Fairwinds Credit Union Unfair business practices, sent to collections, no notice Orlando Florida

Unfortunately, it is your fault.  You clearly admit your forgot about the inactivity maintenance fee.  By not reviewing your account statement (even more important to do today because of the number of people who get hit with ID theft to their bank accounts), you essentially acknowledge acceptance of the inactivity fees.  They are not obligated to inform you of the posting of these fees to your account because the fees are clearly disclosed.  Even if you were not receiving statements, it is your responsibility to go to the bank, ask them for statements, and find out why you're not getting statements - again what if someone trying to steal your identity redirected your bank statements to another address?  That's how thieves work - they prey on people who don't look at statements or pay attention to their finances.  If you had seen the fee the very first month, gone in to close account, and shout 'mea culpa' about the inactivity fee, you might have even got the institution to waive the fee.  You might not either, but then you're only out the one fee.

 All of the other stuff/rebuttals do not mitigate this situation.  This is legally a black and white issue to the bank and the disclosures regarding these fees seems pretty clear cut - even you admit this.  I understand being upset with a bank's customer service - however this is not an excuse for simply leaving the funds in a bank to accumulate fees until the account goes negative.

Seriously. I'm not arguing with you over this issue. They broke the contract first, simple. I have documentation to prove that, as well as their handbook that shows they violated their own policy.  Had I received proper notification as their handbook states THEY HAVE TO GIVE BY LAW, this would not have happened.  This is a predatory practice.  I USED to get communications from them all the time, then they stopped when they saw I wasn't coming in every other week to "properly maintain my account". 

I don't do business over the phone or online, so I always went in there, but I would ALWAYS get a phone call, or an email, or a letter, or all of the above if something was weird in the account.  Then,  ALL communication from them stopped.  I don't know why, except for the fact that perhaps they saw an opportunity to slam me with fees and potentially send the account to collections at the highest amount they could.

Even when I was going in on a regular basis, and even when I caught unauthorized fees or payments hitting the account, they didn't do anything to correct it.  They said "oh, well, you'll have to talk to that vendor"; well here's the problem with that - when the vendor who charged the fee is a FRAUD themselves, exactly HOW do you get them to stop charging it?  The bank couldn't even figure it out.

I had to open a NEW account to get away from some fraudulent crap that was hitting the account.  Did they ever give my money back when I filed a claim? NOPE! Because it was ACH they believed it HAD to be approved by me, even though they couldn't even verify what the "business" was that was charging the account.  So what do you think of THAT practice, Mr. Spell Check?

And if you really get that hurt over a TYPO in the title of the rebuttal I wrote to you, then you seriously need a life. I wrote all responses on this form and it doesn't have spell check, so too bad that it misspelled ONE word out of ALL that I have written.  Perhaps you should file a complaint.

This isn't the only thing Fairwinds has flubbed up, which is why I am sure this is a predatory practice of theirs.  Such as, when they DON'T take off the "automatic payment" feature after the user requests an automatic payment to be removed.  So many people have been screwed by that.   They collect fees on top of their banking errors.  PREDATORY.  Especially when it is THEIR fault.

"I did what I had to do."

Except properly maintain your account as I previously stated twice.

"was I supposed to be looking for?"

Unauthorized or unexpected transactions such as the fee you are complaining about. It's interesting that you ignored my previous response to this question. Possibly because this directly and correctly addresses the bottom line of your complaint?

"And really, where did I write 'excerpt'?"

You didn't. You wrote, "Here's the exceprt from their handbook" in the title of your rebuttal on 7/27. As previously stated, "exceprt" is not a word; excerpt is a word.

"people who have to nit-pick ONE word that may have been misspelled are obviously at the losing end of an argument"

No, but someone that writes the classic, 'you must work for them' is copping out by ducking the real issue. Read Ripoff Report 1066587 and then come back and tell me if you still think I work for Fairwinds Credit Union.

Now put on your big boy pants and go balance your d**n checkbook.

You must work for them, to be so adamant that it isn't in any way even partly their fault.  When you sign up with them, it is a contract. They violated THEIR terms of the contract; therefore, I have every right to be ticked off.  I've sent my complaint.  And I will be contacting the OCC because of their unfair business practices because it is PREDATORY what they did.  You don't have a customer sign a contract with you and then NOT meet your end of the contract.  I did what I had to do.  I never received any communications and you know what they say, "NO" news is good news.  Well, not in this instance.

And really, where did I write "excerpt"?  Even if I did write it, and may have made a typo, people who have to nit-pick ONE word that may have been misspelled are obviously at the losing end of an argument, because they have no more valid points.

"was I supposed to be looking for?"

Unauthorized or unexpected transactions such as the fee you are complaining about.

You can cry all day about not receiving notification but if you reconciled your account monthly this could have been avoided.

"exceprt" is not a word; excerpt is a word.

As taken from the Fairwinds membership handbook:

INACTIVE ACCOUNTS

“If your account falls below any applicable minimum balance and you have not made any transactions over a period specified in the Truth--‐in--‐Savings Disclosure during which we have been unable to contact you by regular mail, we may classify your account as inactive.  Unless prohibited by applicable law, we may charge a service fee as set forth in the Service Charge Schedule for processing your inactive account. If we impose a fee, WE WILL NOTIFY YOU, as required by law, at your last known address.”

THEY DIDN’T!  They violated their own rules and violated law. And since I haven’t moved, I KNOW for a fact I did not receive any communications by mail or email.  Thank ya very much, oh judgmental commenter.  Corporate unaccountability and their sense of being untouchable is the exact reason why big business SUCKS at running things properly.

Nope.  What's to reconcile when THERE'S NOTHING GOING IN OR OUT OF THE ACCOUNT? Genius. And it's their responsibility as well to send communications.  Which they did NOT.  And as I said, since there was NO activity going on, what, exactly, was I supposed to be looking for?  Phantom payments? Or mysterious deposits that magically landed in my account?

Account inactivity is not an acceptable excuse for your failure to reconcile your account monthly.