Check cashing joints.
- Thread starter Young Roids
- Start date
LASERBLUE135
Active Member
You all should check out the documentary movie "Maxed Out". Explains how banks screw young people, poor people, and under educated people. It has quite a few Minnesota references. And if you didn't know already... Wells Fargo truly is the Devil. They own the largest check cashing chain in the US as well as they just bought the largest pawn chain in the US.
My wife and I share stories of how much Wells Fargo sucks balls. She once paid 5 business accounts with ONE check. All of the accounts were due on the same date. Somehow 3 accounts got paid on time and 2 accounts got past due charges?! How the f#ck does that happen?!
My wife and I share stories of how much Wells Fargo sucks balls. She once paid 5 business accounts with ONE check. All of the accounts were due on the same date. Somehow 3 accounts got paid on time and 2 accounts got past due charges?! How the f#ck does that happen?!
Jesse MS3GT
Querulous
Sounds like a conspiracy which = it being false.
ZoomZoom Diva
New Member
People have nobody to blame but themselves for paying these fees and being so-called "victims". These fees are 100% avoidable and it doesn't take anything a regular person can't do.
YSOSLO
is the word, beotch
If there's one thing I've learned after talking personally with literally thousands of bill-payers, including business owners, it's that the customer is seldom right when things go wrong. The customer usually wants to do whatever the hell they want to do and expect the corporation to maneuver things around and make exceptions to policies and procedures in order to satisfy the customer. Guess what? There's a lesson every sailor knows that many land dwellers would do well to live by. The biggest vessels move the slowest, so it's up to the smaller vessels to maneuver out of harms way. Whether it's Wells Fargo or Microsoft or the IRS or whatever business scenario you want to throw out there, you need to play by their rules to get what you want with the least amount of hassle or frustration. This doesn't mean they never make mistakes, they certainly do from time to time. However in the example stated above, sending one check to pay 5 different accounts...that's just asking for a "mistake" to happen. Next time, send 5 checks...even if they're all in the same envelope with each check noting the individual account information required by the company and 99.9% of the time the payments will be handled properly. This shouldn't be considered a criticism of the attempt, because it can't hurt to try something once, right? But to bitch about a huge corporation screwing up a payment to multiple accounts made on one check seems ridiculous to me. Hell, I'd be happy they hit 3 out of 5!!....If I were running the show there, I'd have applied the payment to the first account at the top of the list and caller 'er a day. And on a customer service note, you'll probably get the late charges credited right away by calling in and staying calm, explaining what happened and ask the rep you work with to move the payments to the right accounts and credit the late charges WITHOUT coming across as Mr. Right pointing the finger of blame at them or venting and you'll likely get everything you ask for, within reason.
ij1889
New Member
well see what wells fargo did to me was that i deposited $500 dollars in the bank friday at 3:44 and i was expecting to use some of that for the weekend, and i had no clue that if it was after 3 it wouldnt be processed that business day but the next, so i go saturday, i ask for my monies and i cant get any of it, so i talk to a teller and he says that i wont be able to get my money UNTIL WEDNESDAY! and he tells me that if i would have done it through the atm or something like that it would have been able to process is my check that day, and im asking myself why did they not tell me this? i mean fuck, i show up empty handed to nates detail day, i have not gas money, and i cant go out with friends bc my fucking money is being "processed".
and another thing i have a chekings and savings account and every month i need to have $25 on my checking account so that it will be translated into my savingsm and if i dont have that money i get an over draft fee, and i wanted to cancel my savings and they said that if i did they would give me penalty charges of like 3 or 5 bucks a month bc i dont have a savings account. no tell me all this is correct, a bank screwing me up the pooch for being a client of theirs
and another thing i have a chekings and savings account and every month i need to have $25 on my checking account so that it will be translated into my savingsm and if i dont have that money i get an over draft fee, and i wanted to cancel my savings and they said that if i did they would give me penalty charges of like 3 or 5 bucks a month bc i dont have a savings account. no tell me all this is correct, a bank screwing me up the pooch for being a client of theirs
LASERBLUE135
Active Member
You can not defend Wells Fargo, wow! First of all the 1 check to 5 accounts is standard business. It should be handled no problem, my wife works for a small company. Imagine how many accounts a big company has. Second this is one of MANY MANY MANY problems that we've had with Wells Fargo over the last 2 years both personally and professionally. They bought my mortgage, which completely pisses me off because I basically have to deal with them now. They are not my main bank and I will NEVER deal with them unless I have to or am coming out WAY ahead. This happened the other day, its long but specific...
