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267 Comments
- imrickjamesbich, on 10/24/2007, -5/+70I love the way my bank will process (they told me, i'm not guessing) the most expensive items first from the list of "pending items". This way if your last purchase puts you over by even a small amount, the fee they charge causes other pending items to bounce. I actually had a $.99 ITunes purchase, a $5 sandwich, and a $20 ATM withdrawal all cause $35 overdraft fees ($105 total), all because the total for one item put me negative $1.00. Amazing. All because they let items sit "pending". If anything hits in the mean time to put you negative, the pending items incur overdraft fees even though you had enough money when you made the purchase!
- pintomp3, on 10/13/2007, -2/+51one of the most disgusting tactics is to sit on check deposits and direct deposits so that you are more likely to overdraft.
- scooterbaga, on 10/13/2007, -0/+45Overdrafts should be charged as a percentage of what you go over. And for the day, not per incident.
Why do we all put up with this *****? Someone needs to start a bank that does it right. - zyl0x, on 10/13/2007, -0/+36NEWS FLASH: Banks earn money by ***** people over.
- wattznext, on 10/13/2007, -0/+32A little off topic, but i checked my balance at an ATM owned by a bank other than mine recently. They charged me $4!!! Just for checking the balance!! ***** scum!
- shagie, on 10/13/2007, -2/+32I had received a check not too long ago from a friend for a car I sold to him. The check POSTED on my account online 3 days after I had deposited it, I had the money IN MY ACCOUNT for about 9 days. Then, the check bounced (my friend told me it might due to a problem @ his bank), and they took the money OUT and 7 items were then overdrafted resulting in hundreds of dollars lost that I had to pay. I called customer service as any person would and I actually got it all taken care of over a course of a few days.
I now use phone alerts for my account, but believe me, they still can get you with those. I have an alert setup to notify me when my account goes under a certain amount. It went under that amt on a Monday two weeks ago. I did not receive that alert until Wednesday. All right!
Bottom line.. banks are getting away with a lot right now and really need to be more tightly regulated. - Misanthrope, on 10/30/2007, -2/+25I don't think you get it. Really.
Say you have $100 in your account.
Say you spend: $5, $10, $3, $1, $1, $100 IN THAT ORDER.
Now, most banks will put the $100 before the others. So you'll get 5 overdrafts instead of the 1 you earned. I can live with getting a $30 charge on the $100 dollars...that was dumb, but to have them rearrange my spending FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE of taking more money from you is just *****.
It's easy to say "just don't spend money you don't have" and act all high and mighty...but it's not fair the way they do it. Simple as that. - GreenSox, on 10/15/2007, -0/+22I had Bank of America hold onto a $1200 check for TEN DAYS once. That's five business days, plus both weekends, plus the extra day for presidents day or something.
The check posted to my account and the funds were shown as available three days after I deposited it. In fact, BoA's online banking had the deposit about 20 transactions down and was no longer in the pending column. But low and behold, it was still being "verified"! As a result, I was eventually charged over $500 in overdraft fees even though the funds showed as being available in my account for a full SEVEN DAYS before being taken back out during the "verification" process.
When I asked exactly why the bank's online banking center was saying the funds had cleared, I was told that online banking is not an accurate representation of account information. When I asked where I could get up-to-date information, I was told that the only way was to keep a paper register myself.
To be clear, three Bank of America managers told me matter-of-factly that:
A) Their online banking had no responsibility to accurately represent account information.
B) Their ATMs had no responsibility to accurately represent account information.
C) Their bank tellers had no responsibility to accurately respresent account information.
BTW - During the ten days that the check was being "verified" the funds had already been taken out of the account of the person who wrote me the check. In fact, the $1200 was taken out of the account the very next day, but was not made available to me until ten days later. It was not an out of state check or anything weird. - hydroplane, on 10/15/2007, -3/+25Anyone who deals with Bank of America is just asking to get screwed over
- Tenlow, on 10/13/2007, -0/+21ING offers a checking account that does that. Overdraft is considered a line of credit. There are no fees, they just charge you interest as if it were a credit card purchase when you go overdrawn.
- NonLeftistDiggr, on 10/13/2007, -2/+19Ever try to cash someone's personal check and have it bounce?? I feel like doing a lot more to them than charging them 30 bucks.
