BBVA
Reviews and Complaints

I check my account regurally online. It was a Wednesday afternoon I noticed that my account was short, so I got up Thursday morning and deposited enough money to cover what would have been in the negative. I was busy with doctor visits the rest of the day! Friday morning I checked my account and Compass had taken out three different $38 NSF charges. I called them and got the run around. I called back on Monday, again got the run around! Later that afternoon, I checked my account again and the bank had taken out another $38 NSF charge! I don't mind telling you I was upset! I called back, and was instructed to wait til Tuesday morning to call back! I called back Tues. morning and this time I went straight to the Branch Manager which informed me that there was nothing she could do! This is ridiculous, I don't think I should have gotten those charges, I made the deposit, but the bank took out the NSF charges before depositing my money! Why is it they take out the NSF charges BEFORE depositing your deposit?

Compass bank closed my credit account and will mess up my credit, even though the account is current and is being paid on time. They said that I am high risk, even though I have been a perfectly good customer and am not delinquent on anything. I just have school loans, but have since graduated and gotten a good job, compass will ruin my credit for seven years or more. This means no house, no new cars, even if I pay them back tomorrow.

Tstegall - you knew you were overdrawn...

I am a mother of 4 with one on the way, my husband and I work very hard for the little paychecks we get so it infuriates me when we get taken advantage of! I made a $6.73 mistake in my checkbook, I realized the mistake on Saturday evening 12/10/11, so on Monday morning 12/12/11 I made an $80 cash deposit. When I made that deposit my available balance was in the positive. Over the weekend we had done some shopping and such, but I was only overdrawn by $6.73 keep in mind! To my surprise, I wake up on Tuesday morning to find out that my account is overdrawn and I have been charged 5 overdraft fees, 3 more on Wednesday, and 1 more on Thursday for a grand total of $342! Now, there policy states they will not charge you more than 6 fees in one day, so this is their way of getting more money and creating a horrible snowballing effect on your account! I went in to my local branch to find out what in the world happened and I was told that Compass' policy is to deduct items from your account in the order they were done in. So for instance, everything I did over the weekend, went through before my deposit on Monday which caused fees, so then everything I did on Monday was automatically overdrawn, even though when I made the transaction on Monday the money was in the bank to cover it and so on... This bank is robbing us and has totally taken Christmas from my children! This was the paycheck that was going to buy thier Christmas which was going to be a struggle anyway, but now, I seriously will have NOTHING for them under the tree! I even explained that to the Branch Manager, but all she would say is there was nothihg she could do, it was the bank's policy. I want other consumers to be aware of the horrible practices of this bank so no other family has to go through what we are having to go through at Christmas time! Here are some other websites that show the same issues:

Bbva compass bank — excessive nsf/overdrawn fees

http://publicintellectual.wordpress.com/2009/07/05/customer-dissatisfaction-with-bbva-compass-bank/

Compass Bank - said on their 800 number that my daughter who lives in another state, could sign papers in any office in any state they had an office, as I wanted her to be the beneficiary of my estate, then said that was illegal, and wouldn't let it happen any other way! more bait and switch? I had another account a while back with them under another name and my rent check cleared so they put it through again and bounced it the second time!

Compass Bank - Said I could get a small business loan, then said I have to be in business for two years first; never have current balance but instead yesterdays balance so they can charge a NSF fee of $32.00 which seems usurious;balance of account always fluctuates to suit their charges; I made a deposit on a Friday and I could not touch any money until the following Tuesday!; they say one thing then do another, a bait and switch; I made a deposit once with a check and the teller gave me $80.00 as my balance covered that and was chewed out by management for doing this!; advertise 24 hour service but there is nothing present!; I am disabled and once they told me to go back downstairs and do my business on the ATM - do disabled people embarrass them?

