If you have a checking account that allows you to look at your balance online you probably have come into the same situations as what I have.
I logged into my bank account and was happy that Washington mutual allowed me to move money from my checking account to my savings account without any fees or waiting time. That was great, I didn’t have to deal with showing my nappy driver’s license to some snotty kid who thinks it’s not worth her time to move 20 bucks to my savings. I can kind of see how they get that way, especially after they see hundreds of people who are a mess-load wealthier than I am moving huge sums of money all around.
All week long I logged into my checking and savings account and looked at the money and had huge plans of saving money for a future. After about seven lunch transactions and a check to car note, I noticed that no transactions where showing up. Three days later the car note check went through, and then came the seven from before. The first one to go through was a the big one, and then the next six went through and bam, I messed up and went overdraft. Five charges to over draft, at $35 a charge, $175 + lunch totals. 5 lunches of $3 at Wendy’s. Then came my income tax check to save me and pull me out of the hole.
I go up there to talk to teller at Washington Mutual. The man says ” I see that you signed up online, I’m very sorry but I can not help you. You will have to contact the reps online”. So I contact the online help via “contact us” .. that was miserable. The final verdict was ” We are very sorry but our online balance is not a perfect program”. IT’S A FRICKIN’ ONLINE BANK ACCOUNT WHERE YOU CANNOT TALK TO REAL LIFE TELLERS! How in the blue hell is it that the service is not better? I can assume they do it on purpose. Lack of perfection is just an excuse. I know, nothing is perfect, but for god sakes we can do better than what they are giving us.
See I am not blaming them for my poor accounting skills. I do how ever blame them for making me believe that online = online. nowhere on the site does it tell you that the small transactions will be held until the big one goes through. No where on the site does it say “hey our software and online account is pointless but we make it available to you” .
I mean really, if you buy a car that doesn’t actually drive to places you want to go…. Then you didn’t actually get the car they advertised. You actually didn’t get what you were looking for.
Ok I took the bullet on that and accepted the fact that I suck at accounting, I knew it when I signed up. I really thought they could help, They did not. Here is what gets me the funniest. It frickin’ happened again, right before the Stimulus check. It’s almost like they are saying ” Hey look extra money is coming, shut the servers down and slow the cache down and don’t update the website until next month, except when people go over their limit.” It really feels that way. Call me pathetic, call me what you will, but I have since then opened a new checking account elsewhere. I am letting what ever overdraft is in there or about to pile up, in there, when the direct deposit of the stimulus check goes through, I will let it pay off what it can. If there is anything left over I will yank it out. If there is anything left that I owe to the bank, I will pay it next week.
i see how it’s my fault for trusting them to be more reliable with their service, Yet I still feel violated.
