***I recently opened an account with TCF Bank. They had a promotion going on and needless to say I needed that extra $50.00 dollars! I went on there website this morning to view my account balances and my accounts were CLOSED!!! So I called customer service ( You can't call the branch directly because the only number listed for them is an 800 number) They said I need to go into the branch and so them MORE proof of identification they had enough identification to open the account with the identification I provided so there should be no reason I have to go in there again. While I was on the Phone with Customer service and all they kept saying was that there very sorry I got hung up on!! This bank has the worst customer service out of anywhere I have ever been and I would NEVER reccomend them to anyone!! It's really not worth whatever promotion they have going on!!!

Tcf Bank just pulled a pretty awful maneuver on me. They took all the money out of my checking account ($187) to cover a business account of my father which was overdrawn and apparently has my name on it (even though I never signed anything or knew about it) and then charged me $105 dollars worth of fees to cover about $25 dollars in purchases that I made while I still thought I had money in my account and transferred in $150 to replace the money they had taken away.

I called customer service and spoke to two different people, where it was explained that even thought i still had money in my account their new policy after april 1st. was to withhold money for charges that had not gone through yet as though the funds were not available. They then offered to take half the amount off the fees.

So they took money from my account without notifying me, then charged me $105 for $25 dollars in NSF charges even though there was about $40 in my account. They then reduce the charges by half to $50 and act as though they're doing me a favor?

I am tired of all the hassle that has come with my TCF bank account. I always feel like money is being extorted from me when they charge $35 so that I could have the luxury of over drafting my account for a cup of coffee but swiping all the money from my account and then charging for NSF charges?

I am going to close my account this weekend, and i advise you never to open one. Get a respectable small bank, and save yourself some grief and some money.

On Saturday 3/21/09 I called Northwest Airlines to book a flight. I was quoted a price by the NWS agent which was agreeable so I authorized the purchase using my TCF Visa check card. I was told I had until midnight on 4/22/09 to cancel should I choose.

On Sunday 3/22/09 I look at my TCF account online and there is the flight purchase with $20 direct booking agent fee but there is also an additional $75 charge added by Northwest that was not discussed during the reservation conversation. I called NWA to find out what the deal was and they explained that it was a miles redemption fee because a flight less than 21 days in advance. I explained that I was not informed of this on the phone or I would have never wasted my miles on a domestic flight with this high of a charge added. They apologized and said the agent should have mentioned it and canceled the reservation for me, saying that a credit has been issued back to the card.

Monday comes then Tuesday and still no pending credit showing on my TCF account. Tuesday afternoon I call TCF to inquire about it and they said there is no credit showing in their system and the only thing they can do is wait for the merchant to send them the credit. They suggested I call NWA back.

I call NWA back and they assure me a credit was issued back on the card on Sunday 3/22/09. They said that if it's not showing on my account yet, that I would need to talk to my bank because it's in their hands.

I call TCF back right away and tell them what NWA said. The TCF customer service agent begins her scripted answer, saying, "It can take up to 10 days for a credit to post back to your account and until the merchant issues that credit, there is nothing we can do." I explain that the merchant did issue the credit electronically so there should be something showing in someone's system somewhere. If not in TCF's system, then surely it must be showing in the system of the contracted credit card company that provides their customers their TCF Visa check card. As if I had never spoken, they repeat the same story they gave me the first time, that it can take up to 10 days. I finally got frustrated and decided to give it another day to see if something would show pending on Wednesday.

Wednesday 3/25/09 - Still no pending credit showing. I call TCF again and ask if there is anything pending, they say no. I went through the story again with the agent and this tells me that it normally takes up to 5 days for a credit to be issued. I asked if there was some way to contact their contracted credit card company (which is no great secret to most educated people although TCF likes to pretend it's their card) to see if they're showing a credit being issued by NWA ? She says "No, there was no way to do that." I began to argue with her because I know perfectly well that someone there at TCF has an 800 number for the contracted credit card company to look in their system for a transaction being processed that involves my card number and Northwest Airlines. She insists this is not possible saying there was no number to call and that I will just have to wait the 5 days to see if it shows up. If it doesn't, she says I will have to call NWA back, apparently starting this whole process over again. I said this is not acceptable and the call was escalated to someone supposedly above her.

This next woman begins the conversation by telling me it can take 30 days for a credit to post to an account and it all depends on the merchant. Now it's gone from 5 days to 30?!! I tell her, "All I'm asking for, is for her or someone at TCF to call the credit card company and find out if it's in process so I can know who exactly I need to put pressure on to be accountable for this mistake." She said then starts to argue that it's only been 24 hours since the credit was issued and says "It's too soon, no one will have a record of it. " What?! I ask, "How is that possible if NWA issued this credit electronically, then it's in someone's system somewhere. It's not as if they're waiting on paper mail!" She continues to say, "That's not the way it works, sir." and goes through her story again, insisting that it depends on the merchant. She then starts throwing out longer amounts of time at me, mentioning "months" for this to possibly be resolved and that's when I tuned out.

