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GTE Financial CU Issue Wrongly Charging Inactivity Fee

me1004
  |     |   1,381 posts since 2010

Just an alert to anyone with a CD with GTE Financial CU. You might need to be on watch for this.

I saw on my December statement from GTE Financial that they charged me an inactivity/dormancy fee that was not supposed to be applied. The reason I had noted for myself that that would not apply after six months was because I have a CD with them. But it was applied anyway.

I called to see about this.

Background: When I considered going to them, I went to extreme effort to get on top of their fees, as they are all over like a field of landmines. I specifically questioned very deeply into this one. I don't recall all the details, but this might be the one where it said one thing on the Fee Schedule and another on it's Website pages.

I spoke with a CSR Thursday. She put me on hold for a good 20 minuties, while she looked into it. She said she checked with her supervisor and spoke with the department that handled this matter, and apparently very deeply, as I was on hold a long time, I almost gave up and hung up.

Bottom line, she says I am right, the fee is not supposed to apply for me, although she added that it was becuase I have a CD and I'm a senior. I never wrote in my notes that my age had anything to do with it.

She reversed the fee, but not noting in my account as their mistake, instead noted as a Courtesy Reversal in my account.

I told her she needs to tell that department they need to get that error fixed so it doesn't happen again. She said she had, and they say there is nothing they can do, they say I WILL HAVE TO call in every six months to get them to reverse it.

That calling in is 100% unacceptible, but I could get nothing done about it. All they need to do is have the tech people go in and add or change a little coding so the fee is not applied when the account holder has a CD and I suppose is old enough. That is fairly easy to do. But they say they can't, I have to keep on watch and call in every time.

Of course, when I waste my time and call in in six months, that CSR won't know anything, will say they previously had merely given me a one-time courtesy reversal, my first one after six months with them. They won't likely get involved in 20 minutes of me on hold while they do a deep dive, and hopefully find I'm right. But even if they do, and they reverse the fee, this is unacceptible that I have to be on watch for that and have to call in every six months and spend all of time on the phone with them over it -- for the next several years (at least until my CD finally expires).

I also note, while I said I was not threatening any legal action, I pointed out that they have now been notified, they know of it. If they don't fix it, they face serious legal liability for collecting that fee, with seriously punitive damages since they have been informed. Over the number of customers they have, that false fee coud add up to quite a hefty sum, this is no nickle and dime issue. And they refuse to fix it! Many class action lawsuits are filed over this very kind of action, with millions of dollars awarded in the final settlement.

I note, I did follow up in my online account messaging to them, told about the issue, and insisted they fix it -- and saying, while pointing out I am not threatening, that that does expose them to serious legal liabiility. So they are fully informed, and that is now documented in writing.

I recommend anyone doing business with GTE watch their statements closely for wrongful fees. You will need to look at not only the Fee Schedule, but their Web pages, because, as I noted, they can say the opposite.

BTW, this is why to always take action to opt out. I did so when I opened my GTE account, as I always do.

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racecar
  |     |   628 posts since 2014
Many places waive inactivity fees if you have a CD with them, but not all, and things can change at any time with everything from an update in the place's terms, to an update of their software which will assess a fee, whether correctly or incorrectly.

But there IS a solution for this. It'll take a bit of (easy) work initially, but then you'll never have to worry about it anymore.

SOLUTION:
Find a good "hub" bank, link all the places you have accounts at, and set up automatic ACH transfers into the savings accounts of all the places you have accounts at, for 1c (or similar) every 6 months. I started that years ago and have never had an inactivity fee assessed (because 1c or not, any deposit is activity!)

SOME NOTES TO MAKE IT SMOOTHER:
(1) At your hub bank, if possible, create a special, extra savings account JUST for this purpose. Many banks will let you open up multiple savings accounts with them, like when people want to have separate accounts for saving for a car, a house, etc. If possible, create an account JUST for these Transfers. All you need in it is about $5 (available) or so, unless there's there's a minimum balance requirement. Even if you were to link to 25 other bank accounts, at 1c every 6 months that'd only cost you 50c a year (which you can always get back anytime you want).

