November 2010 - Newsletter
Greetings!
It's easy to feel intimidated at the prospect of resisting a
wealthy and powerful bank like the ones that issued you your credit
card. You look at the world around you and get the feeling that they
have an overwhelming track record of getting their way. You don't just
feel like David facing Goliath, you feel like an ant on David's
sandal.
So maybe once in awhile it helps to know that you are not the only one
resisting a bank's misbehavior, and that sometimes even Goliath gets
hit and feels it. The LA Times reported a few months back that
Wells Fargo was ordered by a federal judge to pay customers over $200
Million in returned overdraft fees.The suit alleged that the bank
adopted a policy of changing the order in which debit card
transactions posted to a cardholder's account, with the purpose of
increasing the number of overdrafts and padding their profits.
Obviously the legal process is a long one, and Wells Fargo may be far
from finished advocating their side of the story. But we see it as
another example of reaching too far for profits - like when a bank
drastically raises rates on debtors until they are unable to pay - and
the backfire it can trigger. That lawsuit was one result; your
decision that enough was enough and it was time to settle your debts
was another!