I tell her, "So basically, I'm screwed until somehow somewhere the money miraculously appears back in my account". And she said, "Yes, that's basically it." I then explained that I thought she was lying to me about not being able to verify this credit and that I would take it up with someone in person at TCF and hung up the phone.

How is this okay that TCF can refuse to provide a logical explanation or at least offer some course of action other than, "You'll just have to wait and see?" If someone walked up to me on the street and took $75 out of my pocket, I could have that person arrested. Why is TCF any different?

M. Watts

I've been a customer of TCF Bank for a couple of years now and have had a lot of overdraft fee issues. I thought they must have been my fault for miscalculating and not knowing how transactions post, but yesterday I found out that TCF Bank has been ripping me off the whole time.

On Feb. 12 my account balance was $205.14. I made four purchases totaling $45.23 bringing my account balance to $159.91. The same night I checked my account balance online and noticed an ACH transaction pending for $200 after the purchases that I made earlier that day. So I recorded the ACH transaction in my register and brought down my balance to -$40.09. I subtracted a $35 NSF fee amount because that's what the bank charges for overdrafing the account. My final account balnace was -$75.09. Yesterday, Feb. 15, 2009 I went to a TCF Bank and deposited $160.00 to my acoount to make it current and have a balance of $84.91. However, when I got the deposit receipt I noticed that it stated a -$20.09 balance. I was confused about what was going on. As soon as I got home I checked my account online and noticed that I had been charged $140.00 of NSF fees for the transactions that I had made on Feb. 12, 2009 before the actual transaction of $200 that had made my account negative.

I called TCF Bank and spoke to a man named Sebastian who told me that the reason why I had been charged the NSF fees for the other transacions even though I did have money in the account at the time was because TCF Bank posts the transactions from greatest to smallest, even though they weren't made in that order. He said the reason why the bank did this was because they want to pay off the more "SIGNIFICANT" amounts first like car payments, mortgage payments, etc., so it would be less inconvenient for the customer.

But to me, this method IS inconvinient and they are not being fair or ethical. They charge the customer various NSF fees by manipulating the order the transactions post. I know Bank of America got in trouble for the same thing and TCF bank should suffer the same consequences as BOA.

On October 9 (2008) our TCF bank card was used to withdraw funds from an ATM machine at the Courtyard by Marriot hotellocated at 2502 Crossroads Drive in Madison Wisconsin. The withdrawal was for $100. No money was dispensed but a receipt was given that indicated an error D1706 and that $0.00 was dispensed. A second withdrawal was attempted for $80 and was successful immediately after the first. 

The problem was noticed days later indicating a $102.00 withdrawal from the account. The problem was shown to people at a TCF Bank branch and money was credited back to the account late in October. 

The money ($102.00) was withdrawn again on December 4.

On December 5 we received a letter that they had investigated and that 'Our records indicate that the correct funds were dispensed at the time of the withdrawal(s).' They sent a copy of a print out called a V004 Transaction Exception System Visa Representment Request (created on 12/03) that had a highlighted section saying 'acqr cert atm in bal'

Discussions with the Regulation E specialist continued. I expressed my concern that our problem was with money not being dispensed, and not with how TCF transfers funds. Video footage from the machine was requested but were told that there was none. The receipt indicating the $0.00 dispensed was discounted as evidence because there was no date on the receipt and 'we could have gotten that receipt any time.' 

Clearly TCF bank is working with some ATMs that omit information on receipts that would make them valuable in proving errors occurred. TCF's investigation seems to have consisted of them confirming that they withdrew $102.00 from account. Note that the 'service' fee still applies even though no service was received. It was not until December that any effort was made to verify MY side of the story by looking into camera footage or any other information.

I requested copies of 'all documents we relied upon in arriving at this conclusion' as I have the 'right' to according to the December 5 letter. I also requested a journal of our file indicating the people who we spoke with and to from TCF regarding this. I was told this may be unavailable and have not received it. I asked why we would make two transactions back to back within minutes and was told that 'people do this all the time' although we never have prior to this. 

I have received a copy of the error receipt that had been faxed from a local branch, the Transaction Exception System print out, some kind xerox of a page print out showing our account number and the withdrawal amounts with everything else on the page blacked out with a marker with no explanation of what it was. 

The Regulation E Specialist (Debbie who could not give me her last name) says the matter is closed. Despite the fact that TCF Bank has a copy of the receipt showing $0.00 dispensed. A receipt of a transaction not occurring properly is not sufficient evidence to show an error on the part of the TCF Bank or ATM.

Apparently it is my fault that the ATM network that TCF Bank uses does not require ATMs to include information on error receipts such as dates or times. This conveniently proves useful in any kind of investigation of error. I have not been able to find out what ERROR = D1706 means. I have not received any information on the owner of the ATM machine to date, or its make and or model. This prevents me from finding reports of problems with these machines, seeing if they do or do not have cameras and or video records of any kind, or of contacting the owner of the ATM and filing an additional complaint.