UGH Why?

[Ash]

Ok, so I'm in the process of TRYING to save money up for a trip to Canada in August. And now, my bank's decided to be a jerk about everything. I recently had about $140 saved up in my savings for the trip. The "checking" part of my account was empty, cuz I was just switching what I needed to be there for bills for check/debit payments. So, my available balance was STILL $140 per my savings account. Well, normally, if I make any charges at work as 'credit' it'll take it from my savings account if my checking is empty. This week, it decided to pull those charges from my checking account, and slammed me with $30 overdraft fees for each charge of like .67, $1, etc. YET IT STILL SAYS MY AVAILABLE BALANCE IS $104 from my savings (yet my checking balance is -$125 and my total account balance is -$10 cuz that makes SO much sense ). :hair: I'm going to be calling the bank tomorrow and complaining, because this is rediculous.

 

[HaleyGoBoom]

I hate the bank, they literally charged me and overdraft for NO reason and said they'd do a *courtesy* return and when I asked for an explanation NO ONE would give me one!!!

 

[Diva Chins]

Ash, please be careful with the banks =[
A few years ago, I'd say three, my parents suddenly had 1,000 bucks dissapear. Just dissapeared into thin air, no one had a clue why, the bank couldn't explain it and REFUSED to give it back! No checks were stolen, no online fraudulent activity, nothing. It just dissapeared. Then a year ago, it happened again, this time $1,500 dissapeared. Same thing. "Oh we have no idea what happened, we don't see any activity to withdraw that much or even in small amounts" "Well, return the money" "Oh we can't do that..." So my parents switched banks. Hasn't happened again.

 

[TillyChinchilla]

Heh, do you use BB&T by any chance?

I had to start being really careful with them. I transferred money for our anniversary on a Monday morning from my savings to checking. That evening (with the balance including the transfer) used the money for movie, dinner, and a couple little things. Two days later I had overdrafted on each one of those charges, because they moved them from pending to my checking account before the credit. My account went from +35 to -50 for dinner, -35 for overdraft, -20 for movie, -35 for overdraft, -75 for other charges, -35 for overdraft = -215 balance. Then they added the transfer from savings, so final balance was -15.

Banks don't decline debit card purchases like they used too. A lot of older people started overdrawing when the ATM would let them pull out $20.00, even if they didn't have it - the bank can then collect the $20 they didn't have and the $35.00 for taking it.

I admit this was my fault in a lot of respect - but banks make an insane amount of money from overdraft fees. For a lot of banks that means conforming to their rules. Now I always move money a day or two before I need it. I don't think it is right to deposit CASH or move CASH and then have to wait 2-3 days to be able to have it usable to you. I understand checks, but not that. If you look up stuff about BB&T and some other banks, this problem occurs to a lot of people.

 

[ABBY W.]

Yes, you really need to operate strictly on your AVAILABLE balance, otherwise they will hit you with overdraft fees for using money that wasn't "available" even if it was already deposited in your account.

 

[Olallie]

I work with a Credit Union, and every time I try to use my debit card with no money in my checking account it gets declined. I'm happy with that. Also it only takes a day for my money from my savings to transfer to my checking. I love Credit Unions.

 

[FiaSpice]

I work with a Credit Union, and every time I try to use my debit card with no money in my checking account it gets declined. I'm happy with that. Also it only takes a day for my money from my savings to transfer to my checking. I love Credit Unions.

I'm with the bigest Credit Union of the country and I love it. You also get a chance to word your opinion on how the money they make is given back. I would never go back to a bank.

 

[Ash]

Technically, what I have is a credit union. And they've always allowed me to 'pull' from the savings before as long as it wasn't over "x" amount (the charges are usually under $5 since I'm usually buying a snack and a drink at work). I got a letter in the mail today. Apparently, they decided to change their policy and only allow so many transfers per month. I never got a notice of this change. UGH.

