spiral into something huge.

To me this seems outragously unfair. Someone should pay me back that $304 dollars , the problem is I don't know if the burden should be on xcel or compass bank.

If it came down to needing to take legal action, in something like small claims court, or send a lawyers letter, or something like that, who would I even file against, Xcel, or Compass. Or do I even have ground to stand on?

Thanks for any advice you can give!What is the name of your state?

[debtcollector`]

It was xcel's fault -- you need to talk to them.

DC

[Antigone*of*Greece]

Hello Viscious,

It is certainly not the bank's fault and they are entitled to fees under the depository agreement that you have with them. You can ask for a courtesy reversal but if you've had any in the recent past you probably won't get much help.

Sorry, wish I could have been more help.

[shahuds12]

I live in Pittsburgh Pa. I am a assistant branch manager for citizens bank. First, it is excels fault but since you can't get them to fix it this is what you need to do. Go to your bank branch and tell them to put a all funds hold on your account until you can clear this matter up. Than, tell then you want to file an affi of fraud because that was an unauthorized transaction. They will fill the paper out and send it to there back office department. They will invesigate the matter. Once they find it in your favor they will reverse the charge and refund you the money and fees. Make sure you right a statement to go along with you to the bank to give them to make the invesigation process faster. The statement should explain in detail what happened. Good luck!

[Antigone*of*Greece]

Originally Posted by shahuds12

I live in Pittsburgh Pa. I am a assistant branch manager for citizens bank. First, it is excels fault but since you can't get them to fix it this is what you need to do. Go to your bank branch and tell them to put a all funds hold on your account until you can clear this matter up. Than, tell then you want to file an affi of fraud because that was an unauthorized transaction. They will fill the paper out and send it to there back office department. They will invesigate the matter. Once they find it in your favor they will reverse the charge and refund you the money and fees. Make sure you right a statement to go along with you to the bank to give them to make the invesigation process faster. The statement should explain in detail what happened. Good luck!

Help me understand here...you are adivising the OP to ask the bank to put his funds on hold...why??? What will that accomplish???

Number two, you are advising the OP to sign an affadavit of fraud when it isn't really fraud. His own funds were used to pay his own bill. This fraudulent act will accomplish nothing except making the situation worse. I can see it now...Excel turns off his power...do you see where this is going???

As a banker have the fiduciary responsiblity to your company, your customers, and stakeholders to provide advice that is accurate and on point. Adivisng someone to accomplish their goal by claiming fraud when it isn't is not the advise you should be giving.

OP, sadly you took it in the shorts on this one. You don't want to waste your valuable time suing or filing fraudulent affadavits. Call it a day.

[HelpinMN]

I would agree that putting the funds on hold would do nothing but cause problems if other legitimate debits come through. An affidavit of fraud may be what citizens bank calls their forms for an unauthorized ach (most banks have separate forms). Most banks will rightly tell you to go to excell and show them statements that prove their error and they will pay the bank for your fees. If not you need to fill out whatever forms Compass requires for an unauthorized transaction. It would not technically be fraud as it seems to simply be a mistake, and if excell will not help you out most banks will as a courtesy.

[Veronica1228]

I also would like to advise the Asst. Branch Manager that it is inadvisable to disclose the bank where you work especially if you give bad advice (which you did). You have now exposed your employer to liabilities. I too work at a bank and have never given that information out for that very reason.

If your bank finds out, it could also be cause for termination. Use your head before posting next time. I find it hard to believe that you actually have a supervisory position at Cit's. They don't have a very thorough screening process, do they?