BBVA Compass prays on people who live pay check to pay check. I know, I used to work for them when they first came to this country and took over Compass. Thankfully, I was able to quit and move to a career that doesn't make me feel like a thief every day. And I can honestly tell you that the Management team struggled when Reg E came into play because they needed to find other ways to make up the lost fee income. They are manipulating your debits and credits in an attempt to find a way to charge you... largest debits first, followed by smallest credits... and when a debit comes in late from a slow retailer, they will back it up as far as they can to see if it can go in front of a deposit and cause a fee. And a check register won't really do the trick because you have no way of knowing how long they hold a deposit before making funds available. Only those people who have a large cushion to keep in the actual checking account in case there is a deposit hold should bank there. I strongly suggest that everyone else move over to a credit union until BBVA Compass gets the message.

From: Texas...I have has this same experience with compass as well and they suck. The difference with my story is I went out of town for my anniversary. I checked my balance daily to make sure I was staying within what I thought was budget. I had a positive balance but I knew I had to make a deposit on Monday to make sure all charges were covered. I made a $100 deposit on Monday when I returned from my vacation. On Tues morning I had 2 NSF fees/OD fees on my account totaling $76.00 ($38 each) for two items they say posted to the account on Monday but were not showing on my online banking. The deposit would've covered all charges that came through and I would've had money left over. Then I went to compass branch and they told me I had to call customer service 800 number. I contacted the customer service dept and discussed the issues with the account. Not to mention, I have a savings account with money in it as well with compass. Customer service told me I have to have at least $500 in the savings for them to cover charges in my checking account. They agreed to reimburse the OD fees but I checked my online banking again and 2 more OD fees came through so I had to call back and dispute those as well which resulted in them taking the OD fees before the items charges were paid which caused a dominoe effect. I called back again and spoke with a different rep and he informed me the policy concerning the $500 in the savings account in order to cover charges on checking went out in 2010 and we was given incorrect information. He advised we call back tomorrow and they will reimburse the fees but I just wander how much trouble I will have to go through to get that accomplished. I am unemployed with a fixed income and I can't afford any extra fees and problems with my money in the bank. I am parent as well and I amso frustrated and compass only adds to my problem. I will be closing my account as well.

Hello,

My name is Carolina Aramayo; I am a part of the social media team here at BBVA Compass Bank.

BBVA Compass strives to provide the most courteous and responsive service. I would very much like to discuss this experience with you. Please contact me at your earliest convenience, my email is:

Carolina.Aramayo@bbvacompass.com Thank you.

absolutely agree. Compass bank's service is nothing short of criminal. My wife closed an she originally opened with her dad years ago. She closed the account last year and withdrew the remaining funds. Some transactions she made before she closed the account posted after she closed the account and withdrew money. Here we are a year later and we've heard NOTHING from them until they froze my father-in-law's bank account demanding we pay 500 dollars. Every single tool that is suppossed to protect debtors was not available to us. It's like they had a gun to our family's head. I work in forclosure for a mortgage servicer and these guys make us look SAINTLY. Also, every single rep I spoke with at Compass did not know the very, very basic aspects of their job( fair debt collection practices act). Compass bank are killers. k-k-k-k-killers!

Hello,

My name is Carolina Aramayo, I am a part of the social media team here at BBVA Compass Bank.

BBVA Compass strives to provide the most courteous and responsive service. I would very much like to discuss this experience with you. Please contact me at your earliest convenience, my email is:

Carolina.Aramayo@bbvacompass.com
Thank you.

we are under the same situation me and my dad are trying to pay bills online but for some reason it wont let us and it says to call to the number and their office is closed and he fears he might have to pay a late fee my dad already has enough debt to stress about this is ridiculous

