CharterBank
Reviews and Complaints

I am holding a current account with standard Chartered Bank ( LHR-Z Block DHA Phase [protected] Pakistani Rupee )

Current Account - LCY

[protected]

PK47SCBL [protected]

For the past one and half year I have been residing in Canada and operating my account in Pakistan Lahore with the help of mobile app and everything went quite well but suddenly I was unable to make transfers.

i request you to please resolve the matter as early as possible because I am facing loss as I could not fulfil my commitments. Thanks

It's amazing how i am being told that although I am opted into overdraft protection that a system can pick and choose what to pay, what not to pay but still charge me an overdraft fee for that item which is less than the fee itself. I know I have been overdrafting excessively I've come to the bank for help in the form of a loan and was denied even with a cosigner with excellent credit and a monthly payment less than my accumulated monthly overdraft fees i recieve direct deposit so you have always been paid before I get up. I've been a customer since 1998, I've been getting direct deposit since 2001 I'm really not understanding how does an automated system suddenly deem a person a charge off risk .

I made a deposit at the money machine. The machine malfunctioned and gave me a notice that the the machine malfunctioned and would not return funds. I contacted the Bank on Monday, I was referred to the claims department. A case was opened for the lost deposit in the machine. I called a week later, I was told by the representative that my claim had not been reviewed yet because there are claims in front of mine. She said give us 5 more days to have your claim reviewed. I asked if they were going to give me a temporary credit to my account for my money and she said no, not until the claim was reviewed . How can they just keep your money for two weeks and just tell you when we get around to it! this should be against the law..

Hello
Charter One Bank has taken roughly 122, 000 points that I had accumulated over the last few years with an estimated cash value of $976 if I opted to get the debit gift cards. CharterOne Bank had decided that it was not in their best interest to continue to offer the Mega Rewards program and in Oct 2011 sent letters to customers stating that they had till the end of january to utilize the points or lose them. Unfortunately I was in Afghanistan till Dec 2011 and had never recived the mail. When I discovered the situation the company refused to cash out my points and offered my 25$, very insulting, I feel that CharterOne bank has stabbed me in the back after being a customer for 17 years as these points have actual cash value and charter one bank has simply taken an accounting liability and turned it into an asset for the banks coffers with out any effort to assist the customers that could not respond to their correspondance.
Does any one knows if CharterOne Bank has an iron clad position and if this would have grounds for a class action lawsuit. I would appreciate in knowing this. If any one else has been effected, interested in the know please contact me at [protected]@sbcglobal.net

After roughly ten years of perfect payment history with my mortgage, and after
The worst banking experience in my life over the processing of an insurance claim
On the building... Farmer's ins. Was great, the contractor very patient and excellent
Work but charter one bank had no common sense... And, they continue to be
Very, very rigid, unthoughtful and unappreciateive to a very good customer with a perfect
Payment history.in fact, they outright refused my request to change loan officers
Because of poor relations, poor common sense and they continue to keep my mortgage
In pittsburg in the global restructuring division (yes!?) when it makes so much more
Sense to have the mortgage in chicago, the place of the mortgage.. Go figure...
Reasoning? They say they don't have to give any... Of course, go see their parent
Company : royal bank of scotland - losing taxpayers money like a water drain... And
Lost more in 2011 (2x) than in 2010... Why shouold they make sense?

the bank sead i jerry hewitt abused my acount let me know how i did that send me a copy of my acount . to 2210 w miller st indpolis ind 46221 so i can see what you are saying i have done thanhs jerry hewitt?

This is the worst bank for fees. They have a holding area that they just hold stuff and wait days and sometimes weeks to see if they can collect an overdraft fees. They have gotten so bad that they have a sign on the counter now that if you deposit after 2pm, it will be credited to your account the next day. But if you do a withdrawal or debit transaction it can be taken out of your account immediately or up to a week later.