Screw Congress, do it yourself, dropp WF, BofA, and whover else gives you horror stories like a bad habit. I'm in USAA now, it's the most phenomenal customer service I've ever had in my life with any product/service. - TexanRudeBoy, on 10/13/2007, -1/+12These banks have a wacky order of operations that ensures that overdraft fees are applied to every item purchased that's still pending. I overdrafted once by $8 on a $30 purchase. The bank subsequently charged me overdrafts for the 5 other charges still pending. I had to bitch at 4 different customer dis-service reps to get the $175 in overdrafts reduced. Banks are just government backed mafias.
- adeptusliberus, on 10/13/2007, -1/+12Reason #1,287 why I am switching to a credit union, ASAP. They still have overdraft fees, but they're not as likely to screw me since I'm a shareholder, not a lowly slave-consumer.
- matrox212, on 10/13/2007, -1/+11I once depeosited my check in a US Bank ATM. It took 3 business days to post in my account. After a couple of days I started using my debit card, which of course worked fine. I overdrew my account by $5 dollars a day before the check posted from buying gas which took several days to clear. That $5 overdraft started a cascading effect that cost me over $900 that month in over draft fees when all was said and done. The bank absolutely did not care that I was being essentially given an 18,000% penalty for a simple error. No one cared, I went to the bank, talked to the manager, talked to customer service called the Attorney Gerneal in my state and no one cared. I'm a grown man and I literally broke down and cried because I couldn't pay the fee and the bank just kept on processing things. I had to go to my parents for the money which was humilating. I did end up closing the account and will never do business with US Bank again but they already got quite a bit out of me so I don't think it matters. An 18,000% return, on a $5 loan that lasted a day. The government in my state is cracking down on payday lenders who charge more than 30% interest on a one-month loan. Haven't heard a peep about what the banks are doing. A friend of mine had an almost identical situation happen to him, he ended up with $1200 in overdraft fees in one week. That time it was Washington Mutual so I think this is a pretty widespread fleecing of average Americans. Nobody really cares about us though because only about 1/3 of us vote and don't have thousands of dollars for campaign contributions. When Libertarians talk about letting corporations regulate themselves because the free-market will sort things out this issue is the first thing I think of.
- asauterChicago, on 10/13/2007, -0/+9Remember the good old days if you didn't have enough money in your account your purchase would come up denied? Now they give you "over draft protection" I.E. a way to scam people with not alot of money, and bad check balancing skills (now that everything can be purchased with a debit card, it makes this even easier) out of a ton of cash.
- taintedzodiac, on 10/13/2007, -4/+13"...but if you overdraft, its reported immediately to credit bureaus..."
This is not generally true, although it might be in some cases. Please stop spreading FUD. - bigdoof, on 10/13/2007, -0/+8Why don't you get a credit card and never carry a balance? You can reconcile all of your liabilities at the end of each month (along with all of your other things, such as utilities, rent, whatever), and you get the significantly increased consumer protection that comes with credit cards. Plus, you don't have to worry about the games banks play with "pending" transactions and shuffled transaction times.
Checking, in all honesty, should only be used when credit cards are not accepted, and debit cards only when you need to pull cold hard cash out of an ATM. You need a small amount of dicipline to only spend what you can afford, but if you can't do that, you've got bigger problems than overdraft fees. - taintedzodiac, on 10/13/2007, -3/+10Good advice for anyone, but you're hardly "paying bills" if all you have is a car and some partial utilities. You haven't even been to college yet. Best of luck.
- bobartig, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Phone alerts that don't trigger for 2 days are pretty darned worthless, I'd have to say.
My solution is to have about a $2k cushion at all times so that everything has leeway. If I make a major purchase, i.e. ~$1k or more, I reallocate immediately to compensate. - roosterjm2k2, on 10/13/2007, -21/+28Luckily, there is a fool-proof way to get around these charges...
Don't overdraft...period. You spent 26$ when you obviously had less than $20 ... fault lies on you. I've been hit by them too, and not once have I found a logically sound reason for claiming I got screwed. I basically took a loan from the bank with no prior authorization, I made the mistake, and I paid for it, end of story. Keep in mind, most banks allow you to take off the overdraft fees, but if you overdraft, its reported immediately to credit bureaus, whereas the overdraft protection (the fees) keep that from happening. 40 bux vs. lower credit score, I'll take the 40 bucks anyday.
