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The bank charge that won’t go away

Posted on July 11th, 2008 – 4:36 PM
By James Shiffer

Sometime earlier this year, a computer decided that a $2.95 “online banking fee” should be deducted each month from Alka Goyal’s TCF Bank checking account. No amount of persuasion so far has been able to change the computer’s mind.

Every month, Goyal complains about the charge, and someone at TCF Bank gives her a credit. Then the new statement arrives, with the same infuriating debit. She’s tired of spending 20 minutes on the phone over less than $3.

“I think it’s taken care of, sure enough, next month it shows up again,” said Goyal, a 39-year-old St. Paul schoolteacher who lives in Apple Valley. “It’s just annoying. It’s just seriously annoying.”

So annoying that Goyal wrote to the attorney general and filed a complaint with TCF Bank, a Wayzata-based financial institution with $16.4 billion in total assets.

I can relate to her sentiments, having had this experience at a different bank. In that case, I was charged a monthly “checkcard fee” for a checkcard I had never seen. I want those hours of my life back that I have spent on the phone with customer service.

But somehow, there’s a part of us that just can’t let go, even if the amount in question is less than we would spend on a double latte. We always ascribe a computer error that takes money from us to some malevolent conspiracy, a conspiracy we must confront.

In Goyal’s case, TCF Bank is just as puzzled as she is, said Jason Korstange, director of corporate communications. Goyal indeed shouldn’t be charged the fee, but the computer won’t relent, Korstange told me Friday.

“Believe me, there’s probably four people right now looking at this thing,” he said. “There’s some type of glitch in this poor lady’s account that no matter what we do, it keeps ringing up her $2.95.”

Korstange said the while Goyal’s plight is apparently unique among the bank’s 1.6 million checking account holders, TCF Bank is determined to fix it. It’s yet another reminder of how much of our lives are hostage to the sometimes inscrutable microprocessor.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 4:36 pm and is filed under Complaint sagas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

21 Responses to “The bank charge that won’t go away”

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Kelly Guncheon Says:
July 11th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I’ve had the same experience with TCF, and while they are very nice and amenable when I call to have it fixed, I still have to call and have it fixed. Come to think of it, I haven’t checked for a couple of months, so I need to go on line and go through the process again.
DGB Says:
July 11th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
They don’t know how to use their own software!
Bob Says:
July 11th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Yea, right. I doubt very much that Goyal’s problem is “unique among the bank’s 1.6 million checking account customers.” The bank knows exactly what it is doing–charging small amounts to account holders–knowing that the majority of people will just go ahead and pay, rather than wasting lots of time with “customer service” trying to get the charges deducted.
swschrad Says:
July 11th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
it’s probably a small database corruption, will be nasty to find, and easy to fix.

but where there’s one, there are a thousand. the wonderful thing is that you almost never find the process running off in a corner someplace that hoses these records, it’s a one-in-a-million hit.

to err is human. to really screw things up takes a computer.
sporktastik Says:
July 11th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Hmmmm. If I banked at TCF I would be taking a long look at past statements. Do you think there might be a reason a lot of businesses do not take TCF checks?
blinky Says:
July 11th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
why do i get the feeling that if it was adding $3 to her account each month, it would have been fixed after one incident.
Wendy Says:
July 11th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Why don’t they just close the account and open a new one? If that doesn’t work, I would tell them either fix it or I will take my money elsewhere. There are other banks. TCF is too big for its britches.
robert Says:
July 11th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
I Had The Same Problem At NWA CU.2.95 A Month They Could Not Figure It Out. Its Funny It Was Also 2.95 Also.They Could Not Tell Me Who It Was.
Cher M Says:
July 11th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. It is important that we all clearly read our statements from banks, phone and credit card companies. Too many little charges sneak in and they really can add up for someone who is not reading their bills. Cell phone companies are notorius for this. Most people will go ahead and pay these small charges becuase it is a pain in the behind to actually talk to a live person and get the issues fixed.
wheier Says:
July 11th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
eventually they will discover that it is the norm to cheat thier customers,just like they were found out about selective check payments(pay one big one and bounce five smaller ones)to steal from the people who can least afford it.They count on this income and manipulate to take it.Just because they can.Whats $2.95,they deduct it for as long as they are able and when caught refund you two months worth of charges as a courtesy.bankers = license to steal