Unnecessary Overdraft Fees

Trista first let me say that I feel your pain. I've read most of the
reply's in this forum and for the most part some of them are right.
Some others in this forum, are responding purely judgementally
especially when they are telling you how to handle your finances.
With today's economy, high gas prices, high food, and electricty, the
world don't revolve around notating every little transaction you make.
Although it is ideal to do it....it just doesn't happen all the time
for us averge everyday pay check to pay check Americans. So you have
to do the best you can!

The bank will set up guidelines and rules regarding the OD issues, and
it is usually given in a pamphlet or book upon the first day you open
that account. Unfortunately in this circumstance the bank has won
because their guidelines back them.
I will suggest one thing....ask for the to give you OD protection.
They will still access the fees but you will not have to worry about
your payments returning to the creditors. I believe you can only do
the OD protection if you have direct deposit.
In addition my bank manager told me that if you ever need to use the
OD protection, make a one time withdrawal of the available OD amt and
incur a one time fee instead of the repetitive use of writing a check
or swiping your debt card. This will carry the same affect as a
payday loan. For instance, if there is not a dime in my account, I
can borrow up to $500.00 against my acct as a part of the OD
protection and incur a one $32.00 charge. Of course when you get your
next (direct deposit)check you will be negative the %500.00 plus the
OD fee.
You will want to be careful not to keep putting yourself in a position
that you are always in overdraft, the OD protection feature on a
checking acct is just as bad as a pay day loan, you get to only paying
the NSF and wind up re-borrowing against the checking account.
Incurring a fee every time you are paid. I had an issue like this
happen to me so I'm speaking from experience.
Now...I'm not giving you information to hurt you, but only options to
avoid so many OD fees. If you chose to get the OD protection you will
find that good management of that protection will carry you a long
way!
signed,
Economical hurt American!

Overdraft fees are beyond annoying, but my bank (Wells Fargo, where
I've never had a customer service problem!) and I think many others
post a notice saying that deposits are not always available to
immediately withdraw, and that deposits after a certain time are
credited to the next business day. Does Bank of America have this
policy as well? That might have saved you some trouble, but it's still
a pain and I sympathize with you.

This is why I will never have a checking account again. Those fees
are just ridiculous. Yes, it is my responsibility to keep up with my
balance, but if by chance a mistake is made, the bank will charge
outrageous fees.

I just load my money on a Green Dot card now. No muss no fuss.

Bank of America will also hold cash deposits...I dont know why but
they do. I have deposited CASH into my sons account and he would
withdraw it the same day. He was charged a OD fee for the withdrawel!
I dont understand half of what BofA does which is why I dont bank
with them anymore. I use USAA. I can deposit my checks and use the
money the same day. If I OD its my fault for bad book keeping.

Also BofA gives me holy terror everytime I make a deposit into my sons
account. I have the account number and his SSN but since I am not on
the account or have his checks/deposit slips (he had none) they give
me crap every time. I end up having to talk to the manger just to make
a deposit. I tell them, I dont want account info, you dont even have
to give me a reciept, just put the money in his account! I have been
trying to get him to close the account and open one with USAA but his
car note is with BofA so he wont.

One more post on this one and I'm done. This really isn't directed to
you, Trista, as much as to all of the "the bank is evil for charging
overdraft fees" posters below.

There's this wonderful little software package called Quicken. It's
about $30 at the store, or you can use the web-based version (which
can be accessed anywhere) for about $3/month.

It has this handy little feature where you put in your deposits, enter
how much you've spent, and it does the math for you. It's a pretty
clever little piece of programming which folks might want to invest
in.

I understand your situation. It happened to me, once. Then I got a
$200.00 overdraft protection. With this service an account would be
covered for the afore mentioned amount. No additional charges unless
used. Think of it as insurance especially if living pay cheque to pay
cheque.

You know that little book that comes with your checks?? It is called a
check register. Use it. Write down all of your transactions and you
will know EXACTLY how much money you have available to you.

As for depositing checks, they usually aren't available the same day.
Some banks/credit unions will allow them to be available the same day
as long as you have equal to or more than that in your account so that
if it bounces they can take the money back out. But for future
reference...cash your check then deposit it. Then you know that your
money is available right away. Either that or make sure it posts
before you start spending..

I was under the impression, from Ed McMahon said on the envelope, that
I had come into a large amount of money. Sadly, I come to find out
that not only is that not true, but Mr. McMahon may lose his own house
to foreclosure.

I guess I need to read the fine print more carefully next time.

Solution to your problem: CREDIT UNION! i dont know about all of them
but my CU posts all transactions in real time. my payroll deposit
comes in at 418 am, it is posted at 418 am same for withdrawls. I was
once with BOA, a 59 cent candy bar ended up costing me 400 dollars the
way their fees snowball. i had enough with them and switched to the
CU, have never been happier!

