Overdraft charges?

[olivies]

Mine was with Wells Fargo, still branded Wachovia locally. Their customer service has gone to sh!t since Wells took over.

CCsAreEvil...Wachovia did just that to me several years ago but with a little twist to the knife. I had a balance of $400 and had an outstanding check for something like $500 that I forgot about but it hadn't cleared. I had several debit purchases that equaled maybe $200 when I realized the mistake.

I called the bank to ask if the check had cleared yet, they said, "No.". I made a cash deposit of $600 that day at the suggestion of the Wachovia CSR. Cash deposits were available for immediate "ATM" withdrawal so you would think that it be available for a check as well.

The next morning I check my account... 5 overdrafts, I think it was. They had taken the check first which made me overdrawn, then the debit purchases, then applied the deposit.

I immediately called customer access and dealt with an extremely nice lady that was having trouble, herself, trying to figure out why I had the charges. She confirmed some information with a supervisor and explained their process. She then removed all 5 charges and apologized for the inconvenience, their policy, and thanked me for being a customer.

Interestingly, during our conversation I found out that all eleven or so transactions took place in less than 10 seconds. At $35 a pop, that's about $63000 per hour... or over $551 million a year.

Sounds about right to me! That's where some of those bonuses come from!

We used to be customers of Wachovia. After we had a situation come up twice where we got nabbed for $200-300 in overdraft fees because they #1- pay the largest posting charge first, #2- counter deposits made after 1PM will not be posted until the following day EVEN if it's CASH! Yet, I could go to the ATM and deposit the cash and have it post the same day.

Also- #3- They have all these little twists and quirks between their "pending" and "available" balances. They will let me use my debit card at a store and authorize the charge based on my Available balance, however when something gets presented against the account they use the pending balance to determine if I will get socked a fee. It's for "customer convenience" they say. This bit us in the a** this summer when a hotel charge hold stayed up for 3 days, but we actually paid for the hotel stay in cash. They just needed the card to secure the room for payment. So good ol' Wachovia charged me OD fees because I was "negative" (not really) but then that REALLY did put me negative. Then the hotel hold disappeared...and we were still left with a negative balance. The customer service rep said she couldn't do anything about the charge because we had 6 months earlier had a charge reversed (that's when I found out the cash deposit timing at the counter- I deposited enough money to cover my auto insurance payment that was supposed to post that day, yet because I made my CASH deposit after 1PM it wasn't posted until the following day...and I ended up with about $250 in OD charges that day, and they only reversed the FIRST charge).

We no longer use Wachovia.

[Faust]

BTW, found this bit of info from myfico.com:

"14% of people generated 93% of overdraft fees, (according to an FDIC 2008 study) but under the new law you'll have to "opt-in." Banks earn an additional $12 billion by covering checks and recurring bills."

$12 billion? That's no small change.

I always hated how rude and mean they are about it if you call them about the od's. As far as I'm concerned they should be as sweet as pie to the overdraft people be cause it is $$$ for zero work.

But no, they have to AH's instead.

[jennordhavn]

jennordhavn,
How do you know that? Is it because they have too?

This is what happened in my case, sorry I wasn't more clear.

[blessed]

We had to establish a new checking and savings because of cross-collateralization and I was so afraid that my checking (that I had for 10 years with account numbers memorized so I was sad to close it) would accept an auto payment and reopen, and end up negative without my authorization. The attorney said creditors were legally allowed to access my account 3 times if they had the info, no thanks I'll close it.

So, I ended up telling the bank "do NOT let anything go through because you'll not see a dime from me, I'm filing for bk" I hope they got the hint.

[CCsAreEvil]

BTW, found this bit of info from myfico.com:

"14% of people generated 93% of overdraft fees, (according to an FDIC 2008 study) but under the new law you'll have to "opt-in." Banks earn an additional $12 billion by covering checks and recurring bills."

$12 billion? That's no small change.

[BROKEDED]

Mine was with Wells Fargo, still branded Wachovia locally. Their customer service has gone to sh!t since Wells took over.

CCsAreEvil...Wachovia did just that to me several years ago but with a little twist to the knife. I had a balance of $400 and had an outstanding check for something like $500 that I forgot about but it hadn't cleared. I had several debit purchases that equaled maybe $200 when I realized the mistake.

I called the bank to ask if the check had cleared yet, they said, "No.". I made a cash deposit of $600 that day at the suggestion of the Wachovia CSR. Cash deposits were available for immediate "ATM" withdrawal so you would think that it be available for a check as well.

The next morning I check my account... 5 overdrafts, I think it was. They had taken the check first which made me overdrawn, then the debit purchases, then applied the deposit.

