U.S. Bank Caught! Alleged Insurance Fraud! Hanover Michigan

U.S. Bank
Phone: 800-USBANKS
Fax: 513-632-2424

Minneapolis, MN
Hanover, Michigan, 49246
U.S.A.
Submitted: 3/3/2008 3:17:53 PM

On Feb. 7, 2008, our 2003 Ford Focus Wagon was stolen. First question out of the 911 operators mouth was; 'Were we in default?' I said; 'No!' Just to make sure there wasn't some bureaucratic mix-up, I called U.S. Bank Customer Service, TWICE! The second time while the sheriff deputy was here making out the stolen vehicle report. In fact, when I called the second time, the rep wanted to assure me that 'nothing in your file remotely suggests a repo!' My payments were current.

At this point, my wife and I are scared. We are worried that serious crime had now worked its way from the city to our little country village. We waited ten days for the insurance paperwork and the mandatory two weeks to declare it officially stolen. At this point the claim was settled with our auto insurance company, titles and keys sent to the insurance agent and checks addressed to U.S. Bank and to myself.

But hold it! Why the difference in the pay-off I received on Feb. 13, 2003 and Feb 29th? I called U.S. Bank to find out why. At this point, I was suddenly referred to their 'repo' department! Things started to unravel for U.S. Bank.

What? I screamed up and down that 'you lied to us and misled the insurance company!' They declared that because of my Chapter Seven bankruptcy in 2005, they could repossess my car at any time for any reason. This actually is not true, since an exemption was placed on the vehicle, OK'ed by the U.S. District judge and payments continued as usual.

We actually feel pretty good about this after thinking about it. Yes, we had to dip into our savings for a down payment on a new Pontiac. However, if U.S. Bank is claiming the Focus was discharged and we were paying on the security of the vehicle, then we owe no money.

Luckily, the auto insurance company stopped the check before they cashed it. But U.S. Bank was willfully and knowingly COOPERATING with our insurance company just as if this was a stolen vehicle! We still do consider it a stolen vehicle. If we find a 'repo' in our credit report, I am going to have it changed to 'Discharged Under Bankruptcy' since I have a letter from U.S. Bank that mistakenly claims this.

I just hope they don't bring the car back and dump it in our yard! They stole it, in our family's opinion, so they are now the proud owners of a 2003 Ford Focus. We just love our NEW Pontiac G-6! But watch it folks! If you've gone through Chapter 7, they might take off with your car and then let the insurance company pay for it!

Bill,
Hanover, Michigan.

In the world of big banks getting bigger we have fallen prey to their tactics when leasing a car. My wife and I have never leased before and thought it may be a nice option. Well, it was NOT! Be aware of US Bank, they have no concern for the leasing customer(s)!

After leasing the car, we took out the carpeted mats to preserve them so when we turned the vehicle back in we would not be hassled. Boy were we wrong. They charged us for additional wear and tear, door dings. We even added tires at our expense! My wife is a school teacher driving 20 miles round trip for the three years and a couple of family vacations, so the use was less than a traveling salesman.

OUR SUGGESTION DO NOT LEASE WITH US BANK AT ALL, IF YOU DO MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL THE FINE PRINT BECAUSE THEY WILL REFER TO IT TIME AFTER TIME. THEIR OPINION OF WEAR AND TEAR IS GOING TO BE MUCH DIFFERENT THAN ANYONE ELSE'S OUT THERE!

US Bank is a conglomerate of thieves!!! 7 years ago, they printed out checks to some one else with my account number on the checks. The only way I found out was that the people bounced a hot check at my place of business, with my name on it!!! Come to find out, they had over-drafted my checking account by almost $3000. I finally got this issue straightened out through the court system, but US Bank charged me with a $500 over-draft protection fee!!! I will not pay this fee and I am still receiving harassing phone calls from collection agencies over this. It has put a permanent black spot on my otherwise good credit rating, and after trying to resolve this issue in numerous ways, it is still a problem after 7 years.

A little more than a year ago I banked with US Bank when I moved to Sacramento, CA. The teller who set up my account wasn't very informative of all their policies. The place I had it set up was in a safeway supermarket.

I had to wait a month's worth to get my debit card. I constantly called up the supermarket station and asked what was the deal with my card. I had a number of people give me the run around and to make matters worse the teller who originally started up my account had quit. I wasn't even given anything like starter checks, brochures, nothing. When I spoke with the supervisor there she ended up laughing in which I promptly told her to shut up with it. I ended up going to an actual facility that was located not too far away. The tellers there were a little better and had more of a firm grasp of what they were doing but when telling them about what happened to me at the station in the supermarket they only expressed sympathy about how the staff there was ill trained. What about sympathy for the customer?? I worked in customer service for years and know for a fact that no matter what the situation you gotta express some degree of sympathy for customers because it's a well known fact that when we clock out and go back to our lives we're no different.

To make matters worse, they didn't give me a choice in the matter when offered a credit line due to my good credit status. I tried to decline it but they claimed that it's made automatic for those of good credit. This credit line is not at all that wonderful because even though you asked to be charged debit when making purchases the credit line somehow manages to sneak in and take effect. The overdraft fees are awful. I made only one occurrence of overwithdrawing and I was charged a rate that increases with each day. They also enforced a spending limit without my consent.

Customer service is horrible. Over the phones you will get reps that will give you the run around. The tellers at the supermarket are exceptionally rude and the tellers at the facility would often try pushing you into using other parts of their service that you've already said no to.

I had planned on moving on to a different bank and would've done so sooner but the fact that I just moved into the area and I was in no position to switch banks for the sake of keeping stability of income forced me to stick with them for a year's length.

When the time came for me to finally break off from them I found that I owed them over $600 for the credit line. I of course had to pay it off and get it over with.

To sum it up, US Bank has terrible customer service, a lot of sneaky underhanded ways in stealing your money, and all in all no consideration or ethics when dealing with any customer from what I've seen with my experience and watching others who visit the facilities and get the aggravating run around.

I encourage everyone to steer away from ever having to bank with US Bank. For a business that deals with keeping your money safe they most certainly do the exact opposite and attempt to turn your hard earned money into something that's under their ownership.

On Sunday, I deposited cash into my usual US Bank ATM. On Tuesday, I saw online that the deposit had been reversed. No one ever called me. I called the customer service number, and was informed that a teller had "lost" my deposit. On Wednesday I was assessed overdraft charges for checks that began clearing. I called again and was told someone would look into it. On Thursday I still did not have access to my account. On Friday I called again and was told that the overdrafts would be removed. Later that evening, I tried to use my debit card at the grocery store and it was declined. I called the customer service number again and was told that someone from the bank had "closed" my card that morning due to overdraft charges. I went into the bank on Saturday morning and they offered to mail me a new card and "waive" the shipping charges. Oh yay! I don't have to pay shipping charges for a card I never canceled. Great- I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow and my card will be here Tuesday. No service recovery was ever offered and the best I got was a half-hearted insincere apology. It happened to me, and it could happen to you too. Beware of this bank and their slow, apathetic service.