Please Refund the Overdraft Fees, Bank of America

I was just charged 5 over draft fees totaling $175 for items that were
paid from my account. There was enough money in the account to cover
4 of them. They could have returned the other one (which was the
largest) and I would have only been charged one time. Instead I was
told that because other customers prefer that the largest amount be
paid first in case it is a mortgage or car payment that is what they
did with my account. I don't give a rat's arse what other people
want. Common sense would have told them to return one item and pay
the other 4. I know I was wrong by letting my account go into the
negative but I think we can all agree these are hard times. I chatted
with a BofA customer service rep who told me they could refund me one
charge of $35. Yipee. I'm going to try going to my branch tomorrow
to see what they can do but I'm guessing nothing. To top it off their
advice was to stop using the account until it is current. Really?
Now what great advice. The only thing is how am I going to get it
current when I am charged these outrageous fees everyday?

We should all band together and form an organization so when this type
of thing happens we take our business else where. Because obviously
the government is not on our side they gave bank of america billions
in our taxes our money and they turnaround can't refund a overdraft
fee. They allow these banks to charge any amount of overdraft fees no
limit. So they can actually charge 10 overdraft fees in one day. That
is over 350 dollars, they lie deposit before 8 pm post the same day,
also on an overdrawn account they give 5 days to deposit the same. You
then make the deposit and place a hold on your account without your
knowledge and thus more fees.

Bank of America is the the worst bank period...I once told an agent
during a heated discussion regarding their very very fine print NSF
policies that, "I need another job just to bank here"...but what can
you say Banks have to much power and this is the result, honest tax
paying citizens are left helpless. But whats unlawful when no law
exist? I have a BA in accounting and a BOA representative once told
me, when I pointed out there shady NSF policies, that I didn't know
how to balance a check book, hah. The moral of the story is you can't
trust ANY bank or financial institution to express care or concern for
your assets, they're in business to make money by taking yours!!!

James,

I totally understand what you are saying. I was just charged 117.00
to my accuont in over draft fee's because my bank was too slow to put
in the amount that was in my account I put more then this amount into
my account and for some reason it is not adding up. I am with TCF,
and they are not really any better. Personally I think we need to go
back to a time were we stuffed money into our matresses because then
at least we knew exactly how much we had in our accounts without the
delay of systems and beurocratic idiocies.

Recently, Bank of America has started new posting practices that
cause its customers to incur several overdraft fees for a single
transaction and no customer service representative can explain how
this new practice is logical. I incurred $105.00 in overdraft fees
without any logical explanation. Even after using the new online
banking feature which allows one to see what triggered an overdraft
fee, it just doesn't make since.
In March, I had an unauthorized transaction post to my account. I
called and spoke with a representative who overturned one of the fees
associated with this transaction. I also called to dispute the item
and a temporary credit was posted to my account until the issue is
resolved.
In April, I was charged the additional unrelated fees because of a $51
pending transaction that I had authorized. I called and spoke with a
representative and asked why I was charged fees when the transaction
had not even posted yet and I had already transferred the money in
from my savings to cover the transaction. She explained that the new
policy is that even when funds are on hold they are just as good as
gone and fees will be incurred for any pending transactions that
exceed the available balance, even if the money is put in after the
transaction is made. She explained this is because the money was not
available at the time of the authorization. She further stated that
she could not overturn any of the transactions because I had already
received a courtesy credit. When I told her why I had received the
credit, she sympathized and apologized but still stated there was
nothing that she could do as it was recorded as a courtesy credit and
I should try back after the situation was resolved with the disputes
department. I was upset but said okay thank you for letting me know;
I was unaware of this new practice and will try back later.
The very next day my check went into my account direct deposit and I
was charged yet an additional $35 overdraft fee. I called to find out
why and was told that it was because (conveniently for Bank of
America) the same $51 transaction was posted after the first two
overdraft fees had posted and had taken my account under. (If this
sounds complicated and confusing, it's because it is and doesn't make
sense even to the representatives)
I was basically charged all of these fees due to deceptive posting
practices. If you felt it was logical to charge me overdraft fees
because this money was authorized, how do you also feel is it also
logical to the post overdraft fees for this transaction and then post
the transaction itself and charge me an additional fee? It would be
more logical to post the transaction and then the fee. However, I
understand that in that case you'd be responsible for any fees
associated with your posting an overdraft fee to my account; although,
if it had been done in this manner, there would be no fees at all
because the money was available to cover the transaction.
It is deceptive and will only earn this a bad reputation. I've been
with Bank of America for years and cannot afford to continue taking
this type of abuse that is causing me to be financially vulnerable.
Please refund the fees associated with this transaction.