First off, I used to pay my loan over the phone, which was really convenient. My account was credited imediately and it took no time at all. Then Wells told me they no longer accepted phone payments (pissed me off). Then I sent checks (which is a pain in the ass, I don't send checks to anyone anymore, it's 2008, Wells Fargo welcome to now!) I noticed imediately that Wells took FOREVER to credit my account this way so they could rack up a nice extra interest amount. (which is why they stopped doing phone payments, of course, inconvenience the customer AND make more money. Go f&^% yourself Wells!) So I was forced to open a checking account with Wells Fargo so that I could pay online (Wells does not accept online payments unless you have 2 accounts with them. F$#@ing douchebags!) I did this because I'm smarter than the bank wants me to be and I'm a cheap ass tightwad who's poor.
So...I went to the bank and opened the checking account with my payment amount plus $1 and go home and immediately paid online. (I have to do this every month so therefore my checking account balance is usually $1). I had been doing this for months now and then one day Wells Fargo charged me a $25 MONTHLY checking account service charge!!!. I blew my kdkssjing head off. When I called them they said that I was charged the $25 MONTHLY charge because I no longer had the minimum $25,000 required balance.. $25,000 !!! ??? What? My checking account usually has $1 in it, how have I met the $25k balance for months? Wells Fargo (c@cksuckers) explained to me that a percentage of my mortgage counted toward that minimum balance. Since I had paid off a large amount of my mortgage I no longer had the balance required. So I was penalized for lowering the amount of money I owed them (squirel fu#$ers have to make money somehow).
They explained to me that I had their PREMIUM checking account service (Only Wells "rodent tuber" Fargo would charge a fee for a premium checking account). They said that they would have to downgrade my account to a FREE checking account...hmm...downgrade to free WTF? This is how Wells works. Anyhow they refunded the money and I still have to deal with them.
Fuckers!
First off, I used to pay my loan over the phone, which was really convenient. My account was credited imediately and it took no time at all. Then Wells told me they no longer accepted phone payments (pissed me off). Then I sent checks (which is a pain in the ass, I don't send checks to anyone anymore, it's 2008, Wells Fargo welcome to now!) I noticed imediately that Wells took FOREVER to credit my account this way so they could rack up a nice extra interest amount. (which is why they stopped doing phone payments, of course, inconvenience the customer AND make more money. Go f&^% yourself Wells!) So I was forced to open a checking account with Wells Fargo so that I could pay online (Wells does not accept online payments unless you have 2 accounts with them. F$#@ing douchebags!) I did this because I'm smarter than the bank wants me to be and I'm a cheap ass tightwad who's poor.
So...I went to the bank and opened the checking account with my payment amount plus $1 and go home and immediately paid online. (I have to do this every month so therefore my checking account balance is usually $1). I had been doing this for months now and then one day Wells Fargo charged me a $25 MONTHLY checking account service charge!!!. I blew my kdkssjing head off. When I called them they said that I was charged the $25 MONTHLY charge because I no longer had the minimum $25,000 required balance.. $25,000 !!! ??? What? My checking account usually has $1 in it, how have I met the $25k balance for months? Wells Fargo (c@cksuckers) explained to me that a percentage of my mortgage counted toward that minimum balance. Since I had paid off a large amount of my mortgage I no longer had the balance required. So I was penalized for lowering the amount of money I owed them (squirel fu#$ers have to make money somehow).
They explained to me that I had their PREMIUM checking account service (Only Wells "rodent tuber" Fargo would charge a fee for a premium checking account). They said that they would have to downgrade my account to a FREE checking account...hmm...downgrade to free WTF? This is how Wells works. Anyhow they refunded the money and I still have to deal with them.
Fuckers!
Jesse MS3GT
Querulous
I agree. This documentary (like many I have seen) make similar victim claims as Super Size Me, by Morgan Spurlock. Very different scenarios that are unrelated, but if you stuff your face all day or eat somewhere for convenience, ruin your health and become a fatass its not the companies fault. You can choose to eat elsewhere.
Both are avoidable, but its not as companies dont take advantage of their customer bases lethargy. So while I agree its not the companies fault 100%, the companies are making money off the lazy.
LASER - Get an account with a credit union. I banked with Marquette until the age of 15 and saw through the BS fee's they had and I have been with Topline Federal CU ever since. They do have OC fee's and such, but they arent ridiculous like most chain banks. Go with a credit union, problem solved.
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LASERBLUE135
Active Member
Well Fargo bought my mortgage. I HAVE TO DEAL WITH THEM. I have a bank, the same bank that I got with when I moved here 6 years ago. They are wonderful and I have never had a problem with them.
