Miffed with Bank of America

Get used to it, pretty much all banks do this. I agree it is bad
business on their end because it is a clear way to charge more fees.
If I have 10 transactions I need to make in a day and I know that all
together I will be $20 overdrawn, I should be able to expect that the
order the transactions are received is the way the will be entered by
the bank. I am willing to pay an overdraft fee, but when one
transaction for $20 hits at 9:00am and then at 5:00pm another one for
$100 hits, I get charged for being overdrawn on both because the $100
knocks me over the limit. In actuallity, I was not overdrawn until the
$100 one hit the account. Just a shady practice I don't like that
should be regulated.

My old bank would add up all the charges for a day or two and bounce
them all. I was $5 over and had six checks bounce when five could
have cleared. I called the bank and they explained the new policy and
refunded me five of the check fees. Call and ask maybe your bank will
work with you.

The bottom line here is that you overdrew your account and got hit
with fees in accordance with the account agreement you signed when you
opened the account - - end of story. It shouldn't make any difference
the order in which a bank processes debits - - you either have enough
to cover them ALL or you don't. If you and your husband are using the
same account then you need to get your respective acts together to
work out a system to ensure that each knows what the other is
depositing and withdrawing. All banks are in the business of making
money like everyone else and yes - - they are going to maximize their
profits courtesy of those that are unable to maintain a sufficient
balance.

I have no sympathy at all. I got an overdraft fee of $28 on 47 cents.
I accepted it because I was wwrong. I have fallen victim to the same
thing, HOWEVER, banks subtract the money highest to lowest to minimize
their risk. They would rather the $520 transaction clear before the
$10 one in case it ends up jsut being money lost to the bank. Maybe I
am biased at understadning because I work for a bank, but our bank is
Live, so things do clear over night now, and usually in order. O
well...take them to court...good luck. But I don't think that they did
anything wrong.

You overspent by $53

So using your reasoning:

the $520 will get the $35 fee &
the $10 will also get a fee of $35
and then add in protection fee of $25

that totals $148 so you "lost" !7


Here's what I don't get, if you have an overdraft protection fee why
are you getting overdraft charges?

We have a joint account and we've found this fool proof method of
making sure we don't spend money we don't have and avoiding those
pesky fees banks charge for the customer's convenience. This is why I
do my food shopping with coupons and rebates at a Supermarket and not
at Seven eleven, piggly wiggly, or any kind of quick fast service
place. Those prices add up quick when all you have to do is wave
plastic and walk away.
Here's our fool proof method.
When you use an atm machine, this thing comes out of a slot somewhere.
It's called a reciept. A transaction record. When you go to buy
something, always ask for a receipt.
Ok here's the plan. Take the amount you make. Set aside a percentage
of it and PAY YOURSELF FIRST. Don't touch that portion, no matter what
it is put it in savings. Theres a thing called tomorrow. Ask Star
Jones..she's spreading the word to anyone who wants to listen.

Calculate the bills that are usually the same each month. Make sure
you know which companies automatically take their money from your
account. Subtract that from the running total.
What is left is what you have to spend, but make sure all your bills
are taken care of first and subtract that from the running total.
At nite when you're done eating, sit down with your
husband/wife/significant other/ or other person who has legal access
to your money.
Get a notebook and pen. Write down each reciept amount and circle the
total on the receipt to show that you've entered that amount. Staple a
legal sized envelope to the first page and slip the reciepts that
everyone has accounted for that day. Make copies of the total and hand
it to the other person.
It becomes automatic after awhile and real quick and easy.
Anoter trick i use is to round up when I write a check AND round down
when I make a deposit... you know just like you ignored the cents in
your blog? Well, those pennies add up after awhile and you'll have
quite a cushion. The bank will have more than enough to cover the
occaisional "oops".
There's a thing called a budget. If you don't budge....et won't get
done.
Think Hard and Life gets Easier. I've learned my lesson the hard way
too.

I know it's the prinicple of the thing and I realize things happen
but money is an important Issue. Think of how hard you worked to make
the amount of money the bank made in fees and iterest alone??

Good Luck and just try to be more serious with your money.

Just a couple of observations. Try keeping better track of what you
are spending. I too do not use my checkbook register supplied with my
checks, but I do keep track using Microsoft Money. It really doesn't
matter how you track it, but do keep a running tally so you don't
spend more than you have.