BOA is known for being very manipulative. i checked my account one day
(over the phone) and had $96 and some change. So i go to the atm and
get out $80. i check today and im overdrawn $115.32. Apparently, the
$10 prepaid card on the $27th, and two other things hadn't posted
until AFTER i got out the $80. the guy claims everything takes at
least 2 business days to post. if they were made on different days,
y is it such a coincidence that they all went thru after i didnt have
enough money to cover them and on the same day. do they not start
pending until days later as well?? they werent even pending so i'd
actually forgotten about them. now i've got 3 $35 overdraft fees
($105). now my check is going to be direct deposited and i bet they
take their money off top...no 2 day wait for that i bet. im leaving
BOA tomorrow as soon as i get off work.

First of all you have a balance and an "available" balance. The
$132.47 that was deposited did post that day, but if it was a check
then that check must clear (usually 5-7 business days and out of town
10-15 business days.) So even though it showed the deposit as posted
it does not give you an available balance until the check has cleared
(again assuming it was a check and not cash.

Lots of times people will write a check, then deposit another check to
cover said check...these will most likely overlap and I am very
surprised if you have been banking like this all these years this is
the first time an overdraft has occured.

And the fact that "...nobody explained differently" regarding this is
a moot point. The explaination of how long it takes a check to deposit
is on most every banking receipt nowdays along with being displayed at
each tellers windows at most banks/credit unions.
I bank at both a regular bank and a credit union and both these have a
statement on the deposit receipts regarding when funds will be
available after a deposit. So you cannot say that this has to be
explained to you each and every time...read your receipt or ask!

These are the terms you agree to when you bank there. (And you'd be
agreeing to them if you banked anywhere else, too.)

As the first commenter said, you need to be clear that you are asking
them for a favor. If I were asking you for a favor and I started
complaining about things you had done and people working for you had
done and so on, would it make you more inclined to help me out? I
suspect not.

That's not to say that I don't understand why you're upset. I would
be. It's just that your feeling that you have been wronged isn't
justified by the facts, and it's not the best attitude to be
displaying when you are asking them to refund you money that you
agreed to let them take in the first place.

You were "under the impression" that your deposit would post the same
day. Did you ask? It sounds like you deposited a check and they are
rarely, if ever, available the same day.

I was thinking when I first responded that I learned how deposits are
credited over the years of having a checking account at various banks.
I wasn't sure how long the OP had a checking account and I didn't
want to assume it had been for awhile.

Now I stopped back, and I reread the letter. The first sentence leads
me to believe it has been several years.

I'm a little surprised that someone who has had an account for so long
didn't know that deposits frequently take two or more days to become
available.

I'm willing to bet money that this information was shared with you,
probably verbally, certainly in writing (likely in a brochure), when
you initially got your account. Just because you didn't remember it,
didn't read it, or didn't understand it (and didn't ask questions)
doesn't mean this is the bank's fault.

You just learned a valuable lesson. Yeah, $210 hurts, but it could
have been worse -- much worse. It's time you met with a banking rep
at your bank and got some help learning how to manage your account so
you don't get charged NSFs again.

These fees were unnecessary. If you had understood the terms and
conditions that were given to you in the explanation book the day you
signed up, this never would have happened.

You assumed how credits and debits were handled, but you shouldn't
have done that.

They are ruthless about the fees. And they don't forgive more than
one or two of them, usually. I think they were generous in forgiving
two. The reason they are ruthless is these fees are a major source of
income for them.

Unfortunately, the statement "funds deposited may not be immediately
available for withdrawal" covers this situation. Count this as an
expensive learning lesson.

Did you read the little book that you get when you open your new
account, it describes debits and credits and how your account and the
bank works?

Just as an FYI, most deposits do not post on the same day unless they
are made in cash. In many cases, it can take at least one day,
sometimes two or three. So in the future, do not assume the deposit
you made will post the same day. (My bank actually has signs at the
teller window stating how long it may take for a deposit to clear.)

The cascading effect of the NSFs can be pretty brutal if you don't
catch what's going on right away. Even when you do, it can still be a
big mess.

Most of the NSF stuff is automated nowadays. Human eyes don't even
see it, so it's not personal, and it's not someone being intentionally
mean. It's pretty much just going off a math equation.

Rather than dealing over the phone where you can't look someone in the
eye, I'd suggest that you go to your local branch where you do most of
your business. I know your time is very precious with kids and jobs,
but you can get a lot more done in person than over the phone
usually.

When you go to the bank, remember that you are asking them for a favor
to help clean up a mess. Try not to be upset (probably a mistake in
your earlier conversations), because that never helps any customer
service experience. If you start trying to blame them (the bank is
only thinking of itself, you didn't tell me my deposit wouldn't post,
etc.), you'll likely run into someone quoting bank rules right back at
you. Be prepared to grovel and ask for a huge break in order to get
everything righted. See what they'll do.

Hope it works out. Don't panic.