Consumer complaint received 2016-08-24
Product: Bank account or service — Checking account
Issue: Problems caused by my funds being low — 
Company: U.S. BANCORP (IA)

About a month ago XXXX checks posted to my account, both of which overdrafted. After calling US bank for help resolving the issue, I was told that I could " turn off '' overdraft coverage so that any EFT that went through would be returned. I agreed to this, under the understanding and verbal verification from the employee on the phone that the XXXX checks would be paid, I would incur the overdraft fee, and then cover the checks on my next payday. Within three days after calling and making this change, I again checked my account and both checks had been returned and I had been charged a " returned check fee '', neither of which was said to me when I called and like I said before, I was told that both checks would be paid. I called back and spoke to another employee who became very defensive when I stated I was upset and said that I should " manage my money better '' and " not write checks if I did n't have the funds ''. I explained to her that I was fine with paying the overdraft fees along with the amount due for the checks when I got paid but I did n't agree to them being sent back and had no knowledge of the " returned check '' fees. She then said that she would return the XXXX fees and " turn back on '' overdraft coverage. A few days following this, I checked my account again only to find that while the fees had been credited to my account, both checks posted again - which were sent back and then I was again charged fees ( XXXX per check ). At this point I called the bank again and asked if there was anything I could do to resolve this, explained the situation, and made it clear that I would have to close my account if I could n't figure this out. The employee was very professional, understood my situation, and offered a service through the bank to make payments and bring the account current and stated that the overdraft protection was in fact " turned on '' and apologized. After calling the number, I learned that the service described was only offered to those whose account was in " overdraft '' status for 11 consecutive business days, which is n't possible as I receive direct deposit every two weeks, therefore, this would bring my account current before the 11 business days would pass. Following this, I waited until my next payday, paid the overdraft fees, bought groceries, paid bills, and bought some school supplies for my son as school starts XX/XX/XXXX. After this, the checks were once again posted to my account, returned, and fees were charged. At this point I again called US bank, explained my situation, and was told that if I could get to a branch Monday morning and talk to a teller or a manager, that there was a possibility that my fees could be returned, the checks paid, and the pending fees cancelled. Monday morning I took an early lunch and drove to the branch and arrived around XXXX. I first spoke with a bank teller, who then directed me to the manager of the branch. I explained my situation to her and noted that not once had US bank offered any reasonable means of workout options and that if I could n't fix this I would have to close the account. She printed off my transactions, noted the overdraft fees and the checks that had been returned, and told me that there was nothing she could do since they had already returned overdraft fees in the past. I explained to her again the situation at the beginning and how had the checks been paid, I would have never received any fees but the first XXXX overdraft fees and been able to pay the checks at a later date. She replied that this was my problem, that I needed to quit writing checks, and that she would put a " stop debit '' on my account in order for the checks to quit going through and, in summary, that this was my problem to figure out.