(2) Check out the Fee Schedules of each place and set your automatic transfers for a timeframe that's LESS than what the place says will trigger an inactivity fee. In other words, if the Fee Schedule says "12 months with no activity" will cause a fee, don't set it for 12 months -- set it for 6 months. Most places are at least 12 months, and for all of those I have mine automatically do a 1c deposit every 6 months. There is one place where the fee gets assessed after only 6 months, so for that place, I do a 1c deposit every 3 months.

(3) Make sure your hub bank can set up these payments automatically (most places can). Then you can literally "set it and forget it". Maybe every few years put another $3 into that hub bank account, but doing this solution, once set up, is all automatic, you never have to think about it again, and you'll never get assessed an inactivity fee.

(4) Say you have 10 other Banks/CUs where you have accounts. When you start linking your hub bank to all those accounts, it's better not to try to do all 10 of them at the same time, but to wait until one is completely finished before doing the next. The reason for this is because many times the required "trial deposits" (which you have to verify the correct amounts of in order to successfully link your accounts) can look alike when you get them, and it can be impossible to tell which one came from which place! So if you're trying to link your Hub bank to: (a) Bank of Abe, (b) Bank of Bob, and (c) Bank of Charlie, when you see the trial deposits after a day or two, SOMETIMES it will indicate that it's from "Bank of Bob" or whatever, but many times it will just say something non-committal like "TRIAL DEPOSIT, 21c" and you won't know which bank it came from if you try to do multiple ones at the same time. That's why it's better to link them one at a time -- when one's complete, then start the process to link the next one.

(5) Make sure you have at least $2 available balance in all of the accounts you want to link to before you start the link process to that place. (The reason: there's usually 2 trial deposits--always under $1 each but it could be as high as $1.98 total--and depending on your bank's software, sometimes the ORDER is switched so the tiny deposits are requested back before they're deposited, which could cause an overdraft fee. Just make sure you have at least $2.00 available in all the accounts you want to link and this will never be an issue).

(6) One obscure thing to know when doing just the INITIAL linking process only: if any of your Banks/CUs still use the no-longer-required "Regulation D" rule which limits electronic withdrawals to 6 per month: the SENDING hub bank won't consider the trial deposits as counting towards them, so no worry there. But most of the time the hub bank sending out those test deposits THEN tries to "get them back" (otherwise they'd lose money on all of these tests for millions of people!) -- and the RECEIVING bank/CU (the one you're trying to link to) that got those test deposits... when they're "clawed back" it CAN count towards the "6 allowed monthly withdrawals" if that Bank/CU still has that limit in place. Again, not a worry really, but just be aware that if one of the banks/CUs you're trying to link to has a limit of 6 Electronic Withdrawals per month, the initial linking process will probably count as 2 of them when the hub bank requests its 2 trial deposits back.

(7) Every time I start with a new Bank/CU, I always set it up like this so there's never a problem later. If you haven't done so before, just do it now. Again, once set up, you never have to worry about inactivity fees ever again, senior or not :)
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choice1
  |     |   371 posts since 2023
NFCU changes accounts to inactive w/o notice. Have to see what i call a one page summary sheet to see activity status for various accounts…moved one dollar from checking. Balance in other accounts is immaterial…never saw their status change
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me1004
  |     |   1,381 posts since 2010
Good info, Racecar, I know that, though, I do it with another CU. But the other, I am supposed to get the fee, they are not wrongly imposing the fee. As per your #7, this already was never supposed to happen, I already made sure it would noyt before I even opened the CD.

GTE is telling you that you don’t get the fee, then coming back when you’re not looking and imposing it. (I note, another rule they have, you must contact them within 6 days of the problem, or you lose your option to get reimbursed! Fortunately, I noticed it 4 days after they imposed it.) Many people will not notice, and in effect, that leaves GTE fleecing them. And GTE refuses to do anything about it, says there is nothing they can do — but of course they can. And I can assure you, if they instead were accidentally giving us money they were not supposed to, they would fix that right away!