I had a checking account with Charter One Bank. I accidentally overdrew my account $16.85. Charter One proceeded to charge me $214.83 for NSF and late fees. I tried repeatedly to talk to two different branch managers, three phone reps, two supervisor phone reps, and one supervisors supervisor phone rep. I also tried to call Charter Ones collections department, and I talked to three phone reps, and one supervisor. None of these people were willing to rebate any of my fees or work with me at all. At one time, a $39 fee was rebated by them, only to be replaced with a $35 fee. It is egregious that I would be charged over $198 in fees for over drawing $16.85. The company has conducted themselves very poorly. "Donna" from collections [protected] was especially rude and confrontational and hung up on me twice. Charter One Bank has kicked me when I was down. I explained to Charter One several times that I was going through financial hardship and was willing to pay a fee, but they would not work with me at all. I would be more than willing to pay the $16.85 that I owe Charter One, plus one NSF fee of $39, but they refuse to even consider my offer. In closing, charter one has unethical business practices. They are unscrupulous in their fee charging and business practices. Charter One is a company not concerned in the least with its customers, only its bottom line. I was more than willing to work with Charter One, but they only threatened me with collections and negative consequences. I have never in my life dealt with such a callous, malevolent, unfriendly, unprofessional, greedy, and careless enitity in my life as Citizens bank also known as Charter One.

Normally I am not a formal complaint type of person, but this issue has burned me multiple times with my bank and they have never seen it as a “bank error.” So today, I will stand on my soapbox to spread the word. For the disparagement I have received due to my bank’s negligence cannot go without notice. This goes above and beyond my standard pontification to a real life entanglement with my bank and their utter lack of coherent business practices and policies. The issue has gone as far as to force me to be late on my mortgage payment due to no longer having sufficient funds and to live on a check-to-check basis for the past 5 months while I’m trying to recover from my financial hardship. The issue has to do with the way debits are processed at Charter One bank and how they assess non-sufficient funds based on arbitrary deductions from their accounts.

In this instance, I had multiple debits on hold with the bank. Knowing I had these on hold, I checked my balance on their free online banking. I also know that this is just a tool and does not always reflect accurate balances as I have been told by the bank and may even be posted on the bottom of the page. However, like a good person, I checked my account and I had more than enough funds to cover a purchase I was going to be making even with the things that were on hold.

After selecting my items from Kohl’s that I was going to purchase I went to be rung up, slid my card and was about to sign when I noticed that one item was what I thought to be incorrect. While waiting they canceled that transaction midstream without me signing for it this caused a $56.21 charge to my account. They then “refunded” the money to my account and rung me up with the corrected price on the item causing an additional $50.81 charge to my account. This second transaction then tipped me over my balance and this alone should have cause an NSF charge to my account.

The next day (3-25-10) upon reviewing my bi-weekly pay deposit and balance, I noticed there was substantially less funds than there should have been from the overall balance of my account. At near the same time I received an alert on a text message stating there had been an NSF charge to my account and because I could not see it yet online I called to see what exactly caused the NSF charge.

My bank informed me that it was three charges that posted for my account yesterday 3-24-10 that caused a $117.00 NSF charge to my account. However, these charges were already withdrawn from my account as they were already placed on hold in my account.

Now somehow money that had already been withdrawn from my “Available Balance, ” the balance that subtracts all pending and on-hold charges from my line item balance was now causing me NSF fees due to the now canceled $56.21 charge from the 24th. But my line item balance never went negative, only my “Available Balance.”

I was then told by the bank that they could not reverse these charges because they were not a bank error. I then asked for a supervisor because this is clearly a bank error.

Once on with the supervisor I went through the same discussion as I did with the customer service representative. She too told me she could not reverse the charges due to it not being a bank error. So at this point they could not help me despite one of the transactions having never been authorized by my signature. She also stated they could not put a claim in for these on hold charges because they were still on hold and their system would not allow it to happen. It was at this point that I asked to speak to her supervisor.