I was a customer of Compass Bank when it was Texas State Bank and never had any complaints. The employees of the bank were always helpful and understanding. I don't know what happened to those employees and their attitudes when the bank switched over. They are now rude and not very sympathetic.
My complaint is with their shady practices involving NSF fees.
I had $32 dollars in the bank on Sunday and knew I had to watch what I was spending. So when I decided to get the kids something to eat, I knew I couldn't spend very much. We spent about $13, so that left about $19 On Monday, there was a $10.00 service fee taken out, which left $9 in the bank. So Tuesday morning, after much talk and thought with my husband I decided to withdraw $220 to pay some bills that needed to get paid. I understood that I would be charged a $38 fee. On Friday of the same week my paycheck got direct deposited, and I needed to check the balance and found that the bank had charged me a fee for the debit I made on Sunday when I had money in the account to cover it. My husband called the 1-800 number and was told that the debit made on Sunday was taken out of the account the next business day, which would be Monday. That would have been fine because I had the $32 dollars in the bank on Monday. But what the bank did was post the debit made on Sunday, which was actually posted on Monday, on Tuesday afternoon. That means that they took out the $220 that I debited, then took out the $13 that was posted the day before, resulting in two $38 fees. If it sounds confusing, that's because it is. The representative on the phone could not explain how the the service charge posted on Monday, did not bounce, but the debit made on Sunday did... three days after it was made. Now we are waiting for another representative to decide if we should get one of the NSF fees returned. So I guess we'll cross our fingers and hope someone actually calls us back.

Compass Bank is a joke - We had 6 accounts. They charge there debits before credits so your co called free checking is not free. You can have your payroll be credit Tuesday morning if you withdraw money from there bank on that day they will charge you nsf fees. Had over 7 such fees refunded from there customer service line only to have one of my accounts shut down by local assitant manager Amy Whitehouse [protected]. Explained the NSF fees were do to there error - She did not care. Went in to close 5 of the 6 accounts to until they could release the 6th. Still they care less. Complain to Regional Manager Chuck Sprague [protected] no reponse - no response - no response - Sucky bank. We have two buisness's in the Ocala area both we have refuse to take any one check or debit card issued from compass. If you have an account with them close it it will be the best thing you ever did!

My account went into overdraft do to me paying my AT&T bill, which was my fault. However, when it was not cleared up in 10 days they began charging $7/day from the day it went into overdraft. No diclosure or notice was given until the fees reached $241.00. The employees was less than helpful. If you have a similar problem send a complaint to the Federal Reserve Bank (their regulator) at http://www.federalreserveconsumerhelp.gov/

IF you had been watching your account like you should have...this would not have cost you near as much.

I think the fees they charge are absolutely beyond crazy...but...ya gotta take responsibility for what YOU'RE responsible for. It still sucks I know.

I can tell you what is wrong with the employees. Its just as bad to work for Compass Bank as it is to bank there. They are probably just showing up to collect a paycheck until they can find another job. Most employees spend their day getting chewed out by customers so you were just another one in a long line! Been there done that!

This very scenario has happened to my wife and I more times than I care to remember. A few times, we were able to get some of the fees back, and other times they "stuck to their guns" and wouldn't refund us anything.

While their practices MAY be legal, they are completely illogical, not following the normal flow of cash that normal people think about when trying to manage their account.

I'm seriously shopping for another bank right now.

Ok, honestly? Online banking is NOT the only way to determine your balance! How about...keeping a register? Thats what normal people do. If you go overdrawn, its not the banks fault; its yours! Also, there is 24/7 automated phone banking as well as customer service, and you can always go into the bank or use the ATM to get your balance. This is why people irrate me. Use your brain. Don't spend money you don't have, and don't blame your bad bookeeping on the bank.

Yeah, they really need to issue some kind of official appology when this is resolved. If one of my higher profile customer's website's went down for 4 days, there would be hell to pay for sure.

Just think of all the NSF fees this "outage" will help them generate.

Dealing with the same issues. I am in the process of fighting 8 NSF fees and going to switch banks. I can't afford to bank with them. How crazy is that?!?!?!?!

I opened a checking account with Guaranty Bank through a promotion where I would get $100 after 150 days, with terms and rules. I followed all the rules they had posted on the promotion page but now that BBVA Compass has taken over, they refuse to pay me the $100. I had planned to close my other account and move all my money there, but I sure won't now. I will not do busines with thieves. I will stick to credit unions because I have never had problems with them stealing my money.