@choice1, yes, same with this issue at GTE, no notice (as in advance), in fact, in advance, the ”notice” was that it would not be imposed. And GTE even now agrees, it should not be imposed — but they refuse to fix it.
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njs
  |     |   71 posts since 2019
I only have cd's with them. Checked my statement. No inactivity fees listed. I've been a member since 2019 and have never had an inactivity fee. I have an ira at a local CU where I do have to make a small deposit every two years to avoid this.
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me1004
  |     |   1,381 posts since 2010
You don't even have a transactionable savings account? How did you open the CD without a savings account to deposit your money into and then transferred to open the CD? (Maybe you are near a branch.) I think one of the things I was told is that if you have no money in your savings account (transactionable, you do have to have a savings with $5, but you can't make any transactions on that account), then no fee will be taken. Same, I suppose, if you donb;t have a usable savings account.

They won't take it from the CD.
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sams1985
  |     |   781 posts since 2022
That is correct, i keep only $5 in the savings account. I closed my gte CD last year but kept the account open. I get the inactivity fee as but as soon as it posts the the computer just voids it.
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njs
  |     |   71 posts since 2019
I have the 5.00 member share but never had anything in the savings account. For the initial deposit for the cd they transferred the funds from another cu. Back when they had the add on; I would just mail them funds to add to the cd.
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EdwardD
  |     |   77 posts since 2023
GTE charges $7/m for Below Minimum Relationship. A few years ago, I was charged for 3 months after my CD matured. They reversed those fees as a courtesy after I contacted them. At that time, this was a new fee and the minimum relationship amount was $500 balance.  When your last CD with them matures, make sure you have at least $500 balance.

Even now, their fees schedule still does not say what the minimum relationship amount is and how many months of inactivity before fee is assessed. Is it still 6 months?
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me1004
  |     |   1,381 posts since 2010
For the Inactivity/Dormancy fee, the time frame is six months.

One of the thtings about CUs is the rule that "once a member, alwasys a member." I have several I keep open where I had a CD inthe past, and might want to grab another sometime -- and I have grabbed another sometimes. But they have a stated rule, no exemption from the fee like the way I have at GTE. I just note on my calendar to make a $1 transaction before the deadline (if I run into one like neww_1, I would simply make the transfer via ACH, $1 in and then $1 out.). But in my case, I did not need to do that with GTE, like I said, I questioned deeply into that, wanted to make sure what I was being told was true. And then they hit me with the fee anyway!

Six months is really too short, anhyting less is unconscionable (in my openon, of course). Places doing that seem to be trying to undermine the rule of "once a member, always a member." Most times I have to pay something to join these CUs -- and take sometimes a couple weeks for them to process the opening (GTE was one of those, and wrong information at every turn). I don't want to have to go through all that next time I want a CD. I'm in some CUs that have changed their rules for membership, I would not be able to get in now, but I'm still in because of that rule.
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racecar
  |     |   628 posts since 2014
This is long, but please read, comments welcome.

First... thank you me1004 and Mak, for alerting people to what GTE is doing.
Absolutely you should be upset and let others know, for as you pointed out, if they're doing it to you, think of how many people they're getting away doing it to that don't have a clue.

That said -- and please don't take this the wrong way -- one has to weigh if it's worth the aggravation of trying to get them to right a wrong when there's an easy solution at hand. Honestly, I see a lot of myself in your posts, me1004, and I would no doubt be doing the same thing, trying to get them to change for those others they're taking advantage of. But unless you send a written letter to the CEO of GTE, all other things you do will have no impact on them changing their policy. Fighting a fight is worth it when there's no easy solution (say if they were to suddenly change your interest rate on a locked CD). But there IS an easy solution, so after doing the right thing by (a) notifying them, (b) notifying others (and if you want, (c) contacting the CEO in writing about it), stop them ripping you off and wasting your time by implementing that easy solution. Again, I see myself in your posts; I know what it feels like, and I'd be doing the same thing. But in this case, there's an easy solution. After you've let others know, TAKE that solution and spend your time for better fights and better enjoyments.