After playing phone tag with the next level of supervisor for 2 days I was finally able to speak to him. He however could not assist me in any way shape or form. All he could do was note the account, and tell me to call back and a customer service rep would open a claim for me with no issue. When I asked him why he could not he gave the excuse of “he could not verify my credentials because this was an outbound call and not secure.” I told him I would be willing to take his direct line and call back if that would help, but it was a losing argument. While I had him I also asked if it was going to be possible even if they were still on hold, he said yes, of course, they can open a claim on anything.

I was about to give up complete hope on this issue at this point, and I would have, had I of known what was going to happen next.

I could days later, maybe even a week; I called customer service back again to have them start a claim on these fees. I figured things would go smoothly based on my dealings with the previous gentleman and being armed with the notion that my account has been noted and that they can open a claim on any transaction even ones on hold. At this point, the person I was talking to refused to open a claim and refused to help me because again, it was not a bank error. I of course asked again for a supervisor because I had already been told this is what they would be able to help me with.

The next supervisor also refused to open a claim for me as well citing again that it was not a bank error. When I told him that I had already been through all of this and a supervisor even above him said that they will be able to without an issue he continued to refuse. He then told me that in order for them to put a claim in that I would have to go to the store, and have them draft a letter stating it the charge of $56.21 was by mistake. Then and only then would they be able to open a claim. This was the only name I wrote down, it was Chuck Simpson –[protected] fax – [protected] DID.

This is finally when I gave up and let the bank take my money. Despite knowing that it was the second time they had done this to me just this year. In all this year I’ve received a whopping $429 in NSF charges. Albeit, at least one of them possibly just, but certainly not the other $390 worth. And even the one, should be reviewed as that transaction never posted to my line item balance because Kohl’s happily refunded my $56.21.

Today again, I have renewed strength in my disdain for Charter One bank because I again look at my account and see it in the red. However, this time I know it is not due to me as me on hold transactions total $697.64, with the caveat of an additional $13 in gas spent this morning making the total $710.64 with a line item balance of $721.94 and an available balance of -$15.70. Something just does not add up.

So it’s my hopes that sending this to the Office of Thrift Supervision, my personal web site, and every other public outlet that I can find, that Charter One will receive what they have coming to them, a full customer revolt. These charges are not ok with me, these charges are not just, the bank and their reputation should pay for the financial hardship they have put me in for the last 5 and a half months. I just cannot wait to close my account with Charter One and switch to a bank that offers good customer service, and less fees.

Charter one is constantly applying overdraft fees to our account when we haven't gone overdrawn. In the last two days we've encountered $312 worth of fees. I'm so outraged that they keep taking our money like this. Their online statements are never clear about what is available. We have put cash into this account and tried to make a purchase two days later and the money has been "held" until we make some purchases and for each purchase they charge $37. I'm not adverse to overdraft fees if I know exactly what they apply to and are clear. But these people are charging us through the nose at the end of every month when we are trying to do our best to stay afloat. They are not willing to budge on any of these unjustified fee's and if you look at our statment, there are two fee's for $156 each in the last two days and I don't even know what these apply to because we weren't overdrawn until they applied those fees. I'm so horrified. Can these people legally rip off innocent people like this? I've tried to copy our statement below to show that we weren't overdrawn until they took the fees. I'm not sure if it's clear because it's all squashed up in this format. But we didn't go overdrawn until they took our money. Surely with all the complaints against them, there could be a case made to get our money back. They are robbing their customers. We admit that we are struggling anyway in these economic times and these people are truly messing us up. Particularly when we have a baby on the way. I've emailed them with no response. My husband spoke to three different people on the phone yesterday and they said have no power to help him. We've been told that one of the managers will call him back, but we are not holding our breath. I've never encountered such a lack of professionalism. I suck it up and incur the fee's when they are justified, but this is not justified. Should we take it to a small claims court?

