We have investigated the complaint filed with the RevDex.com on 6/14/16, by acustomer of Canandaigua National Bank & Trust (CNB) and forwarded to [redacted] for response. In the complaint, our customer alleges that the overdraft charges assessed to hischecking account and the... timing of the bank's processing of his transactions are "predatory.~~ He alleges that the bank intentionally delays processing of his transactions so that his account will be assessed overdraft fees. The customer has requested that the bank resolve this issue by returning $237 in overdraft fees that have recently been assessed to his account.The allegations in this customer's complaint are without merit. In 2014, CNB allowed this customer to open a checking account, even though he had been reported to E Funds earlier that year by another financial institution as a result of insufficient funds (NSF) activity on his account at that institution. On 7/1/15, this customer opted in to the bank's discretionary overdraft protection program, and Notes on the account indicate that CNB's Customer Service Representative reviewed the program characteristics with the customer, including the associated overdraft fees that would be assessed if an overdraft was paid by the bank. On 12/29/15, CNB reversed an NSF fee as a courtesy to the customer, and asked the customer if he would like to apply for CNB's credit-based overdraft line of credit, which he declined to do. Notes on the account state that the customer knew he would not be approved for the line of credit. The Notes also indicate that our Customer Service Representative explained how transactions are processed and that they may not clear the account immediately.More recently, on 6/14/16, when this customer contacted our [redacted] Office, our Customer Service Representative reviewed with the customer how transactions are processed (i.e.,processed and posted upon receipt from the merchant; not reordered or held) and opted thecustomer out of the discretionary overdraft program. Options for managing the account, includingapplying for an overdraft line of credit, were also discussed. The customer did complete anapplication for the overdraft line of credit account, which was approved on 6/21/16. Notes on the account indicate that several overdraft fees had been refunded in the past, so a decision wasmade at the branch not to refund additional fees. Later that day, the customer called the bank and had a lengthy conversation with our Customer Call Center Manager. Notes on the account indicate that transaction processing was again explained to the customer, and a decision wasmade to refund three of the seven overdraft fees.CNB will not be refunding the service charges that are referenced in this complaint. During the past 12 months, CNB has refunded approximately 10 maintenance service charges or overdraft fees in an attempt to assist this customer in maintaining a positive account balance. We have noreason to believe that a waiver of additional fees will assist this customer in his understanding ofhow overdrafts occur. In our review of this account, we note that it is documented that on severaloccasions the bank attempted to educate this customer on ways to manage his account to avoid overdraft fees. Notes on the account indicate that during numerous conversations with this customer, it was suggested that he maintain a check register. CNB representatives have explained that this practice would provide documentation for pending transactions and would provide an accurate available balance that would assist this customer in avoiding overdraft fees.With regard to the allegation that CNB is predatory in its processing practices, we respectfully disagree. CNB adheres to the Interagency Guidance on Overdraft Protection Programs that hasbeen issued by the federal banking regulators. CNB has implemented industry best practice forits overdraft programs, which includes not processing transactions in batches and not reordering items. On numerous occasions, CNB explained to this customer that transactions may not be processed in the order in which they occurred, and that the order in which transactions are received by the bank and processed can affect the total amount of overdraft fees incurred. On numerous occasions, CNB explained to this customer that transactions are processed as the are presented for payment by the merchant, which is a process that is controlled entirely by the merchant. In accordance with the RevDex.com process of responding to complaints, this response does not include any information that personally identifies our customer or his account information. A copy of our response will be sent to our customer under separate cover to ensure he is aware that the bank does not intend to refund the service charges that have been assessed to his account. We emphasize in that letter that he should exercise diligence in monitoring the available balance in his checking account to avoid additional insufficient funds fees. Sincerely,Vicki [redacted] , Senior Vice President Assistant Corporate Risk and Compliance Officer Copy: Frank [redacted] President and CEO Stephen [redacted] , Senior Vice President- Director, Corporate Communications Karen [redacted] , Executive Vice President- Retail Banking Manuela [redacted] Assistant Vice President- Deposit Product Manager
I have investigated the complaint filed with the Revdex.com on 3/19/16, by a customer of our bank and forwarded to Stephen [redacted] for investigation and response. In the complaint,our customer indicates that bill payments continued to be processed from her deposit account after she had...
