ABN AMRO sucks

March 1st, 2007 at 03:50 pm

Ok, I'm over-reacting a little, but here's the story:
I sent my mortgage payment with an extra $22.68 to go to our principal. First of all, it's the second months in a row I have to call them because they put extra payments in the escrow account vs. principal. Even though I had called prior and made sure that any and all extra would go toward principal, but anyway...

I sent the payment on 2/20 and called on 2/21 to rectify the mistake. On Friday 2/23, I see that nothing has changed so I write to customer service and get a response back saying this will be fixed.

My payment is due 3/1 and this is the part I'm over-reacting about because we're talking about a tiny amount of money: they applied my extra payment toward NEXT MONTH, which made means that I will pay a whole $1 or so extra in interest.

It's no so much the amount that bothers me (after all, we are talking about $1!!), but it's more that first of all, I've had to call many times, and write in order to get this done. I had called once, before making my very first payment, and was told that any extra payment were, by default, credited to the principal, which is apparently not true.

Second is that when I did this last month, the money was moved from escrow to principal right away. This time, it feels like they waited until my normal payment was due (3/1) and then fixed it so it would be credited to the principal after 3/1.

This means that on a one-person scale (me), it is $1, but what if they do this to a hundreds of thousands of customers every months. It does add up for them!

Posted in Homeownership | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “ABN AMRO sucks”

nance Says:
March 1st, 2007 at 03:57 pm

I heard that the best thing to do is write a separate check and write on it, and enclose an attached note, "TO BE APPLIED TO PRINCIPAL ONLY". They might still screw up, but at least you made it clear what you intended. It is frustrating!
tinapbeana Says:
March 1st, 2007 at 06:06 pm

my mortgage stub has a place to mark how much to apply directly to principal. i pay my monthly electronically, but when i start paying extra towards the mortgage i'll be sending the extra the old fashioned way and mark all of it towards principal.
Ima saver Says:
March 2nd, 2007 at 05:06 am

Every time I get a land loan, I stay "in house" with my land mortgage. Then I take each payment in personally with 2 seperate checks, and tell them, this check is for payment on principal only!
Fern Says:
March 2nd, 2007 at 12:36 pm

You seem to be having lots of problems with this bank. I was going to say what nance suggested. I always write 2 separate checks, 1 for the regular payment and 1 for the pre-payment of principal, which i write ont that check, plus there's a space on the coupon where i indicate the extra payment.

These people have got to get it together!
RD Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 08:42 pm

ABN AMRO bank executives, ABN AMRO Netbanking all suck.
Every now and then their Netbanking is down, their executives dont know how to handle the customers. Is there any other place to spread the buzz about this shit bank so that people can be made aware and dont fall in such troubles.ABN AMRO really sucks.
Cole H Says:
April 14th, 2009 at 04:12 am

Absolute worst service I have ever encountered with any institution. I left Holland after being a client of ABN for over a year, for a year of traveling. I desperately needed a new e.dentifier, but after many emails and many phone calls to the bank, it seems like they are doing everything in their power not to be of help. They said they can only send it to my Amsterdam address, which is useless for me, as I am not there, and don't know anyone in Amsterdam to post one to me. I had a very simple and straightforward suggestion: Please could you send me a new e.dentifier to the address I am currently staying in London. My God what a revalation!! Simple yeah? Nope. Sorry, we can only send it to the address that is in the computer. Can you get someone to post it to you from there they asked. No I replied, there is no one at that address. The idea of simply posting it to the address I was at in London, seemed to go against what the almighty computer screen displayed. After pleading over emails and phone calls to let common sense and logic prevail, I received a snotty email saying they simply cannot help me. Hmm, I wonder if having a couple of million in my account would have persuaded ABN to help a client get a new e.dentifier. I cannot wrap my mind around it. So they suggested I change my address to the London one. Can't do that, as I don't live in London, I was visiting family. Changing the address would have to be done online anyway, and guess what - no identifier so no can do!! It seems that logic still has to take a back seat, even today. Shocking service from an unhelpful bank, which doesn't seem to be concerned about a client who was in desperate need of assistance. Thanks, I had to spend 200 euros on a flight to Amsterdam simply to get another e.dentifier before I went on my travels.

Lau's Personal Finance Blog

ABN AMRO sucks

6 Responses to “ABN AMRO sucks”

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