My Bank Saga - FYI

I just wanted to post this in case it can be of some help to some of the folks on this forum. In the process of freezing and closing my bank account I learned quite a lot about the ACH debit process and I would like to share what knowledge I gained. Hopefully some of you can use this as "ammo" when you go to your bank, documents in hand, to keep the crooked PDL companies out of your bank account.

First: Make sure you send out ACH revocation forms before you make any attempt to close / freeze / debit block your bank account.

My first mistake: Early in the week, knowing full well that I would be closing my bank account by the end of the week, I foolishly used my Check Card to purchase fuel at a service station. Stupid. I'm so used to doing it I just swiped the card without even thinking about it. After that i said to myself, "crap, that was dumb." It turned out to be the biggest complication in the matter. As some of you may know, when you purchase fuel with a check card (or book a hotel room, as well as some other particular purchases like restaurants), a "hold" is placed on the account for a certain amount, and the actual transaction is not processed until it is officially sent by the retailer to your bank. Well, this particular service station happens to be the absolute slowest to present the transaction. My bank account had enough funds in it to cover the cost of the fuel and would thus be at a 0 balance - however, I could not close the account until the transaction for the fuel was processed. This happened Thursday at midnight, while the PDL companies were going to be putting their debits in on Friday morning. Well, guess what, I looked at my account online Friday morning and my available balance read (-$1,165) due to 12 ACH debits that had been posted. Now I am in trouble, right?

LESSON LEARNED: WHEN YOU KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO CLOSE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, NEVER, EVER, EVER USE YOUR CHECK CARD! GET YOUR ACCOUNT BALANCE TO $0 AND KEEP IT THERE!

Next: I had hoped to handle the freezing of my account via telephone with the customer service department. While they were very helpful, they were unable to ultimately help in closing the account. According to them, because the ACH debits had been sent, the account status could not be changed. Even though the account was truly at a $0 balance.

LESSON LEARNED: DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE ON THE PHONE. GO IMMEDIATELY TO THE BRANCH, DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT 200 DOLLARS (ha, that's exactly what I'm telling these PDL people)

Step 3: Go to the branch. Take all documentation. Hopefully your bank won't make you present it (mine did not) but if they do, you have it. Do not leave the branch until you get the answer you need to hear: the account is closed / debit blocked / frozen.

For example, my bank told me that I would have to fill out a form for their internal use that would block the ACH debits. These forms cost $25 each to submit. When I balked at this, the customer service representative said "Let me talk to the ACH department."

KNOWLEDGE: BANKS HAVE AN ACH DEPARTMENT! AN ENTIRE DEPARTMENT DEVOTED TO TRACKING / MONITORING ACH WITHDRAWALS AND DEPOSITS. ASK YOUR REP TO CONTACT THE ACH DEPARTMENT!

The representative speaks to the ACH Department, who informs her, "these debits have not yet been 'hard posted' yet, so just put the account on frozen status and they will disappear."

LESSON: JUST BECAUSE THE DEBITS ARE SHOWING UP DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY CANNOT BE RETURNED TO SENDER. HAVE YOUR BANK FREEZE THE ACCOUNT IMMEDIATELY. THE DEBITS WILL BE RETURNED AT THE CLOSE OF THE BUSINESS DAY (OR THE NEXT BUSINESS DAY) AND YOUR ACCOUNT CAN BE SUBSEQUENTLY CLOSED.


I apologize if this is long winded, but I wanted to share what I learned through the process of closing my account. I have been with this bank for a while now, and I have other accounts with them. They were very understanding and willing to help me. I actually opened a new checking account at the same bank today with no problems whatsoever. (I know that you are supposed to go to a totally new bank, but I received multiple assurances that I would be protected. Since I have had such a good relationship with the bank, I felt confident enough to open the new account.)

THE MORAL OF THE STORY: DO NOT LET YOUR BANK SCREW YOU AROUND. THEY CAN HELP YOU. BE INFORMED, BE THOROUGH WITH YOUR DOCUMENTATION, ASK QUESTIONS, GET YOUR BALANCE TO $0, AND GET THAT ACCOUNT FROZEN. THEY CAN DO IT FOR YOU.

If this helps only one person out there, then I am glad that I posted this. Good Luck to all of you, I am going through what you are going through right now.