Refund Overdraft Fees, Bank of America

I just wrote a letter to the CEO for the very same reason. I think
this to will all work out if they get enough complaints about this
weekend procedure. It is just too comfusing! BOA really is a good
bank! You don't find too many banks that will pay for a purchase when
there isn't enough money in your account. It says a lot of time and
embrassment! There is a new feature that they have on the online
banking site that shows how your transactions came into the bank, it
is the same thing that reps see when you call into the 800 number.
That is what I was told by the rep. I started using it and it does
help shed a lot of light on the account transactions. Some of the
transactions don't seem fair like how the biggest transactions come
out first regardless to if it was the last transaction or not, which
could sometimes lead to a domino effect in your account. I wish you
luck with your request!

All of this was likely outlined in the terms and conditions you agreed
to when opening your account. If you had a local bank account that was
snatched up by BOA, they likely sent you a little updated brochure.

I would switch to a credit union. They are local, care about the
customers, and do not charge excessive fees. Also they have better
rates for savings accounts and CDs.

At my credit union, they have friendly service, I get called by name
when I walk in. Also, I have never ever encountered overdraft fees
like I have with the bank I do business with. Look and see if there is
one in your area.

This is why I don't have a checking account anymore. Too many fees. I
find it easier to just cash my check and put the money on my Green Dot
card.

i just found this link and figured you might like it...

http://www.federalreserveconsumerhelp.gov/

it pretty much has info on who to go to for complaints, what they can
and can't do, and what the bank is allowed to do as well

You need to just face the fact that you are not going to win this one
with the bank. There's no point in continuing to fight with them about
it you will only prolong your agony. Accept it as an expensive lesson
learned and move on.

BofA purchased our bank a couple of yrs ago--they have a virtual
monopoly so much that it is "too big to fail"--but it is us, the
consumers, who are at fault for not reading the fine print. Right. We
had this overdraft fee theft happen to us as well. Banks have changed
their long-standing policy of just allowing checks to bounce, in which
case you only have the burden of a few fees, to this newer policy of
putting through the biggest charges first and then hitting you with
multiple fees for all the little charges that follow. $35 a pop,
regardless of the purchase amount. That adds up fast. This is how
banks are making their money now. We were actually able to get a
portion of our fees refunded, but not all of them, so keep trying for
a refund. I feel for you. Pay these companies back by not using their
credit cards and teaching family and friends about their unscrupulous
behavior. It will take time, but this kind of bad pr will eventually
start to hurt them. Good luck.

if you have multiple transactions that are posted on the same day...
the more expensive ones go through first

that's in the contract for boa

Unfortunately you agreed to the way they post transactions to your
account when you opened you account and signed you original paper
work. You can refer to those papers for the terms and conditions on
your account.

from the other entities. You're likely looking at almost triple
"damages" here.


This is a really expensive lesson to learn.

I had a similar situation in 2006 with BoA, a large debit posted first
and caused SIX nsf fees at 34 dollars each. at the time my payroll was
on direct deposit. they took almost two paychecks from me, the first
paycheck was taken entirely, i did not have money for two weeks! they
always post largest to smallest regardless of the date of
transaction.

I will NEVER do business with any bank again. I am with a credit union
now. they post debits in realtime, none of that "pending" crap.
occaisonally if i run my card as "credit" it will take a day or two to
post, but none of that "largest to smallest" business.

You should look into a credit union in your area, that would really
stick it to BoA! Tell them you are leaving them for a credit union.
Banks HATE Credit unions!

I suspect that BoA will tell you that the handy little feature you
checked is there to help you avoid overdrafting, not to help you set
up payments so that you pay the fewest possible overdraft fees when
you do overdraft. In other words, the money isn't really set aside to
pay each debit as soon as the bank is notified that you've authorized
a payment; it just looks that way as a handy mnemonic device so that
you can keep track of how many debits, and for how much money, are
going to hit your account on the next business day.

The thing is, I've heard repeatedly that BoA does this, and that other
banks do as well: when everything that needs to be processed on a
Monday comes in, they process debits before credits and big debits
before small debits. This ensures that customers will pay the maximum
number of overdraft fees that they can be charged. It seems to be the
way things work these days.

I agree with you that it's kind of sleazy. But I bet BoA has it
written into your agreement with them somewhere that they can do it,
and that most other banks have it written into their agreements with
their customers that they can do it too. If I were you, I'd probably
present myself at my local branch, being as nice as I could possibly
manage to be, and ask for a goodwill adjustment. If they decided to
give it to you, it would be a one-time agreement to waive some of the
fees they have a legal right to charge you, so you'd need to learn
from this experience in order to avoid getting clobbered the same way
again in the future. And it isn't something they owe you (which is
why the being-as-nice-as-possible thing comes into it), but rather a
favor they might do you just this once.

Meanwhile, you may want to do some research to see whether there are
banks that don't treat customers this way. I wouldn't mention it
while trying to get them to do you a favor, but you'd be happier at
such a bank, and you can always "punish" BoA by making sure that as
many people as possible find out about their customer-friendly
competitor(s).

Good luck getting at least some concessions out of them. I can see
myself making a mistake just like the one you did, and I hope that I
would at least be able to get a goodwill adjustment out of them.

Any spin you put on this the fact of the matter is that you knowingly
authorized the withdrawl of more money than you had in your account.
In a perfect world banks would debits amounts in the order that they
were authorized but this just isn't how it works. Many banks debit in
the order of largest to smallest to maximize their fees - - fair?
probably not.

The bottom line is that it is your responsibility as the account
holder to have enough money in your account to cover all debits no
matter the order that they are presented.

In my mind you gambled and lost and do not deserve the refund of any
of the overdraft fees.

In the following document, it shows as of late 2008 the order in which
a bank processes all the items that roll in that business day:

http://tinyurl.com/l3crmt

You will note BoA is in the "largest first" category as well as "any
order" (and you know what that means!)

I don't understand how or why anyone relies on electronic bank
balances. Paper is the only true way to go. It's not about "pending"
or anything else. It just comes down to, you spent money you did not
have. Period.

Paper account registers are the most reliable method to stop making
this mistake.

You say you were not sure if pending debits would clear, because the
account did not have a sufficient balance to cover them.

Now you know. You simply have to keep enough in your account to cover
your debits. If you don't, the bank clears the payments and works you
over big time with fees. Most banks work this way.

And you have to leave an extra day or two. As you say, you can't
cancel (or schedule for that matter) payments the same day online.
Your deposits, unless ACH, take time to clear.

This happened over the weekend, which is why all these rolled in on
Monday. There may be legislation to regulate how banks process
deposits and issue overdraft fees, I am not sure. It is common for
banks to process the large transactions first and mess you up even
more. BoA probably doesn't have to refund you any funds. They may
make a one time courtesy refund of half of the fees. If they do, it
is unlikely they will make exceptions in the future. Good luck.