I immediately called customer access and dealt with an extremely nice lady that was having trouble, herself, trying to figure out why I had the charges. She confirmed some information with a supervisor and explained their process. She then removed all 5 charges and apologized for the inconvenience, their policy, and thanked me for being a customer.

Interestingly, during our conversation I found out that all eleven or so transactions took place in less than 10 seconds. At $35 a pop, that's about $63000 per hour... or over $551 million a year.

Sounds about right to me! That's where some of those bonuses come from!

[CCsAreEvil]

Regarding overdrafts! Fi*@#ing banks always trying to scam the consumer (I mean their "important" customers).

I do NOT know if this policy is written anywhere, but I believe most banks do this. Take the following example:

Account balance: $100

Pending transactions that will post in the same night:

$5
$6
$7
$8
$9
$99

So, one would think... ok, $5 $6 $7 $8 and $9 will go through leaving me with $65. When $99 tries to go through, it triggers a single $35 OD fee. But NO!

The bank will pay the "highest" amounts first (thus screwing the customer). They will pay $99 first. This leaves you with $1 in your account. The $5 $6 $7 $8 $9 will all cause a $35 OD fee each, bringing the total OD cost to $175.

And then the banks will try to "look like the good guy" by saying they'll remove like 1 or 2 of the OD fees.. but they still screw you and make out big.

[rcoveles]

I'm not sure if this is correct or not, but I have the same type of situation - my account overdrawn by about $300 due to a bunch of autopays that came out after my LOC was exhausted - thus no safety net. I got about a dozen little NSF notices from my bank. I asked my lawyer, and he specifically told me that they could NOT be included in my Chapter 13 - I'm not sure about 7. I went down and gave them $400 - since they're the only local bank I owe, I don't need them suing me first. Not worth the aggravation.

[stgsm]

I loved it the day my fantastic bank told me that what I saw on their website regarding my checking account was not "always entirely accurate." Good to know since I overdrew the account since I thought the information could be trusted! Just seems like a huge disclaimer should be plastered across the site right? No, then they wouldn't get their OD fees. I'm happy to be closing this account due to cross-collateralization risk and should have done it long ago.

[flyinbroke]

Just wondered what bank - we had something similar happen - overdraft fee caused by an automatic bill payment coming early, but we also had the money in there the same day that debit went through and they had apparently put a "hold" on part of our deposit, causing the "overdraft".

This happened at a new CU to me. I used this as my play account as I pondered switching banks. I had 42 dollars and used it at the bar at a Xmas party. Bar tabs were 28 and 12. This equals 40. 42-40=not O/D.

How-evah....

Apparently the hotel placed holds on my account. I understand this, but since the payments went through they should have disappeared. Blissfully unaware, I deposit 65. I deposit another 8. I use this on four transactions. Nothing amiss. I know I am dwindling to around 5 bucks, I remove the card from the wallet.

Fast forward a couple weeks. I get a phone call from the bank informing me I am 200 dollars overdrawn. I say this is not possible. I log in, I look at the charges and demand to know why I am O/D. I am doing the math, and it is contrary to their charges when you take off the 25 dollar charges.

Next day I pay them a visit, where they explain to me that rather than risk a denied card, they let you OD and charge 25 for the privilege. Each time. I said this should not be OD at all, and I get chastised for "not keeping up with my account." I said I do, I just don't log in regularly, and my last deposit slip showed the amounts I added. She pulls up the sheet and finds over 60 dollars in "holds." I said that even I had logged in, I am not going to see them since technically they are NOT charges. Therefore they should NOT be considered overdrafts. I was able to get all but 25 bucks back...one was legit thanks to this mess. Paid out of my main account. Decided not to switch credit unions, after all.

This is the main reason I like a CC when I travel. They do not put holds on CCs, and if they do, it is not considered money missing from your account.

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

Just wondered what bank - we had something similar happen - overdraft fee caused by an automatic bill payment coming early, but we also had the money in there the same day that debit went through and they had apparently put a "hold" on part of our deposit, causing the "overdraft".

[drowningNdebt]

yup those will be wiped out in your BK. I had $900 with BOA that was wiped out. Same situation, it was electronic deductions for my car loan that they paid and put my account in negative. I went to another bank and opened account no problems.

[Dannmcg357]

jennordhavn,
How do you know that? Is it because they have too?

[BROKEDED]

Excellent! Thank you for the info.

[jennordhavn]

Yes, you can discharge that in BK. Just include it on your list of creditors. The bank probably will report it to ChexSystems. After you receive your discharge papers, you can send it to ChexSystems and they will remove the entry on your Chex report.