Bank of the West

I went to BOW at 965 De Anza Blvd and asked that the fees be waived for a cashier check since I have several accounts with the bank, one which is a sizable savings account. The manager at "my local" branch waives such fees. Nader *** declined to do the same, even though I mentioned my branch does this for me. This is not the first time Nader lacked customer service with me.

I visited the Culver City branch of Bank of the West to cash a personal check that was written by my mother who happens to be a customer. The teller and manager informed me that it was their policy to charge non-customers a $5 fee to cash their checks. I questioned if this practice is waived for certain non-customers and strictly enforced with others. After giving the $5.00, the manager refused to cash the check denying service and threatened to call the local authorities.

I have been a customer of BOW since early 2005. I have never had an issue, never been over drafted. Today I went to the grocery store I had twenty dollars on top of my rent to spend on food,for the next few days. As a college student, I save my money very well, and know exactly what I have, and don't have. My card was denied, so I called up the customer service, and it says that I am basically nineteen dollars over drawn. How can this be? Well, I apparently was the victim of fraud, either from my branch's ATM, or the grocery store when it was hacked, but someone made a copy of my card information, and illegally withdrew $500, more than I even had in the account. So not only did they not stop the withdrawal, they don't know how long it will take to investigate the information.

The incompetent person on the phone even saw, that I was not the one who made the withdrawal. I have made a police report, and when, and if this ever gets figured out, I am bringing a civil suit against the bank, as they should be able to fix it with the information sitting in front of them. Regardless, my rent is going to be really late and I don't know how I am going to feed myself.

I get the Occupy Wall Street attitude. I don't have an account at Bank of the West, and after what happened today, I never will, that's for sure. I had a couple of checks that were written on Bank of the West totaling $215. I took them into the bank because I'm struggling financially and my own account is overdrawn at Bank of America. They charged me $5 each to cash their own checks. What a rip-off. Out of $215, $10 went to the bank. I could have gone to a check cashing place and paid less. It should be illegal, and it's one more way they are making up for losses from President Obama's banking regulations. Disgusting.

My experience has been a nightmare. First, I have co-signed on a loan for a mobile home. My step daughter deposited cash at the Santa Clarita branch for the payment. The teller at the end of the day decided she has been given two 100 dollar bills that are counter fit. My step daughter who manages 2 vet hospitals is the one who gave them to her. My step daughter then deposited the next payment with an extra 200 dollars to cover the alleged counterfeit bills. Meantime, I or my wife have talked to the branch manager. They have stated to my wife and I that there is no way she would have known who gave them to her. The teller on the phone told me that the FBI was involved etc. and none of it was true.

Looking 5 months later, I am still dealing with the bank because they say that June's payment is still missing. So, for five consecutive months, the money is laying in the account that they were supposed to have taken it out of but did not. It's because the bank claimed there were counterfeit bills. And they only take the money out of the account on the 1st & the 8th of the month. The money was not there in June because of the false claim regarding the counterfeit bills.

Now I have a second loan through Bank of the West for a 246ssi Chaparal boat. Again, I am getting letters and harassing calls regarding the 1st loan for a mobile home that I co-signed for. I informed B of W representatives that if they did not straighten out the problems with the first loan, I was going to discontinue making payments on the second loan as they were going to destroy my credit. It was in the high 780 and low 790s last December. So, I did not make my payment on Sept. 12 as it was due, until Sept. 29, and it posted on Oct. 3. It's funny they corrected the other loan account. At this time, B of W processed check #157 twice. Yes, I said twice, removing $469 dollars from my checking account 2 times. My payment is only $442 and change.

When I noticed the mistake, I called them. They informed me first that it was being reversed. Then, a supervisor told me it could not be reversed, that I had to go to my bank and request they reverse it. And that requires me to take a day off of work. My wife or I had many conversations with B of W regarding these problems, the first on the phone and at the branch level, the second on the phone only. I informed them that they made the mistake again and I was tired of dealing with their mistakes and that they need to fix them. I told them they would play hell getting the next payment out of me as I had already made it. They informed me on 2 occasions that a letter was sent to me, which I have not received to this date, 10-22-2011.

Today, I received their customary harassing phone calls. They called my house phone. I hung up with my work to answer it. They hung up and called my cell phone. When I answered it, they hung up and called my wife's number, which we did not answer. I called them. They informed me the money that they said could not be reversed was back in my account. And they were demanding to know when I was going to make a payment. I pulled up my bank account and the money had been returned. Albeit this does not resolve the bank charges from my bank that I received because of their mistake.

The people at the Bank of the West do not care nor regard the problems that they cause their customers because of their mistakes. But if you make one, they are ready to charge, charge, charge you for yours. The lady on the phone, after demanding to know when I was going to make my payment, reminded me that if I went too long, there would be a fee, and if past 30 days, a negative mark on my credit. My step daughter who made the original deposit into an L.A. County Sheriffs (her brothers) account to make the payment on the mobile home has never had the 200 dollars to my knowledge returned. The harassing repeated calls one after the other on the home and cell phones is uncalled for.

Late last year, I made a change to my mailing address. I called Bank of the West and informed them of the change. A month later I saw no statement for payment. I went to the local branch next to my house at Saddleback in Aurora, CO and spoke with one of the tellers. I made a payment and made another change of address at the counter. I had not noticed that a month and a half had gone by without a statement. I went back to the bank and again made a change of address, this time I had to show my drivers license.

I was told that this was the reason why the bank refused to make the change, since they could not see (verify) my drivers license. Another month and a half went by and no statement. I called the 800 number and was given the runaround. No one wanted to help in any way.

I went back to the local branch next to my house and spoke with the branch manager (Alex), who got on the phone to talk to someone and resolve the matter. I made a payment to bring the account current and at this time, I was informed that I was late with my payment. I made payment to bring the account current. Also, at this time I processed another request for address change and a request to link my checking account to my savings account, so I don't have the risk of being late. A direct deposit within the same bank.

Two months later, I realized that the bank was not taking money from my checking account and I had no idea, so no payments were made. No attempt by the bank was made to contact me in any way. I went back to the branch manager. The manager (Alex) had me write a handwritten letter asking the bank to remove the negative inquiry on my credit report due to a bank error, as a minimum curtsy since I have never been late. Also, he helped me process another direct deposit slip and another change of address form. This time, the change of address finally worked and so did the direct deposit from checking to savings. However, the bank refuses to work with me and remove the negative credit reporting.

Recently, I pulled a credit report to get a home refinance loan and the negative reporting by Bank of the West had come up on all 3 credit reporting agencies. I was unable to secure a favorable loan and had to pass on the refinance. At the same time we had applied for a new loan to purchase an investment property. Due to the reporting, I had to withdraw my application and that effectively ruled out a loan strictly in my wife's name.