02/02/2010 Insufficient Funds Fee eNotice $156.00 $3.04

02/02/2010 Credit Memo $6.10 $159.04

Memo: GREEN$ENSE CASH

02/01/2010 POS Debit $14.68 $152.94

Memo: #03455 JEWEL CHICAGO IL 4326

02/01/2010 POS Debit $15.01 $167.62

Memo: EXXONMOBIL NAPERVIL IL 4318

02/01/2010 DBT Purchase $24.80 $182.63

Memo: PARKWAY DRUGS - GLGLENCO IL 4318

02/01/2010 DBT Purchase $95.00 $207.43

Memo: EVANSTON ATHLETIC [protected] IL 4318

02/01/2010 Insufficient Funds Fee eNotice $156.00 $302.43

02/01/2010 Deposit $150.00 $458.43

02/01/2010 Deposit $250.00 $308.43

01/29/2010 DBT Purchase $6.00 $58.43

Memo: UNIVERSITY OF CHICCHICAGO IL 4318

01/29/2010 DBT Purchase $11.86 $64.43

Memo: U CHIC HOS AUBONPACHICAGO IL 4326

01/29/2010 POS Debit $28.00 $76.29

Memo: Dominicks Store 11EVANSTON IL 4326

01/29/2010 POS Debit $54.64 $104.29

Memo: Dominicks Store 11EVANSTON IL 4326

01/28/2010 POS Debit $22.84 $158.93

Memo: CVS 03901 Evanson IL 4318

01/28/2010 POS Debit $37.06 $181.77

Memo: CVS 03901 Evanson IL 4318

01/28/2010 Check 1231 $40.80 $218.83

01/28/2010 DBT Purchase $47.00 $259.63

Memo: BLACK HAIR SKIN 60CHICAGO IL 4326

01/28/2010 Deposit $125.00 $306.63

01/27/2010 DBT Purchase $1.75 $181.63

Memo: CHICAGO PARKING MECHICAGO IL 4326

01/27/2010 DBT Purchase $11.00 $183.38

Memo: UNIVERSITY OF CHICCHICAGO IL 4326

01/26/2010 Check 1230 $30.00 $194.38

01/26/2010 DBT Purchase $36.34 $224.38

Memo: L2G*PETS BEST INS 1.877.PETSBESID 4318

01/25/2010 POS Debit $35.12 $260.72

Memo: AGI*RENTER INS EXC800-370-1990 FL 4318

01/25/2010 POS Debit $75.47 $295.84

Memo: WHOLE FOODS MA Evanston IL 4326

01/25/2010 ATM Cash $160.00 $371.31

Memo: 525 MAIN STREET EVANSTON IL 4326

01/22/2010 DBT Purchase $30.20 $531.31

Memo: SHELL OIL 21226220EVANSTON IL 4318

01/22/2010 Check 5022 $1, 360.00 $561.51

01/21/2010 DBT Purchase $31.76 $1, 921.51

Memo: TOMMY NEVINS PUB EEVANSTON IL 4318

01/20/2010 DBT Purchase $1.75 $1, 953.27

Memo: CHICAGO PARKING MECHICAGO IL 4326

01/20/2010 ATM Cash $60.00 $1, 955.02

Memo: 525 MAIN STREET EVANSTON IL 4318

01/19/2010 DBT Purchase $7.13 $2, 015.02

Memo: BROTHERS K COFFEEHEVANSTON IL 4318

01/19/2010 DBT Purchase $18.68 $2, 022.15

Memo: BUY BUY BABY #3017SCHAUMBURG IL 4326

01/19/2010 DBT Purchase $22.70 $2, 040.83

Memo: DAVIS ST CLEANERS EVANSTONE IL 4318

01/19/2010 DBT Purchase $24.17 $2, 063.53

Memo: FUDDRUCKERS #126 SCHAUMBURG IL 4318

01/19/2010 DBT Purchase $24.41 $2, 087.70

Memo: EGG 'EM ON CLARKE'EVANSTON IL 4318

01/19/2010 DBT Purchase $31.62 $2, 112.11

Memo: LUCKY PLATTER EVANSTON IL 4318

01/19/2010 POS Debit $46.56 $2, 143.73

Memo: #03428 JEWEL EVANSTON IL 4318

01/19/2010 POS Debit $125.89 $2, 190.29

Memo: Dominicks Store 1CHICAGO IL 4326

01/15/2010 Check 1210 $550.00 $2, 316.18

01/14/2010 DBT Purchase $2.75 $2, 866.18

Memo: BURGER KING #1664 EVANSTON IL 4318

01/14/2010 DBT Purchase $5.59 $2, 868.93

Memo: STARBUCKS USA 0000LAKE FOREST IL 4318

01/14/2010 DBT Purchase $62.63 $2, 874.52

