Academy Bank Colorado aka Academy Bank Mid-West, aka Academy Bank of Colorado, aka Academy Bank, A Division of Armed Forces Bank N.A., aka Southern Commerce Bank, aka Sun Bank Lies! Misinformation! Fraud! Fee Hungry!! Doesn't disclose personal loan REQUIREMENTS which allows them to collect more fees!! Kansas City Missouri

Let me start with some background information about Academy Bank. I first started banking with them in 2009 and I have my account with them for a little over 2 years. My banking relationship was ended with Academy Bank in 2011 when I started with the process of declaring my bankruptcy so that I could restructure my debt. 

At the time my attorney did not inform me that if I had over a certain amount of funds in my account that the bankruptcy trustee could seize the money and apply it toward what I owed to the courts. This became my fault as I had processed transactions against the funds that were not in my account causing an over-draft of $416.52 that I owed to the bank. 

In 2014 I came back to the bank, after being unemployed for almost 3 years, and I proceeded to pay off the balance I owed to the bank so that I could re-open my account. In short I re-paid my obligations to the bank. During this period back at the bank my account had experienced some fraud activity and I asked the bank to close my account.

After 3 different fraudulent transactions clearing my account I withdrew all of my money out of the account to prevent any further problems and I asked the bank to close out the account, Within 24 hours of the account closing another fraudulent transaction posted which caused the account to automatically re-open.

After which several fraud transactions tried to post against my account which generated returned check fees which the bank told me I am responsible for! Can you believe that?! I am responsible for keeping money in my account for people to steal unless of course I want fees. The bank refused all of my attempts to recover the fees and told me that the problem is between me and the mechant. I have to wonder if police officers tell the victims of crimes that the problems are theirs and have nothing to do with the police department.

I spent the next 30 days trying to convince the bank to come to some sort of resolution with the fees and each and every time I was told "No. You must contact the merchant" while the merchant kept referring me back to the banks for the fees. At the 30 day mark my account with Academy Bank was closed with an overdraft. I never gave up the position that I was not responsible for those fees and I would not be paying them so I continued to negotiate with the bank. 

This time I was dealing with the charge-off department and they wanted me to pay the balance in full. After several dozen calls, 4 supervisors, and a couple hundred calls to customer service I finally spoke with S.H. (I use initials to prevent privacy violations) in the charge-off department. After explaining the chain of events Sabrina agreed to get the fees removed from the charged-off account so that the account balance would once again be zero and I could open up an account in the future without problems.

This never happened because 3 months later I went back to the bank to re-open my account and I found out at that time that I still owed the bank for the chrarged off account. So I was forced to open a restore account but I also forced to pay off the bank for the returned check fees that were not my responsiblity. By this time I am pledged to pay the bank $209.81 for the overdrafted account in 4 monthly payments + $12.00 per month for a fee to maintain a restore account. 

So I opened the most recent account in April of 2015. During my conversation with the bank representative I was offered an express loan. The bank teller informed me, "Mr. Customer, if you wanted to pay off the over-draft account quicker you could apply for an express loan. You would only get a maximum of $1250 but at the same time you could pay off the overdraft fees you owe and have a little extra money in your pocket." 

When I asked about the loan she told me that the two factors that affect the loan are my total history with the bank and partially my credit. I asked if there were any "automatic disqualifying factors" and she told me no. She also advised me to talk to the loan department at the customer service hotline and so I did. They confirmed the same information that the bank teller had given me prior.

So I applied for the loan online and was denied. The application cost me $35.00 and I was denied because of my "debt to income ratio" and my lack of "deposit history with the bank." After 30 days I applied again and this time I showed several cash deposits as well as a direct deposit into my account. This time I was denied for my "debt to income ratio" which made me contact the loan department directly. 

The loan department informed me that currently my student loans were in repayment and that my debt to income ratio was too high. I said that was impossible because I had put my students loans in forebearence about 4 months prior anticipating my return to school. The loan officer, P.H. (I use initials to prevent privacy violations) told me that if I can "prove that the student loans are in deferment/forebearence that we (meaning the bank) will fund the loan." 

It took me a few days but I was able to provide detailed documentation which I forwarded to P.H. After 2 days of inspecting my paperwork my load was denied because my account, a restore account, was not eligble for any loans. Not only did the bank make mistakes with my accounts, but they also purposely misled me on the requirements of the express personal loans in order to earn two $35.00 fees which now they claim are not refundable. 

We all know that banks make the bulk of their money in fees because lord knows in this economy they are not lending it out! This bank especially is a predatory institution that preys upon the needs of their customers in order to stuff their pockets with cash. I hope this helps people to avoid this bank in the future!