TCF Bank

TCF BANK PULL YOU IN 'FREE CASH' - BEWARE THEY ARE FEE FOCUSED, NEVER CUSTOMER FOCUSED Minneapolis, Minnesota

24th of Jan, 2011 by

This bank offers more FREE cash incentives than other
banks do. They approach you in Jewel grocery stores. Their offerings
border on harassment. They don't remember faces. They repeatedly
approach you about the same thing. It's like they won't take "no"
for an answer!

I was out of work with no source of income. I was
ready to loose my Indiana home. I had actually left my home (couldn't
pay the winter utilities) and went home to mom's home in Chicago
where I paid no rent. I was doing her grocery shopping. I had $25 of
my own money to my name and several bills to deal with.This was at
the Jewel at 79th and Cicero, Chicago, IL.

The bank representative came saying "you don't
need much to open an account. You'll get $50 FREE cash just for
opening an account. It yours to keep. It will only take a few minutes
and you'll be on your way. How can you lose?"

I finally conceded and met with a bank sign-up agent.
I produced my Indiana drivers license with zip code 47374 (rural
Indiana). I had asked a girl for a listing of their bank locations. I
told her I was only temporarily staying at mom's Chicago home however
I lived in Indiana. I wanted to know what was available by my Indiana
home which I had hopes of getting back to. She said she'd get back to
that when she finished her computer entries. She never produced that
list! I forgot about it. Much later I found out they have no banks
anywhere remotely near zip code 47374! I asked that my checks not be
mailed out but rather that I pick them up at the store. She said that
would be no problem at all.

Two to three weeks later I went back to the store to
pick up my checks. They were not there. They sent them to my Indiana
home address. No one was there. The home was vacant. They agreed it
was their error and they would have another box of checks sent to the
store for pickup. I would not be charged for them. They would also
waive the delivery fee. I thought 'OK, I've been inconvenienced
however at least your not charging me for your error'. WRONG!!

Not only was my account charged for the 2nd box of
checks but I was also charged for the shipping charges. I was unaware
as I hadn't received a bank statement as yet nor had I gone online. I
wrote a check off of my initial $25 deposit. Then I gave a creditor
phone permission to debit my account $10 (against their $50). That
debit did not go through due to the account being hit with fees for
the 2nd box of checks, shipping and monthly maintenance fees. Then
they hit me up for overdraft and more fees. Meanwhile my home was
being listed as a short sale so my attention was consumed by that. My
bank statements were going to rural Indiana (250 miles away). The
only thing I knew was this: my $10 debit did not go through, I was
losing my home, not getting my bank statements, I'd been lied to and
trapped. Their sign up rep had listened to nothing and just put me
into their system.

Why are they so anxious to give away money? Because
they know they have entrapment going on! In today's mail came a flyer
from TCF Bank. ***Redeem This Coupon And Get $100 Free Cash.***

Prospective Customers Please Beware The Fine Print!
Note: TCF standard account fees will apply. These include
non-sufficient funds, overdrafts, monthly maintenance AND OTHER
FEES'. They are fee focused but NEVER customer focused. Don't do
business with this bank. I was warned in the distant past by someone.
I wish their words had echoed with me that day.

Since then I have gone to one of their branches. They
said they could not help. I have called the collection agency. They
said to call the bank. The bank said to return to the Jewel branch
where it all began. The Collection Agency will not reduce the almost
$100 debt caused by this horrendous offer of a FREE $50. The bank
agreed that my closed account confirms this reported charge history
however they cannot do or offer anything. I have no recourse but to
pay this additional $100 for their $50 that went to fees.

PROSPECT: You are not a customer, YET JUST AN ACCOUNT TO RACK UP
FEES!!!! DON'T GET SUCKED IN!! There is NO 'FREE' WITH TCF BANK!!!!!
There is no 'Free' just DECEPTION.

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Comments

4671 days ago by SoPo

You are so right. They do whatever it takes to get you in an overdraft situation and charge you $25.00 per day until the account is brought up to date. When you go to the branch and ask how much is required to bring the account up to date they give you an amount that needs to be deposited. You make the deposit in cash so it will post immediately. (NOT) The take your cash and use it until that night when the reconcile accounts. If you have anything which was presented for payment before 3:00 pm they deduct that amount from your balance before they credit your account with the CASH you deposited in the morning. Except you did not really make a deposit in the morning. You gave TCF 400.00 cash for them to use free of charge. I know this has to be illegal.
Now then, .. bear with me. You brought your account up to date plus 45.00. You use your card for a 35.00 purchase. What they did not tell you was you would be getting hit with another 25.00 overdraft fee from the day before your deposit because you were overdrawn the day before. Who knew? My ledger said I was OK. Now that your 25.00 was debited you only have 20.00 left in the account the day after you squared everything away. So you made a purchase of 30.00 and now you are overdrawn again. You start getting 25.00 overdraft charges each day your account is overdrawn again. You go to the bank and the oh so sweet gal at one of the Desks discusses your account with you. The only suggestion she has is to keep a ledger and tells me she has never been overdrawn because of her ledger.
When I go home I log on to my "ledger and my 400.00 cash deposit is "pending". I call the main office. The oh so nice lady gives me the same double speak. That's when I find out I will be debited another 25.00 because I was overdrawn yesterday. I tell her I made the account right plus additional funds to cover bills I knew were due the 2nd. Now I will be overdrawn again. I ask he what happens due to the holiday weekend. She says if the account is overdrawn from something presented to them on Friday July 1 I will incur overdraft fees for sat, sun, Mon. There is nothing I can do about it because if I make a cash deposit on Saturday, Sun, Mon, it will not be credited to my account until Tuesday July 5th at which time I will owe them another $100.00 in overdraft fees but they will only tell me about 75.00 worth because the remaining $25.00 for being overdrawn on the 5th will not be deducted from my account until the 6th at which time I may be overdrawn again. I PLAN TO MAKE A FORMAL COMPLAINT TO THE ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE. I suggest the rest of you getting the run around do the same? By the way I tried to close my account since it was all up to date with a surplus. They would not let me because the deposit was still "PENDING" I have to drive up there again today to close it.
It's like doing business with a loan shark.
deposit was still "PENDING" I have to drive up there again today to close it.
It's like doing business with a loan shark.
Now that our credit is damaged even with a score credit score of 720with a new mortgage no one will give you a credit card so you are forced to use the Visa Debit card tied to your checking account as your credit card for all the stuff you have to use a card for. If you were over your limit on a credit card it was declined. (End of story) now there is no way to have a charge declined from a checking account VISA card without fees. I used to be part of the Middle Class. I am now part of the poverty class and I ended up giving TCF 300.00 in overdraft fees when I got my retirement check on the first of the month. That's all the extra money I have for food for the month.