requested that they be discontinued, and that this resulted in her account being overdrawn. Our customer also indicates that after she had made the deposit to cover the overdraft, she received collection letters from the bank's collection agency, [redacted].The customer has requested that the bank resolve this issue by discontinuing collection efforts and that this information be removed from her credit report.Upon learning of this situation, a member of our Resource Recovery Department contacted [redacted] and advised that any collection efforts related this account should immediately be discontinued and that the status of this account be adjusted to paid in full.Enclosed please find a printout of the account screen indicating this status as of 3/29/16. During our investigation, we discovered that there was an error in the way this account had been reported to [redacted], and that coding error has also been corrected.We note that CNB does not report overdrawn deposit accounts to any credit reporting agency;therefore, although we regret that collection letters were sent in error, the inadvertent reporting of this account to our collection agency does not have a negative impact on our customer's credit history. CNB does report overdrawn accounts to [redacted]; therefore, as a precautionary measure, we verified that this account was not reported to [redacted] by making a[redacted] inquiry and determining there is no record for this customer. Enclosed is a print out of the [redacted] inquiry screen indicating no records found.In our customer's complaint, she indicates that she . .. switched banks in December of 2015 ... ;however, we note that she did not indicate that she had closed her account or that she had requested that the account be closed. She indicates that although she had requested that bill payments be stopped, the bank continued to process these payments. Our review of the account did not identify a record of a request to close the account or to discontinue the bill payments some of which were set as recurring payments in the bank's online banking system, and some of which were preauthorized ACH transactions. A review of the transaction history for the account indicates that our customer continued to use the account during the month of January; e.g., an ATM deposit was made on 1/11/16, and a Point of Sale transaction was conducted on 1/14/16.This leads us to believe that the customer was aware that the account had not been closed. This is important to note, as our standing process for handling rejected items (online bill pay or ACH transactions) is to return any rejected item for a closed account. The transactions that are the basis of this complaint were paid because the account had not been closed. The account was overdrawn on 1/11/16, and because it remained in an overdraft status for 30 days, the bank followed routine procedures to contact the customer at 30 days overdrawn and request that a deposit be made to bring the account balance to zero. The account was not closeduntil the customer made that deposit on 2/24/16 and requested that the account be closed.In accordance with the Revdex.com process of responding to complaints, this response does not include any information that personally identifies our customer or her account information. A copy of our response will be sent to our customer under separate cover to ensureshe is aware that the bank has fulfilled her request for resolution to her complaint.Sincerely,Vicki [redacted], Senior Vice President- Assistant Corporate Risk and Compliance Officer
We have investigated the complaint filed with the Revdex.com on 6/14/16, by acustomer of Canandaigua National Bank & Trust (CNB) and forwarded to [redacted] for response. In the complaint, our customer alleges that the overdraft charges assessed to hischecking account and the...
timing of the bank's processing of his transactions are "predatory.~~ He alleges that the bank intentionally delays processing of his transactions so that his account will be assessed overdraft fees. The customer has requested that the bank resolve this issue by returning $237 in overdraft fees that have recently been assessed to his account.The allegations in this customer's complaint are without merit. In 2014, CNB allowed this customer to open a checking account, even though he had been reported to E Funds earlier that year by another financial institution as a result of insufficient funds (NSF) activity on his account at that institution. On 7/1/15, this customer opted in to the bank's discretionary overdraft protection program, and Notes on the account indicate that CNB's Customer Service Representative reviewed the program characteristics with the customer, including the associated overdraft fees that would be assessed if an overdraft was paid by the bank. On 12/29/15, CNB reversed an NSF fee as a courtesy to the customer, and asked the customer if he would like to apply for CNB's credit-based overdraft line of credit, which he declined to do. Notes on the account state that the customer knew he would not be approved for the line of credit. The Notes also indicate that our Customer Service Representative explained how transactions are processed and that they may not clear the account immediately.More recently, on 6/14/16, when this customer contacted our [redacted] Office, our Customer Service Representative reviewed with the customer how transactions are processed (i.e.,processed and posted upon receipt from the merchant; not reordered or held) and opted thecustomer out of the discretionary overdraft program. Options for managing the account, includingapplying for an overdraft line of credit, were also discussed. The customer did complete anapplication for the overdraft line of credit account, which was approved on 6/21/16. Notes on the account indicate that several overdraft fees had been refunded in the past, so a decision wasmade at the branch not to refund additional fees. Later that day, the customer called the bank and had a lengthy conversation with our Customer Call Center Manager. Notes on the account indicate that transaction processing was again explained to the customer, and a decision wasmade to refund three of the seven overdraft fees.CNB will not be refunding the service charges that are referenced in this complaint. During the past 12 months, CNB has refunded approximately 10 maintenance service charges or overdraft fees in an attempt to assist this customer in maintaining a positive account balance. We have noreason to believe that a waiver of additional fees will assist this customer in his understanding ofhow overdrafts occur. In our review of this account, we note that it is documented that on severaloccasions the bank attempted to educate this customer on ways to manage his account to avoid overdraft fees. Notes on the account indicate that during numerous conversations with this customer, it was suggested that he maintain a check register. CNB representatives have explained that this practice would provide documentation for pending transactions and would provide an accurate available balance that would assist this customer in avoiding overdraft fees.With regard to the allegation that CNB is predatory in its processing practices, we respectfully disagree. CNB adheres to the Interagency Guidance on Overdraft Protection Programs that hasbeen issued by the federal banking regulators. CNB has implemented industry best practice forits overdraft programs, which includes not processing transactions in batches and not reordering items. On numerous occasions, CNB explained to this customer that transactions may not be processed in the order in which they occurred, and that the order in which transactions are received by the bank and processed can affect the total amount of overdraft fees incurred. On numerous occasions, CNB explained to this customer that transactions are processed as the are presented for payment by the merchant, which is a process that is controlled entirely by the merchant. In accordance with the Revdex.com process of responding to complaints, this response does not include any information that personally identifies our customer or his account information. A copy of our response will be sent to our customer under separate cover to ensure he is aware that the bank does not intend to refund the service charges that have been assessed to his account. We emphasize in that letter that he should exercise diligence in monitoring the available balance in his checking account to avoid additional insufficient funds fees. Sincerely,Vicki [redacted], Senior Vice President Assistant Corporate Risk and Compliance Officer Copy: Frank [redacted] President and CEO Stephen [redacted], Senior Vice President- Director, Corporate Communications Karen [redacted], Executive Vice President- Retail Banking Manuela [redacted] Assistant Vice President- Deposit Product Manager
We have investigated the complaint filed with the RevDex.com on 6/14/16, by acustomer of Canandaigua National Bank & Trust (CNB) and forwarded to [redacted] for response. In the complaint, our customer alleges that the overdraft charges assessed to hischecking account and the... timing of the bank's processing of his transactions are "predatory.~~ He alleges that the bank intentionally delays processing of his transactions so that his account will be assessed overdraft fees. The customer has requested that the bank resolve this issue by returning $237 in overdraft fees that have recently been assessed to his account.The allegations in this customer's complaint are without merit. In 2014, CNB allowed this customer to open a checking account, even though he had been reported to E Funds earlier that year by another financial institution as a result of insufficient funds (NSF) activity on his account at that institution. On 7/1/15, this customer opted in to the bank's discretionary overdraft protection program, and Notes on the account indicate that CNB's Customer Service Representative reviewed the program characteristics with the customer, including the associated overdraft fees that would be assessed if an overdraft was paid by the bank. On 12/29/15, CNB reversed an NSF fee as a courtesy to the customer, and asked the customer if he would like to apply for CNB's credit-based overdraft line of credit, which he declined to do. Notes on the account state that the customer knew he would not be approved for the line of credit. The Notes also indicate that our Customer Service Representative explained how transactions are processed and that they may not clear the account immediately.More recently, on 6/14/16, when this customer contacted our [redacted] Office, our Customer Service Representative reviewed with the customer how transactions are processed (i.e.,processed and posted upon receipt from the merchant; not reordered or held) and opted thecustomer out of the discretionary overdraft program. Options for managing the account, includingapplying for an overdraft line of credit, were also discussed. The customer did complete anapplication for the overdraft line of credit account, which was approved on 6/21/16. Notes on the account indicate that several overdraft fees had been refunded in the past, so a decision wasmade at the branch not to refund additional fees. Later that day, the customer called the bank and had a lengthy conversation with our Customer Call Center Manager. Notes on the account indicate that transaction processing was again explained to the customer, and a decision wasmade to refund three of the seven overdraft fees.CNB will not be refunding the service charges that are referenced in this complaint. During the past 12 months, CNB has refunded approximately 10 maintenance service charges or overdraft fees in an attempt to assist this customer in maintaining a positive account balance. We have noreason to believe that a waiver of additional fees will assist this customer in his understanding ofhow overdrafts occur. In our review of this account, we note that it is documented that on severaloccasions the bank attempted to educate this customer on ways to manage his account to avoid overdraft fees. Notes on the account indicate that during numerous conversations with this customer, it was suggested that he maintain a check register. CNB representatives have explained that this practice would provide documentation for pending transactions and would provide an accurate available balance that would assist this customer in avoiding overdraft fees.With regard to the allegation that CNB is predatory in its processing practices, we respectfully disagree. CNB adheres to the Interagency Guidance on Overdraft Protection Programs that hasbeen issued by the federal banking regulators. CNB has implemented industry best practice forits overdraft programs, which includes not processing transactions in batches and not reordering items. On numerous occasions, CNB explained to this customer that transactions may not be processed in the order in which they occurred, and that the order in which transactions are received by the bank and processed can affect the total amount of overdraft fees incurred. On numerous occasions, CNB explained to this customer that transactions are processed as the are presented for payment by the merchant, which is a process that is controlled entirely by the merchant. In accordance with the RevDex.com process of responding to complaints, this response does not include any information that personally identifies our customer or his account information. A copy of our response will be sent to our customer under separate cover to ensure he is aware that the bank does not intend to refund the service charges that have been assessed to his account. We emphasize in that letter that he should exercise diligence in monitoring the available balance in his checking account to avoid additional insufficient funds fees. Sincerely,Vicki [redacted] , Senior Vice President Assistant Corporate Risk and Compliance Officer Copy: Frank [redacted] President and CEO Stephen [redacted] , Senior Vice President- Director, Corporate Communications Karen [redacted] , Executive Vice President- Retail Banking Manuela [redacted] Assistant Vice President- Deposit Product Manager
I have investigated the complaint filed with the Revdex.com on 3/19/16, by a customer of our bank and forwarded to Stephen [redacted] for investigation and response. In the complaint,our customer indicates that bill payments continued to be processed from her deposit account after she had...
requested that they be discontinued, and that this resulted in her account being overdrawn. Our customer also indicates that after she had made the deposit to cover the overdraft, she received collection letters from the bank's collection agency, [redacted].The customer has requested that the bank resolve this issue by discontinuing collection efforts and that this information be removed from her credit report.Upon learning of this situation, a member of our Resource Recovery Department contacted [redacted] and advised that any collection efforts related this account should immediately be discontinued and that the status of this account be adjusted to paid in full.Enclosed please find a printout of the account screen indicating this status as of 3/29/16. During our investigation, we discovered that there was an error in the way this account had been reported to [redacted], and that coding error has also been corrected.We note that CNB does not report overdrawn deposit accounts to any credit reporting agency;therefore, although we regret that collection letters were sent in error, the inadvertent reporting of this account to our collection agency does not have a negative impact on our customer's credit history. CNB does report overdrawn accounts to [redacted]; therefore, as a precautionary measure, we verified that this account was not reported to [redacted] by making a[redacted] inquiry and determining there is no record for this customer. Enclosed is a print out of the [redacted] inquiry screen indicating no records found.In our customer's complaint, she indicates that she . .. switched banks in December of 2015 ... ;however, we note that she did not indicate that she had closed her account or that she had requested that the account be closed. She indicates that although she had requested that bill payments be stopped, the bank continued to process these payments. Our review of the account did not identify a record of a request to close the account or to discontinue the bill payments some of which were set as recurring payments in the bank's online banking system, and some of which were preauthorized ACH transactions. A review of the transaction history for the account indicates that our customer continued to use the account during the month of January; e.g., an ATM deposit was made on 1/11/16, and a Point of Sale transaction was conducted on 1/14/16.This leads us to believe that the customer was aware that the account had not been closed. This is important to note, as our standing process for handling rejected items (online bill pay or ACH transactions) is to return any rejected item for a closed account. The transactions that are the basis of this complaint were paid because the account had not been closed. The account was overdrawn on 1/11/16, and because it remained in an overdraft status for 30 days, the bank followed routine procedures to contact the customer at 30 days overdrawn and request that a deposit be made to bring the account balance to zero. The account was not closeduntil the customer made that deposit on 2/24/16 and requested that the account be closed.In accordance with the Revdex.com process of responding to complaints, this response does not include any information that personally identifies our customer or her account information. A copy of our response will be sent to our customer under separate cover to ensureshe is aware that the bank has fulfilled her request for resolution to her complaint.Sincerely,Vicki [redacted], Senior Vice President- Assistant Corporate Risk and Compliance Officer
We have investigated the complaint filed with the Revdex.com on 6/14/16, by acustomer of Canandaigua National Bank & Trust (CNB) and forwarded to [redacted] for response. In the complaint, our customer alleges that the overdraft charges assessed to hischecking account and the...
timing of the bank's processing of his transactions are "predatory.~~ He alleges that the bank intentionally delays processing of his transactions so that his account will be assessed overdraft fees. The customer has requested that the bank resolve this issue by returning $237 in overdraft fees that have recently been assessed to his account.The allegations in this customer's complaint are without merit. In 2014, CNB allowed this customer to open a checking account, even though he had been reported to E Funds earlier that year by another financial institution as a result of insufficient funds (NSF) activity on his account at that institution. On 7/1/15, this customer opted in to the bank's discretionary overdraft protection program, and Notes on the account indicate that CNB's Customer Service Representative reviewed the program characteristics with the customer, including the associated overdraft fees that would be assessed if an overdraft was paid by the bank. On 12/29/15, CNB reversed an NSF fee as a courtesy to the customer, and asked the customer if he would like to apply for CNB's credit-based overdraft line of credit, which he declined to do. Notes on the account state that the customer knew he would not be approved for the line of credit. The Notes also indicate that our Customer Service Representative explained how transactions are processed and that they may not clear the account immediately.More recently, on 6/14/16, when this customer contacted our [redacted] Office, our Customer Service Representative reviewed with the customer how transactions are processed (i.e.,processed and posted upon receipt from the merchant; not reordered or held) and opted thecustomer out of the discretionary overdraft program. Options for managing the account, includingapplying for an overdraft line of credit, were also discussed. The customer did complete anapplication for the overdraft line of credit account, which was approved on 6/21/16. Notes on the account indicate that several overdraft fees had been refunded in the past, so a decision wasmade at the branch not to refund additional fees. Later that day, the customer called the bank and had a lengthy conversation with our Customer Call Center Manager. Notes on the account indicate that transaction processing was again explained to the customer, and a decision wasmade to refund three of the seven overdraft fees.CNB will not be refunding the service charges that are referenced in this complaint. During the past 12 months, CNB has refunded approximately 10 maintenance service charges or overdraft fees in an attempt to assist this customer in maintaining a positive account balance. We have noreason to believe that a waiver of additional fees will assist this customer in his understanding ofhow overdrafts occur. In our review of this account, we note that it is documented that on severaloccasions the bank attempted to educate this customer on ways to manage his account to avoid overdraft fees. Notes on the account indicate that during numerous conversations with this customer, it was suggested that he maintain a check register. CNB representatives have explained that this practice would provide documentation for pending transactions and would provide an accurate available balance that would assist this customer in avoiding overdraft fees.With regard to the allegation that CNB is predatory in its processing practices, we respectfully disagree. CNB adheres to the Interagency Guidance on Overdraft Protection Programs that hasbeen issued by the federal banking regulators. CNB has implemented industry best practice forits overdraft programs, which includes not processing transactions in batches and not reordering items. On numerous occasions, CNB explained to this customer that transactions may not be processed in the order in which they occurred, and that the order in which transactions are received by the bank and processed can affect the total amount of overdraft fees incurred. On numerous occasions, CNB explained to this customer that transactions are processed as the are presented for payment by the merchant, which is a process that is controlled entirely by the merchant. In accordance with the Revdex.com process of responding to complaints, this response does not include any information that personally identifies our customer or his account information. A copy of our response will be sent to our customer under separate cover to ensure he is aware that the bank does not intend to refund the service charges that have been assessed to his account. We emphasize in that letter that he should exercise diligence in monitoring the available balance in his checking account to avoid additional insufficient funds fees. Sincerely,Vicki [redacted], Senior Vice President Assistant Corporate Risk and Compliance Officer Copy: Frank [redacted] President and CEO Stephen [redacted], Senior Vice President- Director, Corporate Communications Karen [redacted], Executive Vice President- Retail Banking Manuela [redacted] Assistant Vice President- Deposit Product Manager