I contacted the bank manager but he was on paternity leave. His customer service manager called me back a day later to give me the same 800 useless number and said that there was nothing more that she or Alex could do for me. When I asked for the phone number to the corporate office, the representative went belligerent saying that I put myself in this position. I insisted on a call back from the branch manager or a regional manager and she refused to make any additional effort and became louder. A bit shocked at her behavior, I decided it's best to hang up. I am unable to get anyone who is a decision maker at this bank to listen to reason and provide some relief.

I am seeking the removal of the negative reporting to all 3 credit agencies.

At this time, I am not seeking compensation for the damage caused by the bank error, but I reserve the right depending on the outcome of this complaint. Your expedited help in this matter is much appreciated. Thank you.

Their online banking system is always down. It never fails. Whenever I go on there to check the balance on my checkbook, the system is down or "unavailable". It's incredibly frustrating. It doesn't matter what time of the day it is, either 8:00 a.m. or 4:40 pm, it's always down.

The bank suddenly said our commercial account needs to be closed because of the compliance with the government. Without further explanation, they just closed it without further discussing with us. And they told us to stop using the check. We have the account with the bank for over 6 years and the balance is always over 5 digits. I have left a few messages to the customer service lady at the branch. But she never returned my call. We were totally caught off guarded.

On July 1st, Bank of the West purchased forthplaced flood insurance in the amount of $5939.00 and debited it from my equity line account by accident since I had already paid and renewed my flood insurance.

The problem is they HAVE NOT GIVEN ME BACK MY MONEY and they have proof of insurance. It has been 15 business days today and now I have to pay interest on monies I never needed to use! Please help!

Used Bank of the West for purchase of a motorhome. We have never been late for one payment, paid in extra, made all arrangements for extra to be placed on principal, followed arrangements through banking monthly. After eight years of paying every month on time, I called to see pay off balance and discovered all extra went towards future payments, not principal. I asked to have corrected, could not be done I was told. Then I spoke with Angel *** today on a loan payoff arrangement because of selling motorhome and because of the market, we were upside down by $11,000. So we are making payments for the balanced owed. This unprofessional person was rude, interrupted me while speaking, told me things I have never been told to do since I started using them eight yrs ago.

I called manager and asked for her to call, no response. I will never work with this bank again. He refused to work with me in anything. No extra payment will go towards balance unless I mail in coupon and this loan is set up to be paid through my personal bank automatically. They will not mail a coupon with the payments. I hate this bank and the lack of customer service they give. I have never been late once and have excellent credit ratings and to be treated like this was a stressful experience.

Correction: under incident, I stated that my wife and I were brought up to take the easy way out. I meant that my wife and I were brought up not to take the easy way out.

On 8/20/2010 we went to the Bank of the West Irvine/Walnut location hoping to open an account there. We arrived there at 4:00PM, and they close at 6:00PM. Once we walked in, I went up to the teller named Catalina **, and told her I would like to open an account. She gave me a really bad attitude and said "we don't do that anymore". I asked her why, and she completely ignored me and just walked off.

Then we sat there for awhile, and their branch manager Linda ** came over and said "we do not open account anymore because there are a lot of people before you that we need to process first.". I looked over and only saw 1 customer. So I said "how long does it take to open an account per person?" she said "20 minutes". I said "there is only 1 person in front of us, and you guys close at 6, its only 5 right now." She yelled out "we can refuse service, since this morning before 10AM we have already opened up 20 accounts, and that is enough for our branch. We don't need any more business!" She walked off on us.

After awhile, an older Asian couple walked in, Linda ** walked over to greet them in Chinese and told another employee there (Justin **) to open accounts for that couple. We asked Linda ** why do they get to open accounts before us. She told us with such a bad attitude that "they are my friends! And they are not opening accounts, they just have questions".

Little does she know that I also speak Chinese, I heard the couple explaining to the teller Justin ** that they would like to open up an account. I went over the Justin ** to ask why is he opening up accounts for that couple while we've waited for so long. He said "I am just doing what I was told". During that hour, Linda ** was doing nothing else but just chatting with coworkers, and friends on the phone and purposely not helping us. When finally at 6, she spoke loudly to Catalina ** "I don't know why they are still here crazy people." Then she called us into her cube, took the account application out and slammed it on the table, and said "do you want to open an account or not?". We asked her why does she have such a bad attitude, and how can she let her employees talk to customers like this. She says she does whatever she wants, this is her branch, and bank of the west does not need any more business that day. She said she turned away more than 30 people that day. That was such a bad experience for us. I cannot believe Bank of the West is letting someone like Linda **, Catalina ** and Justin ** turned so many customers like us away.

I'm receiving a text message on my cell phone, "Urgent: Bank of the West Master Card Issue." I have not called the above number. I'm sure this is a scam.

In 2007, we purchased a boat in Jacksonville Florida and our loan was issued through Bank of the West. Since that time, I have made every payment since we have had the boat. When we received a knock at the door from a repossession company coming to repo the boat, I got on the phone with Bank of the West and our current payment has not been posted yet to the account and we didn't hear from the repo guy for the next couple of months. Then again, the same problem. So I pulled all my bank statements and recorded all payments cashed from Bank of the West going one by one from month to month with the Customer Service Representative. I even faxed it and certified mailed a copy of these payments to the main office.

The customer service representative from Bank of the West, after reviewing all the payment, said to me that "what happens a lot of times that when you first buy the boat, the first payment is missed because you haven't received your payment book yet". My comment to him is that it is 4 years later and I am hearing this absurd suggestion. The first time that I had called Bank of the West, the first time the repo man was at my door, they said that I missed a payment in July of 2007. But after I went through the bank statements with the customer service, he made the comment about the first payment. Bank of the West did repo the boat which we used with our son and daughter and enjoyed. They sent me a letter that their intent is to sell it at a private sale. Our intent was to keep this boat or we would not have made all the payments that we did and would have continued to do. My suggestion, do not get involved with Bank of the West.

My Mastercard was closed after having my account open when the bankcard was originally at Commercial Federal. Due to a random credit check and they found that I had medical bills and feel that have been late or missed a payment. How is that possible? Why should I have to pay the monthly payment amount and can no longer use my card?

Bank of the West's radio advertisements and website advertised a free iPod Touch if a checking account was opened with recurring $500+ direct deposits, 10 bill-pays, or 20 debit card transactions before 10/31/10. However, when I went to the Glendale branch to open an account, I was told by the financial service consultant that I needed to also open a savings account. This was not how it was advertised. I was also offered unneeded and unwanted services. When I said that I wanted only what was advertised, a checking account, she said she would help me do it on-line.

