I was contacted by DMK & Associates, a collections agency, on December 18, 2008 regarding an outstanding balance on my US Bank account. This was the first I'd heard of this matter. During their initial call, I requested a validation statement from DMK and they said they would send it to me, which they did not. I called US Bank later that same day and was informed that I owed $329.00 and that my statements had been mailed to my previous address. I told them I had moved in early 2007 and corrected the address on the phone (since they evidently missed the change of address request I had mailed them) and I asked what the charges were for. I was told I would need to go in person to any US Bank branch bank to obtain copies of the statements. My account is a "checking as savings" account, which I used rarely and kept a $5.00 balance. I never had any checks or a debit card associated with the account, which means the only way I can obtain funds from it is to go into the bank or provide someone with my account and bank information. Since I did not remember using the account at all in 2007, I suspected the charges may be fraudulent - especially since my statements were being sent to the wrong address. I visited the branch nearest my home on December 20, 2008, and spoke with the Bank Manager. He told me he suspected the charges were all overdraft fees, but could not find any information in the computer because "the account was closed and charged off." He said he thought the bank had made an error and could resolve it easily and he instructed me to go to the branch where the account was originally opened and request the statements to substantiate the original charges. He referred me to the Bank Manager at my original branch. He said he would notify that manager in advance and she should be in touch. He also recommended that I advise DMK & Associates that the matter was being handled by the bank. I did not hear from the other Bank Manager. Following the holidays, I called her and she said she knew about the matter, but couldn't help me. I told her I just needed to know what the original charge was for. She promised to call me back. She never called back, so the next weekend (January 3), I went into the branch in person and asked for the statements. The Bank Manager advised that it was too late for me to dispute the charges because the bank policy limits customer disputes to 30 days after the original charges appear on an account statement (obviously, it was impossible for me to make this deadline since the statements did not go to my current address). She also stated that she could not obtain the statements I requested and speculated they were "probably overdraft fees." She offered to contact the Recoveries Department and call me back. When she called me a few days later, she left a message advising that the Recoveries Department could not provide the information I requested. On January 17, 2009, I copied the Attorney General's office on correspondence between myself, U.S. Bank, and the original collections agency, DMK & Associates. I stated that I was disputing the bank charges until I received documentation showing what they represent (what the original amount was, how it was posted - check, debit, online, etc., and who it was made to) as I cannot determine what they are and whether they are legitimately incurred by me. On January 30, I received a letter from US Bank Recoveries with statements dated April 20 through August 20, 2007 attached. These statements showed my balance was $5.00 until a single posting was made to my account of $358.83 on July 16, 2007, which overdrafted my account. This is not a charge I recognize and it makes no sense that it was posted to my account. (Why would I try to withdraw or make a purchase of that amount knowing that I only had a $5.00 balance? Further, what teller would allow me to do this since I would have had to go into the bank to take out the money?) Subsequent bank statements show additional overdraft fees accruing as a result of this posting. On February 9, 2009, I received a letter from the Attorney General's office stating that they would assist me in contacting the company and requesting an explanation of the charges and to keep them abreast of any further information. On March 3, 2009, I called US Bank's Recoveries Department (again) to inquire about the source of the $358.83 charge made against my account. The representative I spoke with had a lot of difficulty finding any information. Finally, he agreed that I had a $5.00 balance until July 2007 when, he said, a $26.00 overdraft fee was posted to my account as well as an additional charge of $7.00 per day for every day the account was in overdraft. The representative stated that he could not find a record of the original posted amount that caused the overdraft and asked me where I came up with the $358.83 amount. I told him that it was in the statements I received from US Bank Recoveries. He said the charges appeared to him to be fraudulent as he could see no record of them on my statements. I asked him if there was anyone else at US Bank I should contact to try to resolve the matter and he said the Recoveries Department has done all they can for me. I asked him what the best way to resolve the situation would be and he suggested I contact an attorney. He offered to send the account statements to me and I received them in mid-March. Unfortunately, the statements are not helpful, though, because they are reports of summary balances and do not show how the original charge was made or who it was to. I still cannot determine what exactly I was being charged for in the first place—who charged me and how it was posted to my account. A couple of weeks later I received a letter dated March 19, 2009 from the Attorney General's Office, enclosing a letter they received from DMK & Associates, dated February 12, 2009. The DMK letter stated that they had closed my collections account and returned it to U.S. Bank. I considered the matter closed. On April 9, 2009, I received a call from from Weinerman & Associates, another collection agency retained by US Bank concerning the same account. Their representative claimed to know nothing about my dispute. I had to explain everything and fax information to her. I never heard from her again. On April 15, 2009, I was contacted by Morris Law Group P.A., another collections firm (!) who advised they were retained by Portfolio Management Group (?) regarding the U.S. Bank account matter. I was told that the current amount due is now $495.19. I explained the situation and again agreed to fax my correspondence to this new collector, which I did the same day. Yesterday, April 25, 2009, I received a bill in the mail from RL Morris & Associates, PLLC (evidently the same agency as Morris Law Group, P.A.) requesting that I pay the US Bank charges in full. I sent them the same dispute letter I've been sending to the other agencies and copied US Bank and the Attorney General's office. I am at my wits end. The situation is becoming worse every day. US Bank refuses to substantiate a charge they posted to my bank account, which may be fraudulent. Instead, they continue to tack on additional fees and turn my account over to numerous collections agents. Meanwhile, I am receiving weekly, sometimes daily, calls from (now 3) different collections agencies. I have been forced to spend my time and money faxing, meeting with people, making numerous calls, and mailing letters, all in an effort to defend myself. I am concerned about my credit score and feel completely powerless to resolve this matter. I have kept the Attorney General's office informed of all the developments in this matter and I am keeping excellent records. I plan to speak to my attorney next week for guidance on how to proceed. It's unfortunate and unfair that I should have to retain a lawyer and incur legal expenses in order to resolve the situation when it could be easily settled if US Bank would simply provide the information I have requested.