 

[Olallie]

They shouldn't charge you for basic transfers. I mean yea I get 8 transfers a month, a free reacurring transfers, but I've never needed over that amount.

 

[ChinchillasByDesign]

With the recession hurting everyone, it is also hurting banks and credit card carriers. We all have to be very careful because they are coming up with new, smart ways to stick us with fees that just airnt right.

 

[Sugarmama]

When you use your ATM, such as a Visa debit card out of your checking, it used to be that you could not exceed what you had available in checking.

That changed a few years ago, according to our bank, because Visa wanted purchases approved even if the money wasn't in checking. Now just about all of it is approved, and they can sock you with NSF charges.

We spoke with our bank,and told them we wanted that capability removed from our card. That way, purchases would not be approved if the amount was greater than our available balance. They did change that in their system, and once in a while transactions will slip through, but they remove the NSF fee.

You can have that capability removed, according to our bank anyway, but the customer must request it.

 

[TillyChinchilla]

It is true that you can have it removed with most banks. They call it "courtesy overdraft" or something.

It has its very slight upside, meaning if you for some reason NEED to get money, you can. I had a friend who's direct deposit paycheck never deposited, and she had to pay her car payment, or be slammed with a huge late fee. She was able to draw out the money and the next day deposit a paper paycheck. She paid the $35 overdraft instead of the $115 late fee for her car.

I don't ever recommend using it - some banks will remove an overdraft charge - but you have to be in good standing with them!

 

[Melissa]

Im with a credit union as well.. I never get charged for over draft fees. You have unlimited automatic transfers from account to account. And 6 free over drafts a month(with not enough between all the accounts).

Many moons ago when I had Bank of America(I was like 15) I had a check pending for like $500 and I thoguht I had money in there already. I bought a soup for $3.xx and for some reason it overdrafted and that soup cost me $48.xx! They refused to give me back that charge. Well the over draft was only a couple cents.. Less than $.05. So my mom went in there and said she was going to pull all our money out of all our accounts and refinace her mortgage through a different bank if they didnt get it back. Just to prove a point.. 2 weeks later they returned it.

 

[Moo-Shoo Mom]

I think the bank/credit union was definitely at fault if they never gave you any notice that they changed their policy to allow only X amount of transfers a month. I'm kind of surprised though that they would have previously allowed an unlimited amount of debits (withdrawal or transfer) from your savings account since to my understanding, it's a federal regulation to limit it. Otherwise, people could just treat their savings accounts as checking accounts -- unlimited withdrawals with a higher interest rate.

Additionally, yes, most banks after a set period after the account is opened will automatically grant you overdraft protection if there's no bad activity on the account (such as overdrafts). This, as others have stated, typically allows the bank to pay the debit if you were to overdraw on your account and only pay the NSF from the bank (typically $25-$40), as opposed to getting slammed on both sides (such as both your bank AND Wal-Mart). It is SUPPOSED to be a courtesy to the customer, but there are a lot of people out there who hate it and would prefer to have that "courtesy" removed. Most every bank will take remove that overdraft protection from your account if requested.

ETA: To the OP, definitely talk to the bank explaining your side... it definitely doesn't hurt to ask. The worst that could happen is they don't refund it, but if you feel they're truly at fault, explain to them in calm manner why you feel a refund for the NSF is justified, and any reasonable personal banker/manager will at least consider it.

 

[TillyChinchilla]

It is probably in the fine print that you will be notified, but if at all it is likely to be by mail and you will receive it much later after they make the change.

There is an epidemic right now with CC companies lowering your available balance, even below what you currently owe. So you can have a $10,000 limit, and have a $700 balance, and without any warning have that $10k limit be $500 - and oops! You owe over limit fees, bigger min. payments, your credit gets screwed, etc. And it is perfectly legal. At least til the middle of 2010, when they will be required to give you a 45 day notice to changes like that. Banks make SO MUCH from fees.