You advertise that you care, I see the commercials. You advertise on
the web "WE WANT TO HELP"!

REALLY! I don't think so! I hope our government does look into the
practices on rates and fees banks and credit cards are able to impose
on us.

You all make it impossible to get caught up and out of debt. You
choose not to work with us! You choose not to assist us when we need
it the most.

I don't think any of these individuals said anything about going days,
weeks or months leaving accounts overdrawn with no money to cover
checks they have written. That is punishable by law, writing bad
checks. All of these individuals have placed money in the account to
cover their debts/checks. Imposing one fees is all that is necessary
to make a statement and a point. Not one for every check/debit, that
in my opinion is crazy and just another way to make money for you.

So many people are filing bankruptcies and losing everything. Would
you rather have bankruptcies where you collect nothing, or work with
us and get your money with minimal fees.

I have a businesss credit card, and am having a rough time right now
in business. I finally got a check from a customer and put it in the
bank the day other debits and checks hit the bank. That money was
supposed to pay my credit card payment to you! I had to call your
credit card department and tell them, they had taken my credit card
payment in fees the day before. My credit card is not 30 days late,
and will stay that way as I have not additional funds to cover it.
Your fees will ruin my credit. I have been a 6 year customer and have
run into hard times, and you DO NOT CARE!

Thanks for letting me sound off! I too will be moving my banking out
of Bank of America, and as I said to them on the phone I now know why
everytime I go into the bank someone is in there arguing with a teller
or rep! I NOW UNDERSTAND!

To those of you who are not experiencing these difficult times and
have posted here it is our fault for those fees. I HOPE YOU DO NOT
HAVE TO WALK IN OUR SHOES!

Financially at a loss!

I have also heard that there is a class action law suit against Bank
of America over the Overdraft Fees scam? Let me know if anyone else
has heard this.

January 2009, I have 15 overdraft fees withing 21 days. I called
customer service, no refund was given. I do all my banking online,
rarely keep a ledger. A check tried to go through when funds were not
available, so a hold was put on the check while transactions were
allowed to go through. When funds were available, the check finally
went through. I got charged 7 overdraft fees for this one instance.
Online banking shows no negative balance during this time. The
representative said they were doing me a favor by holding it while
still allowing other transactions to go through. And then charging me
$245.00. I've never felt so good in my life.

There is a feature that will turn off the 'Bank of America will take
care of you if you under, but turn around and stick it in and break it
off' policy. I had them do this to my account, because if a check
bounces, that's 25.00 and I get a 'Sorry your card was declined' at
the gas station vs. BoA takes a chunk of my arse.

I live on a small ss check , am elderly and my husband recently passed
away. We took this account out when boa was equitable trust, and have
had the same account for over thirty years. Two weeks ago, I checked
my account as usual online, noticed that I had a check cleared in
"pending" leaving me a balance of 84 dollars, I transferred 50 dollars
from another account, and left the house to go shopping . While out I
used my check card for items totalling 142dollars, so when I got home
I put in another nine dollars making my balance show as 27 cents. Two
days later, that is what the account continued to state, 27 cents,
then suddenly on saturday, four days after my shopping trip, I opened
the online page and saw three overdraft charges, the first one for 25
and two for 35 each. The check that cleared that morning four days
before was charged an overdraft fee, leaving every thing above it to
bounce. . No one can convince me that this is fraudulent practice and
designed to hurt those less likely to fight back, the very young and
the elderly. BOA charges me nine dollars a month, even though I have
direct deposit of my ss check. That nine dollars was put in on the
SAME DAY, but marked as the next day, it was transferred from another
account and should have been immediately available. Since this
instance I have deliberately transferred money from one account to
another and notice it is PENDING. Why should a boa account
transferring money to another boa account be PENDING? Don't tell me
it's my fault, I was withing twenty seven cents , even by their
records for three days, then 94.73 in the red after 95 dollars worth
of charges. If they felt I was really 8.73 short, why did they allow
me to continue to use my debit card? They thrive on these horrible
practises. I will tell you it was upsetting, very, very upsetting, it
cost me the right to purchase a gift for my grandchild for Christmas.
I KNOW of people who have had their fees reversed, they won't do it if
you are weak on their economic rung scale.

