Where should I begin...there has been so much that has occured. My husband was a Georgia Lottery winner ($2million) and was offered the option to cash out the balance of his annuities. ($650,000) That's a lot of money, so he did what any person faced with that decision would do, he asked the people that the Government has insured to handle our deposits...ourlocal bank...not one of those BROKERAGE HOUSES where they aren't FDIC Insured and are only motivated by sales commissions. Remember, this is in 1999 and the effects from the Gramm-Bliley-Glass act had not been felt, yet. And Wachovia was still First Union. My Grandmother had introduced me to Barnett, now Wachovia, in Tampa with my first deposit account about 20 years prior, so there was history with this bank.

We met with a rep from the Wachovia Securities team. The man that came from the down town team to our local office was very impressive and he did his job, we were sold. He was sitting at a desk that boasted FDIC insured, his business card said "FIRST UNION", he, on all counts, was an employee of First Union. He asked us what our goals and needs were, he had graphs and answers. We were shown, and I was there, how using First Union's Investment Team could put the money to work. Stocks and bonds and diversifying along with a few loans with Wachovia POOF. If they do there job and we work hard and pay our bills on time; we could still have our investment, retirement from our business and a nice egg for the kids. We started our business and bought a house, all thru Wachovia, of course. They wanted to see our dreams come true just as bad as we did.

Our business did great! We sell vehicles, so our cash flow is large. It was nothing for us to generate $650,000.00 in revenues a month which was deposited in our Wachovia Business account. Everything was great...except for the people that were watching over our investments. The market went up and down and we went thru some reps and we watched the balance steadily go down from poor trading in a fluctuating market. My husband tried not to be concerned, but he was. He became more concerned when he started receiving the run around about who could help him with his questions. There did not seem to be any consistency in the day to day activities during the Wachovia/First Union merger. We would meet with one rep and update what we were expecting from this TEAM playing with our money and they would turn it over to another team member and so on down the line. Until we became stuck with a man that vengefully sold us out.

About 2002, my husband and I began to follow the chain of command for customer complaints. We had come up against brick walls everywhere. We were refered to the outside customer service survey team. If we are unsure of our rep (or of his intentions) then we thought should talk to the captain of the TEAM. WRONG. This really pissed some one off and it was all down hill from there. Basically, Wachovia and it's employees were angry because my husband was asking for some form of management intervention. That was the attitude we were hit with...hmmmmm... A bank that facilitates on emotion....that could be dangerous. My husband didn’t ask for much, "Just please move the investment account to our local branch, they know us there. They know that we are honest and hard working. We trust them and we trust that they will be accountable for our money. No one else is." I believe I cried at this meeting (real tears). I could see for the first time, they were taking us down out of spite.

WRONG AGAIN, that won’t be happening like that.... We were informed that Wachovia had run into trouble and they were not able to just transfer the stocks to the local branch. Infact, the stocks had already been sold that day at face value. That is right, $350,000 in stocks sold in one day. They sold $350,000, in one day, without even telling us. and at a low-low price. Why? Because we were bothering them with concerns that we weren't sure if our money was receiving the attention we were promised and we were growing more concerned about the outcome of the prolonged neglect.

So now we have about $350,000 (cash) that was to be placed in the hands of our local branch. And did they move it? No, it was placed in a money market account earning less than one percent interest. Our file was pulled from the local branch by some secret people and we no longer had anyone to help us with our problem. Our local branch was instructed not to discuss the matter with us anymore. Oh yeah, the whole time we are fighting to save our investments, we are paying on our loans. We are paying an average of $5000.00 a month to Wachovia Bank, NA. This goes on; no call backs, no money. We pay them though, every month, like agreed but no one can tell us where the balance of the investment is.

Finally, we get a lawyer involved, who, in turn, contacted the SEC, who contacted Wachovia, who said "It isn't our company that you should contact, it was those other guys" The SEC said "OK" and we got a letter from a nice man at the top of all of Wachovia, Mr. Tom Farr, (hey Tom) Mr. tom farr did not feel that we had been thru enough misery. mr Tom Farr felt that now would be a good time to throw his weight around and finish us off once and for all. After all of our investments, deposits, loan payments and loyal customerness, Mr. Tom Farr felt it necessary to give us bad news on blank letterhed. Added together, we have personally seen millions go thru are beloved bank yet we did not deserve a return address or phone number when we read this:

It went something to this effect…"We (Wachovia) have elected to surrender the balance of your investments to pay off the loans you have with our company. We don’t need your approval and oh yeah, we want the rest of our money within thirty days or we will sue you.” But we were not late on our loans, we had not caused problems. Wachovia had mismanaged our investments to the point that there wasn’t enough to security for them so they called our loans due. We were not given enough time to do anything. I had a beacon score of over 700 and we worked very hard, every day to pay our bills on time. It was something we were proud of. We owned a business and it’s success could be attributed to the way we lived our lives. Within less than thirty days, we were notified that we were being sued for being in default on our loans. It hadn't even been one billing cycle and Wachovia was coming to get us with there high priced attorneys. We were being taught a lesson by someone at Wachovia, a very valuable lesson. Don’t let the loan-sharks hold your money. When the Federal Government changed the Glass act, they gave the power to these banks to grow like they did. That is why I say Wachovia Securities uses Wachovia Bank, NA as a front. They will take your deposit there, but your money is leaving the building and won’t be coming back. They don’t care if you win or not, they already have your money, "What-cha-gonna-do? huh?"

