Basically I tried for 2 months to cash out my 401k, dealing with various holders of the account... don't ask me why I had to deal with up to three companies to get my money. Anyway...
After two unsuccessful attempts at electronic transfers (ACH) I requested they just send me a check. (The transfers were unsuccessful because my bank provided improper routing numbers.) The holders of the 401k sent me a check and everything seemed resolved...
Not so fast... four days after depositing the check and the funds becoming fully available, the senders of the check inform me that the second electronic transfer attempt did in fact go through, and that they were stopping payment on the check. They provided a tracking number for the electronic transfer, but it produced nothing when applied by my bank.
The funds were pulled from my account (as a result of stopped payment) leaving me with a negative balance of $1300, and since I was using my debit card at the time, it left me with over $300 in bank fees for insufficient funds.
Naturally I was livid, and demanded that they send another check.
They sent another check, but it was $100 less than the previous check. They had subtracted a "check distribution fee" that previously was overlooked. I'm left to conclude that because of their clerical error, they lied about the second electronic transfer going through, so they could stop payment on my check and recover $100. The result was that my entire account went into a tailspin and I'm left strapped with bank fees.
If that's not illegal, it should be.
My question is, what are my legal means for recovering the bank fees? I also feel I should receive the $100 back since this entire process has cost me hours and hours of time, and a botched process does not deserve a fee. If my story was to entirely check out, do I have enough of a case to threaten with legal action, to encourage them to make this right? If that doesn't work, how do I start legal action that amounts to a small claim, when dealing with a company from a different state?
After two unsuccessful attempts at electronic transfers (ACH) I requested they just send me a check. (The transfers were unsuccessful because my bank provided improper routing numbers.) The holders of the 401k sent me a check and everything seemed resolved...
Not so fast... four days after depositing the check and the funds becoming fully available, the senders of the check inform me that the second electronic transfer attempt did in fact go through, and that they were stopping payment on the check. They provided a tracking number for the electronic transfer, but it produced nothing when applied by my bank.
The funds were pulled from my account (as a result of stopped payment) leaving me with a negative balance of $1300, and since I was using my debit card at the time, it left me with over $300 in bank fees for insufficient funds.
Naturally I was livid, and demanded that they send another check.
They sent another check, but it was $100 less than the previous check. They had subtracted a "check distribution fee" that previously was overlooked. I'm left to conclude that because of their clerical error, they lied about the second electronic transfer going through, so they could stop payment on my check and recover $100. The result was that my entire account went into a tailspin and I'm left strapped with bank fees.
If that's not illegal, it should be.
My question is, what are my legal means for recovering the bank fees? I also feel I should receive the $100 back since this entire process has cost me hours and hours of time, and a botched process does not deserve a fee. If my story was to entirely check out, do I have enough of a case to threaten with legal action, to encourage them to make this right? If that doesn't work, how do I start legal action that amounts to a small claim, when dealing with a company from a different state?