Bottom LINE. Bank of America is scamming its hard working
customers........

On October 18,2008 to my dismay to date I have been charged 13
Overdraft fees totaling $455. They are scam artist and they do not
care about their customers. They are sooooo fradulent, they have made
billions, upon billions of dollars off of overdraft fees! This makes
noooo sense at all! They scam their customers and have no problem
doing it. They will give you the "you need to monitor your
transactions speech" but the truth is they make a third of there
revenues off this practice so they will continue. Unless you have Boku
dollars and are not living from pay check to pay check (which is not
the case for average Americans) do what I am about to do, and that is
withdraw every penney and run as fast as you can before they find
another reason to reach into your pockets and take your hard earned
money!!!!!!

I hate Bank of America. They have caused me so much stress in my life
you have no idea. They will do everything possible to charge customers
overdraft fees. For example, instead of posting credits first and
then debits, it's the opposite. Debits are posted first and then
credits. I did an online transfer from my savings to my checking at
around 11 pm. Seven transactions came pending after midnight. This
stupid bank instead of posting my transfer first (credit) posted the
debits, thus charging me seven overdraft fees. At this bank it really
depends who you talk to. I decided I was going to fight this to the
end. Th overdrafts were over $300. I went to two local branches and
spoke to the manager who told me that they go into some decision
database and the decision came back negative to refund me any
overdrafts because i was given one three months ago for a transaction
of $2.25. I went to another local branch ans spoke to manager and she
said that she would refund me two fees but that she had to close my
checking account and open a new one in order for her to refund fees. I
said no no. Then, i went to another local branch and spoke to a very
nice carismatic guy who understood what happened to me and he was kind
enough to refund me six fees. Conclusion here is at bank of america if
one person doesn't help you don't stop there, go to the next one. They
have the power to refund fees.

Heres how it works......Every Bank

You are not charged fees when things post the same day. Credits post
before debits.

Most likely the items actually posted the night before (which you
didnt see until the next day). Meaning that you were actually a day
late.

My advice for you is to look deep and place blame where it belongs on
yourself for not managing your accounts properly. Dont write checks
out until the funds are already there. End of story, quickest way to
avoid fees at any bank!!

I have paid Bank of America over $2000 in overdraft fees in the past
12 months, they usually hit me for around $250 at a time. It really
hurts when you are constantly trying to catch up and it holds you back
even more and you overdraft again for another $250. This is the kind
of thing that would put an end to most people. I had signed up for
overdraft protection at one point too but i guess it's not set up
properly. I have seen them literally move 5 or 6 super small
transactions into the negative(after my account bottomed out) to make
them show under overdraft even though they were posted before my
account actually went negative. I don't know what to do. I'm going to
close all 4 of my accounts and leave them.

You miss the point.

It has nothing to do with whether or not his guy should have bounced a
check or two. Of course not. The point is the manipulative methods
the banks use to process transactions to maximize fees. There is no
doubt it's a deceptive practice roughly equivelent to payday loans.

Your argument consists of everyone keeping a cushion and not spend
more than they have. Well, I hate to tarnish your silver spoons but
not everyone has a cushion income and many live paycheck to paycheck.
If they mak a mistake in transactions by spending $200, $10 and $5
when they only have $209 in the bank why should they have to pay $70
worth of overdraft fees ($35 x2 for $10 and $5) when the transactions
could clear in the opposit order.

The answers simple - Banks want to extract the maximum fees possible
for their benefit at the expense of the consumer.

And the orginal Author is right, the banks do lie about it. They tell
you "It's for your own good. We don't want your car payment bounce".
The reality is all those tr4ansactions are going to clear anyway, they
are selecting the order for their benefit against their customers best
interest. That's what this is all about, the banking industry taking
advantage of those customers who can least afford it.

If you still argue "personal finance! personal finance!" then you are
still too heartless to get the point and should probably work for the
bank. They are the enemy of consumers in every way.

