Cathay Bank Corporate

Complaint ID: 2413718

Product: Bank account or service

Sub-Product: Checking account

Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Subissue:

Company: CATHAY BANK

Complaint: I opened a Cathay Bank employee account when I joined the bank in XXXX, but did n't close out the account when I left the bank in XXXX. I have recurring loan payments drawn from this account every month. Recently I found that the there was a charge of monthly management fee of {$15.00}, an ACH debit was returned and an NSF fee of {$25.00} was charged also. All of these showed up in my account without any notification from the bank up to this point by mail or email, and the bank policy explicitly states that employee account would n't yield any maintenance fee. I did n't receive follow-up instructions of how the account will be handled after my departure from the bank either, and I was never charged of such kind of fee before. I realized the issues and called up the bank, but branch manager insisted that the bank will charge a account maintenance fee because it 's a " valueplus ' account, and they 've been sending me statements, which was not true. I asked the manager for a refund of fees for above reasons and also since I never received such notifications of fund return and NSF fee, but the manager would n't admit it.

Company Response: Closed with monetary relief

Timely Response: Yes

Consumer Disputed: No

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Complaint ID: 1724537

Product: Bank account or service

Sub-Product: Checking account

Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Subissue:

Company: CATHAY BANK

Complaint: I have had a basic, no monthly fee bank account with XXXX Bank until around middle of 2015 when XXXX Bank was acquired by Cathay Bank and all the XXXX Bank accounts were transferred under Cathay Bank. My account was also transferred under Cathay Bank but instead of the same basic no monthly fee account I used to have it was the type with $ 15 monthly fee. When I opened my bank statement from Cathay Bank and saw the $ 15 monthly fee, I decided to go the bank branch and inquire about the fee. The manager said the bank has sent all customers about the account type change and refused to refund the {$15.00}. I believe from a matter of principle what Cathay Bank has done is not right.

Company Response: Closed with monetary relief

Timely Response: Yes

Consumer Disputed: No

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Complaint ID: 1487953

Product: Bank account or service

Sub-Product: Checking account

Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Subissue:

Company: CATHAY BANK

Complaint: I opened a student checking account at Cathay Bank. They switched my account to a Personal Checking account with a daily minimum balance of {$1000.00} WITHOUT informing me in writing. The only indication that my bank account type has changed is the {$10.00} maintenance fee on my XXXX monthly statement. While their current website says the student checking account is only valid for XXXX years, it does not say, and I was never informed, that my student checking account would be AUTOMATICALLY AND WITHOUT NOTICE changed into a Personal Checking account with a XXXX monthly maintenance fee. Had they informed me, IN WRITING, I would have closed my account and created a new student checking account, as I am still a student. They later told my power of attorney XXXX PoA XXXX that in order to renew a student account, I had to fly back personally, XXXX, to do so, even though my student status is unchanged. When my PoA went to the bank, on XXXX, a teller told her only that the {$10.00} maintenance fee was because my new account type had a minimum balance that we did not meet. To rectify this, my representative wrote a check for {$500.00} to Cathay Bank to satisfy it, since she was only told verbally that there was one. No bank personnel advised my PoA that this was a DAILY minimum balance rather than a monthly minimum, and they failed to give us the relevant Bank Account Disclosures for the new Personal Checking account. When my PoA returned to close the account on XXXX with an account representative, she was told that we were charged another {$10.00} in XXXX because we were under the {$1000.00} for a few days, which again, nobody informed us was a DAILY minimum. Had they given me the account disclosure materials, in writing, we would have known that this was a DAILY and not a MONTHLY minimum balance before they charged another {$10.00} in maintenance fees. Consequently, because they deducted the second {$10.00} in fees for XXXX, they informed us that we would see another {$10.00} deducted in XXXX because the new {$10.00} they deducted for XXXX officially put my account below the {$1000.00} daily minimum balance again. Had they advised us IN WRITING before changing my account type and then given us the Bank Account Disclosures, I would not have been deducted {$30.00} in maintenance fees due to their negligence. One of the agents at the bank, after some time arguing with my PoA, agreed to consider making an internal note waiving one of the {$10.00} fees but " but we will be charged in XXXX as well. '' The staff at Cathay bank refused to let my PoA close our account, claiming that we had a safety deposit box with them, which is neither here nor there, given that we could have removed the safety box.

Company Response: Closed with monetary relief

Timely Response: Yes

Consumer Disputed: No

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