Please grow up and manage your accounts. If you have the time to sit around and complain about fee's then maybe you have time to manage your accounts. Here is a tip, DON"T SPEND MORE MONEY THAN YOU HAVE! Banks are a business they are not there to give you free stuff all the time. Take advantage of the resources they have and grow the heck up!

I have been having the same issue with BBVA Compass. They just charged me (the latest) $228 in overdraft because of their shady transaction processing. I had the same issue with Bank of America under the same processing "ploicies, " and now look where they're at; a class action suit/settlement. This is ridiculous. They say that they process in that manner to "benefit" the customers, but it really only benefits them, and screws the customers. A class action suit against them for these same illegal practices would be a godsend. We have been told by every agent/teller we have spoken with that the processing order is in charge-time, not largest to smallest, but a supervisor told us that it is largest to smallest, and has always been. That is the first time anyone at Compass has told us that. I'm tired of this. We did expect one NSF fee because of an emergency charge that was unavoidable, but 6 is insane!

Honestly? Learn to manage your accounts! Bank are not nonprofit organizations in case you had not noticed. I agree the fees are high but when you open accounts at a bank, no matter what bank, they give you disclosures on fees. Maybe you should have taken time to read them?! Having an account is your our resposibility as consumers. They give us check registers, telephone banking, online banking, mobile banking and the ability to get off our butts and walk into an actual banking center. I have been banking for years and have never once overdrawn my account because I know its my job to manage my money.
Its your own fault you were charged all of those fees because if you actually took the time to read your disclosures you would know you are charged nsf fees per transaction. So essentially each time you used you debit card and didnt have enough funds you were borrowing money you did not have! Its the cost of doing business and you chose to neglect the fact that you really didnt have the $200+!

In my opinion people like you probably dont take responsibility for alot of other things in life too! I would suggest you read all disclosures for everything you do because you cant sue the world for your mistakes!
Good luck!

i have had the same prob. with BBVA so i payed what according to time was owed and told them they could suck it on the rest. I refuse to pay for things that i know i didn't bounce just cause there lame excuse of taking the big out first and the the little amounts. I will never pay them any more than i have, i should sue them because it wasn't the only time they did this to me. The worst part is i didn't join BBVA i was a Guraenty coustomer and got bought out by them!

Wendy C. Waco TX

I agree with the lawsuit, but from what I've heard the bank won. These corrupt courts are going to be the death of us all, and the banks are going to make money off of it. It's absolutely ridiculous. Me and my wife have a checking and savings account with Compass, and we've been struggling for too long. Up until 3 months ago I wasn't working because I couldn't find a job. My wife was the only one working. We'd been having to borrow money from her parents month to month to barely make ends meet. Even then we kept finding ourselves in holes on occasion for the very same reason: stacking. The most recent example was when my paycheck (which is direct deposited at midnight on Thursday every two weeks) and our rent check went through on the same day. I remember anxiously waiting, hoping that our Leasing manager wouldn't take the checks to the bank until we had gotten my paycheck. And then I checked our bank balance on the day my paycheck was to be in the bank, and my paycheck had posted in the pending transactions, and our rent check had posted in the pending transactions...IN THAT ORDER. So, I say a hallelujah, thank God, and think that all is fine. And me and my wife went to the grocery store that day...since we hadn't been able to go for almost a month. I come back today and check my balance, and we have almost $80 less than I had counted that we should have. I go down the transaction list, and viola: the rent check was posted BEFORE my paycheck...even though when I checked the day of the posting, my paycheck had posted first. So, I look and the rent check put us into the negatives, $38, and then the groceries we got put us more in the negatives, for a total of $76. The banks need to be stopped before they turn the middle class into the poor. Once that happens, a large chunk of our nations economy will go down the drain. I hope it doesn't come to that.

i fully agree with the person above me. i have my home mortgage with compass and have always made my payments on time, but recently they have taken it upon themselves to harrass me because I made my december payment during the grace period that i have. they decided to send me a letter stating that i had broken my promise to them and not paid on time. i mean give me a break. i am a teacher on a VERY fixed income, drive a beat up car and live in a double wide mobile home. if i was making millions, like their ceo's i would understand, but GEE WHIZ! happy holidays to these jerks.

