I made a large payment ($8000) on my Direct Merchants account. The payment was received by them electronically on 5/27/2004. It is now June 8, 2004 and they still have not credited it to my account even though it already cleared my bank. I called to question why my credit limit is down to nothing and they said they have 15 days before they have to credit it and will do nothing about it. My question is WHO THE HECK ALLOWS THESE COMPANIES TO PERPETRATE THOSE EVIL POLICIES ON US -- THE STATES?
Likely 15 days interest charges on the $8000 I just paid electronically over two weeks ago. Possibly late fees? Because they refuse to credit my account, it was not available to cover an emergency so I have had to use my banking account to cover it.

Banks are regulated largely by the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency although the Federal Trade Commission also gets into the act sometimes. This kind of thing could be addressed by a class action lawsuit except that banks' service agreements now usually contain an arbitration clause, under which the consumer agrees not to sue.