Consumer complaint received 2022-01-23
Company: ARVEST BANK GROUP, INC.
State: AR
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Fee problem

Complaint:
I believe that Arvest Bank has wrongfully charged overdraft fees to my account on numerous occasions in violation of their stated policies. I also believe that Arvest Bank has actively taken steps to restrict my checking account in deliberate ways that prevent deposits from reaching my account funds in a reasonable time frame to prevent overdrafts, if at all, for their own financial benefit. I additionally believe that Arvest Bank has used, and is using, inconsistencies within their execution and enforcement action of after-hours processing times and cutoffs to maximize their own financial gain, at the expense of account holders. Moreover, I believe that Arvest Bank has deliberately placed holds on deposited funds to maximize financial gain, at the expense of account holders. Finally, I believe that Arvest Bank has deliberately re-arranged transactions in a manner thats caused maximum overdraft costs to be incurred to me and my family. 

1. By my own account, Arvest Bank has charged my checking account {$2200.00} in overdraft fees since XX/XX/XXXX, many through the practices stated above. I have contacted Arvest Bank on numerous occasions in attempts to resolve these issues. On numerous occasions, they have refused to address them. 

2. Theres been an apparent pattern of inconsistencies in the way Arvest Bank allows deposited funds to post to my checking account, as well as the manner in which Arvest enforces holds on account deposits.

3. Theres been an apparent pattern of inconsistencies in the manner that Arvest has executed after hours processing and cutoff times, as it pertains to overdraft fees. More specifically, it appears that Arvest has enforced cutoff times for account debits at a later time overall than the enforced cutoff times for account credits. That apparent practice has the obvious effect of unfairly maximizing overdraft fees by allowing debits to post to an existing or newly overdrawn account later on any given afternoon or evening, while disallowing and/or postponing the credit of deposits made at similar or even earlier times of the afternoon or evening, respectively, to the following day, or even days later, therefore reducing or eliminating the opportunity to prevent rising fees.

4. Theres been an apparent pattern of repositioning transaction orders in my Arvest account in a manner that induces additional overdraft fees.

5. On one occasion less than a month ago, Arvest agreed to refund {$34.00} dollars in overdraft fees, following a similar posting issue related to a deposit made to my account through XXXX XXXX. Conflicting with the spirit of that resolution, however, Arvest soon thereafter placed restrictions on my accounts use of XXXX XXXX transactions, which my family and I recently chose to utilize in attempt to minimize future overdraft fees, when necessary. 

6. I believe the restriction placed on my accounts use of XXXX XXXX, immediately following Arvests agreement to refund {$34.00} dollars in overdraft fees on XXXX ( after illegitimately levying those charges on XXXX and XXXX ), speaks volumes to the overall intent to provoke additional overdraft fees and maximize the amount charged to my account, and ultimately my family. 

7. Despite charging daily fees of {$34.00}, {$51.00}, and even {$68.00} dollars on numerous occasions, as well as the number of complaints and requests Ive made to address these root concerns, Arvest has not returned any other portion of the {$2200.00} in overdraft fees charged since XXXX of XXXX besides the {$34.00} dollars on XXXX. 

As many checking account holders understand, the nature of overdraft fees can be exponentially harmful once an account is initially overdrawn. And when practices and fees are inconsistently and/or unfairly applied, whether to overdraw an account initially or to escalate fees charged thenceforward, the damage to the customer is only exacerbated. I have attached an account summary outlining the exorbitant overdraft fees Arvest has charged to me since XX/XX/XXXX. Thank you for your attention into these matters.

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