I told her that I could not enter a referral form on-line, so I came in. She directed me to the manager, Simon, who said, "You should just go to the Apple store and buy an iPod. You don't want a relationship with our bank. You only want an iPod. A checking account is not a relationship with our bank. Our primary concern is with the customers that we already have. We want to keep the line short. We can't have our customers waiting just so you can open a checking account and get an iPod." Well, if they didn't want new customers, why did they advertise for them?

I actually really like Bank of the West, and I have not had any bad experiences in my branch with the tellers. Basically, since April, hours at work were cut and money has been tight. Paying bills has been a balancing act. Bank of the West has honored checks, with a $35 fee per check. In my mind that was a small price to pay for not having my rent check returned for non-sufficient funds.

On Friday July 9th, I called the 800 number automated system which told me my balance was $169.94. There was a pending charge of $9.99, which left me an available balance of $159.95. My husband had to buy material for a job on Saturday, so we went to Lowe's and spent $43.01. I noted this in my check register and the remaining balance was $116.94. He still needed materials and was going to Home Depot after dinner, so I went out to get gas beforehand.

I stopped first at an ATM and withdrew $102.50 ($2.50 service fee for non-BoW bank). This left me a remaining balance of $14.44. I went to get gas, and planned to get $14 worth, knowing he would be paid on Monday. I got sidetracked and the gas came out to $18.00. So I knew at this point I was -$3.46 overdrawn, and figured I would be assessed a service charge of $35.00 come Monday. Saturday after work, my husband informed me that he would need to buy additional materials. I went to my branch ATM and withdrew $250.00. There was a prompt during my transaction where I had to acknowledge that I was overdrafting my account. I agreed to it. So at this point my account is -$253.46 overdrawn.

My husband gets paid on Monday, but it is too late to run to the bank. First thing Tuesday morning, I make a deposit for $1009.86, which brings my balance in the positive. Wednesday morning, I called the 800 number to go through my checks and receipts to check off what has cleared my account. I learned that my account has been charged an overdraft fee of $140, not $70 as I was expecting! I sent a message online to customer service asking for an explanation. The response is that the computer processes the daily transactions from highest to lowest amount. So for the transactions I made over the weekend where I entered each one chronologically to determine my available balance was a waste.

On Monday morning, the BoW computers processed my $250.00 withdrawal on Sunday first, instantly putting me in a negative balance since my starting balance on Friday was $169.94. I was charged $35.00 for each of the other four transactions made over the weekend, even though they occurred prior to the $250 withdrawal. I called the customer service number and was told the same thing, and the rep said that this is the way they have processed transactions for years, and "surely you should have known about it since you have had an account with us for over a year (actually it has been more like 10 months). Um, no.

He said if I wanted to dispute the charges he would contact my branch manager. He put me on hold for about 5 minutes only to come back to say that the branch manager was unavailable. I could have walked into the bank to speak with him directly, but I haven't. A similar situation happened within the past couple of days, only on a much smaller scale. But this one involved their bank fees for using non-BoW ATMs.

It is bad enough living paycheck to paycheck and trying to pay all of the bills and keep things going. It is another thing to expect to rely on my check register as an accurate account of my balance only to find out that the bank computer system has it's own way of processing my transactions which results in the bank taking money I cannot afford to lose, and making it harder to catch up and stay in a positive account balance. I have been dealing with overdraft fees for BoW since April. While I acknowledge that I have knowingly overdrafted my account, expecting in those circumstances to fairly be assessed an overdraft fee, I feel that they are knowingly and intentionally processing customer transactions to their financial benefit.

I am sorry to say I am a customer of Bank of the West, currently looking for a new "local" bank. My story starts with me paying off my boat loan. I sold my boat on June 26th, 2010 Saturday. I deposited the check on 6/27, Sunday. It posted on Monday 6/28 but they told me there is a hold on it for 10 business days. They said it would be available on 7/8. It was and I was told by my branches loan officer Aaron I could pay it off on line. Simple? I asked him several times about the "pay off," and he stated what it showed is what I owed (really even I know there is interest somewhere there). So when the funds were available I paid it off online. It showed a balance of 0. I thought, "Oh good I guess it is really that easy."

I stopped in on 7/9 to see when and where my title would be mailed to. They (the tellers who looked it up) told me it should be mailed directly to me. I waited a few more days and called. They told me my loan was not paid off? "What?" I said, "But I paid the entire amount." They said, "Oh, but there was interest due until this date," which was now the 20th of July, and they told me not to pay it online because that's not the correct amount. Fine. I went in and paid the $41.75, only to be told they do not have my title. It was lost somewhere in the commercial Federal - Bank of the West Merger. I asked them to look, they said no and if they don't have it they don't have it.

They, however, could send me a "Release of Lien" and I could go get a duplicate title. Duplicates cost $20. By now it is the principal of the thing. I asked who will reimburse me the $20. The CS gal said I could fill out a request in writing and they will forward to the branch manager (who by the way is on vacation for 2 weeks). I did this on 7/21. I asked if there was anything they could do to expedite this and they said, "Oh no, it takes 5 business." And they could not do anything about it. I should receive the "release of lien" by 7/28.

The 28th came and went, no call from the bank, no papers. And I waited, and waited finally I called on 7/31. I was told by Aaron (the loan officer) that it was FedEx'd yesterday 7/30 to expedite the matter and I should receive it on Monday 8/2. What do you say at this point?

Monday 8/2 comes and goes. I called today on my way home 8/3 ,talked to the CS gal, Shannon. She tells me I won't be needing the reimbursement for the duplicate because I won't need a duplicate. They found my title and mailed it out regular US mail on 8/2? I will not hold my breath. I am however looking for a local bank.

my car lease expire and before return the Truck but before return the truck i send to repair some dents an scrachs. I compliance with the term of the lease of my truck but before send back the car i sended to repair of a few hits and scrapes but now the bank wants to charge me for those hits. What I can do because I have photos of the car, was in perfect condition and repaired.

I made a credit card purchase of $115USD (the card purchase actually shown is $120USD, but I get a $5 discount) on or around 04/05/10. My online banking statement 04/07/10 showed that it went through on the 6th, leaving me a balance of $91.19. Planning on spending a little more money the next day, I checked my online account and I was (in less than 24 hours) -$193.90! I am a disabled person who lives on SSDI and only get $1091.00 a month to survive on. I have to be very careful with my money and I knew that after I'd spent that $115 that I'd have a little less than a hundred dollars to live on 'till my next check. So when I saw this, I immediately printed a copy of what I was seeing on my online account and went directly to my bank.