I did an online chat session with a Bank of America Customer Service
rep. He confirmed what I knew about Direct Deposits: I copied and
pasted the conversation. Read below:

Ryan: Hello! My name is Ryan. Thank you for choosing Bank of America's
Online Banking Text Chat. We do value your business. To begin, could
you please provide your complete name as it appears on your
statement?
you: When two transactions come into the Bank on the same day, a
Credit and a Debit-which do you process first?
you: Sally
Ryan: Thank you Sally. I can certainly help you with that. What type
of credit is it? Deposit?
you: A Direct Deposit -paycheck from my employer
Ryan: It could depend on when the deposit is processed. If it is
processed overnight like most direct deposits are, the deposit would
post first.
you: Do I have full access to my Direct deposited paycheck on the day
it is processed?
Ryan: Yes you would.
you: It is only with checks that are deposited at an ATM that you
don't have full access to the funds, right?
Ryan: That is correct.

This has happened to me many times by Bank of America. The point is
that when there is a debit and credit to the account on the same day,
Bank of America will process the debit first. I work for the State of
Kansas and my HR person told me that my paycheck is deposited into my
account in the early morning-around 2-4 a.m. So, then Bank of America
employers process transactions in the morning-they are purposely
processing Debits before Credits.
It is simply a matter of Bank of America making money off of its
customers. It is GOOD accounting practices to process a Credit first
and then a Debit. My roommate used to work at Bank of America. She
told me that she quit working there because Bank of America takes
advatage of customers by processing Debits before Credits. When my
paycheck is directly deposited in my checking account-I have access to
those funds the same day. It is only with checks that you deposit into
an ATM-that you don't have full access to your money. If it is true
that you don't have full access to your direct deposited paycheck,
then Bank of America shouldn't have full access to your funds as well.
Afterall- The State of Kansas isn't paying Bank of America, it's
paying me. There are many people who have their bills directly
withdrawn from their bank account on the same day that they get paid.
If you were performing these transactions in your checking account,
you would credit your account first-before paying out money for bills.
There are other banks out there that respect their customers and don't
take advantage of them. I suggest switching banks. Bank of America is
a huge corporation and they became that way because they take
advantage of their customers. They are not to be trusted. Many people
have had good success with local Credit unions.

I as well have been through the EXACT SAME SITUATION, only a bit more.
I bank with Wells Fargo and in a string of bad luck and Wells Fargo
kicking me while I was down was charged around $300 in overdraft
fee's. Even though my account was only $100 under. They refused to
remove the charges. I informed them that this would happen again
because I was going through hard times, unless the fees were removed.
They did not remove them and I went under during my next pay period.


However, this time accruing almost $700 in overdraft fees for only
being under by $200. Which I only took out because I knew I would
need money for the rest of the week. So here's what happened.

READ THIS!!! !! THIS IS HOW BANKS WORK !!

I had a series of small debit charges: $5-$10-$20 lunch and grocery
charges. What they did was take my LAST transaction of $200 and
remove that off my account first immedietly putting me in the negative
then charge me $34 per each little transaction that went through after
that. They take the largest transaction and credit against your
AVAILABLE balance first, that way they can maximize the overdraft
fees. Had they processed the transaction in the order the occured I
would have been charge $34 not over $650.

!! READ THE ABOVE PARAGRAPH!!THIS IS HOW BANKS WORK!!

When I called them about this they told me because this was my fault,
they could not remove any charges and I've just finished paying TODAY
the overdraft fees. I hate Wells Fargo, but after researching other
banks, I'm not sure I could switch to them either. I've been a
customer with Wells Fargo since I was 16 and that's how they treat
they're long time customers.

My friend went through the same experience. Also occurring over the
last few months. There were holds placed on his account he was
unaware of, they never showed on his online banking and cost him a lot
of money. He also had his rent check returned to the real estate
company and almost was evicted. That was when he said good-bye. That
kind of service is uncalled for. He too called everybody all of whom
could not give him an answer jsut kept transferring him. They even
went so far as to lie and tell him they do not manage their ATM
machines it is a different company and they only empty it once a week.
How do they maintain an accurate daily balance of accounts that way?
Sounds very fishy to me. Also, several people have told me not to use
that bank. Surprised there are not more complaints posted about them.
Maybe the FDIC needs to be called to audit their consumer practices.

If you state that this same problem (postings going through on same
day of direct deposit) has happened before...why haven't you learned
your lesson and realized that while your direct deposit posts to your
account it is not available for withdrawl until the next business
day??? It seems that your bank has already helped you out - what I've
heard from most banks is that they will only take off half of your
overdraft fees the first time as a courtesy where your bank took them
all off - so you should be greatful of that instead of complaining
they won't do it a second time (which will lead to a third time and so
on...).