It comes down to personal responsibility. They arent taking your money, you are giving it to them... Stop complaining. - Arcnite, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Ya, but I'm betting they charge a $10-$15 "overdraft protection" fee. Bank of America does that, at least.
- imjustabill, on 10/13/2007, -3/+10Maybe you should stop giving your money to banks who screw you over?
- TheRemoteViewer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Most or all credit unions are also not-for-profit businesses so there's little incentive to ***** you over.
- othersomethings, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Not from me they didn't...not this year.
Learning to build "emergency" margin into my budget is the best thing I've ever done. It might happen 5 dollars at a time, but I haven't had any overdraft problems in over a year, even through financial hardships and situations where I normally would have been in a crises. - Sell, on 10/13/2007, -3/+9Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back bud.
- ontain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6the average american had a 10% savings in the 50's. today it's actually negative. it's no wonder banks are profiting.
- srodolff, on 10/13/2007, -0/+6Not to mention the fact that with the increase use of ATM cards comes situations where 4 small (under $5) bounce transactions nets the bank $140 in fees.
- ArmyOfFun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"When I asked where I could get up-to-date information, I was told that the only way was to keep a paper register myself."
This is *****. When exactly are you supposed to enter a deposit into your paper register if the bank has no way of reliably telling you when they've deposited the funds into your account? You'd have to only deal in cash to make that work. Personally, I'd never do business with a company that tells me that they have no accurate accounting practices for my account. - Misanthrope, on 10/13/2007, -3/+9I don't think you get it. Really.
Say you have $100 in your account.
Say you spend: $5, $10, $3, $1, $1, $100 IN THAT ORDER.
Now, most banks will put the $100 before the others. So you'll get 5 overdrafts instead of the 1 you earned. I can live with getting a $30 charge on the $100 dollars...that was dumb, but to have them rearrange my spending FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE of taking more money from you is just *****.
It's easy to say "just don't spend money you don't have" and act all high and mighty...but it's not fair the way they do it. Simple as that. - JFitzpatrick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Last year some idiot at Wendy's charged my debit card 9999.00 instead of .99. It's my fault for not looking at the receipt right then... but long story short every tiny purchase I made that day caused an overdraft. By the end of the day all the tiny purchases like screws at Lowes, milk, etc... led to over $300 in overdraft charges. Neither my bank nor Wendy's would take any sort of responsibility for it and I ended up stuck with the $300 "fee" Needless to say I switched banks.
- OwdenBowden, on 10/13/2007, -0/+5Soulution is to seek out other banks for your business. I know that it is easier said than done but there are a wealth of Financial institutions that want your business and are willing to suck up to you. If you have to - keep moving your money and the key to success is to get as many others to move their money in order to tell the Bank - "We are not going to take it."
Also - Float the purchase on a Credit Card and then pay off that card without haste. - KSUdesigner, on 10/13/2007, -1/+6Just wait until you have to pay the FULL gas bill, FULL electric bill, on top of your car payment, insurance, mortgage, cell phone, internet, television, tuition loans, etc. etc. You are in for one hell of a rude awakening if you think you pay bills like an adult does.
- pintomp3, on 10/13/2007, -1/+6what's the excuse for direct deposit? when i was a member of a credit union, my direct deposits would be available 3-4 days before my colleges who had accounts at citibank. that's no accident.
- ithkuil, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The last thing you need when you are out of money is an extra $30 or $100 charge -- that's just vicious, greedy and downright spiteful. The banks have been kicking us in the face when we are down on the ground (broke) for so many years, they are starting to worry that some authorities might come by and so they are considering just kicking us in the balls instead. I say we slam those mothe&*!%rs! with a $39 billion class action lawsuit (you have to include pain and suffering).
- inactive, on 10/13/2007, -3/+8the good old "borrow short lend long" doesn't work with a flat yield curve anymore... they have to find some way to make money.
http://the-moneychanger.com/articles_files/mmm_fil ... - muldoonaz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8lots of whiny cry babies in this thread. Seriously guys, learn to budget your money. The fees are there as a penalty so you learn not to do it again.
- AxeSwinger, on 10/13/2007, -0/+5BofA does not report overdrafts to credit agencies unless the fee is unpaid past 45 days. In that case it's reported as a late. Just called my local branch.
- taintedzodiac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Add Wachovia to that list.
- Arcnite, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6ya.. but... a 3500% interest rate is a bit much... unauthorized loan or not. You're right to a point, still.. the system's flawed. It's a classic system of rich getting richer and poor getting poorer.
