Illegal NSF fees

Chase Bank is corrupt!!
I had $900 check clear my account. I had the funds to cover the check
but had asked my landlord to hold the check until I got paid.
Unbeknown to me, she deposited the check earlier I had expecgted. I
continued to use my debit card for small purchases. $2 here, $4
there... etc... My account went negative and Chase continued to allow
me to make purchases and charging me $35 for each purchase. I was
never denied by the merchant. My account went over $800 negative...
They only way I knew I was so negative was when I went to withdraw
cash and saw the negative balance. I immediately called chase to
discuss the matter. I was told that Chase's new policy was to only
allow each person $70 refund in one calendar year. I asked why I had
not been notified about this "new" policy. The agent did not say
much.. was very quite and seemed to be very "Programmed" as to what
to say. She continued to repeat, "I'm sorry, but there is nothing I
can do". I agree that we, the account holder, is responsible for
balancing our own account. But what I can't seem to understand is why
Chase would allow me to make purchases using my check card if I had no
money in my account, or.., whey I was $500 negative...?? This is
complete negligence on their part. I keep my money in the bank and
expect to be treated as a customer. There is no customer service is
this scenario. I imagine many people are experiencing the same with
Chase. Needless to say I was quite upset with Chase and have since
closed my account with them. I would be embarrassed to work for
Chase..!! I'm looking forward to the class action so I can get my
money back..

The reality is, NSF fees in general are illegal. State laws, case law
and the common law only allows actual damages when a contract is
breached. The reason for this is that otherwise everyone would be
writing into contracts all sorts of fees, fines and penalties that
bear no relation to actual damages of the parties when a breach
occurs. It would create chaos in the business world.

In this case, banks are charging excessive fees, fines and penalties
and it is creating havoc in that no actual service or product is being
produced--the banks are getting money for nothing and that does cause
a collapse in the economy. It's the same reason why stealing is
illegal.

So when people say "just balance your check book" no problem, well,
maybe people have better thing to do and that is their choice. Banks
legally can only charge the actual damage they suffered, which in most
cases is just pennies.

for more info, check out my blog at blogspot.com at
nsfbankcharges.blogspot.com

I HAVE ALSO HAD THIS NIGHTMARE WITH CHASE.
I AM UNEMPLOYED (HOPEFULLY FOR NOT LONG)AND RECIEVING
UNEMPLOYMENT COMP. WHICH I HAVE DEPOSITED INTO MY CHECKING ACCOUNT. I
NEED MONEY ONE DAY TO BUY FOOD FOR MY FAMILY . I CHECK MY ACCOUNT AND
I HAVE A BALANCE. OF 125.00 I CHECK TO SEE IF THERE ARE ANY PENDING
TRANSACTIONS,AND THEY SAY THAT THERE ISN'T ANY.SO I WITHDRAW 10.00.
THE NEXT DAY I CHECK AND THERE WAS AN 120.00 DEBIT TRANSACTION THAT I
HAD MADE A WEEK AGO THAT HAD BEEN PAID.
SO CHASE PULLED ALL THE SMALLER TRANSACTIONS,AND CHARGED ME 175.00
OVERDRAFT FEES..
MY UNEMPLOYMENT CHECK WAS DEPOSITED,AND THEY TOOK THE FEES AND LEFT ME
NOT ABLE TO PAY SOME BILLS, THAT I COULD HAVE USED THE 175.00 TO PAY
THEM WITH. I CALLED AND ASKED WHY DID THE 120.00 DEBIT NOT SHOW AS A
PENDING TRANSACTION AND THE TOLD ME THAT AFTER 5 DAYS THE TAKE IT OFF
THE SYSTEM. ITS FUNNY HOW THEY JUST SO HAPPEN TO PAY PERSON WHO I HAD
MADE IT TO, AFTER I HAD WITHDRAWN THE 10.00. I WAS REALLY DISGUSTED.

Are you kidding me? if Im your customer and I barrow one dollar to buy
some food. you know its coming back to you, but you charge me 35$ for
a negative balance and 35$ for barrowing money. Thats 70$ for
barrowing one dollar? Even though you already make money using my
funds to generate interest. you are trying to say that you can
understand that? I should have balanced my account? You know the
difference between people who break in your house and chase? The
people who break in my house are probably broke. Chase has so money
these niccas are buying banks. top five banks in america easy. Chase
has so much money they are buying BANKS. Not just the small one's
either. A billion dollar bank. How do you live with yourself stealing
from hard working individuals? You know there was a time when you
could actually depend on banks. And for all the accomplance helping
J.P Morgan steal from you all have been taught to turn your head and
think this type of robbery goes untouch but for a few dollars you all
are helping him rob people. I hope all the chase customers take all
there money out for one week, just to have one of the richest bank
change there policy on FEES... Amen