It is important to note that after spending the $115, I had made 5 more purchases for a total of $60.09 which still left me with a positive balance of: $31.10. Following the last transaction, it showed there were 3 $35 overdraft fees, for what I don't know! From what B of W's online banking showed, I still had a positive of $31.10!

Upon talking to a lady at the bank, she informed me that there had been a hold of an additional $120 placed on my account that had not been released (this was for the original purchase of $115 reflecting discount). I asked her to put a stop payment on the $120 because it was for the same purchase and the merchant had already received their money. She refused saying only they can release this "hold" and that I would have to take it up with the merchant which I did.

Here is our correspondence:

"Hi Bryan, Glad I could be of assistance. If the "pre-authorized" charge doesn't disappear after 5 days contact your bank with the authorization code for the transaction and get them to delete it for you - it is as follows: Authorization code: 191144 Our Merchant number is: 275149. Thank you for your patience. Kind Regards, Cat"

"Hi Cat, Thanks for returning my email. I figured it was probably something to do with my bank, although this is the first time this has happened, knowing the corrupt banks over here in the US, I wouldn't put anything past them. I've been a customer of yours for about 5 months now and you people have always been on the "up & up" with me. Right now they're sending me some form to fill out to contest the charge and the overdraft fees that the charge caused. By this time in the month for me, a small amount of money can put me in a world of hurt as I am on a small fixed income. Again, I thank you for getting back to me so quickly, and I will forward your letter to my bank to try and sort this out."

"With the new banking procedures, your card is only 'pre-authorized' when you enter your card details at our website. We do not actually charge your card until we have processed your order and deducted any discount you might be entitled to. The 'pre-authorized' status should automatically delete when the charge appears. However, we've been finding via customer feedback that some US banks list both the pre-authorized status and the completed charge at the same time. The pre-authorization normally deletes after 5 days. If the pre-authorized status is still listed after this time, please contact your bank to delete it from your account. I hope this information has been helpful to you. Please do not hesitate to contact us again if you have any further queries. Kind Regards, Cat"

"Subject: Re: Double Billing of Order Number:** Hi Tom -Bryan Here (Customer Number: **) I left a message on your voice mail regarding my being "double billed" for the following order. My checking account reflects a debit of $115USD on 04-05-2010 to Inhouse Pharmacy (The order was placed on 04-04-2010). Long story short, when I checked my online account balance on 04-07, I was showing 3 $35.00 USD overdraft fees which wouldn't have been there had Inhouse not double-billed me. I went to my bank and confronted them with this whereupon I was informed that there was a $120USD debit on my card from Inhouse (my online bank account did not show this, only the $35.00 O.D. fee). I would appreciate my credit card account be return credited as soon as possible. There is a dispute with the bank that will take a few days (apparently even though I can use this card as a "credit card", they can't, or won't just issue a stop payment on the card!) and I'd rather settle this with you guys than have to deal with a corrupt banking institution. If Inhouse didn't receive the supposed "$120USD" (everybody at the bank, including customer service tells me it hasn't gone through but they won't just cancel it! Sounds kind of fishy to me!), then I apologize, and I then will assume that Bank Of The West is trying to bilk me out of approximately $200USD ($120+Fees)! "

As you can see everything's in reverse. However, when Inhouse Pharmacy gave me the authorization code to release they basically said they weren't going to take that additional $120.. So I called Bank Of The West's customer service line again! I explained to them that I have the authorization code to have the hold on the $120 they effectively "stole" out of my account for the purposes of hoping that I would make more purchases so they could charge me overdraft fees! I explained to the lady (LuAnne -Customer Service manager) that nowhere on my online statement does it reflect any $120 "hold" on my acct. nowhere! And, had I known that I was actually spending $235, instead of $115, I would've managed my funds accordingly!

So, as it stands, as of 04/08/10, Bank Of The West has stolen: $120 (hold) + $140 in O.D. fees(at last count today), for a grand total of $260! What's worse is they are responsible for creating a situation by false and misleading information on their online banking site that gave them the excuse to steal money from a poor and disabled person. This is an outrage! Now, their holding my money hostage until and unless they get around to sending this form out to me to fill-out & send back to wait for them to decide if they're going to pay me back or not. Meanwhile, I have absolutely no money to live on until, of course, they run me through their "Red-Tape" and "bureaucracy" first! Meanwhile, how am I supposed to exist?

I believe (I have a print-out of the very page of my online statement) I have a very good case against them as there is absolutely no indication of a $120 hold on my account. None! Well, if you've read my letter above, I believe it speaks for itself. I also believe I should be entitled to damages (mental, physical, emotional and above all that, financial!) Also let it be known that they did this tortuously to a mentally ill person who lives on disability! Their "customer service" did nothing but give me the proverbial "run-around" and when being apprised of what had happened, stoically (when they had it in their power to do so) kept ignoring all the facts in the case which was just plain evil to to to a disabled person! I may suffer from severe depression (amongst other things), but I'm not stupid! So, in closing outside of financial, mental anguish is certainly on the list!

I had a balance of $600 in my account. $250 was available. $350 they say is processing for purchases that are in process which left me with $250 that is what they say available. I withdrew $500 from my account which left me $250 negative. I was willing to pay the overdrawn fee but they instead don't charge me the overdrawn fee for going over $250 but instead go back to when my other purchases are processing first. They say we take the large amount purchased small items $35, $10 and so on then the largest amount last $500 that made me overdrawn first.

All of sudden, it's not one item overdrawn but 6 or 7 things overdrawn with a fee of 35 on each item. They say processing on those little items and they make it known that your balance is $350 less than what is available because of those little items purchased but they wait to tell your in the negative so they can kick in those little items they say is processing so they can kick in all these late fees. I really think this is unfair practice and should be looked into. If I don't make any sense, please call me with the number I provided. Thanks.

The Bank of the West should get a different bookkeeping system. They hold bills that come in 3 to 6 days before they pay the bill from my account. On 1/29/2010, there was money taken out of the ATM and there wasn't enough money in my account and they have denied the transaction. Now, they want charge me for the transaction when it was their fault the transaction took place.

I had $188.25 in the bank on Monday and now today, they told me I'm short $96 if this is how they make extra money by cheating their older customers, that make for bad business. People will start leaving that bank. I can't get on the online banking, they first told me that I had the wrong window and now they tell me that the dial up is to slow. Why can't they make up their minds. When a person calls and ask about your bank account, they should tell you the truth.

