My husband went to the Secretary of State and paid for the tabs for our vehicles. By the way, it really pisses me off that it costs $236 for two little stickers, but whatever. Don’t even get me started. He mentioned to me that we had a pending check out there, but didn’t write it in the register and I forgot that he had told me.
You can see this coming, right?
I paid the mortgage, took our daughter out to eat and picked up a few groceries. We went into the negative and were charged - get this - $110 for overdraft fees. Isn’t it lovely how banks take the biggest dollar amount withdrawal and debit that to your account first, then put in the other two on top of that? This of course ensures that they ding you the most times. I called and the customer service rep admitted that, yes, they do apply the most expensive debt first “as a courtesy to our customers, to make sure that your biggest check is covered.” What a bunch of crap. What that really is doing is hitting people the hardest with fees.
They took $52 off in fees as a one-time courtesy. So, we’re only in the hole for $58 now. I realize that I made a mistake, and don’t mind one overdraft fee of $35.00. One day there is going to be a class-action lawsuit against these banks for doing this to people.
My biggest overdraft fee nightmare occured when my checking account was hijacked and indentity thieves overdrew it. I had no money to cover the funds, and by the time the money was restored to my account I had about $400 worth of overdraft fees.
I made a mistake and paid an extra “0” worth of money towards my car loan. Didn’t realize this until after I went out with family to do a bunch of little things on a weekend. We bought little things, ate out, paid parking, etc, all on my debit card.
Sure enough, when I took a look at my account they had posted my large payment first, then every single payment for that day incurred a $35 over draft fee. I think I purchased a bottle of water that ended up costing me $36 and a pack of gum later that was $35.25.
A friend of mine used to bank with Podunk General Bank of Small Town Middle America. She once checked their account statement online only to discover a balance somewhere in the area of -$500 or so. It wasn’t a free account, so the bank had automatically deducted an annual fee, which sent her below the minimum balance, so they deducted another fee, so a check she’d written just barely overdrew her account, so she got hit with yet another fee…
Which their brilliant computer tried to automatically deduct as a regular transaction, resulting in another insufficient funds fee, which they tried to automatically deduct, resulting in another insufficient funds fee, and so on. The hardcopy of her statement that month was about five pages long.
The good part was, once she brought the error to the bank’s attention, the actually forgave all the fees. And then she closed her account and opened one with a bank that knows how to use a computer.
I’m sure this isn’t what you want to hear, but all of that information is clearly outlined, by regulation, in the information you get when you open your checking account.
Further, if you prefer, you can probably opt out of any overdraft protection from your bank and they just won’t pay the check when it goes through. Of course, at that point, you’re going to have NSF fees from the bank and whoever you wrote the check to.
Why should there be a class action? If you don’t OD your account, you don’t have to worry about it. I know it was a mistake, and they happen. It sounds like they were nice enough to cut the amount down. That’s what the OD protection is for.
This just sounds like a “poor me” attitude. You know what, take the responsibility for your actions.
Purple Haze’s OP is complaining that the banks do their level best to take advantage of the mistakes everyone can make. It’s a valid argument- there are many ways to make a mistake that results in an overdraft, and the banks are sitting there like spiders, just waiting for you to make that one little slip, and then they suck you dry. Why? Because they can.
Not to pile on, but whatami is right. I get that you’re upset about it, but the fault can’t be placed on the bank. You are aware of these fees and their application when you open the account – whether you choose to read the fine print is up to you, but you can’t cry foul later when the bank holds up their end.
You can hammer on them all you want for “what they’re really doing,” but they have every right to do it. You signed a statement agreeing to that when you opened the account. And yeah, it sucks, but at least you got a $52 courtesy for a mistake you made.
Then you should seek out a bank that only charges one overdraft fee of $35.00 for multiple charges posting.
Sorry if this came off as a little hot, but misplaced anger really irks me sometimes.
Banks aren’t taking advantage of anyone. There are many, many banks out there, as well as credit unions, and places that have lower fees and different policies. You can attach a credit account to your checking just in case you make a mistake to provide overdraft protection. You can tell them not to pay any charges made when you’ve overdrafted. The OP clearly made the mistake here, and the bank did nothing more than enforce the terms of their agreement. Then, the bank actually did her a courtesy by refunding $52 in fees.