I go into chase to open a business account. I tell the salesman no me
and my wife would like to just open a business account for my
business. He says you should also open up a checking account. You
don't have to worry about fees. You own a house, this puts you in a
better checking account. Don't know the name of the account was but he
seems nice, I said why not. Well they start my account off with a
negative charge saying it was a fee. Guess me owning a house wasn't
taken into account. "o my fault they say, let me waive that fee for
you." A few days later while the the checking account was positive
balance I deposit cash into the ATM around six o'clock in the evening.
The bank has a hold on cash deposit, but check this out they have a
money counter verifying the money is there. Isn't that the point of
having a cash counter at the ATM? Well I began to buy things using my
debit card. Would you believe if you make a purphase that is suppose
to show a pending transcation just like my pending cash deposit would
go thru the next day but my cash deposite places a hold for almost
three days. What in the world kind of business is the 3rd largest bank
running? Why did we give a bailout to one of biggest banks in American
history? They have so much money they bought another bank. Why are
they ripping us off? Why are the people who work for chase turning
there heads as if they have gotten use to it? You know people love to
bash our troops for doing what they do but at lease our troops are
here to defend our nation even if they are called to do some acts that
are less than honorable. I believe the people who work for chase is
even worst. CHASE I pray for you,

most banks will suggest that you keep a balanced checkbook.

Even if you don't use checks, you can still use the little notebook
that goes with them to keep track of usage.

My mother has been doing that since she had her first account I
think... so she's been doing it over 60 years. even if she spends
money online or uses her card, she writes it down in the book.

it is very very rare that her book isn't balanced.


and... calling up the bank doesn't really remove the need to keep
track of spending.

i don't know about chase but i know with bank of america when i check
my online statement it actually lists what checks or debits are still
pending.


the simple fact is... it is the responsibility of the account holder
to maintain an accurate account of what money he or she has.

yes it's nice to call up the bank and ask, but... if a personal
account is kept, that means you can also make sure the bank is doing
their accounting properly too.

if you only rely on the bank to be accurate... they could just take
money out of your account by accident and.. who'd know? the
account-holder who's not keeping track of the account won't know
that's for sure. but the one who keeps a personal ledge will know
right away and will be able to call up the bank and ask "what's up
with this discrepancy?"

Your lawyer friend is dead wrong as you agreed to these terms when you
opened your account. I recommend that you spend your vacation learning
how to keep an accurate check register.

You may not write checks, but you still have to KEEP TRACK OF THE
MONEY YOU SPEND.

What is wrong with parents not teaching this to their kids when they
get debit cards? What the heck is going on??!??!?!?!

No matter what spin you put on this you overdrafted your account and
are being charged the associated fees (including the extended fee) in
accordance with the terms and conditions of your account. Does it
seem right and/or fair that Chase posts debits highest to lowest in
order to maximize the fees they can charge? No. But is it the way it
is and is it the account holders responsibility to make sure they have
sufficient funds to cover all authorized debits no matter the order
they are posted? Yes.

and then say Chase posted your "large check" first, causing the
subsequent charges to bounce the account.

So was the check written before the charges or not?

If you had sufficient funds in your account to cover the balance, then
this would have never occurred. You should keep a paper record of your
transactions. You are correct, most people don't. I personally don't,
but I track it electronically. It is really easy to use Quicken or
similar software. I keep an electronic record, and then my bank emails
me and tells me a file is ready to download, and it compares my
transactions I have recorded against the statement. Winging it by
online banking or phone banking is not the way to go.

You got charged fees and rightly so. Also, the extended fee is pretty
common too. Pay up, it's your fault, not theirs, so you owe them.

Are the fees excessive? Yes. Did you earn them by not keeping track
of your balance? Yes. What happened to you comes as no surprise at
all. This should serve as a wakeup call to you, more than as a
warning to others.

You simply can't rely on anything other then a check register
(obviously) to track your balance properly. A lot of people try to,
and they end up precisly where you are - with overdraft fees. YOU are
the one who knows what debits and credits are expected. The bank's
computers can't tell the future, including whatever items are
pending.

Tracking your balance is something you can do with grade school math.
I round off items and keep my balance in my head. I leave an extra
$200 in the account just in case.

If you can't do it mentally, put it on paper. But don't rely on the
internet or calling the bank - it won't work.

You can posture about legal actions, but what you describe happens
thousands of times each day. And most all of the banks do the SAME
thing - it is NOT just Chase. Banks process the largest transaction
first, and people who haven't verified their balances often end up
with a bunch of small items triggering ISF fees.

This is ultimately your responsibility. Either track your balance
properly, or suffer the consequences. Even with reform, you will
still get at least one overdraft each time you screw up.

Do some research if you don't believe me. There are tons of
complaints on this site, sprinkled across most all the banks you can
think of. You need to make the change required to save yourself
money. Changing to a new bank won't do it.