As a bank teller...

Part of our growth of a bank is people who overdraft. It pays our
stockholders. It allows us to have a budget to work with. They have
already bent over backwards for you in the past. Why do they need to
do it again? You are taking advantage of generosity.

Another rule of thumb. We have this disclosed in our account
disclosures; Funds need to be in your account 2 days prior to
transactions. I am going to assume it was check written. Don't write
them until the money is there. Or if it was Debit card transactions,
don't swipe unless you know it's there ahead of time.

Another thing to look into: See if BoA offers an overdraft protection
line of credit. We offer it where I work. You apply for either a 500
or 1000 dollar line. When you overdfarft, there is no OD fee, they
pull from the line. Then, on your statement closing date each month,
they automatically withdraw 10% of the outstanding balance if you
haven't made a payment. I have it, and it's a wonderful option. All
you end up paying is 13% interest, which is usually less than one
overdraft fee.

Again, this is why companies don't do courtesy things for customers.

I would be willing to bet you your $245 in overdraft fees that the
last time they reversed your fees, they explicitly told you it was a
ONE TIME ONLY COURTESY refund. But you conveniently forgot that part,
huh?

And yet you had the audacity to try and get them to do it again by
asking why they did it the last time! Unbelievable!

Clearly you have a problem managing your money - that is not BOA's
problem. You have not shown them that you have the sense and
responsibility about you to handle your finances, so why should they
take you on your word that if they cough up nearly $600 in charges
that you incurred through your carelessness that you will somehow do
better.

And all for a "chance" of you handling your financial affairs better
going forward? I don't see that happening any time soon, James. You
should be thankful they haven't closed your account altogether -
you're a liability.

I can see this scenario now - if they cave and give you the $595, in 6
months, you'll be back on PFB again, promising to do better if they
will refund you however much they charged you next time in overdrafts.

James,

I don't believe for one second that you deserve any credit. When
the payments you set up came out of the bank the money was not there.
Therefor they can either bounce the check or place you in overdraft. I
think they fact they were willing to overdraft you is a sign that the
bank is working with you, but under no circumstance should they refund
the charges associated. If you are supposed to get paid on one day,
then you set your payments up for the day after. It's very simple
reasoning. Also you seem to have a history of doing this, why did you
not learn the first time when they were willing to work with you? I
work in a call center. If i saw someone with a history of getting
credit for something, yet continues to behave the same way to incur
the charges I would deny the credit as well. As obviously being
courteous and giving you credit didn't teach you any better method of
managing your money maybe paying the fees will !!

Why should they? You expect them to basically fogive nearly $600, with
no assurances or guarantees that you will do better in the future.
I've been in your shoes and I did not blame the bank one bit when they
- sent those guys out to break my knees - I mean, when they made it
clear it was my mess and my responsibility to fix.

Stop whinging about your mistakes, get it fixed and the future take
responsibility for your own actions.

It sounds like BoA has been more than accommodating with you in the
past with your spotty financial handling. I know it can be difficult
managing finances if you are living on a paycheck to paycheck basis,
but there are ways of dealing with the problems. For one, always,
always, ALWAYS, write checks or make payments when you already have
the money. Most utility companies and business of that nature will
work with you to change the billing cycle to better accommodate your
pay periods. You may also look into low-income and budget programs
for utilities, as well as downgrading to more basic packages for the
less necessary utilities (cable, cell phones, etc.). Budget yourself.
Allow for money for needed expenses, food, etc. then save a little.
Always save a little. It'll add up, and it's nice to have if an
emergency arises. The $10 you were going to splurge and buy a meal
out, or a cool T-shirt you saw, save it! Put it away and hold onto
it. Start a savings account.

I don't think that BoA will work with you anymore, and you shouldn't
use "maybes" to cushion your falls, because as you can now see, the
safety net may not always be there. It's time to stand up and take
personal responsibility for your finances.

Banks have tightened up policy over the past few years and while I can
understand why this problem is happening, I really can't fault them
for sticking to their policy. There's a point where they can no longer
accomodate someone with "complementary fee refunds" and still operate
efficiently as a profit making business. They have to raise the fees
for everyone if all people banked on the 'wing and a prayer' theory of
checkbook balancing or reconsider staying in business at all.
I have a feeling you may be young or new at banking. Maybe seek some
advice from friends or family on the basics.