Memo: EVANSTON 1ST LIQUOEVANSTON IL 4318

01/13/2010 DBT Purchase $1.75 $2, 937.15

Memo: CHICAGO PARKING MECHICAGO IL 4326

01/13/2010 DBT Purchase $2.15 $2, 938.90

Memo: STARBUCKS USA 0002EVANSTON IL 4318

01/13/2010 POS Debit $27.02 $2, 941.05

Memo: #03428 JEWEL EVANSTON IL 4318

01/13/2010 DBT Purchase $37.95 $2, 968.07

Memo: EVANSTON IL PARKIN888-2329326 IL 4318

01/13/2010 ATM Cash $50.00 $3, 006.02

Memo: 727 NORTH BANK LANLAKE FOREST IL 4318

01/13/2010 Foreign ATM or POS Fee $2.00 $3, 056.02

Memo: ATM FEE

01/12/2010 POS Debit $15.91 $3, 058.02

Memo: BARNESNOBLE Evanston IL 4326

01/12/2010 POS Debit $23.42 $3, 073.93

Memo: GAP USA Evanston IL 4326

01/12/2010 Preauthorized Debit $37.63 $3, 097.35

Memo: COMMONWEALTH ED ONLINE PMT

01/12/2010 Preauthorized Debit $60.00 $3, 134.98

I opened my account with Charter One about a year ago, and have nothing but problems since...

Most of the issues i've had have to do with their "online banking"...it shows something has cleared, then clears "again" the following day. I've been told by customer service to "not rely on the online banking ledger, it's often incorrect"... REALLY? Then WHY HAVE IT?

Today was the straw that broke the camels back for me though.

I used their online bill pay to have my car payment taken out. I've done this before, with no problem. I selected my date based on my deposit going in (which most of us do).

I checked my ledger this morning and seen that they took my payment out 2 days early. Because of this, 4 other debits cleared and overdrew my account. We're talking 4 overdraft fees at $39 a pop! Knowing that this must be an error, I called their customer service line.

The first time I called, I explained my situation. The lady seemed nice enough and even said she understood what happened, and that she looked at the digital check and saw the date was for 2 days later than it was taken out. I explained that if they had taken the payment out when I authorized it, the other 4 items would have cleared no problem. she said she realized this and could see it based on their stupid "ledger".

She puts me on hold for 4-5 minutes. I'm assuming she's doing the necessary things to reverse the fees that will no doubt be accrued (after 11am which is when they add on all their fees). She gets back on the phone with me and tells me, "ma'am, um, the company took the money from your account after recieving your digital check. They don't have to wait til your authorization date."

WHAT? Are you freaking kidding me?

So, I say, "Um, that doesn't make alot of sense...you select the date you want your bills paid. So, if they can just take the money whenever they want (which ironically has NEVER happened before) then WHY even select a date?"

At this point too, I'm realizing where this is going, and i'm starting to cry. I'm a single mom and in my head i'm adding -$114.00 plus 160.00 in fees and it's not even close to what i'm depositing. So, i'm about to be screwed for 2 weeks!