Now the banks...you made a mistake and spent more than you had. You
acknowledged that, and you knew you would get dinged for it. Even
though this was a debit card, I take issue with the bank allowing the
transactions when the account was already overdrawn. At what point
would the bank have declined the charges? They will tell you allowing
the transaction was done as a courtesy to you. But allowing 4 or 5
transactions on an overdrawn account??? What is the maginc
number/dollar amount that will actually cause the bank to decline the
transaction? Also love the way that the banks process transactions.
Debits always are processed first, then any ISF fees, and then any
deposits are added. It is all about making money I guess.

At any rate, do yourself a favor and try keeping better track of your
balance.

Banks are out to make money on you and you are the type they LOVE to
get. Don't give it to them. And by that I mean keep great records,
don't depend on that card. They make money off of that too. Use a
credit card and pay ONE check at the end of the month to the CC and
your statement wont have so many transactions on it that they can play
with when you go over your limit. Or get cash reserve on the account
(which has high interest if you dont pay it off right away) and you
wont get charged the bigger immediate fees for those accidental OOPS's
that you did.

They charge it largest to smallest to ensure funds are available for
the biggest potential problem the bank might face.

You are correct when it comes to late fees applied to suit the bank in
order to make profits of unsuspected customers. The bank is always
right. They never held themselves liable to anything therefore giving
themselves ample opportunity to commit fraud. Your overdraft should
have been charged according to date and amount of spenditure. Fight
on!

The bottom line is, you still went over what you had, and you still
would have been charged overdraft fees. Right?

Let me see if I've got this straight - you spend more money than you
have, and your pissed that BoA charges you overdraft fees?

"Now, I suppose I could have just not gone out to eat so much, or I
could have chosen to use the bank to pay my bills rather than buying
those money orders."

Yeah, no sh*t, genius. Oh, but whining on the internet is so much more
fun than actually taking responsibility for your own actions.

Do BoA a favor and close your account. I'm sure they'd be thrilled to
be done with you.

I'll be taking Brenda's advice, and using a credit card from now on. I
do keep a check register. The problem is that my husband and I have a
joint account and it is very difficult to keep track of both his
purchases and mine.

If he and I both use a credit card, I will not have to worry about
whether I miss a charge of his or if he forgets to give me a receipt.


I guess it is expecting too much, but I had thought that Banks could
be trusted. If they are going to manipulate charges like that, I will
using them for nothing more than to cash my paycheck.

check register from the bank = free
or
overdraft fees = $165

No which one would you prefer? If you would have just used a check
register you would have avoided all those fees. I learned this the
hard way a loong time ago.

You shouldn't be miffed at the bank but at your adding and subtracting
skills or your high school math teacher.

Dear Miffed -- here is a way to not get any fees on your account --
keep track of how much money you have in your account and don't forget
those automatic debits. Then you don't have to pay those pesky fees.
It works for me every time!
Its simple math on your part.

"Here is an example: I have $850 to spend on Saturday. This is hard
earned money from my paycheck. I worked overtime to get this money.
....Slight Problem, I just spent $903.00."

Um.... how about you use a check register and NOT spend more money
than you have?

Just an idea. I know taking responsibility of your own actions is a
foreign concept but it does make life easier.

Brenda is right -- putting debits/checks through from the highest $
amount to the lowest is SOP and has been for as long as I've been
banking (over 20 years).

Every bank I have dealt with does things the same way. You can look up
complaints on here or on ripoffreport and see tons of complaints about
the same issue, different banks. I believe this is also lined out in
the policy and procedures literature you were given when you opened
the account. I'm not sure because I didn't read mine.. LOL.

Another thing is, I'm not sure if you used the card as a debit at all
of these places. If the card is used as a visa it will take longer to
be deducted. So even if you ate at the diner first, it may have been
cleared later than any of the other transactions (depending on if it
was run as debit or credit).

Do you have overdraft protection linked to your savings account? My
fiance has it that way and never has had to pay a $25.00 fee. They
just transfer the money out of his savings account.

What I do is just charge everything to a credit card. That way I know
I won't have any problems. I don't spend more then I have so I rarely
carry over charges to the next month. I don't remember the last time I
used my debit card. Maybe this could work for you also.