The way things work so quickly now with processing checks, the days
of "grace periods" and "making nice nice" for customers are almost
over.
Perhaps try some discipline, buld up a cushion in your checkbook, or
even though it costs more, perhaps consider overdraft protection if
all else fails
I wish you all the best and hope that this is a learning experience
for you. Good luck.

Oh James, what are you doing!?

Without reading everyone else's replies, I have to tell you that you
need to learn financial management. You shouldn't be trying to time
payments as you have been and are on the path to further problems.

BOA is in no way going to really want your business with you costing
them so many difficulties.

Seriously, get some financial management help.

Utimately, the consumer has a responsibilty to educate him or herself
regarding the terms of doing business with a company and doing his or
her part to maintain that relationship amicably.

A bank should not have to hold the hand of a customer and protect him
or her from repeated violations of their business agreement.

Employees are required to follow policies, however some allow a
customer to browbeat them or elicit their sympathy in an attempt to
get repeated exceptions to said policy.

From what the OP has written, the agreement to maintain the funds
necessary to cover transactions has been violated repeatedly and
employees have been more than accomodating in the past. The
most-recent employee has decided that the accomodating needs to stop
as the OP has failed to learn from the previous mistakes and seems to
think that an exception to a policy is the rule. This failure to
understand that making an exception to a policy is not policy itself
manifests itself above when the OP writes that he asked why previous
representatives accomodated him after being told that they were unable
to make additional adjustments has he had been credited in the past.

The bank has not decreed that a certain number of overdrafts are
allowed, but leave it to a representative's discretion based upon the
history of the account.

If the bank regularly debits transactions before crediting direct
deposits, I would advise making certain the deposit has been credited
before authorizing any debits.

Also, writing checks that you don't have the money to cover them is
called writing a cold check and it is illegal. You can go to jail if
you write enough bad/cold checks and/or lose your check writing
privileges.

Credit union is the way to go.
It's funny how checks you write clear immediately but checks you
deposit don't use the same technology. It's funny how banks clear the
largest amount first to cause an over draft and then clear the checks
for $20 and $30 after causing them to be an overdraft.
It's funny how banks give you .09 % interest but if you want a loan
find ways to justify 10 times that.
It's funny how Credit Unions work with you and yet somehow manage to
stay in business.

This is why I LOVE my credit union. It may have inconvenient hours
but they always credit before they debit. I think we have had 2
overdraft fees in the 6 years I have been there

That said, you should have a tighter hand on what is going on with
your account. I'm not perfect, don't get me wrong. I've run it down
to less than $20 but I know that I'm at $20... It would be nice of
them to refund you but they aren't obligated. I doubt they will as
$595 is an excessive amount. You aren't asking for one fee to be
reversed. You are asking for MANY.

Either way, I hope you hear back from them. Perhaps they will be
willing to work with you. Good luck.

PERSONAL ADULT RESPONSIBILITY!!!

Do I really need to say more?

I know that you admit you are asking for a favor, one that they do not
have to grant. It is also one I do not expect them to grant, knowing
the industry.

As others have said, MANY banks do debits before credits. Thus, your
account will go down before it goes up in a given day, even if you
deposit a check.
At least they paid those bills for you. You could have had late fees
or bounced check fees if the bank refused to pay them. Somehow you
need to go really tight on your money such that your paycheck can
again be a day or two ahead of when you have all of these checks
clearing your account.

You are knowingly writing checks on an account you know to be
underfunded?? (Which yours would presumably be if you needed your
paycheck to cover those that cleared on payday) That is a big no-no.

I would suggest closing your account and going back to the ole' cash
in hand policy. Use money orders to pay your bills and use only cash
at stores and such. That way you're not buying stuff you dont have the
money for.

Seventeen overdrafts in two months? I'm sure it has been explained to
you more than once that debits are processed before deposits and it's
obvious you still don't comprehended this concept.

It doesn't matter how much financial difficulty this situation is
causing you as you are the one that either wrote checks or authorized
debits before your pay check was properly credited to your account - -
and you have done this more than once or twice.

I see absolutely no reason why BofA should credit you the fees so you
can recover financially and have a better chance of maintaining your
account in the future. You letter states that BofA has already
refunded overdraft fees for "similar instances" in 2006 so any break
they are going to cut you has already been offered.