I can tell you that I linked my GTE Savings Acct to my hub bank the moment I joined GTE, and and set up automatic ACH payments every couple months for a couple pennies. I've been with them for some time now, and not once have I ever been dinged with an inactivity fee.

Don't wait for a bank or credit union to change (or even keep their word) when an easy solution is at hand. GTE is not only notorious for fees (as you rightly pointed out), they also went back on their word a few years ago, and stopped letting people add to their Add-On CDs. There was an outcry about it, and thankfully the CEO responded by reversing course and going back to what they originally promised.

What's important to realize is that Banks and CUs break their word all the time. It's happened to me personally at least a half dozen times -- things like changing the terms of a locked CD product. Even if the Bank/CU promises one thing -- and it's in the disclosure -- you can't rely on them not to change their word later on. So, do a couple easy, extra steps to mitigate any problems later on.

For instance, I've seen CUs go back on their word about allowing partial early withdrawals, even though it was allowed when the CD was opened. So if I ever needed a partial early withdrawal and the CU has changed their terms, I could fight them... but instead, I try to mitigate the problem: When I open up a CD now, instead opening up one large CD, I split them into multiple CDs with the same maturity date. For instance, instead of opening up a 170k CD, I'll open up a 100k + 70k CD (or a 100k + 35k + 35k CDs). That way if an emergency happens and I need 10k in emergency cash, and the Bank/CU goes back on their word and won't allow partial early withdrawals anymore, telling me I'd have to close the whole thing, I can simply close the small 35k one and still keep the majority of funds intact.

I started a thread earlier of tips to do when opening a CD, and splitting CDs in case the Bank/CU goes back on their word about allowing partial early withdrawals, was one of my tips. Who knows if you'll ever need those funds early, but if you do, it takes no extra effort to split the CDs just in case. The other tip was what I wrote up again in my long post above: link the primary savings account at each place you have a CD, and set up automated ACHs every couple months for just a couple pennies. That way if (for ANY reason, legitimate or wrong) a Bank/CU begins assessing inactivity fees on people, you'll never have to worry about it.

For GTE from this point on, just LINK them to an account elsewhere, and ACH 1c every 3 months there. Whether GTE was right or wrong (and they were wrong), you'll never have to call, worry, or waste time on this fee ever again and can spend your time on better things.

PS: Just curious but what would've happened with GTE if you got assessed a $10 inactivity fee but only had (say) $1 available in the savings account? Would you get a negative balance, or would it just bring it to $0? Is GTE allowed to invade other accounts (like your CD) to get the fee money? NavyFed has a terrible policy where they can invade other accounts you have with them, if the funds to pay a penalty in that account aren't enough... but I don't know how many other CUs have that policy. At any rate, just do the easy thing and ACH a couple pennies automatically every 3 months and you'll never worry about it again.
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me1004
  |     |   1,381 posts since 2010
@Mak, dang, like I said, they have fees all over like a field of landmines. With GTE, you can’t do anything without first doing a deep dive — again, deep, not just look at the fee schedule, because the are conflicts between it and the Website. I will have to check about that possible fee for ACH. But, are you talking of when initiated from an external account, which is how I would do it? This is exactly why up front before even opening, I asked deeply into all these things, this specific issue in a particular. I almost did not open an account there because of all of it. And, they are still telling me I am not subject to that inactivity fee, but must call in every 6 months, they refuse to fix the problem, they would rather collect that fee from everyone who is not supposed to be subject to it.

Yes, they also charge for a Coop shared branch deposit — I had to pay that just to open my account..