U.S. Bank Lease obtained on 2007 Porsche Carrera. At end of lease period, lease inspection revealed $746 in "excess wear and tear" charges. These included some scratches along the rims, and scratches on the underside of the car, barely visible stone chip on the windshield, etc. I have had similar, what I consider normal wear and tear on previous BMW's at lease end. BMW Financial Services did NOT nickel and dime (and quarter and dollar) me at the end of the lease, even when I was returning a BMW without leasing another BMW (giving them no incentive not to nickel and dime me). Of note, the Porsche was returned with 6000 miles less than the 36, 000 mile lease allowed. Of course, there never is any credit for coming in under mileage, but perhaps U.S. Bank shouldn't nickel and dime the customer so much.
My recommendation is that if you are going to lease a vehicle, think twice (or ten times) before using U.S. Bank.
I do not know if this is as much a complaint against US Bank, as a recommendation to lease a BMW through BMW financial services. Although my Porsche was nice, my BMW's have also been great and the leasing through BMW FS has been much more straightforward and honest, especially at the end of the lease.

Dear Sens. Bennet and Udall:

You are my elected representatives in the Senate.

I am writing to inform you of a problem I’m having with my financial institution, U.S. Bank, 950 17th St., Denver, CO 80202. I have instructed my bank to “reject all” payments from my checking account that would cause my account to go into the negative. Despite my instructions, the bank continues to approve certain ACH or recurring payments. My only recourse is to pay a $30 stop-payment fee or a $33 overdraft fee. Sometimes these payments are on card transactions of as little as $1, resulting in a fee/fine of 3, 000 percent!

If I go to McDonald’s and order a hamburger and I don’t have the money, McDonald’s doesn’t give me the hamburger. But my bank effectively gives me the hamburger and charges me $33 for the hamburger or $30 if I want to send the hamburger back. I do not want these options. I want the McDonald’s option where I don’t get served the hamburger if I don’t have the money.

U.S. Bank indicates that this is done for my protection. It doesn’t protect me at all. It bankrupts me. Please do what you can to end this abusive business practice by a federally regulated institution. I have filed a complaint with the OCC and FDIC, but I suspect a law will need to be passed to require this.

Sincerely,

Don Knox

My Fiance and I deposited some money after hours and then took some out because we needed it right then. We were under the impression that a bit of that money was avalible now and some you had to wait until bussiness hours for it to be in the account. We also forgot to put the check into the deposit envlope as we were in a hurry. We realized it later that night so the next moring I went in and thought I had cleared up the matter. Not long after we recieved a letter from U.S. Bank stating that our account was to be closed because of fraudulent activity. Mind you we recieved no warning that this was going to happen they froze all of our money. Plus my fiance had a check that was being direct deposited that day. So we call the bank and they said that there was nothing that they could do about it we had to call the fraud number and so on. Just to find out that there was nothing that we could do that all of our hard earned money was now theirs. They did however let us know that in 30 bussiness days we would get the money back. Which was a slight relief that we would at least get the money back.
Now we recieved a letter in the mail that we owe 1100 and that if not paid my fiance will be charged with a felony for fraud. We got this call from a lawyer who would not give us any information on where these charges had come from and where our other money had gone but he did know everything about us which i found to be very creepy and unsettling. He did say that we owed $210 im not sure why and the rest of the charges are for lawyers fees. This is just redic, so my fiance might go to prison over something that I thought that I had resolved right from the begining. We wil never ever bank at U.S. Bank again and I will make sure that all of my friend who have accounts with them know how they handle bussiness. I'm lucky that tomorrow I get money from my annuity so that I can play the money so that my fiance does not go to prison over something so stupid. It just makes me sad because that money was suppose to go towards hospital expenses when our baby is born this Novmber. Instead its going into the greedy pockets of U.S. Bank, but I"m sure they needed that money way more than a couple expecting their first child.

I have a car loan with U.S. Bank. I was receiving paper statements and decided to go paperless with online statements and by receiving email alerts. The email alerts never arrived. Customer Service told me to place them on my 'contacts' list which I immediately did. Still no email alerts. My second call/email to Customer Service informed me that my emails were bouncing back as undeliverable despite the fact that the address is completely correct. They recommended I set up text alerts for my cell phone. I did so. The text messages came...at 5:00 a.m.!! On my third contact with Customer Service, they informed me the text messages are random and they cannot control the time they arrive. They also told me regardless of whether my alerts were arriving, it was my responsibility to remember to make payments. After 4-5 months of no satisfaction from Customer Service, I went back to paper statements. I have NEVER had any difficulty with any online banking alerts coming to my email, so something is definitely wrong with the system at U.S. Bank. Lesson learned...never allow your car dealership finance dept to choose your financing company.