Sorry to sound so harsh but you obviously don't know how to handle
your checking account and this is not justification for a complaint
letter or a refund of 17 overdraft fees.

I understand what you are going through. I used to bounce checks left
and right and I was actually paying the bank more than what I was
getting. But I learned to get a check balancing register and stop
writing checks before my direct deposit hit the bank. It wasn't easy
but I managed self control. If you get a check register and write
every thing down in it and consult it before writing checks, and also
don't do anything until you know the funds are posted and available,
you shouldn't have any trouble.

I don't think you should have all the fees refunded. You were lucky
to have one or two of them. You haven't shown that you are a good
customer. You are a perpetual bouncer. You didn't learn you lesson
after the first one or two, how do they know that you won't just do it
again if given the refunds. I know that it is hard digging out of the
overdraft hole, but BOA is not going to help, why stop there money
flow.

I know that this isn't going to be easy for you, but you should really
get a checking register and keep meticulous records, it really will
help you in the long run. Try enrolling in a budgeting class also.

After seeing statements such as "This has caused me a great deal of
financial difficulty and has perpetuated a cycle of overdrafts." I
couldn't see looking at this letter with a critical eye.

Yes, a bank gives you one time to screw up. Mine did it about 6 years
ago. I made a similar mistake two years later, and they said "sorry,
we can't help you." I wasn't surprised - it was my mistake.

I learned my lesson after one charge. It hasn't happened again. You
haven't learned a lesson. I know otherwise very nice and productive
people, who unfortunately bounce checks and make late payments over
and over again.

It sounds like you need to become more responsible with money.

"I feel that once these fees are refunded I will be able to recover
financially and will have a better chance of maintaining my account in
the future."

You haven't shown any indication of being able to do this up to now.
I've been there. I've been so deep in the overdraft heap that it took
some serious digging to get myself out. When I think about all of the
money that I lost due to my own negligence, it literally makes me
ill.
I learned the hard way and it looks like you're headed in the same
direction.
As everyone else has pointed out, don't use that debit or write checks
or ANYTHING until you make sure that the cash is in the account.

Good luck.

You've had this happen in the past and you still didn't learn your
lesson. Most banks process debits before credits and most process the
debits from the highest to the lowest. In addition, most banks will
only reverse the fees once and after that, you are responsible for
them.

You are causing these overdrafts, not Bank of America. You are free
to take your business elsewhere but, in most cases, it will be the
same process.

It's time to start learning basic financial management: Don't cut
withdrawals and payments so close to the deposit of funds. I don't
understand why you didn't learn your lesson long ago! Do you just
have money to throw at the bank?

James, you're doing something that you're not supposed to do: you're
authorizing transactions before the money to cover them is cleared and
in your account. You agreed when you started this account that they
could charge you fees if you did that, and they're taking you at your
word. They're exactly right that they don't have to refund you the
money you agreed to pay: it is, after all money that you agreed to
pay in the event that you spent more money than was actually in your
account at the time that you spent it. Which you did.

It's not as if you're someone who never does this and to whom the bank
may, as a courtesy, refund a fee or two. It sounds as if at one time
you were that kind of customer and they did refund the fees. But by
your own account you did this "several" times in 2006 and 17 times in
the last two months. You've stopped being a good customer who made a
mistake or two and become someone who expects the bank to cover
overdrafts without getting anything out of it. Of course you are
justified in asking -- you can always ask -- but they're also
justified in telling you "No."

And they really don't care how much financial difficulty you've gotten
yourself into. I get that you're pointing it out in order to make the
case that you will be a better customer in the future if they do this,
but your track record, and your failure to grasp why you shouldn't
have authorized the charges before your employer's deposit posted kind
of hints that you will not, in fact, be a better customer in the
future. The bank is there to make money. One of the ways that it
makes money is to allow people like you and me to overdraft our
accounts and then instead of letting our creditors charge us NSF fees
that BoA will never see, ensure that those fees are never an issue and
charge us overdraft fees instead.

You've asked (which, as we have both said, you are perfectly justified
in doing) and been turned down; I don't think this letter is going to
get them to change their minds, so I would suggest that you quit
authorizing charges on the day of your employer's direct deposit and
wait until the funds are actually available to you before using them.