- empiric, on 10/13/2007, -0/+5"Earn" implies productive creative work. "Got their hands on" would be a more-accurate term.
Unfortunate American corporatist culture usually can't tell the difference anymore. - neuropsychguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4USAA does that completely for free (no monthly fees or anything of the sort).
- whorunbartertwn, on 10/13/2007, -0/+4Say you have $100 in your account.
Say you spend: $5, $10, $3, $1, $1, $100 IN THAT ORDER.
Then you shouldn't have spent that last $100 that you didn't have, and no problems. - drewc1138, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I work at a bank, and, yes, I agree that OD fees are excessive. I refund them every single time I feel like it was a genuine mistake on the part of the customer, especially if it was, as many have said, because the largest charge was posted first. But for every person like that, I have 10 people complaining because they blew 75% of their paycheck at the blackjack tables and so their rent and car payment bounced.
It's called personal responsibility. - quiznos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I completely agree. Sadly, UMass Amherst has a deal with Bank of America, so if I were to change banks I'd be paying 3 dollars every time I used the ATMs on campus. Over the summer I gave BOA a week's worth of pay because I overdrafted three times one day, though in total I was less than ten bucks over. ***** that.
- svtspeed, on 10/13/2007, -0/+4See where banks really get their money http://www.moneyasdebt.net/
- WayneCA, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4When I was 18 I went to the ATM and pulled out a $20. After getting the receipt I realized I had overdrawn by $4. My question was: Why the hell didn't the ATM just deny me for insufficient funds?? Fortunately I was able to get them to reverse the charge that time. I definitely learned my lesson.
Another dumb bank charge.. at Washington Mutual, if you transfer funds online more than 4 times in a month, they charge you $5. Now, if you go to a brick and mortar WaMu and use the ATM or talk to a teller for your transfer, there is no such charge. WTF? It costs them nothing to process an online transfer but they actually have to pay a teller to deal with you! - TexanRudeBoy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4What's the difference between the bank and the mafia? Government protection.
- TheRemoteViewer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Overdraft fees are basically the bank's way of getting around usury laws. Instead of loaning you the overdraft amount at the maximum allowable interest rate, they call it a fee instead, so they can charge you 500%+ interest. When I was 18 or so I racked up $100+ in overdraft fees because of a $0.31 overdraft. The bank conveniently forgot to notify me I was overdrafted until 20+ days later and of course they were charging me daily.
- Sublimin4L, on 10/30/2007, -1/+5Most banks process larger items first because they are more likely to be your credit card, mortgage, or car payment, and (believe it or not) they don't want you to bounce that check, even if the loan/cc isn't with them.
As for keeping items pending, that's up to the merchant. If the merchant doesn't send the transaction through VISA/MC/Discover in a certain amount of time, it's automatically deleted. Banks don't automatically hold check/debit card purchases, that would be a lot of time and money on their part keeping track of the transactions they have to hold. Gas stations take the longest to post because they are more busy, and a majority of the purchases are non cash/check. They have to settle with whatever card service they use (VISA, MasterCard, Discover, etc).
The only bank I can think of that is evil in this is Wachovia, where they charge you an overdraft BEFORE the transaction even hits your account. Any pending purchase(s) that'll overdraw you they assess the fee for, even if you deposit money to cover the purchases before they hit. "Potential overdrafts" it's called.
It's not being "all high and mighty", it's called being responsible. Keep a transaction register and learn to be responsible with your own money. Most banks will link your savings account to your checking as overdraft protection, and some have a small fee ($10 at most in my area) they assess when they automatically transfer money to cover any purchases. It's worth the $10 than to pay them $35+. This is a better option than the credit lines they offer which can have cash advance rates (19%+). - ZEROCOOLIV, on 10/13/2007, -0/+4So they do... BoA charges the crazy overdraft fees like in the first comment. But, "they offer" savings accounts that let you kick in money to protect your checking from over drafting... That worked for a while, until they found another money maker... They charge you an overdraft protection fee of $10 just to move money from your savings to your checking... That's STUPID! Offer me convenient overdraft protection, but don't charge me for moving a balance from one account to another... But I do agree with you! BoA is way to convenient to ever switch! I do like the online interface. I get free checking because of the direct deposit. I can send checks to people via online bill pay without purchasing checks... It's very very nice!
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