i worked in the field for seven years and saw some of this firsthand. i was the guy at the desk making the call and relaying the bad news from the back office. it always seemed deeply unfair & quite rich seeing as almost all of these institutions are busted for far more egregious behavior than what they suspect of the customers they de-bank.
one additional scenario that always stuck with me as to how wacky banks can stretch their power: i had a woman who had her own sole-owned accounts, a joint account with her mother, and her mother had her own accounts. the mother had overdrafted her sole account a few hundred dollars, and per the bank agreement, they took money from the joint account & the daughters sole-owned account to offset the balance. she was completely blindsided & distraught once it all became clear as anyone would be. how is that fair? this was in 2015. hopefully things have changed.
one additional scenario that always stuck with me as to how wacky banks can stretch their power: i had a woman who had her own sole-owned accounts, a joint account with her mother, and her mother had her own accounts. the mother had overdrafted her sole account a few hundred dollars, and per the bank agreement, they took money from the joint account & the daughters sole-owned account to offset the balance. she was completely blindsided & distraught once it all became clear as anyone would be. how is that fair? this was in 2015. hopefully things have changed.