I called them 5 days in a row and each time they didn't tell me the truth, they told me that more in the account than it was and I believed them. The $100 that was taken out from the ATM machine should have been rejected but they let him take it out and that was on 1/29/2010 and they paid it on 2/9/2010. It should have been taken out on 2/3/2010 when there was money there. I guess this is how they make extra money. I can't afford them waiting forever to pay out the bills that messes up my account. Now, I don't have enough money to pay my bills and I need to see a doctor and now I don't have the money. They should not screw around with a Senior Citizen bank account. I don't know if they pay the $30 check and I don't if I can go out and get the food that that check was for.

I hurt my knee and I need to see a doctor and now I can't. The way that they have treated me the last 2 months, I feel like I'm having a nervous break down and now I don't have enough money to pay my utilities and my gas, lights phone cable will be shut off. I don't have enough money to buy any food.

I have banked with Bank of the West for quite sometime now, and I check my balance with their website daily. Recently, I logged on and several days of transactions were missing. They apologized for the inconvenience. But when they got the problem resolved and posted my account information I was in the negative with $140.00 worth of overdraft fees. I could have made a deposit to prevent this from happening if I had known there was an issue. I contacted them and they apologized again for the inconvenience and refunded me $35.00.

They changed the order of the debits so they could get as much as they can out of me. I also have overdraft protection and if they did not change the order, I figured I would have only had one fee. Their website is very unreliable and when they make a mistake, they will not stand behind it. They need to let their customers know they cannot rely on this method of record keeping that they provide. As of Monday morning, I will be opening an account with a different bank. Thank you for your time.

I was pulling into the parking lot on my motorcycle when a guy in a truck backed into me. He would have continued to back up if I hadn't been able to reach my horn in time. My leg was pinched between his rear bumper and my motorcycle engine. He said he was sorry and left. The whole time a security guard was standing in the parking lot by the entrance watching with a big smile on his face. I limped over to the ATM and asked the security guard if he was going to do anything about the guy and who may have also been intoxicated. The security guard said "Nah he don't drink" and walked into the bank shaking his head and chuckling. I called customer service and told them what happened and they asked me if there was any damage to the building. They said they couldn't do anything and to call someone else. I called another number and spoke to Alicia who told me she would look into it. If that security guard is still working next week I will be closing my accounts and going to a local credit union because Bank of the West is NOT a safe place for me to do business. That security guard should have went to the scene and assisted me instead he defended the driver who ran over me and treated me like dirt. He should have asked if I needed assistance and got the license plate number of the driver but he just didn't care at all.

We go to the bank to dispute it. We are told that we have to go after the merchant to get the fees paid back.....The manager tells us it takes up to 48 hrs for refunds to come across. I told her, I understand how the credit card machines work and it should have voided itself out before they even sent their "batch report" for the day. The really funny thing is that on MY statement, the charge only went through once for 288.00 and left us with a couple hundred bucks positive.....sneaky, sneaky....I have filed a complaint with the FDIC and recommend for everyone else to do the same. They need to close this corrupt bank down!!!!

We had a Bank of the West Account for nearly two years here in Oakland, CA. I have a small business and I know that customer service is important. This bank is by far the WORST bank I have ever dealt with and have no intention of returning again. They hold the checks for too long, charge you as many fees as they can possibly get away with and their employees do not care about their clients. They have costed me hundreds in fees and have lost me accounts.

I live in Nevada, after moving from California. I own a small bookkeeping firm and my clients are still in California. All of my payments come from banks in California. When I make deposits at my local Henderson branch (which is 25 minute drive from my home) I never have my California checks put on hold. But lately if I drive only 20 minutes to the Bank of the West branch in Las Vegas (saving me 5 whole minutes) they put 5 day collection holds on my California checks. I do not understand why the Henderson branch does not but the Las Vegas branch does. What has no occured twice is that I have funds listed in my account that I cannot access for 5 days (banking days keep in mind) and then they start bouncing my checks that come in and charge me $35/check for them. For the month of September 2009 alone they have taken $560.00 in fees from my account after holding checks twice that month.

I have been banking with this bank for years. 10 years. i deposited my retirement in there bank last year i guess thats not enough. my car burnt and i needed $1500 to get a car purchased.out of the insurance money i got. they would not have it they wanted to deposit the whole check for 7 days. i told them thats crazy im paying for a rental. they didnt care i filed a complaint i then went in 4 days later to deposit my check $651. and i would get cash back. they wanted to whole check again. i again fought with them and i get well maybe the check wont clear. this is a comp check i have deposited for 2 years. and now this. and i argued with them again and they didnt seem to care again and they are still holding my other check.

I have been a customer with Bank of the West for almost 10 years. I have never had a complaint until now.

The next day, I checked their online banking and it showed that I had the full amount ready and available. I showed up that day and asked if I could withdraw $2,800 for a vehicle that I wanted to purchase. The Teller had to ask Account Clerk that originally opened the account for me why she was unable to withdraw the amount. Turns out they did not place a hold on the account immediately, like they were supposed to. I was told that the funds would be available on Friday (07/24/09).

I returned on Friday and was told that the funds would not be available until Tuesday (07/28/09). Then I was handed a "Notice of Hold" document showing me when the funds would be available. I was told there was no way I could get my funds before Tuesday.

I attempted to close the account and take the claim check back so I could do business elsewhere. I was informed that they could not give me the check and that if I wanted to close the account, I would have to wait until Wednesday (07/29/09).

I got home and called the 1-800 number listed on my new account card. I was told there was nothing they could do and that I should contact the Customer Service Manager at the location I do business with.

I called my local Bank of the West and was told by the Customer Service Manager that he would have done the same thing and that he's sure the other Bank of the West employees were not trying to make me look like a liar or make me feel bad. I was told that the "Notice of Hold" document did not have to be given to me immediately. However, the document clearly states the notice should be given at the time of deposit.

Not only did the Teller, Account Clerk, and Customer Service Manager treat me like a second class citizen, but they all lied to me to cover up their actions.

Bank of the west has caught me in their web of technicalities. I didn't realize it but I fell for one of the most basic methods they currently have for stealing your cash, legally. I call it Transaction Hold.

Here is how it works in their favor (and this is how it happened to me): The Company that you use your ATM card with, let's say a gas station, has the option to hold your fund for a few days or deposit it right away. Most hold it for a few days. Lets say while your ATM balance is 40 dollars, you make a gas purchase for $35. It leaves your balance at a positive $10. All is well if you decide not to use your ATM card until after you make your next deposit.

Here is the clincher - We will say you are a college student with no job relying on loans to get you through school and you need to purchase a new tire for your car. Since it is a necessity to get you to school, you buy the $50 tire. You figure that you have $10 in your account, and it is the day after you made the gas purchase and you can handle one over draft fee as your loan is coming in in a few days. The tire brings you down to a negative balance of $40. The tire company places your 50 bucks on hold as the gas company still has your $35 on hold as well.

