Consumer complaint received 2020-04-04
Company: ASSOCIATED BANC-CORP
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Fee problem

Complaint:
I would like to ask Associated Bank to refund to me fees of about {$36.00} US. 
XXXX XXXX  has stated that the fees were not charged by them, thus they were charged by Associated Bank. 

While with XXXX ( the bank which held my account before selling to Associated, unbeknownst to me ), I spoke with a customer service associate when I set up my accounts with XXXX a few years ago. 

No fees : The XXXX representative assured me that if I set up an automatic transfer back and forth between my checking and savings accounts, fees would not be charged. Even though my balance was under the threshold, physically logging in was not necessary with auto transfer, is what the representative stated. I could simply set it and relax - no fees. 

How I Finally Discovered My Accounts Had Been Sold from XXXX to Associated Bank On or about XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX time, I logged in to my XXXX account to find it no longer existed. I could not find any data about my account. I was shocked, upset and confused. 
The XXXX representative did not even know my correct balance. She said that {$100.00} was transferred to the new bank, Associated. However, my balance should have been about {$400.00} before Associated Bank charged fees on that amount. 

XXXX took no responsibility about the discrepancy and told me to deal with Associated Bank. This, by the way, since XXXX, was the fourth bank I have had to deal with because of one buyout after the other. Numerous bank buyouts cause disruption to the customer. There ought to be a law that gives customers a say about their accounts. 

Antiquated Database Systems That Exclude Americans Living Abroad - Thus No Communication Banks treat Americans living abroad as 2nd class citizens. Mail does not reach us, and no attempts to use phone number / email on file to inform us of important changes. 
Banks blame the customer, stating that the address is incomplete. It's incomplete because banks do not care about recording our addresses correctly. I always do so when I open an account, yet, their limited software parameters ( accepting only US address syntaxes, not international ), ensure that my international address will be mangled, with large portions omitted. Then, they blame non-delivery of mail on me. 

Fees Charged After XXXX Sells My Accounts to Associated Bank The accounts were sold to Associated Bank in XXXX, unbeknownst to me. When I learned about the sale of my accounts to Associated, I decided to simply close the accounts. I had had enough of banks running roughshod over me : repeatedly selling my account without my knowledge, for example. And, fees. 

No Right To Change The Rules Without Notifying Me My accounts were set up correctly in order to avoid fees. There was an automatic transfer going back and forth, which would waive the fees. If Associated stopped that auto transfer, that is on them. They had no right to charge me fees. 

I had no idea of Associated Bank 's rules, and have had no correspondence from them regarding such rules. I was operating under XXXX 's rules. 

I respectfully ask for the refund of those fees of about {$36.00} U.S. 

In order to avoid having to send by international post, I have a suggestion. I have a P2P account with an online bank in the US. It would be simple to make a transfer to that account electronically.

On a positive note, Associated Bank,  XXXX, was very helpful in assisting me with closing my account. I am grateful to her for her service. The entire process, from trying to work with XXXX to find out what had happened to my account - to working with various Associated Bank to work it out - took hours of my time. 

Yet, it was after the fact that I had realized that fees were charged. I wrote to Ms. XXXX about this via email, and received no response. Thus, I thought perhaps the issue lay with XXXX. However, XXXX has stated that the issue lies with Associated. 

Over the years, I have repeatedly felt cheated by, violated by and powerless against the monolithic U.S. financial system. I feel compelled to raise my voice any time the system takes advantage. 

Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief