Crumbles

I had something similar happen. I had left $8.98 in a no fee bank account. I stopped using this account for a while and a few months later received notices from the bank telling me that I owed fees for having an inactive account. A couple of months later I received a letter from the bank informing me that they took the $8.98, but they canceled the "fees" I owed for having an inactive account. Sure felt like they stole my money.

anankesf

femmesavante

BTW- thanks Reagan for deregulating the nbanking industry and putting us in the mess we are today...

rellog

taka2k7

I called them and asked why am I being charged all these fees after closing all relationships with them - the CSR told that, since there was a 12c balance the account was not really closed, he did close it, only after stealing my 12c.

a_mad_consumer

uncle_fluffy

JustaConsumer

1. I agree with other commenters that there was no need to cut me a check for $0.78. I suggested that they just post it over to my checking account. They couldn't do that.

2. I also would have been fine if the balance just sat there. But, go back and read my original email. THEY said that they would automatically send me a check for the balance in 60 days. They are setting the policy, then not following it.

All account statements have notes on the bottom based on the status of the account. There is a query in some database that says, "IF [account balance] is LESS THAN $0.00, THEN include [60 day check disclosure statement]".

They just need to change that "$0.00" to "$1.00", and add another criteria to the query that says "IF [account balance] is BETWEEN "$0.00" and "$0.99" THEN [we are taking your money disclosure statement]."

3. @CG72: The problem with waiting until the bill arrives is that finance charges accrue while you are waiting for that bill. I paid early to stop those finance charges from continuing to accrue.

4. If these companies are really OK with writing off a small balance, then why don't we start regularly paying $0.99 less than our balances each month? This just doesn't make any sense, and I don't expect Wachovia to sit back and let that happen.

WillScarlett

When I was 17, I had an internship where I made way below the minimum requirement to file a return. I did one anyway just to do taxes. When I finished up, I had calculated that I overpaid 27¢. It wasn't worth it for me to send in the return with a 31¢ stamp.

mike

Someone mentioned a while back that because it's a "credit" account apparently it's not legal to keep money in it, since it's not reported, and the bank's other accounts are FDIC insured... not sure how much truth there is to that.

digitalgimpus

I don't expect someone to send me a check for amounts under a dollar.

What I DO expect is that the credit SHOULD stay on my account until I use the card again.

AMetamorphosis

All banks 'escheat' funds if they've lost track of the owner. If all correspondence is returned and efforts to contact you fail they're required to track the account for a perriod of time and then (I believe) it's turned over to the state. If you've ever seen those notices in the paper that list thousands of people that are owed money that's what it's related to.

I know that's how it operates in Georgia--not sure of other states.

friedduck

Total postage cost for this refund: $1.60
Amount of the refund: $1.20

All in all it actually cost me money to get this refund.

bonzombiekitty

cde

But, really, I worked for a medium-sized Midwestern Bank's Proof department for several years. The policy is this: if someone makes an adding mistake for less than two dollars (over or under) and the teller does not catch it, the bank writes it off. It goes into a special account, which keeps itself relatively balanced since both types of errors go into it. Anything two dollars or above gets adjusted (fixed).

From what I can tell, it's the same policy at most banks.

thorshammer

They kept sending me statements showing $.31 credit. I had zero intent on dealing with their customer service to get my 31 cents. I was pretty amused by the continued statements.
The statements stopped after about 8 months. I assume they wasted a couple bucks to keep reminding me of my 31 cents, so I felt like the victor.

lawnmowerdeth

howie_in_az

Anybody still have enough energy to find that thread? :)

christoj879

gizmosprocket

cde

cde

First thought...

omgyouresexy

Buran

Well, I just finished paying off a purchase from Circuit City using the Chase card I got at CC to make the purchase (I know, I know. I wasn't as informed then...). Anyway, after I cut a check for what was left, I received one more bill. On it, I owed $1.15 in finance charges from the short time that the remaining balance was still there. Instead of me paying them, they wrote it off in the very same bill. It has it's own line item that specifically reads, "Write Off of Debit Purchase," so this is clearly a write off.

So, long story short, in some cases, company X probably will write off the small amount.

And, for those who care, I'm not *that* ashamed of my CC purchase. I got a nice TV and surround sound system with 12 months no interest. Paid it off in 9, so the only finance charges were on the monster cable I was stupid enough to buy. That's the only part that grieves me.

DrBologna

chuloallen

My $0.02 and I hope nobody keeps it!

Cheers all

ldavis480

Concerned_Citizen

vastrightwing

TPK

cde

Amex seems to be good about it too, in a slightly different manner. I primarily use Amex and have quite a few personal and small business cards with them. I had closed a small business account, and discovered several months later that somehow the account closed with $1 and some change on it, rather than $0 (and deleted it from my online view, so didn't realize it until I eventually got a paper statement), and had been accruing small amounts of interest for those months. No idea if the balance was my fault or theirs. I called Amex, and they told me that they hadn't been charging a late fee due to the balance being so low, hadn't reported the account as late, and that it wouldn't affect my other accounts. And they zeroed out the balance without even being asked. (Of course I have my share of bad customer service stories with Amex, but they've generally been pretty good compared to other card issuers.)

psychos

Chongo

After only 1 month the balance was removed and is now at 0.

Chongo

So, to both readers, yes, this small amount should matter to you. It certainly pays the CC companies to make this matter to them.

druther

My wife tried to fight it, and never got a straight answer other than they were "investigating". Soon thereafter, we went to the bank to deposit a check into her account, and I figured I'd inquire as to the whereabouts of her money. We were then informed that the account had been closed. We did not request this. We had received no notification of the account closing, and still haven't to this day. Steal someone's money, then close the account on them. Seems pretty effective. I wish there was something that I could do about this.

Mike8813

My fiancée received a $.02 check several times after she refused to deposit such a small amount. Just to get them to stop we ended up taking it to the bank. I'll bet they spent a few dollars sending us the checks.

stinerman

Anyway, 81¢ or 78¢ just isn't worth it. Fuck them. I cancelled. If your institution does this, cancel. Vote. Vote with dollars. They won't get any transaction fees from me no more. I mean shit, they exist because of their customers, if they had their shit together and had a) raised my limit to a more customary amount, b) put their interest rates on par with competitors, I would have used the card more frequently. Make me jump through hoops to get what should have been there anyway?

sheesh. No thanks.

And to those saying that people will complain about anything ("they sent me a 42¢ stamp for an 81¢ check that's dumb!"), I agree. And had they sent me a check I WOULD have said it was stupid. Let the credit balance sit there. I don't care. I know about it. Though yeah, I'd rather they sent it to me than STEAL it from me. Stupid's still better than crooked though, huh?

Sheesh. Grow up.

randombob

bravo369

I do agree with you on what I think you implied, that sending the letters is mostly to keep people from trying any "funny business" which would make it definitely worth the cost, at least in theory.

secretoftheeast

jasonorl

Having worked in a business that processed payments, one thing always bothered me -

If the bill says pay $58.33 by a certain date, why will one person send in $58.00, while another sends in $59.00, and yet another will send in some truly fantasy number?

Pay $58.33 - simple enough?

CG72

ClankBoomSteam

Crumbles

I bet your dad never under paid them again, did he?

BugMeNot2

Alex Chasick

DjDynasty

Ghede

purplesun

sburnap42

Buran

playitagain2

The main thing that came to mind was that they spent almost a dollar sending us a letter telling them we owe a dollar, but to not worry about it? Kind of a whacky thing to do.

secretoftheeast

Sherryness