In the real world where an apple plus and apple makes two apples, you have just drawn your account into over draft one time for those new tires you needed. But in the eyes of a greedy banker, such as BOTW CEO Michael S. you owe 70 bucks on top of your $40. That's right, instead of using that money to feed yourself for the next three weeks, your money is now going to feed some fat old greedy bankers appetite for a $70 plate of calamari.

Since your ATM transactions are on hold at the same time, the bank considers them a lump sum and creates an over draft flag on your account thereby sending ALL transactions, regardless of common chronological sense, through as over drafts. And this is how they make money. Shall we call them human? They are animals, using the legal system to rape us of our hard earned money. And they lecture us about being responsible as if they are better than us?

I called to ask for a deferment on my auto loan because of a hardship my fiance and I are going through. I have received applications for deferments before. Some I have used just for convenience, some I havent. I really need this right now and asked for help so my account wouldn't default.

They said I didn't qualify at this time and that I may qualify next month if their is a promotion. I don't need it next month when it's convenient for them, I need it now when its necessary for me.

I was completely baffled because I haven't been late on one payment since I was transferred over to them 3 and a half yrs ago. Not one! I am still in shock that someone who actually makes their payments on time gets turned down when they need it most. I'm not asking to skip it, I know I will have to pay it at the end of my term anyway.

On their website it states that they place customers interests foremost. I don't beleive that.

bank of the west security towed my car while I was conducting business at their bank. I was ejected from the bank and spent three weeks homeless in san jose on business

I was victim of scam and now months later Bank Of The West have not help me to get my money back but they have closed my account!!!

When I found out about the scam I immediately contacted Bank Of The West.

They did not care!

Allways different story why they have not done it yet.
Now I was told that they have closed my account but won't even give the information why it is closed.
What a customer service!

I will keep on complaining about this because want other to know how they take care of their customer when they need to do something.

It is not right that bank can treat their customers like that, they supposed to be serving their customers or how it is....

In March of 2005 I purchased a new 2005 GMC SIERRA 1500 series Z71 crew cab model truck, from a local dealership. Note: This was my third purchase of a GM product in about 6 years. because I liked GM products. In Jan of 2007 I fell on hard times personally and financially. I informed the lenders represenative from Bank of the West that I was facing some difficult times, and I could use some help with my truck payment. This was my only vehicle at the time. I was informed that I could make partial payments and keep my Vehicle. This went on for a couple of months. I then sent in a payment of $400.00 28 days later they sent A reposession team to my home to reposes my vehicle. The vehicle was surrendered but with doubt about the validity of the lenders actions.

Because I could not get the lenders Rep. to talk to me at this time. I then petitioned the lender in writting regarding this issue and expressed my concern for their actions, and my concern for consumer rights. I don't deny I was delinquint on some monies owed, but I was confused as to my rights as a consumer and equity if any. I was informed by the lender that my vehicle was impounded and that I had to come up with the entire payoff amount approx: $28,500.00 to have the truck returned.

I argued the point and questioned them about just paying the past amount due. Approx $800-$900.00. They denied my request and auctioned off my vehicle. Then they tried to collect approx $5500.00 from me. I then questioned them about The extended warrenty from GM, G.A.P. insurance and the Road hazard warrenty that were all financed into the terms of the loan over the period financed. To this day GMC continues to try and contact me about my extended warrenty.

I was basically a single father without transportation. This caused more economic hardship and stress. The way I was treated as a repeat consumer has really soured my taste for GM and Bank of the West. This was several years ago and the scars left by this entire expierience and the people envolved are deep. I feel cheated and robbed I was always a good customer had good revolving credit and paid my debts. I fell on hard times and was misled. I don't deny my own faults, but felt positive about my recovery. Why am I questioning this now? Now the taxpayer is being called to bail out GMC and MULTIPLE Banks. Now GMC is offering all kinds of acts of forgiveness and kindness to anyone who purchases a new vehicle and looses their job. This is hypocrocy and not right. I can honestly say that I will never purchase a new GM product or do business with bank of the West AGAIN.

I was treated unfair by all the people envolved and will be very carefull about any Bank or Auto Manf. I do business with in the future. BUYER beware Word Of Mouth Advertising it is valuable information. In closing: I feel that I have been able to vent my expierience, the bailout of GMC has re-kindled my emotions and I don't feel this is appropiate. I was honest about my situation and just wanted the opportunity to make it right. I to had Money invested in my transportation and needed this vehicle for my own livley hood. Not only did they hurt me and my family financially, but they hurt the future of America.

I just read all the negative input about Bank of the west & I just don't get it. I have always had very good experiences with this bank. All the tellers have been very nice. I have been with them for many many years. The customer service has been outstanding. It is always a pleawsure to go in Bank of the West

I thought I was the only one that this happen too. I had the same problems of not knowing when they could withdraw an amount on my check and that's how I got into problems with creditors. Of course, my creditors wouldn't believe me that I had deposit the amount into my checking account and they would process the payment on the same day every month and I would usually end up with a negative or 0 and if it was 0 my checking card would be declined. I never had this problem with Washington Mutual or Bank of America and trust me I've been familiar with the bank system since I was a kid. After, 8 months or so I paid off the amount I owed so I can hopefully open a bank account with some other bank.

I open a small business account Premium Workout. I overdraft my account. They charge me 39.00 for each overdraft and 3.00 dlls every working day. I went and talk about giving me a break on charges She was rude and told me it was my responsibility even when I mention I didn't know about the $3.00 daily fee and mention I wasn't handed or address that info when I had open my account. Needles to say she was not understanding at all. Two days later I received a mailing notice on how much I was charge for having to pay a check for $5,000.00 dlls. They describe the check number, the amount, the date and how they have paid this check. My account was overdraft 446.00 dlls.

I panic call the 1800 no. and they couldn't give any info regarding the charges and check. I didn't wrote the check and I was hurting on trying to pay the 446.00 dlls overdraft. They didn't and couldn't gave any info saying I need it to contact the branch I open my account. You can imagine in how deep stress I found myself I got bad headache. I couldn't sleep that night. All night I was wondering who in the world wrote a check for 5,000.00 on my account.?

Next morning I call a couple times without response. I stop by as soon as knew the bank was ready to be open. I approached Sandy and ask what is the problem. She said what problem. She check the account and said well it seems there is a mistake You bet there is I replay I didn't wrote a check for that amount I can even paid my overdraft how in the world is this error posted in my account. She said well I do not know but I will corrected and I am sorry.