To say that people are stupid is not a very good argument. Maybe all stupid people should be left to their own devices is highly unethical. When you see things like the guy from Providian or whatever that had to pay $400,000,000 back to people that it screwed over by charging them undue late payments be apointed the leader of the Credit Ethics Commity that writes the laws to which credit card companies must follow, its a pretty messed up system. I'm not saying that people should get a pass for being dumb, however to prey on stupid people is bad business. If you do it yourself...shame on you. I worked for a company that preyed on the elderly and the dumb. They are making money hand over fist. Its called North American Membership Group in Minnetonka.
http://www.northamericanmediagroup.com/
Maybe you are familiar with some of their scam companies or are one of their 4.7 million members yourself. They are a total scam company and work VERY MUCH LIKE CREDIT CARD COMPANIES.
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YSOSLO
is the word, beotch
I was attempting to keep the discussion in this thread more general, because I don't care about defending Wells Fargo one bit. They're just another huge corporation out there. I'm one of those guys that believe we all have to take SOME responsibility for ourselves and our choices. When my wife and I chose our bank (not Wells Fargo, btw although WF purchased our mortgage too) we walked in the door of the place and picked up some brochures. All banks have these things sitting around. Then we opened the brochures and read them....imagine, we didn't expect someone to sit down and read it to us or go over everything in minute detail. Then we decided to go with the savings and checking accounts that best suited our needs. This can also be done with many corporations like Qwest, Comcast etc by going to their website to see what they have available to their customers. I understand we should all be able to expect to be given all the information possible when we ask a question, but a lot of times "customer service" people are also sales people and they're expected to "sell" products to customers in addition to answering their questions. Banks are businesses, just like the cable company the phone company and any other corporation out there. The more people want from them, like open longer hours, free online services, free over-the-phone services etc. the more people have to realize that nothing is truly ever free. Somebody has to pay for it, and you can bet it's not going to be the CEO of the company. That's why you get billed for crap here and there. Whether you think it's "fair" or not, it's the way things work. Costs are ALWAYS passed on to customers or taxpayers or whatever the case may be when people want to be able to use a service or benefit from a service etc.
FYI, a Premium checking account typically pays a higher interest rate than a "free" checking account, which is why a free account is considered a downgrade.
FYI, a Premium checking account typically pays a higher interest rate than a "free" checking account, which is why a free account is considered a downgrade.
ZoomZoom Diva
New Member
What makes North American Membership Group a scam company? Do they not deliver what they promise to deliver, or do you simply think what is delivered is not worth the rates they charge?
In the case of the check cashing places, the fees are clearly stated for all services, and nobody is forcing anyone to use those services. I see nothing unethical with allowing a business to provide the services it promises under the terms it clearly spells out and to allow people to decide for themselves whether or not to use those services. It's no more stupid than going to Cub and buying a pre-cut veggie tray, but we don't seek to ban deli departments.
Oh, and I have found the best way to use the system is to drop a check off at a branch to pay a mortgage. They credit the account on the day the teller receives the check, you get a written receipt for your own records and protection, and you still gain interest on the money for a few additional business days.
In the case of the check cashing places, the fees are clearly stated for all services, and nobody is forcing anyone to use those services. I see nothing unethical with allowing a business to provide the services it promises under the terms it clearly spells out and to allow people to decide for themselves whether or not to use those services. It's no more stupid than going to Cub and buying a pre-cut veggie tray, but we don't seek to ban deli departments.
Oh, and I have found the best way to use the system is to drop a check off at a branch to pay a mortgage. They credit the account on the day the teller receives the check, you get a written receipt for your own records and protection, and you still gain interest on the money for a few additional business days.
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LASERBLUE135
Active Member
While I was there I saw many things that made me sick. However two of their biggest scams are...
1) Advertising that they offer people a chance to "test" the newest equipment in their hobby area for FREE! How cool is that, you get a chance to be a product tester, to try something before it becomes available to everyone else, how lucky...The scam: 98.5% of the products they send to people is a try it and if you like it buy it. People get the products that have very little value and are charged 10-30 times the cost of the item and when they don't send it back they recieve bills and past due bills...LOTS of bills, 2-3 a month. Threating bills. Then the old person gets freaked out and pays for it anyways, becuase that's what old people do. When they do that the company puts them on their "send everything we can send" at them and they end up getting a bunch of crap they don't want and pay for and then they end up either quiting or calling to complain FINALLY and the company stops sending them crap...Until a little time goes by and it starts again. The stuff they send is so worthless that if a person calls to complain and doesn't want to send it back we just tell them that's OK they can keep it or throw it away.
2) Having an insane billing cycle. They bill every 28 days and process payments in about 14 days so payments are always getting mixed up. People will have 7 accounts for the same club or multiple accounts with multiple clubs and just keep paying more and more membership fees. Sending out letters to members with 5 accounts that are ALL current that say, "Mr. so and so, we have not recieved your latest dues and your account is now seriously delinquent. Please remit payment or risk losing your membership privleges." Or "Your account is serious delinquent. If payment is note made we will be forced to transfer your account to a collection agency..."