@racecar, I am keeping an eye on the “easy solution.” I am now waiting on any response to the message I sent in about this. And I have thought of contacting the CEO (I’ve done that before at another CU, even found their e-mail address, by guessing it, not instead to some “executive office” that is merely another group of CSRs. That CEO was very surprised why they were doing that particular issue, had no idea why — and waived it, but for me only. Who is the
GTE CEO?). I am already linked to my hub account, I generally do that whenever I open an account elsewhere. Now, as Mak says, I will have to check whether the “easy solution” will simply get me another fee instead, making that effort pointless at GTE — there are fee mines all over at GTE!

As for the previous outcry, hopefully we can get a similar outcry about this — that is one of the reasons I posted this thread. I hope GTE sees it, or hears a lot about this wrongful fee. Maybe people seeking this thread who have accounts at GTE will complain to them about this issue. I wouldn’t mind if some class action lawyer see this thread and decides to go after GTE over it, although I don’t want to get involved in a lawsuit, even though I opted out of mandatory arbitration

Good idea about splitting the CDs.

I already mentioned, I believe GTE is the one who said the fee comes from your savings account, but if there is no money in the savings account, you won’t get charged the fee, and they will take no more than the money in it. But maybe that was another reCU. But I have only $2 in my savings account, and they charged me $2. When I contacted them, their talk was different amounts for different people or circumstances. That is, there are tiers on the fee (and my tier was for no fee because of age and because I have a CD). I note, “tiers” is my word to explain it.

@ Mak and racecar, neither of you have made it clear if the ACH charge, if there is one, applies to AHC transactions initiated from an external account, whether deposit or withdrawal. saver42, that you for saying that an ACH initiated from an external account does not get that fee. That is how I would set it up anyway. But I have six months before next one, I will wait until I see how this goes, with my messages, and then a contact to CEO. Again, GTE specifically said, and multiple times this past week, that I am NOT supposed to get this fee. I’m not tripping up on a fee that they do impose, I’m being tripped on by a fee they “do not” impose.

@Mak, yes about not opening any other CD with them unless it were much higher than any other. That is the only reason I opened this one, and even then, I almost did not because of all the bad experience with we CSRs, giving wrong info, and because of all the fees and all the details about each, how they are all over to clip you left and right even if you are very studious about avoiding them. I thought I was set up to avoid them finally, but they took one, yet even they say that is not supposed to be imposed on me! You can’t avoid the fees even when you legitimately do a deep dive into them and navigate to avoid it. Like Mak says, it is just at what should be criminal. But I know a class action lawyer woud have a field day on this, this is exactly the kind of case they love, it yields huge punitive damages.
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racecar
  |     |   628 posts since 2014
me1004:
Like saver42 said, there is no fee if the ACH is started from ANOTHER place. Basically if you use GTE's system to do transfers they charge a fee. But if it was done from ANOTHER place there's no fee (both for sending money INTO GTE as well as pulling money OUT of GTE, there is no fee from GTE if it's initiated from the OTHER bank/CU).
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111
  |     |   672 posts since 2019
FYI - I've had accounts with GTE CU since 2019. They've been reasonably reliable except for a couple years ago when they sent an email indicating they would renege on the add-on provisions they'd established for a particular, fairly popular CD, circa 2019 - but then GTE relented and agreed to honor the provisions they originally established. (In part, I might add, due to communications from Ken Tumin & Co. - you can research those posts on this, DA.com, website if you so choose.) Some of you "long-term" DA.com users may in fact recall this situation.

Currently I have 4-year CDs @5.12% with them (not a great rate but acceptable for now), also 2 small liquid accounts, also some short-term CDs for other purposes. Never had issues with dormancy/inactive fees from GTE. Each month, from about the 5th to the 12th depending on what else I'm doing and from where, I download and verify prior month's statements for all financial accounts including GTE - takes little time.  Every 6th month (because - why? Well, because dormancy fees rarely are charged more often than every 6 months! duh!), while online I also transfer 1 cent from 1 liquid acct. to the other if I've made no other changes. Takes only seconds, and the calendar entries/alerts I've already set up tell me what to do, so I don't actually have to "think" more than once, so to speak.  Clearly I could completely automate this process, but for now I still prefer to take an "eyeball" look at each month's transactions just to be safe).