I said I am sorry last time I was here you were less than sympathetic when I express my concern for all the charges on my account. Now it is OK for you Bank to made the mistake without consequences but it is not OK for me. I couldn't talk and started crying I felt so taken advantage of and no care at all. I am here starting my business strangle to meet needs and the ones on top without mercy put more garbage on you and with a sorry it was and error stay clean. I have not being able to come up with the 494.00 overdraft going up every day. How can they get away and how can this be fear. HELP ME make sense. Thank

Stress, stress bad headaches and depression. Got sick.

Ugly , rude customer experience. I have never experienced this kind of thing in my life. We simply do not act this way to others, much less customers here in the midwest. Great California Bank.

I have not been paid for almost 7 months. My employer continue to issue checks without having sufficient funds in the account. However, my employer reported to the IRS that I cashed these checks. I went to the Bank of the West, the brunch mentioned above, to cash one of my older checks. The teller told me the account is unavailable because of lack of funds. I asked her to give me a note to proof that I tried to cash my check. The teller and her supervisor (this was happening on February 20, 2009, at 12:15pm Pacific Time) told me that is the company policy to not give me the note I requested. They should be able to issue a note to specify the lack of funds in the account and help me proof to the Labor Department and the IRS that I tried to cash the check.

However, the teller was very rude and laughing all the time about a situation which is not hilarious at all. Who could laugh about someone who did not get paid for almost 7 months? It looked like she knows very well my employer (she wanted to call my employer, which was fine by me although I didn't see the reason for that, maybe they are friends?), and she was basically supporting my employer instead of helping me. Is your company policy to support people like my employer who do not conform to our laws?

At this same branch I had a problem before when I cashed an older check (because I couldn't cash it on time for insufficient funds). They called my employer to double check. To double check what? I have a perfect valid check, driver's license (ID). Why do I have to wait for 1 hour to get my money? Is my employer the owner of your bank? Why should they call my employer every time I go there? There is a trend to help this employer who does not pay the employees?

Because of your employees I was not able to get in a timely manner a proof that I tried to cash my check(s). Your employees, on top of being rude, delayed the process of collecting my rightful money from my employer. Now I will have to deposit one check in my account, wait until that check will bounce, pay out of my pocket the penalty for the bounced check, and maybe loosing almost $45,000 in wages if the company I work for file for bankruptcy before I report them to the Labor Department and IRS.

Bank of the West deceives customer by making their beleive their available balance is what the customer actually has avalilable in his/her checking acct when in reality, it is either a negative balance or others transactions hasn't been processed.

I did an inquiere recently at a Bank of the West ATM, and the machine gave the
amount available. I made some purchases based on that amount, to find
out later, that there were other pervious charges that were not reflected
in the available balance even when I used a debit card.
On top of that, they charged twice for

the same transaction.

They charged me a 105 dollars fee!

The Bank of The West branch in Redondo Beach, CA is the WORST! Bad customer service, unreliable information to customers, ugly people (Lies), and just plain rude.

Four transactions were paid online and posted the next day, two days later a check came through which would have cause the account to become overdrawn, but the bank paid the check and charged each online transaction a overdraft fee of $32.00 each totaling $128.00 If they would not have paid the check I would have only owed $89.00 I requested an investigation and was told by customer service over the phone I would receive a letter from the bank within 5-7 business explaining what happen. I never heard from them. I called a second time. Still no letter of explaination. The only letter they sent me was to let me know my account was overdrawn by $185.00.

As a result my account is overdrawn $185.00.

After having my wallet stolen I switched Bank of the West branches for convenience. I have had nothing but problems since! My new Bank of the West branch routinely puts through debits prior to direct deposits in order to charge the maximum amount of overdraft fees as possible! The first time I received an overdraft notice it had the same date of the direct deposit. These debits came through. I took these notices in to my old branch (where this never happened!) and the teller agreed that this did not seem right so she called customer service for me. They would not speak to her on my behalf and were rude to me as well. She suggested I go to my new branch.

When I went in to complain I was told that the charges actually came through the night before but are posted the next morning before the direct deposit was posted so my account was negative. I showed her the NSF notice with the date on it and she still stuck to her story. (they have since re-worded the notices) I also pointed out that some checks were honored and some were not and she told me it was up to the manager whether to honor the checks or not. Even though I had the money to cover them from the direct deposit. What?

I could not believe the differences from branch to branch and how you are at the mercy of someone who just decided hmmm...I'm not going to honor that check This practice cost me a huge amount of NSF fees as well as fees from the persons I wrote checks to not to mention the embarrassment. It was a viscious cycle of trying to dig out of a hole that seemed so unreasonable on Bank of the West's part!

The fees were in the hundreds of dollars as well as the fees from the people I wrote checks to that Bank of the West decided not to honor.

Wrote check on June 15, 2005 placed stop payment on item October 26, 2005 because I paid the person cash, because he said he never got my check. Three (3) years later he cashed my check and Bank of the West at first said they would take care of it then they said NO. Then they said only if I can prove that I paid in cash they would return my money.

The transaction overdrafted into my savings account, Bank of the West charged me $10.00 (they made money off it) It has taken me three days to deal with this, multiple phone calls, red tape.

We have had a terrible time with this bank. We were having trouble with Union Bank (still are) so we decided to move our business accounts to Bank of the West. When we talked with the new acct rep, we stipulated that we required a small line of credit to cover cash flow crunches from time to time. He said 'No problem' so we switched. About three weeks went by and now with all of our merchant deposits going into Bank of the West, we followed up with the guy and he informed us that we couldn't get the line of credit because we needed two years of operating!

Had we known this, we never would have switched, well live and learn....last year they had charged us in the neighborhood of $7,000 for clearing nsf checks(which clear faster now that Check 21 is in place) What a windfall! They cannot offer a $2,500 overdraft acct but they can sure take the $7,000 in fees. Seems like a pretty good racket if you ask me. In my research, I've seen where people can try to get the exorbitant fees back but businesses can't. Is that true?

We are a small business. We struggle to keep the doors open and the lights on but with this and all the other costs out there(taxes, workers comp, health insurance, ever increasing utilities, inflated rents, It's hard to see how anyone can make it!

in there opinion,

nevertheless the last insurance document was sent to bank of the west, through my own insurance company, which is as followes.

Bank of the West have caused me great deal of stress, since they are keep threating me that if i do not purchase a car insurance form them for my pick up,they would report me to credit card company.

At one point the account was referenced to a higher end representative who was demanding we make payment to her, but my wife made payment through the regular customer service department. When I informed this woman of the fact we made payment she was very upset. I think because she did not get credit for getting the payment. She then asked where we kept our boat, I informed where it was at that time. It was in for repair at that time and not at our regular marina.

