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| *Ostroff, Fair and Company>>>Personal Finance |
Do I Have A Case? Suing the Bank? |
The bank has recently sent me letters indicating an array of overdraft fees and threats to send my case to a collection agency and the credit bureau. I was never affiliated with this bank until recently when my wife added my to her account as a joint owner. They screwed up the spelling of my last name on a number of occassions. My last name is HansEn and they kept putting my name on the account as HansOn. Only after they originally had my name on the account under my wife's maiden name. They finally got the names corrected. Now I am receiving overdraft notices and threats; mentioned above. I initiated a case with the fraud department and they are telling me it has to go through the normal process and I will hear something in 28 days. I called customer service & they said that this account in question originally had another name similar to my own. The bank has put a hit on my crdt & sent me to cllct. The bank tells me to wait 28 days, I am trying to prchs a home. Now I am screwed!! I wouldn't go as far a suing the bank. Even if you win the lawsuit, you will lose in the long run. By the time it gets to court, they will have figured out what is wrong with the account and have fixed it. Then they can sue you for what would now be considered unnecessary court costs and believe me, they will have expensive lawyers. I don't really have an answer about what to do. I sued a bank over an account I had closed then a year later received "Service Charges" on. After several months of fighting with them trying to figure it all out, I decided to take them to court. Suddenly, everything was fine with the account and I was made to look like an idiot in court. To add insult to injury, I had to pay $3,000 in court costs and another $1,500 to pay for the time the banks employees had to spend researching my account. I had to quit college and take another job to pay for it all. After 6 months, the bank sent me to collections because I hadn't paid all of the fees yet, so I had another $500 in collections fees. It cost me roughly $5,000, a 2 year break from college and a huge mark on my credit history to figure out that I should have just waited and let them figure out the problem. You can simply tell them that they have 5 days to provide you written proof of the debts and that you owe them. This is covered in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act 搂 809. Validation of debts [15 USC 1692g] (a) Within five days after the initial communication with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt, a debt collector shall, unless the following information is contained in the initial communication or the consumer has paid the debt, send the consumer a written notice containing -- (1) the amount of the debt; (2) the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed; (3) a statement that unless the consumer, within thirty days after receipt of the notice, disputes the validity of the debt, or any portion thereof, the debt will be assumed to be valid by the debt collector; (4) a statement that if the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, the debt collector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against the consumer and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to the consumer by the debt collector; and (5) a statement that, upon the consumer's written request within the thirty-day period, the debt collector will provide the consumer with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor. They won't be able to provide this since you aren't to blame for their mess up but they will try as much as possible. They might get money from you but will never get it from Hanson so they'll try you first. Unfortunately seeing the above information you can contest this which would be a great idea since it's wrong and they will likely complete this mess in 28 days giving them 2 to spare but it probably won't help you in the financing. You can explain to the underwriter what is occuring and they can take that into consideration. The underwriters are real people and can usually see through the bank disasters that pop up unexpectedly. You could sue them for actual damages if you determine that your financing cost you more money because of the bank error but it will be a long painful journey. My best suggestion is to let this play out and close the bank account as soon as possible after it's resolved. You can contact the Better Business Bureau and they may be able to assist you in speeding this process up. No matter what you do make sure that this doesn't go to chex systems as they will make this a disaster of unimaginable proportions. Chex systems is like your bank with absolutely no customer service with no incentive to provide any or resolve any wrong information. Good luck but this is going to take time to resolve. |
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