To perform this simple process is not a massive intrusion on my monthly time or effort, as I see it.

And BTW no - with GTE it never made/makes sense to initiate an ACH from GTE. Instead, initiate it from the other FI. Not rocket science.
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milty
  |     |   1,689 posts since 2018
Thanks to me1004's initial post, I checked my account the other day to find that several months ago they had taken what few paltry dollars I had in my savings account, leaving me with nothing. However, my notes said that there were to be no inactivity fees if you had a CD. I contacted GTE to find that my favorite account representative had retired, so the call center CSR said he would send my concern to customer care. In the meantime, I started randomly calling GTE's numerous branch offices to see if I could speak to a manager. A manager called me back, but said he could not reverse the fee, that he did not have the authority to do so. I said it sounded like there was a policy change, that I was unaware of it and thought it unfair to charge that fee without first notifying the customer about impending inactivity. I thanked him for calling, but said, among other things,I was going post my experience on DA, which has national visibility. A few minutes later he called me back. He had spoken to his regional manager, who authorized him to reverse the fee, as a one-time courtesy. From now on, I will have to every 6 months keep my account active by either some transaction or calling GTE to mark the account active. Also, it appears that the exemption from account inactivity fees due to having a CD, regardless of age, is suspect. Also, the manager told me that GTE is no longer reversing shared branching fees, which they had always done for me in the past.

So, It appears GTE can reverse those fees if you push hard enough. Call those branches, ask to get the regional manager involved, and remember the customer is always (in most cases) right.

Good luck.
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Marfa
  |     |   68 posts since 2022
This is the reason I love and keep coming back to read the reviews of FI’s on this website. I look at which banks , FI’s to entrust with my earnings and savings before I invest.
Indiivuals posting their experiences on deposit accounts helps everyone make better choices .After all the whole financial industry is based on trust and confidence. Hopefully the employees of these institutions read some of these postings too. And make appropriate changes
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me1004
  |     |   1,381 posts since 2010
@Milty, thank you for that -- same problem as me, I had the same notes for myself about inactivity. But for me, I was lucky, they did a deep dive (I was on hold for 20 minuties with them), including talking with the pertinent dept., and said yes, I am right, there is not supposed to be any fee if you have a CD (as per my notes) but added AND you are a senio (that was new info). I gather you would not be of age, so you were handled differently -- but notes I wrote myself did not say AND of age, and I definitely would have noted that if that was the information about it when I did my deep dive before opeing my account. I think having a CD is all that is requried, at any rate, it's all that I was told.
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sams1985
  |     |   781 posts since 2022
Has anyone had this happen with any other Credit Union, eg. All In CU or Advancial? Or is this unique to GTE? Seems kind of deceptive.
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txFish1
  |     |   479 posts since 2023
sams1985 Before I retired I had several CD's at Advancial that I just let compound each month and that was all the activity I ever had for years with them and there was no inactivity fee at all. I do ACH my monthly income out of Advancial every month so there is activity now but unless they have changed their policy in the last year or two having a CD used to suffice and thus no inactivity fee was charged.
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Eil
  |     |   30 posts since 2018
Guess we all got the "bargain" inactivity fee at $10. The GTE Member Schedule of Current Charges now showing Inactive/Dormant Member Account fee $15.
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CDmanFL
  |     |   286 posts since 2019
I find it so unjust that they have this dormancy fee for CD-only customers. And they raised it from an abusive $10 to an even more abusive $15? Seriously? I have a good chunk of money there and it’s still not good enough? C’mon GTE. Stop abusing your members with your fees. The shared branching one really irks me and is truly obscene.
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me1004
  |     |   1,381 posts since 2010
GTE has responded to my message. I thought people might like to here what they have to say -- this from someone identified as being in Member Experience Support.