I say to the lady, "This can't be right! I chose the date and they took it out before that. that wasn't authorized.. Now i'm gonna get charged 4 fees when you clearly can see that I had the money to cover everything."

Her response:

"I can understand why you're upset, but unfortunatley there is NOTHING we can do. Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

Yes, she actually ASKED me that.

my answer:

"Why yes there is. You can explain to my kids how you just stole money from me and now they wont be eating very well for the next week or two."

Then I hung up...and started sobbing.

After I composed myself, and tried to understand HOW this was happening, I called back.. this time determined to get some help!

I spoke to a guy named John first. He explained this wasn't his dept. I told him get to an online banking supervisor or manager. I work in customer service (not for a bank) and I know that supers and mgrs will help more to keep customers and have more authority.

So, John puts me on hold for another 4 or 5 minutes after I explain what happened. He transfers me to Tamika, NOT a supervisor, who immediately told me she was just waiting for her supervisor to transfer me. She again told me she understood my situation and how it was indeed the wrong date and there should be some way they could help me. At that point I told her if they didn't reverse the o/d fees, I would simply close my account. If making $160 was more important to them than keeping a customer, then fine.

Tamika puts me on hold for ANOTHER 4-5 minutes. I'm thinking for sure now this will be resolved. How wrong I was!

She gets back on the phone and says, "Ma'am, i'm sorry but we have a disclosure that states that online bill pay can be taken on or BEFORE the date you select. Unfortunately, we are unable to reverse any of the fees, but thank you for banking with us."

Thank you for banking with us? Well hell yeah, making money like that off people like me, i'm sure they are VERY thankful!

So I told her I would be in later today to close my account and would be happy to take my banking elsewhere. I deposit about $4000 a month, so I hope that $160 was worth it.

Charter One is definitely NOT a customer oriented bank, but they are surely a fee and "disclosure" bank. Even when they have to steal your money to get it!

I'll give credit where it's due - the tellers are always friendly to me.

Other than that - the management, policies, national customer service, and fees - this as the worst I've ever used. They charge $39 for each overdraft, and submit the largest charge first to maximize the number of charges. They offer an on-line balance, but it is not accurate. Everything is calculated off another balance that they have access to but you don't.

I was recently charged $117 in overdraft fees, though the website shows funds were available. When I called to ask about it, the representative in North Carolina had to put me on hold three times and still couldn't explain it. I asked for his manager, who identified himself as Kendon Barretta. Mr. Barretta told me that the site clearly states that the balance is not accurate (it doesn't) and berated me for spending money I didn't have!

When I asked for his supervisor, he said "I am the manager." Okay, I can play that game - "Let me talk to someone who has more authority than you do." I asked "That's me." I had to laugh out loud.

I'm joining a Credit Union.

I had my wallet lifted while visiting Chicago. I notified credit cards and bank within 1/2 hour of the theft. When I called Charter One, I explained my situation, canceled my debit card and put a stop payment on the checks in my wallet. I thought this was the end to a bad incident. At no time did the customer service representitive inform me of any steps I should take to protect my identity and bank account. 6 months later, a check for a small amount posted to my account to a merchant I frequented (the store customer card was in the stolen wallet) I did not notice that the check number was from the stolen checks. 2 months later, two checks posted to my account totaling $3600.00 written on the stolen checks. I immediately notified my branch. The first thing the teller told me was I should have closed the checking account after the theft and that stop payments on checks was only good for 6 months. This was valuable information that SHOULD have been told to me by the representitive who spoke to me after the theft. If I had been advised to close the account because of the risk of future fraud, I would have done so immediately. Charter One accepts no liability because I missed the first check that was cashed and didn't notify within 30 days. They condsider all 3 checks one fraud incident. I have disputed this claim to no avail. I believe Charter One bears responsibility for not properly advising me to close the checking account after the theft. Their customer service represetitives should immediately forward any calls regarding check/identity theft to a fraud specialist who can properly advise the customer. Anyone who has had checks lost or stolen please close your account to prevent future fraud.

