US Bank I'm curious as to what the defenders think of this one St. Louis Missouri

Well, a bank just cant open an account without your permission. So, if that happened, the banker violated policy and probably some federal or state regulation. But I can assure you that is not US Bank or any other bank policy to do that just to collect fees. What is curious is why would the bank personnel do that? Tellers dont get in trouble if an account gets charged off, so I dont see the incentive for a teller to do it. Maybe the bank manager gets marked down if a certain number of his/her accounts get charged off, but I would find it hard to believe that they would take the risk of getting fired and possibly prosecuted by opening up an account a customer didnt want just to clear a $500 negative balance. The more likely scenario is that when the negative account was closed, this other one was opened in its place by the banker, but the titling on the new account was wrong, (as often happens) so it showed up as an account for you only.

"Chris, when you said 'Are you saying that if I had ever transferred money from my account to hers (I had), they would have a right to take money out of my account to cover her debt even if we didn't have a joint account?'

If at some point in the past, you physically made a deposit at a branch with a teller and told the teller, 'put X dollars from my single account to her single account', then no, the bank couldn't debit money from an account with your name alone on it. Think of it this way, her name would have to be on the account as an account holder (not a 'payable on death' or 'beneficiary' or anything like that.)"

No, these were only single accounts, opened seperately. As I said the only way they could have possibly known we were even married was that I had wired money from my account into her's.

Chris, when you said "Are you saying that if I had ever transferred money from my account to hers (I had), they would have a right to take money out of my account to cover her debt even if we didn't have a joint account?"

If at some point in the past, you physically made a deposit at a branch with a teller and told the teller, "put X dollars from my single account to her single account", then no, the bank couldn't debit money from an account with your name alone on it. Think of it this way, her name would have to be on the account as an account holder (not a "payable on death" or "beneficiary" or anything like that.)

I am the law says:

Chris, if USB did create an account without you signing it into existence, then yes, I would highly advise suing. You could get back your lost funds and additional money for damage done to your financial well-being and ruined credit score.

It might be a little late for that now but it doesn't hurt to try. Luckily it didn't hurt me too badly financially because I more than enough to cover the loss and my credit score wasn't affected. However, this was clearly illegal.

Ashley says:

Only way to prevent this would be to never give the bank any evidence of any funds transfered between the two account.

Also, if you had the account in a community property state it does not matter if the accounts were seperate or joint.

Are you saying that if I had ever transferred money from my account to hers (I had), they would have a right to take money out of my account to cover her debt even if we didn't have a joint account? I guess that would explain how they figured out we were married but if what you're saying is accurate they shouldn't have needed to create a whole new joint account to take the money. I am the law, do you know if there's anything to what she's saying?

It sounds very strange what you describe about how the bank opened a joint account just so they could offset the $500 from your account. Think about it. An employee would have to set up an account, put in your e-mail address and password AND transfer the funds. I find THAT a little hard to believe. However, for $500, I wouldn't put it pass some banks OR some over zealous bank employee to pull just such a stunt. IF what you describe happened, I suspect the bank violated a number of banking laws. I'd contact an attorney. As the other person posted, the bank would have to have signature cards with BOTH yours and your wife's signature on file for that account. You might even take them to small claims court. Send them a return receipt requested demand letter demanding the paperwork on the joint account which allowed them to grab your money. Either they won't be able to produce it OR you might find out something you'd rather not have.

Near as I can tell after hours of muddling through mind numbingly boring law documents.

If there was ever any cominging of your money. IE: Withdrawl from your account to deposit in her account etc. Then the bank can consider your accounts funds comingled and thus fair game to use the right to offset.

Only way to prevent this would be to never give the bank any evidence of any funds transfered between the two account.

Also, if you had the account in a community property state it does not matter if the accounts were seperate or joint.

The laws appear to be stacked towards the bank when it comes to these sorts of debts.

I got around this issue by just having accounts at different banks. I bank at one institution and my spouse at a second one.

Chris, if USB did create an account without you signing it into existence, then yes, I would highly advise suing. You could get back your lost funds and additional money for damage done to your financial well-being and ruined credit score.

The bank can't just create new account like that without you signing it into existence. That is WAY beyond fraud. However, if both of your names were on one account, they can legally debit money from that account to cover the negative amount in her individual checking account.

I don't think I explained this in enough detail. They absolutely have the right to take the money if we had a joint account. However, what happened was I had a checking account and my wife had a checking account but we didn't have a joint account (to avoid the very scenario that happened to me here. She's not the best with money, obviously). Anyway, she was able to have her account closed with a negative balance of about $500, thanks to the very generous $8 a day charge for who knows how many days that neither of us knew about. I agree, I should have read the terms and conditions more thoroughly. The very next day after she closed it I discovered a JOINT checking account in me and my wife's name (how they even figured out we were married is a mystery, other than we have the same last name, but last time I checked people can have the same last name and not be related). They had created this account without my permission. Luckily I caught it right away because I check my online activity every day and it showed up on there. I immediately went to the bank to close it. At first they claimed I couldn't close it but after I threatened to withdraw all my money and close my account right then and there, they closed it (or so I thought). The very next day $500 was taken out of my account to pay off my wife's negative balance because they had neglected to close my account and obviously wanted to steal my money quickly in case I discovered this right away. I went to the bank and demanded my money back but they refused so I withdrew all my money and closed my account. That was the lead pipe the broke the camels back for me and US Bank. They tried to convince me not to leave but that just made me laugh. I told them I would never do business with them again and neither would anyone else I knew if I had anything to say about it. What they did was obvious fraud. I thought about a lawsuit but that would probably have cost more than I would have gotten back.

The bank can't just create new account like that without you signing it into existence. That is WAY beyond fraud. However, if both of your names were on one account, they can legally debit money from that account to cover the negative amount in her individual checking account.

Do a Google search for "right to offset" and "bank".

Were both your names on the accounts? If so then they can take the money. If your wife was added to your account at any point then they could go after those funds also.

If your account had your name on it and no other name, AND her account had her name on it and no other name, then they couldn't take the money. Unless there's some strange marriage fund law I don't know about.