A local woman says money keeps getting taken from her bank account by a company she's never heard of. Now she has several overdraft fees and says she can't get them back. So, she's turned to Local 12 Troubleshooter Howard Ain for help.
Laura Aleman of Aurora says she was surprised recently when she found money was taken out of her account with a check she never signed. It caused major problems at her bank.
"When I went online checking my checking account I seen I was negative $99.95. So I called my bank and wanted to know exactly what this is. They said it was NMB. Had no clue who this place was or this person so I googled them and found it was New Millennium Bank."
Aleman was charged $30 for overdraft protection, and immediately called the firm that took the money but: "They can't tell me how they got my bank number, my routing number, any information at all.
OR WHY THEY TOOK YOUR MONEY? Or why. They reimbursed it, put 100 back in the next day.
THEY DIDN'T SAY WHY THEY TOOK IT OUT? Nope.
DID THEY APOLOGIZE? No, nothing."
A week and a half later, Aleman was shocked to find they did it again, causing more bank fees. "I still had to pay the 30 dollars insufficient funds fee. They say its not their problem I still have to pay it and I can come down to fill out a form for an unauthorized check but she can't guarantee it will do anything."
According to the Better Business Bureau New Millennium Bank is a company owned by Heritage Card Solutions, which charges for credit cards. But Aleman says she never ordered one. "I've never, don't even have a credit card, no nothing. Never heard of this company, anything. Nor has my husband."
I called Heritage Card Services but haven't received a return call yet. However, Aleman was able to reach the company late Friday and once again officials promised to return her money. She plans to close the bank account once that occurs.
In the meantime, she told her bank what I said, that they can't charge her overdraft fees for something she didn't authorize. And I'm happy to report the bank has now refunded all 60 dollars to her account.