I have only read fraudfigther13's comment and it still makes me furious that banks go after people who are living by limited means. I make barely enough to survive with. I am not living beyond my means, I havent gone out and purchased a car I cant afford, I haven't gone out and brought a big flat screen tv although I would love one, and in order to keep my debit card in case I need it, I put some money in a bank account one week and used the card that week to pay for lunch and other items to keep my card active.

On that thursday, I went to a fast food restaurant and they charged me more than I thought I ordered and it went into my account, credited, not debited. Explain why after overdrafting 1.65 on this account and even after I went the very next morning to cover that amount, I am now in the hole for 173.65? I have never seen a bank that charges you an overdraft the very next day on a credit transaction. I know maybe people like you make enough money to have extra money in the bank when you need it, but I am digging myself out of a hole right now. By the way, I lost everything in a fire a few years back and no I didnt have any insurance at the time because I couldnt afford it.

So before anyone starts to say that I'm lazy or I should learn how to balance a checkbook, understand a persons situation and how banks find ways to keep people who are in bad situations from getting into a better situation. I know its no secret that people who cant stay in the green are a banks favorite customer. Why do you think they make such great offers most of the time to those people if they sign up for direct deposit? I would never sign up for a direct deposit, in fact, if i need to process a transaction in the future that requires the use of a credit card, I would rather go buy a temporary and use that than give these greedy institutions another penny of my hard earned money.

I came to the state I live in with 100 dollars in my pocket and I have made it a long way in the last few years since the fire. I now live in a rented house, fully furnished with all I need to be comfortable for me and my three boys. I drive a crappy car, but it gets me to the place that provides me with the paycheck I need to keep furthering myself, this all by hard work and saving. These institutions with their disgusting practices are the reason people end up without having the money they need to go out and spend on things to help stimulate the economy. Maybe the banking industry is benefiting, but I don't know, you saw what happened with the bailouts, who the hell is gonna bail me out? I get paid in two days and a third of my 2 week check will go to the bank. Otherwise, its 7 dollars a day which is what they are charging me now with an occasional 21 dollar od they have been adding every couple of days and there isn't a thing I can do about it except watch the tally go up helplessly until I have the money to cover it.

I had to pawn some of my stuff for the first time in my life and I felt like crap doing it and even, it did not get me enough to cover the overdraft. I will be dammed if I get rid of my furniture and my necessities to satisfy these unjust charges. Screw not only compass but all banks. They are Loan Sharks hiding behind pin striped suits. Middle men that are good at making something out of nothing off the backs of hard working individuals. The bad thing is, if they fail, we get screwed, the whole world fails. They have made us dependent upon them and it wont end.

I'm not even that mad right now, I am laughing inside to keep from crying cause I wont be able to give my kids Christmas presents this year, or my son a birthday present on the 28th. Luckily my kids understand the hardships and never once have complained when there wasn't any money for special occasions like that. I guess I can say the banks have assisted in building my boys characters over the years. Maybe one day they will work to better their own. I won't hold my breath though.

i am willing to join your suit. There is a restaraunteur here in Houston that is filing a class action lawsuit against BBVA Compass. I just checked my records and everytime i had overdraft charges, they post the larger debits first, then the smaller ones, thereby causing overdrafts of the smaller and larger debits. And this was done EVERY time. It is time we stood up to these banks because lord knows, that no one is watching them.

I don't see why you have not started your own group, who will present these cases under seal and to congress to change the policy, if you do I the first, I have done five years managing union contracts for arbitration, where can I help?

Working on a website kathleenjwashponfoundation.org its been edited numerous times, but I think it's getting there, I am also looking to establish an organizetion to monitor services and programs to present cases in civil courts nationwide!

I know what you mean. They just got me for $266 dollars in NSF funds even though I deposited money and they told me it was available immediately, then I used it three times that night for which they charged 3 $38 fees. Then three days later while I had plenty of balance still, they charged me another 4 $38 fees. No legible explanation from them other then they aren't refunding the fees.