Within 2 or 3 months or so we were late in making payment and the boat was repossesed with no notice or pohne calls. When we called we were told that because we lied about where the boat was, the boat was taken and was in Maryland with several thousand dollars of my personal property aboard. They said the marina we gave as the location of the boat during my conversation with that representative did not exist. The Marina did exist, they just were looking at the section of the marina that had closed. However the main marina was still open and that was where our boat was when they inquired.

Subsequent to that we took the boat back after the repairs to our regular slip and marina. I was not going to be able to pay for shipping to and from Maryland plus all the other fees for what I felt was a repossesion based on spite by that woman and incorrect information on the location of our boat gathered by their repo agency.

We would never have let the boat go, but their unnecessary actions made it impossible to handle this any other way. What was owed on the boat was less than what it was worth, so without hearing from The Bank of the West we assumed that was the end of the ordeal.

This was very upsetting to me and my family, due the fact that we were late making a payment we lost the prize possesion of our family. Now they are trying to collect $17,000.00, saying that was the difference between what was owed and what they sold it for. The boat was in immaculate condition and I made a significant down payment. If they sold it for as little as they say, then they gave the boat away. I not only have no intention of paying them, but want to know if I have any right to sue them?

I was called up for Operation Iraqi freedom and returned home injured. I contacted the bank since we were late a few time because of my medical situation but before we made our payments on time. They told me that we could not get a diferment. I ask why because I was late a few times. All I was told was to make payments or they would take the van. This was my wife's van. they were rude so I got rude back. They told me I was not on the loan, so I said fine, but they sent a tow truck to my mom and dad's house to bug them about the the van to which they know nothing about . All I've gotten was harrased and spoken to rudely by the Bank of the West employees. Please help disable vet.

I have stress and more stress about the situation. I got a differment from my bank on my car. 6 times they worked with me but, Bank of the West have made nothing but threats about lawyers to me and again I'm not on the loan.

A Bank of the West manager instructed one of her employees to approach a friend who was a banker at another bank to steal my personal and banking information. This was done in retaliation due to a family dispute. The Bank of the West employee walked out of the other bank with my personal information including account numbers, social security number, drivers license number and birth date. This information was subsequently transmitted out of state. All of these activities took place during working hours while these people were on the payroll of the Bank of the West. The banker at the other bank was terminated immediately upon discovery of the unauthorized access and later hired by Bank of the West.

Consumers need to be aware that although the following appears on the Bank of the West web site:

The Banks reputation for honesty and integrity is the sum of the personal reputations of its individual employees. Ours is a culture of ethical behavior, in which we protect the confidence and privacy of our customers and scrupulously avoid conflicts of interest.

The Bank of the West does not enforce this statement nor do they discipline any managers who violate this statement. The Bank of West actually takes the position that the activities of their managers are personal activities and not an issue for the bank despite the statement above related to their core values.

Federal agencies such as the FDIC and the California Department of Financial Institutions do not take any action related to this type of identity theft activities. Law Enforcement agencies, most notable, The Los Angeles County Sheriffs department will not take any action in a case like this unless there are fraudulent activities that actually occur with the stolen identity.

I used my Visa ATM/debit card for all my shopping online and for paying bills online. The card info was stored at the sites that I shop from. I had everything set up for speedy paying. I had to go to all my accounts and change the card numbers and expiration dates. It was very inconvenient. An order that I had forgotten about was cancelled because the Visa card showed that it wasn't any good. I also missed an automatic shipment from a company I purchase from because the card was denied. I didn't want to change to MC but I had to.

In the year 2001 I closed my account at the Sanwa Bank (now Bank of the West)and a few weeks later I received a phone call advising me that the bank made an error and I still owed them $400.00. I asked them to show me proof of this $400.00 that I owed. The bank never did.

Months later I was then contacted by a woman from the banks' collection department. I explained the circumstances of my account to her. She then asked me to fax her a copy of the check($4,500.00)that I used to close the account. After weeks of looking into this case she said that the bank did make a mistake and not to worry because she was going to take care of it. I never heard from them again.

A few months ago I tried to apply for a loan at my bank (Washington Mutal) and was denined due to the bad reporting by Sanwa Bank and Bank of the West(duplicate reporting for same incident). Please help me! I've called the bank to have this resolved and no one can find any record of this anywhere.

I closed my account(1999?) at that branch and a few months later I received a letter explaining that a mistake was made and that I owed the bank $700.

I had a overdraft line account limit of $5,000 and owed $4,500. On the day in question I wrote a check for $4,500 and closed the account. I called the bank and asked them to explain to how I could possibly owe them $700. They explained to me that some checks or transactions did not clear. I then explained to them that it was not possible due to the fact that the maxium available was $500. I also asked them to prove and show me the checks/transactions ect. that supported this claim.

A week later the bank called me back and said that they made a mistake and told me that I only owed them $500 and not $700. They were not able to show me or prove to me where all the other checks/transactions that added up to $500 came from. I then told them that I was not going to pay them any money until they could show me that I was responsible for these charges. I asked them to take this to court so I could show them that I was not responsible for this.

They then said that they were going to re-open my account, after I had closed it, and not close it untill I paid the $500.

Months later I was contacted by a collecting agency(Sanwa). I explained the entire story to her. She asked me to fax a copy of the check of $4,500. and a statement from the back. Weeks later she called me back and said that I was right and that there was no evidence that I was responsible for this balance. She then said she was going to forward the case to the bank. Months later I received a letter from Bank of the West explaining that they were now taking over for Sanwa.

I then had to go through the whole entire process again. I never heard from again.

About a month ago I tried to apply for credit/loan at my bank (Washington Mutual) and was denied because of my credit report. I then requested a credit report from Equifax and found that I had two charges of bad debt. One from Bank of the Wast and the other from Sanwa Bank. This was the same incident but it was showing up as two separate ones. I wrote a letter to Equifax and explained the incident and within weeks they deleted one of the two.

My complaint is I do not believe that companies,such as this one, have the right to unjustly ruin my credit especially when they have nothing to support their claim.

These people have been irrsponsible and negligent in ruining my credit report and preventing me from accomplishing things in my daily life.

My son had an account at Bank of the West four four years. I had an account for one year. We questioned four policies and we wrote to the president of the bank. The issues concerned: 1) a tax refund check, 2)the reason for wildholding a deposit for an extremely long time, 3) changing the mother's maiden name on my son's account and 4) the identification policy for cashing checks. (The bank couldn't release a copy because it is an internal document)

On August 14, the branch manager closed our accounts. No reason was given except that the bank had the right to close any account at any time.

We have to find another bank. Also, we are not sure if the closing of the accounts will appear in our credit reports.