Charter One charged INSF charges totalling well over 400 - when I had enough money in the account. When I asked for an audit of my account, they advised me that they dod not do this!

Please do not see this as just anotheer dissatisfied customer complaint. This bank operates fraudulently on a regular basis - and they will continue to do so as long as they are not reported!

I plan to take my complaint as far as it would go - starting with the Illinosi States Attorney's office.

Please join me. They operate in similar fashion to banks that have taken a nose dive. They deserve to go down as well.

My husband has been a customer with Charter One for nearly 5 years, and 4 months ago I was added as a joint account holder.

I have been a customer of several banks, as well as worked at the corporate headquarters of a very large midwestern bank for some time. Through my experiences as both a bank customer, and a bank employee, I can honestly say that my short 4 months with Charter One has proven to me that it is the worst banking institution I've ever had the misfortune of dealing with. Every staff member I've ever spoken to, at several different branches and the telephone banking service, has displayed consistent and flagrant negligence, poor customer service, a complete ineptitude for simple tasks, and an unwillingness to resolve issues (most of which were generated by them in the first place).

In the past month alone, my husband and I have been the victims of these so-called "trained" bank personnel. Gabrielle at the Mack Ave., Saint Clair Shores branch 'helped' us more than once, and each time the process was ridiculously drawn out as she took several customer calls while we were at her desk, interrupting her focus from us. This resulted in a mistake that I now cannot fix. She entered my social security number wrong, despite me reminding her twice to correct it before I left the branch! Now, I cannot use the telephone banking service because I have no idea what number sequence she mistakenly put in, therefore cannot "accurately verify" my identity (hah!) and apparently I have to go to a branch in person to have this corrected. That would be a little difficult, as I now live in England, and at the time of her mistake, Gabrielle knew we were moving overseas just days after this visit.

On another occasion, at the same branch, a young man at the counter first told my husband he could not apply a credit card payment to our credit card without the card itself. Now, we both know this isn't true. After telling him this, he insisted that he had never applied a payment without the card before but that he would 'try to do it without the card'. After 20 minutes of standing at the counter dealing with his poor attitude, the payment was finally applied.

In a Grosse Pointe branch, we attempted to purchase British pounds in preparation for our move to England. The woman behind the counter appeared to know what she was doing, only to call us several hours later saying she had mistakenly charged us for Euros, not Pounds, and that we'd have to come back in to pay the remaining amount, as she had undercharged us by nearly $1, 000. Not only did she call us, complaining about her mistake, but her poor attitude in general throughout the course of the telephone conversation earned her a reprimand from the branch manager, whom we had to speak to several times to correct this mistake.

Most recently, I signed on to our online account to monitor our activity, and noticed over $300 in exchange fees. Outraged at these fees, I emailed Charter One requesting to be contacted. No one has contacted me yet regarding this matter. I also called the telephone banking system to resolve this, was then put on hold for several minutes, only to have the young man come back on the line to tell me these charges are from MasterCard, not the bank.

The call was dropped by my cell phone before he was able to help me further, so I immediately called back and spoke to a woman who informed me of the aforementioned social security number error. After bypassing her and speaking to her supervisor, my husband and I got the same run-around as the first time; the fees were from MasterCard, and Charter One would be taking absolutely no responsibility for them, even though the card used is a bank issued debit card.

My husband patiently and calmly explained to this woman that he's visited Europe on several occasions and each time these fees have not been an issue. She remained adamant that she could not resolve this issue for us, and advised us to contact MasterCard. I question why no one, at any branch, thought to mention this fee to us? We sat with Gabrielle for nearly an hour on two separate occasions and talked about our impending move to Europe. She said she would have to note on our cards that we were planning to use them in Europe, so as not to falsely alert the fraud protection feature on our account.

At no time in this discussion did she mention that using said card would result in a fee. We were assured by her that using our cards over here was completely safe; obviously she was mistaken. I hardly call $300 in ridiculous fees being 'safe'.