We chose to fight, probably not the most productive choice, but we really were not offered a choice. The banks are above ethical and legal business procedures and they are allowed to grow out of control. No one was being held accountable for the mismanagement of our future. Instead, we are at a stand off with one of the Worlds largest monopolies in the banking industry. And do you think anyone out there is watching over Wachovia. Hell no! The SEC, remeber, we went there. Wachovia is betting on the fact that we will just give up, just like the thousands of other families (NASD reports of arbitrated cases). They probably just gave up. The only difference is that we are not giving up. I want someone to stand up and make good for what we have been thru. The money was important, but I am facing bankruptcy now because of all of this. What do we have to loose? Hello, Wachovia, get over yourself. I will see you in front of a jury and believe me, when they see how you manipulate the laws to cover your mistakes, you just might get your feelings hurt.

This letter probably jumps around and may not be clear, but someone out there has been thru this and will understand what I am saying. I hope this reached them and they in turn would like to join our legal suit against Wachovia, Bank, NA, Wachovia NA, Wachovia Securities, (and whomever else they have watching the big bucks)

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      The second story that has blown me away is listed out below:
          First off, I applaud your site! Too often, the voice of one is drowned out by the powers that be.

I wanted to share my horror story with Wachovia. I have also had my account with Wachovia for several years and generally we truck along just fine. Prior to 2006, I very rarely over-drafted and so, if I did, the bank was always willing to refund the charges. However this year has been rough for us and Wachovia is now usually the first in line to screw me over.

The trouble first started with my husband's direct deposits (which actually have to go around their elbow to get to their ass!). The direct deposit hits Wachovia every other Friday. I was told that the deposit is made available on MIDNIGHT of the day it is dated for, meaning Thursday night. But actually, Wachovia makes it available no later than the start of the business day (according to a local branch manager, who also stated that this was a policy she was unaware of until she started working there!) So, the direct deposit might or might not be in the bank when you think it is, just guess, it's as accurate as their system! As a result, 10/26/06, I was charged $140 of NSF because Wachovia's system processes withdrawals before deposits. When I inquired as to the reason for this, I was told that I could only count on the direct deposit being available to cover checks or charges made AFTER the deposit date. OK, a bit shady, but lesson learned. This particular incidence also resulted in me becoming aware that Wachovia processes transactions from largest to smallest. In theory, to benefit the customer, but we all know who really benefits!

Now the zinger of the month! On 11/14/06, my father in law (who also banks at Wachovia by the way!) made a cash deposit to my account in the amount of $400. This deposit was made at a branch about 5 hours from me. This money wasn't for me and so I intended to withdraw most of it in cash when it became available. I had no idea until later what time and and what way the funds were deposited except that it was done with cash. At about 3pm, I checked my account by logging on to Wachovia.com to check my balance. My "posted" balance was only about $130, my "available" balance was only about $50 due to 7 purchases with my check card that were on hold and already deducted from the "available" balance. So, about 4pm that day, I again checked my bank balance and lo and behold, my "available" balance was now $450. The $400 deposit and the $50 that was already "available". I gave it no more thought and drove to the ATM. I took $240 out in cash. The following day when I went to balance my checkbook, the bank had bounced all my check card holds for total NSF of $245, 7x$35. When I inquired via the customer service line, I was told that the deposit was not credited until 11/15. I stated that I did not have the funds available for a $240 cash withdrawal had the deposit not been credited. Wachovia took the money that I had on hold for the check card purchases and applied the money to the cash withdrawal. Even so, I still did not have the cash available to cover the $240 cash withdrawal.

After speaking with rude customer service representatives and a supervisor and a branch manager, I ended up getting $140 of those fees refunded. Customer service stated that I should have known when the funds would be "available" as that information is in my depositor's agreement. And actually, I brought my depositor's agreement with me to speak to my local branch manager. At no point in that document, or in any of the other paperwork I received when I opened my account, does it state that Wachovia can place deposited cash into your "available" funds (transaction just states "processing" down on the register) and then rescind that deposit and bounce purchases that were already deducted from that magical "available" balance.

I am not a stupid person. I am aware that funds deposited before 2pm will be credited that night at midnight (or perhaps right away depending on the form of the deposit), and that funds deposited before 4pm at the ATM would also be available at midnight that night (or maybe right away depending on what the weather is in outer Mongolia).

Keeping in mind that this cash deposit was done inside of Wachovia itself, no other banks were involved at all, I assumed that my father in law transferred the money between accounts or some such thing allowing the funds to be immediately available. What do I know, or perhaps more importantly, what should I know about the way that could be handled?

My issue is with the ATM and the definition of "available". If funds are not available, do not put them into the available balance. It is so simple as to be laughable! This was no emergency and I certainly would have waited to withdraw $240 in cash until the transaction was actually posted. Not only would I have waited, but it should NOT have been possible for me to make the withdrawal given the $50 in my "available" balance at the time.It would have been a day later but that day would have saved me $240.

I have filed a complaint with the BBB and intend to contact the OCC. To date, I have received $140 of my NSF back but I will not rest until the other $100 that they stole from me is back in my pocket and not theirs.

Additionally, I am positive that this particular tactic has happened to others and to any sane, rational person, it amounts to theft.

Perhaps I will buy Wachovia a nice new edition of Webster's magnificent dictionary so they may discontinue their ridiculous practice of redefining commonly used words to suit their needs.

Thanks for letting me rant and keep up the good fight! Rest assured that I will be taking my business to a bank that uses definitions that we, as customers, are aware of, and that respects me and my business!

Lisa
Roanoke, VA