The CougarOne card is designed to be a convenient tool for the UH community, but alumnus Thang Nguyen said he was shocked after discovering $300 missing from his account in June.
Nguyen said he called to inquire about a missing $304 and was told by CougarOne, which he had not used in more than a year, he was charged for keeping his account inactive.
"They heard my complaint, but their response was that it cost them money to maintain an inactive account, which caught me by surprise," Nguyen said. "I felt cheated because of the fact that I was never warned. If I hadn’t called and complained, I think they would have withdrawn everything in my account and left me penniless."
However, Nguyen was warned. Buried in the eighth page of the online terms of agreement is a clause regarding inactive accounts, in which the bank reserves the right to levy charges.
Attempts to contact representatives from the CougarOne office and Higher One Inc., the online partner banking service, were not returned to The Daily Cougar by press time. However, online Higher One boasts as a free service "if you track your purchases, are careful to not overdraw, and remember to ‘swipe and sign.’"
Students are encouraged to use the card as a credit transaction instead of a debit transaction. By "swiping and signing," the student avoids a 50-cent PIN-based fee.
Marketing senior Kyle Shimek said he only used his OneAccount during his freshman year.
"I just got a real credit card. There were too many random fees that they charge you. I never quite understood the whole thing," he said.
The drawback to using the CougarOne card as a credit transaction is it takes a few days for transactions to be withdrawn from the account.
For pre-business sophomore Nina Whitfield, this was her only complaint. Her account had been overdrawn several times because of confusion with her online statement.
"They’re kind of slow about taking your money out and making it seem like the money is there when it’s really not," Whitfield said.
Political science senior George Sackllah said he’s had a good experience with CougarOne despite not reading the terms of use agreement, but said he rarely uses the card.
As for Nguyen, he’s learned his lesson about account diligence. After weeks, Higher One Inc. returned half of the fees deducted from his account. Despite having several accounts with other banks, he owns two cards: one debit, one credit. He doesn’t plan on getting any more.
"I want to tell students and graduates to be very careful with accounts such as the HigherOne accounts," Nguyen said. "You need to stay on top of it because you may leave this campus, but you’re still bound to this card unless you cancel it."