Normal intellegent people wouldn't stand for this, but membership keeps on growing year after year for 20 straight years now! Preying on the elderly and the ignorant. It's a discusting company and I wrote up in my exit interview. I told them that I was sinning by working for them. I'm not a holy roller, but I know the difference between right and wrong. Sad thing is that I know some of their members and yes, they are not the smartest dog in the pack if you know what I mean. I met with a company head that no longer does business with them based on the number of complaints that he had recieved. Its a total scam, ALL of their profits are made in unethical ways. And the worst part of the whole deal... This company could easily survive and flurish by doing business the right way. It has a good product. But they wouldn't make as much money as quickly so they are happy keeping up the scam.
dmention7
Hater
I have to agree with Kyle here. Most, if not all, predatory business (from check cashing joints to the place he used to work for) operate perfectly legally and can be fairly easily avoided by people of reasonable intelligence and financial savvy. But that does not excuse the unethical practice of exploiting the people who don't have the knowledge or other resources to protect themselves--and even more so to untangle themselves once they get caught in the snares of such a predatory business.
AJ
110 HP of FURY!
I used to work for NAMG for a short couple months. What a crock of shit that was. It was litterally 2 types of calls. Bitchy ass people wanting their names removed form the list, or people buying cheap ass products.
One day I simply took a long lunch, and I'm still on it.
And I heart US Bank. Simply the best banking I've ever delt with in terms of the large name shit. Every problem I've had has been through ignorance of my own.
One day I simply took a long lunch, and I'm still on it.
And I heart US Bank. Simply the best banking I've ever delt with in terms of the large name shit. Every problem I've had has been through ignorance of my own.
YSOSLO
is the word, beotch
I'm all about burning rip-off companies at the proverbial stake. Absolute scumbags scamming the inept deserve to be reported and penalized through the appropriate channels of oversight.
The only thing I've been addressing are perfectly legitimate businesses that have established themselves as an upstanding service providers in the marketplace that some people choose to bash because they are among those in our society these days that fail to take any responsibility for their own bad choices. I can't even begin to tell you how many business owners I've talked to that don't read their bills and then want credit for charges from months or years ago, simply because they chose not to take the time or responsibility to see what they're paying for. It's one thing to be scammed. It's another thing to THINK you've been scammed when in all actuality you simply made a wrong or bad choice in not reading or listening when information is being given.
The only thing I've been addressing are perfectly legitimate businesses that have established themselves as an upstanding service providers in the marketplace that some people choose to bash because they are among those in our society these days that fail to take any responsibility for their own bad choices. I can't even begin to tell you how many business owners I've talked to that don't read their bills and then want credit for charges from months or years ago, simply because they chose not to take the time or responsibility to see what they're paying for. It's one thing to be scammed. It's another thing to THINK you've been scammed when in all actuality you simply made a wrong or bad choice in not reading or listening when information is being given.
ZoomZoom Diva
New Member
I don't have a problem with a business providing a legal service so long as the terms of that service are spelled out clearly and they operate according to those terms. Check cashing places may be a waste of money and one can say they profit off the lazy and the stupid, but I consider them legitimate businesses because the terms are all disclosed in advance and are agreed to by the customer.
If you don't like the terms, don't use the business. It's that simple, and it does not take anything beyond basic competency to open a fee-free bank account and use that instead.
If you don't like the terms, don't use the business. It's that simple, and it does not take anything beyond basic competency to open a fee-free bank account and use that instead.
LASERBLUE135
Active Member
FUCKING WELLS FARGO STRIKES AGAIN!!!!
I just got my statement for my "free Wells Asshole" checking account and I see a Monthly Check Return/Image Stmt Fee of $1
Problem is I've NEVER written a check with this account, the only use I have for this account is to transfer money to pay a Wells Fargo loan/mortgage. Those bastards...I have no words...Of course they fixed it when I called and bit their head off, but man! The fact that they even charge for a returned check image is insane. My regular bank does this for free without me having to even ask, every month. WF just fuckingadkkj die already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just got my statement for my "free Wells Asshole" checking account and I see a Monthly Check Return/Image Stmt Fee of $1
Problem is I've NEVER written a check with this account, the only use I have for this account is to transfer money to pay a Wells Fargo loan/mortgage. Those bastards...I have no words...Of course they fixed it when I called and bit their head off, but man! The fact that they even charge for a returned check image is insane. My regular bank does this for free without me having to even ask, every month. WF just fuckingadkkj die already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!