I sent Charter One a complaint outlining all these issues, and in response I got a very generic "We're sorry you feel that way" email. Not only that, but since lodging my complaint, our Online Banking Bill Pay feature mysteriously has been disabled. This is fantastic news, as we have no way of issuing checks from this account now! Now we have to spend yet another 20GBP on an international phone call to their customer service line which will probably result in nothing!

Charter One is untrustworthy, unreliable, unhelpful, and is a stunning example of appalling customer service. Henceforth, we plan to do whatever we can to undermine this bank and ensure no one else need have an experience like we have.

The policy of this bank is to set accounts up automatically as follows: If you attempt rouse your debit card for a purchase hat is greater than your account balance, the transaction is completed and $39.99 is deducted from your account as a service charge. They mail a notice of insufficient funds that you receive, presumably, long after you have made other transactions that each receive the same deduction. They do not call you until a week or two has passed. Then, all of those little transactions add up to hundreds of dollars in service charges.

This happened to me. Upon calling customer service I was told that one of these charges would be forgiven me 'as a courtesy.' I spoke to this agent's superior. This person forgave me another two ISF charges. I still owed close to $300 in service charges.

Had I been declined the first transaction I would have used a different card and deposited money in my account. Instead, I was left ignorant of all of the $40 charges I was accruing on $7 purchases.

Very few people want to be charged $40 for the service of being lent a negligible amount of money on their bank cards. There is a good deal of dishonesty in a policy of giving everyone this dubious service without making sure the customer is well aware of the nature of the service.

I had a Charter One bank account, after I asked them to increase my overdraft protection they said I was approved but did not increase it. My account went over drawn using up the current overdraft protection I had and then made my account negative $800.00 aprox. After weeks of talking to them on the phone they said they would refund the $800.00 back to my overdraft protection but remember my account was still negative $800.00. When they returned it to the over draft protection it then zeroed my account and put it back on my over draft protection and then charged me fees for over drawing my account again. Making my account negative again this time over $500.00, I talked to a branch manager and they said "lets open a new account to give you a fresh start until we figure out what is going wrong with your other account." so we opened up a new account and about a month later the day my check got deposit in to my account they withdrew over $520.00 to pay the other account off that I had refused to pay because it was all fees that they were after. At that same time I had my bills being paid as well from that account so not only did they take from the $600.00 that was deposit but my entire bike and rent payments were being pulled as well overdrawing my account once again to negative $370.00. I called them and asked what had happened they told me they had a right to take that money and will not refund it back to my other account. I told the woman on the phone that they should of notified me what they were going to do she responded, "If we told people that we were going to take money for right to restitution that they wouldn't deposit money into the account." to this day both of my overdraw protections are maxed out and one account still sits negative $370.00 and I refuse to pay them for their mistakes.

After recently moving, I called Charter One Bank to change my address. The monthly statement specifically tells you to call the number on it to report address changes. I called and was taken to a menu where you hit 1 for this, 2 for that, etc. None of these options were for address changes or to talk to a customer service rep. I pressed "4" for more options as the prompter suggested. None of these options were appropriate either. I was at a dead end. Pressing "0" or "#" or "*" was useless. I finally had to choose a random number and keep going until they finally let me talk to a live person. She took my info and I thought the nightmare was over. For three months I waited but my address never got updated. I called the same number. I went through the same drill to get a live person. After he finished, I asked him for a number that would get me a live person next time. He provided one. I called it and got the exact same menu as the first number. When I finally got a live person, I asked her the same thing. She said all I had to do was hit "0" and I would get a live person. I tried it and had to hit "0" FOUR TIMES before getting another rep. I asked the rep why they don't have a direct number or why the menu doesn't give you a choice of a live person. She said "most people" don't want to talk to a person. They just want to check their bank information. I hope I never move again. Oh wait, maybe I should just switch banks.