Thank you for contacting GTE Financial. I understand your concern regarding the Inactive/Dormant Member Account fee, and appreciate this opportunity to provide you with additional information. The Inactive/Dormant Member Account fee would only be charged to a deposit account from which you have not made a withdrawal, deposit or transfer within the past six (6) months regardless of age or account balance. After six (6) months, the account would be classified inactive. After 24 months of no activity, the account would be considered dormant. The Inactive/Dormant Member Account fee will not be assessed to any Share Certificate or IRA account. This fee, like most fees at GTE Financial, is avoidable. Completing any one of the transactions listed above at least once within a six (6) month period will prevent this fee from being assessed. Additionally unless a fee is related to fraud on your GTE account or due to credit union error, the fee will not be reversed. Thank you for your valued membership and choosing us as your preferred financial services provider. If you have additional questions, you may update this message and a Member Advocate will follow up with your message within two (2) business days. Sincerely, Kate Member Experience Support GTE Financial
I responded to that:

I understand what you are saying. However, several contacts with GTE say you are wrong. Why?! And I'm not the only one.

You are now suggesting each and every account must have a transaction, other than a CD, or that account will be subject to an inactivity fee. In other words, I can be subject to multiple inactivity fees. That is NOT what your people are saying.

And the latest came just last week when she confirmed I was right, after she did a deep dive, with me on hold for 20 minutes. She spoke with her supervisor and with the department that handles this issue, and I was assured that I am not supposed to get it because I have a CD and am a senior. And on that basis, she reversed the fee, although she did so marking it as a Courtesy Reversal. She further said she put a note on my account for CSRs or others to see that I am not supposed to be charged the fee — but she said they can’t fix the problem, I will have to call in every 6 months to have the fee reversed — thus, that message on my account. I can’t see the message, perhaps you can and see what she said. I told her she should specify where that information comes from.

If that is not so, why is your department that handles this issue saying that is the rule? Perhaps you need to do a deep dive too. How can I believe you if everyone else says otherwise, including the department in charge of it? I, too, did a deep dive before opening my account and was assured by multiple people that the fee would not apply.

I also note, in my deep dive before opening, I was adamantly assured by several CSRs -- rather than take a chance that one might be wrong in telling me that -- that the footnote on the Fee Schedule waiving the fee for those under age 18 was in error, the waiver for the savings also applies to those over age 65 — I was told that repeatedly, they insisted it was an error on the Fee Schedule, that someone should fix that. They also checked about that, came back with that answer.

I also note, as I recall, I also was told that if I have a zero balance in the particular account, then no fee is taken, it doesn’t apply. So, maybe I should just keep a zero balance in my savings?
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me1004
  |     |   1,381 posts since 2010
Just a little update. I got a reply in my online account. They says:
If the account goes Inactive the fee of $10.00 is charged. If the account has less than $10.00, then only the funds available will be withdrawn. In this case the $2.00 was withdrawn as we will not overdraw the account. If there are no funds in the account, and the account goes inactive then no fee will be charged.
That seems to mean you don't have to do the regular deposit and withdrawal if you simply leave your savings account empty. So, if you give them some money, they will take it, if you give them nothing, you are rewarded for that. They said they will send me the $2.00 they took in a check, and I can leave the account emnpty. I told them that means they can't understand their Fee Schedule either, it says the fee is $15, not $10. I pointed out to them, they still are not looking at my account, as I asked, to see the note that is supposed to be on it that explains why the dept. that handles this fee says it does not apply.

I also told them off about all their fees left and right like a valley of landmines all over.

So, awaiting the next response, probably not until at least Monday. I expect in the end to set up the ACH deposit and withdrawal every six months, to avoid having to call in to have the account reactivated, and to avoid any countdown to dormancy – but how can they declare the savings account dormant without declaring the CD dormant with it?! The entire account would have to be dormant. But I will await finality on this.
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Badlands
  |     |   20 posts since 2023
Yes, that is what they do. Several months ago, they charged me an inactivity fee. It was only .10 because that was all I had in the account. So from now on, I will only leave pennies in there.

It's really absurd when banks and CUs charge inactivity fees when you have a CD with them. I recently went through all my FIs and made a note of their inactivity fee rules, so I know how often to make small transactions.
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