Midsouth Bank ripoff scam gluttons dishonest Morgan City Louisiana

I have received another email today from Ms. Karen Hail. She stated that she has contacted Chris Levanti and Marcia Angelle in regards to my March 12, 2007 letter. Mr. Levanti is in the process of preparing a letter to resopnd to my requests, which will be sent via registered mail. In addition, Ms. Hail has stated that she has viewed all the correspondences on my account.

The letter closed with her giving the phone number at which I can reach her if I have any questions. So far things are progressing.

It was sad, though, that it had to get to the point of MidSouth threatening to sue me and I having to threaten a countersuit. I simply do not understand why companies feel the need to not resopond to consumers requests until it gets to the point of threatening legal action.

If companies would simply respond to consumer requests instead of hiding behind an invisible veil of an "If you don't like it, sue me." or "If you don't pay what I say, I'll sue you" attitude, things would go much smoother.

Despite me disputing the matter with Southwest Collection Services, Inc, they continued to attempt to collect on the alleged debt. I received a letter from Mr. Scott J. Leblanc, part of their "prelegal" department. Mr. Leblanc stated that if I did not pay the amount in 15 days, then a lawsuit would be filed against me. Mr. Leblanc stated that they would be using the BBB's decision of siding with MidSouth Bank as evidence that I was in the wrong. The problem is that the BBB never "sided" with anyone.

All Mr. Levanti of MidSouth bank done was make generalized statements of alleged overdrafts and fees. He nor MidSouth bank provided any evidence to back up the claim. In addition, Ms. Heather Peters stated to me that even though Mr. Levanti stated he would send me statements and failed to produce them, there was nothing the BBB could do. I was in shock! You mean that MidSouth Bank is a member of the BBB and there's nothing the BBB can do about MidSouth bank lying? Are there no penalties for MidSouth acting in such an unethical manner?

It has been about four months since Mr. Levanti of MidSouth bank stated he would be sending me copies of the bank statements. Despite his claim as well as a an additional request from Ms. Heather Peters of the Houma, LA BBB office, Mr. Levanti has failed to produce these statements.

On March 13, 2007, I sent a certified letter to Mr. Scott J. Leblanc of Southwest Collection Services, Inc a letter disputing the matter once again. I notified Mr. Leblanc that since Southwest Collection Services, Inc continued to pursue the matter despite the lack of evidence, they were in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act 809(b). In addition, on the same day, I sent a certified letter to the CEO of MidSouth Bank, Mr. C.R. Rusty Cloutier.

I notified both Mr. Cloutier and Mr. Leblanc that by MidSouth bank repeatedly failing to produce the evidence/proof of debt owed, that MidSouth Bank was in violation of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act 809(a)and that if the matter went to court, I would be filing a counter suit against MidSouth Bank for violating my rights.

I received an email from Ms. Karen L. Hail, Chief Operating Officer of MidSouth Bank. She stated that she received my letter and stated:

"I am following up on the requests you have made in the letter. I will also review the information on your account."

She had attempted to call this morning, however, I was at work. Today, I also received the green return receipt card showing that Southwest Collection Services, Inc has received my letter.

I will post updates as they occur.

I read your report. You were not overdrawn because of fees, you were overdrawn because you spent more money than you had and you were charged the fees, which put you further in the hole.

I do not work for a bank. And I do watch my bank accounts, and I do not spend more than I have. I am not sticking up for any bank. I am just stating the obvious. You overdrafted your account, and unfortunately racked up a ton of fees in the process. You owe the money, and so you must pay up. There's no getting out of it.

Well, Joe, I guess it's people with the mentality like yours that there are so many profiteering glugttons. I to believe what completely slipped your mind is the fact of how some companys make the bulk of their money off of exorbitant fees. So, the bank charges $30.00 every time you have an NSF. Well, why is it not right that everytime the bank messes up that we, the consumers, have no right to charge them a fee for their messup?

That is the problem with businesses that charge such large fees. They can make up any fee they want, charge any fee they want, and yet the consumer has no rights.

So, because I don't agree with the bank's gluttenous tactics, I am "...completely in the wrong"? Well, you must work for one of those ripoff companies. Either that or you have never been "ripped off."

You also state that I "racked up" in my account. That's not true.. Read the statements I made, don't just read what you WANT to read. About 90% of what I allegedly owe is nothing but FEES, not actual money the bank paid to any company (e.g. Walmart, restaurant, etc).

I have requested on more than one occassion a detailed statement. The bank simply dismissed that statement to the BBB as they never received anything from me about the account.

In Mr. Levanti's response to the BBB complaint, dated October 23, 2006 he stated, "I am forwarding the customer copies of such statements today." Well, it's now November 22, 2006 and I have yet to receive those statements. I check my mail on a daily basis.

So, Dave, keep living in your gluttenous world and you will have a nice job one day ripping others off too. Have a nice day!

I don't see any ripoff here. You stated you were in financial difficulty. So you over-extended your bank account, and you were charged NSF fees for that. What is the ripoff? Because they wouldn't work with you? Come on. It's a bank, what makes you think they are going to refund you all the fees that you caused, and let you slide on some cancellation fees?

It doesn't work that way. A bank is a business. Some are crappy, some aren't, but in your case, you are completely in the wrong, and the bank in question has done nothing, other then demand payment from you, for fees YOU racked up in YOUR account.

No ripoff. Just poor money management.

Today I called ChexSystems to find out the status of the investigation. I was told that they have not received any disputes from me. They said if I have a dispute to file, I need to send it to them in writing. This was ridiculous.

It is fortunate that I made a copy of my ChexSystems report. Part of the dispute requires you send the ChexSystems report along with your written dispute. Hopefully they will accept a copy as the original was sent in early October (dispute letter dated October 8, 2006).

In my opinion, it seems like ChexSystems is anoter scam. They make their money off of banks. Who do you think they will side and play cards with? The banks! Hopefully the matter will be resolved, if not, you can expect a complaint will be formally filed on here against them as well as the AG of Minnesota (state ChexSystems resides in).