Consumer complaint received 2017-01-21
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: MO
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problems caused by my funds being low

Complaint:
My fiance and I both have our own personal checking accounts with US Bank. They have extremely malicious overdraft fee policies, and terrible communication regarding this ( close to none ). If I overdraft I get charged instantly {$36.00}, but I would not receive notice for about 7 days ( letter in the mail ). Their policy also adds a {$25.00} additional fee if your account balance is not {$0.00} or greater after 7 days. Well, if I do n't receive notice of the fee for 7-days and only by mail, one of the least efficient ways to get information to someone, how am I supposed to know to pay it? So technically I get charged {$61.00} for any size overdraft. 

In today 's world nearly every business ( if not literally every business ) communicates instantly with their customers and already have this capability in place. US Bank has this capability in place. They have paperless statements, they have opt-in email capabilities, they have opt-in text messaging alerts/email alerts, YET they deliver notice of an overdraft by physical mail that does not reach my mailbox until 7-days after I overdraft. Mind you, this letter that is being mailed comes from XXXX miles down the road and it takes 7-days? What I mean by this, is that the letter is definitely pre-dated for the overdraft date in question, and is mailed out as though they sent it the day the overdraft fee occurred, FALSE. It does not take 7-days to receive a letter from XXXX miles away using USPS, I receive letters, cards, and physical packages from this very location all the time, using standard shipping options. 

I understand that a fee is just that a fee and that they can charge what they want for my irresponsibility, but what is that fee set at and why? Let 's say they would have made 10 % through loans, interest, investments, whatever it is that banks are thought to be doing to make money, lets say they could have made 10 %. I would have to overdraft {$610.00} at once for this policy to actually start being fair. I would say a lot of consumer accounts rarely exceed {$610.00} in total balance. 

My point is : Their practices are intentionally set up to make money from consumers through fees, NOT through issuing loans, etc. They realize they make more money if they purposely lack communication. They forgo using systems already in place that many other banks issuing credit cards currently use, INCLUDING THEM. Most would say, " Switch banks then. '' Alright I will, but US Bank is an extremely prevalent bank with a branch in nearly every US city, they have something that very few banks have. This gives consumers at least a reason to always look to US Bank as an option, especially small town adolescents turning into adults. US Bank will always exist along with their preying fee policies, and neglect to communicate with their customers, simply because of their stranglehold on a certain segment of the market. It is simply not right.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation