First Financial Federal Credit Union

Review: In early January 2014 I received a telephone message from First Financial informing me that I had incorrectly sent them a check dated for January 2013 which would not be acceptable and could not be deposited. I proceeded to mail a separate check to them, knowing that my payment would likely not be accepted by the deadline on the January 20th (payment was 'due' on the 10th). On January 21st, First Financial made the choice to deposit the check they claimed was invalid, and charged me with the late fee. The withdrawal of these funds, which should not have been made from the bad check, caused me an overdraft fee from another bank. When I called First Financial to discuss this, they claimed that they deposited the check so I would not be charged a late fee from their institution, although they clearly waited until the day I would in fact be charged the late fee to deposit a check they told me was unacceptable.

In February 2013, I scheduled a payment with the available funds posted in my account to a credit card on 2/10/14. The credit account shows me that the payment was made on the 10th, but somehow retracted on the 11th. Additionally, First Financial charged me an overdraft fee on the 11th, claiming that they place a hold on all available funds the day after a payment is due (the 10th). When I attempted to discuss the timing of these payments and that my credit company reflects that the payment was made on the 10th, they said they could not help me and they could not reverse the $35.00 overdraft fee.

In both situations FFFCU clearly manipulated their customer (telling me a check was invalid) and the timeframe with which they handled my funds to take money from me. I am appalled that even their branch manager informed me that there was nothing that could be done in either situation and could not refund the charges they created by manipulating the situation.Desired Settlement: A $70.00 refund to recover money I lost through the two $35.00 overdraft fees. The first, charged by another institution but caused by their depositing of a check they informed me was invalid. The second, caused by manipulation of their time and the reversal of a payment that was made the previous day.

Business

Response:

In response to [redacted]'s complaint - there were a few issues and background information from our side at First Financial which were not mentioned by [redacted] in his initial complaint:Issue #1J[redacted] mailed in a payment for a January payment due 2/10/14 with a stale dated check with the year 2013, which is unacceptable. We called the member and left a message. There was a miscommunication in the branch, someone spoke with [redacted] and told him we could not accept the check because it was dated 2013. [redacted] said he would mail in another check for his loan. The Toms River branch manager took the check from our tickler file and processed the check so he would not get a late fee. When she did this she was not informed that someone else in the branch spoke with [redacted] and he said he would mail out another check (this was not notated). When the check was processed, [redacted] received an NSF fee from TD Bank because he used the monies in his account for another bill - because he told us he would mail out another check for his loan here and he knew he was going to get a late fee from First Financial. The branch manager told [redacted] to bring her in proof of the NSF fee and she would credit him back. She was trying to rectify the situation but he failed to bring in proof of the NSF fee. On 2-15-14 [redacted]’s father dropped off the paperwork attempting to extract information on his son's account. We credited him the $35.00 back on February 19th. That was completed and the branch manager took full ownership of the error and made him whole. A message was left for him that he will see the $35.00 credit in his account. Issue #2 (A different branch manager from the Howell/Freehold Branch, spoke with [redacted] about the below before his father brought the paperwork in):On 02/13/2014 J[redacted] called into the Toms River branch and requested the $35.00 fee be refunded to his savings account. He said that he made the payment through Capital One’s website on 2/7/2014 and they provided him credit for the payment on that day. The manager explained to [redacted] that the payment is credited by Capital One in good faith on the day it is made (Reg Z), but does not actually collect the funds for 1-2 business days from the institution the payment is drawn from. The payment was physically set up in Capital One’s website on 2/7/2014. Capital One did not attempt to collect the funds for the payment until 02/11/2014 at 8:58am. At this time, [redacted]’s auto loan payment was past due and as a result we placed a hold on the available funds in his savings account. As a result, Capital One was unable to collect the funds and the Bill Payment was returned unpaid (NSF) which resulted in a $35.00 fee being assessed to his savings account. [redacted] did come in person to make the late payment at 10:51am on 02/11/2014. Also of note, [redacted] was unprofessional, using very foul language directed at both the Toms River branch manager and the credit union. He was also very aggressive and would not allow her to speak on several occasions.2/13/2014 – [redacted] also posted the below comment on our company Facebook wall, and was called by the business development officer in response to it, around 1pm the same day. He did not pick up so she left him a voicemail stating that she was with First Financial and was calling to follow up and resolve the post he made on Facebook. She left her direct number to return the call. He did not call back. The marketing team also let him know via Facebook that there would be a representative calling him. No further response was made on Facebook either. “STAY AWAY!!! This is the most corrupt bank in existence and has the worst customer service. They took back a payment that was already made to a credit card and simultaneously charged and overdraft fee to my account. The month before they deposited a check that they called to tell me was unacceptable because it had an invalid date, but made sure to wait until I would be charged a late fee to deposit it. They are not worth the headache and have a policy in place for not helping their customers.” -J[redacted]Several attempts were made with [redacted] in order to resolve all complaints and rectify the issues and on more than one occasion, he did not return our messages.