And while I’m sympathetic to the plight of the OP, I can’t really muster up much angst at the bank.
It wouldn’t be so bad if the charges were lower and related to the amount you went overdrawn by, so up to a certain amount, like say $50, or 25 quid (i don’t have a pound sign on this keyboard) you’d be covered for little mistakes and didn’t get charged, and then there were stages of charges for the amount you were overdrawn by, or a grace period of a few days to correct it.
You shouldn’t have to pay through the nose for a minor mistake.
And once you’re overdrawn, you’re overdrawn - is it necessary to slap on a charge for each transaction?
Exactly… And they never fuckin return your OD fees either.
I once opened an account online for a phone card. You can load money from your bank. Thing was… They had a system where they would send me 2 deposits of a few cents. That way I enter those deposits on their site to verify the account. Well, these assholes didn’t do that and after a few days decided to take the money out of my account. Totally unexpected as I never verified yet.
Anyway… I got the $32 over draft fee AND a $32 NSF return fee there and had to pay it because I had more charges on the way… These fucking banks won’t reason with you, period. Their only argument is “It’s all automated, we can’t do anything”… Give me a fucking break…
I’m sorry that some people think I’m being a jerk… well, not really.
Why would they return OD fees? I don’t get it. A service was provided by paying your NSF check and/or debit. So when you put money in, they should refund those?
Listen, maybe some of you are unclear on the concept. A bank is established to make money. One of the ways a bank makes money (other than the interest spread between deposits and loans) is what is called non-interest income. These are things like fees for checking accounts, fees for notarizing a document for you, OD fees, ATM fees, etc.
Now, if you don’t like the fees your particular institution charges, I would advise you to seek out an alternative, like a Credit Union. Remember though, that most banks are publicly held and it’s the responsibility of the Board, President and all the other employees to make money for the stockholders.
Do you bitch at GM for making you pay extra for a CD player?
How about starbucks for putting an extra shot in?
What about the grocery store that charges higher prices because people steal (Like when people don’t repay their loans, and the bank is out that money)?
As I said in my first post… I get it, people make mistakes. They happen. I’ve done it before. Taking responsibility for that is understanding that you incurred a fee, that you should have known about (it is disclosed to you).
Having seen firsthand how much overdraft fees can ruin someone’s day, if not entire pay period, I have some sympathy. But it’s not the bank’s fault.
is no way to manage your finances. You NEED to keep the register updated, especially since it’s more than one person drawing from the account. Especially in the wake of an infrequent $236 expense.
Everyone can make these mistakes, but many people don’t. Overdrawing your account is preventable in most cases. Yes, banks fuck you over when you mess up like this. But it’s not helpful to look at them like they’re the enemy. You have to think of the potential penalties as added incentive to keep tabs on your money.
A bit, but maybe not entirely intentionally. It appears you missed part of the point of the OP.
The bank arranged the order of withdrawals to put the largest first, therefore the account went into OD status immediately so that they pulled 3 OD charges rather than 1 which would have happened if they had ran the charges from smallest to largest.
OD fees is not a legitimate profit strategy, sorry. Yes, it’s fine to have an OD fee as either a prohibitive measure against OD, or to compensate the bank for whatever legitimate cost there was to them for the OD. But no it’s not fine to consider OD part of the profit strategy of the bank. Companies that rely on exorbitant fees when their customers make small mistakes are dickwads pure and simple. Yes, cell phone companies I’m talking to you as well. Really there’s not much need for OD anyway - if there’s not enough money to cover something the bank should refuse it. I realize there are a few circumstances where this isn’t possible, but there aren’t as many as needed to justify how often it happens. If your livelihood depends on your customer getting screwed by fine print, then you are a dickwad.
And yes, I got tired of my bank charging me three separate OD fees for a total of over $100 for being overdrafted by less than a nickel, part of which was due to unforeseen bank charges debited from my account, and the fact that the stated dates for the various things did not make any logical sense. I went over to the credit union, which has reasonable OD fees that aren’t compounded in a ridiculous fashion.
This is what I’m saying. I made a mistake, clear and simple. I have no problem paying a reasonable fee for that mistake. The bank’s policy of arranging the debits so that I must pay the maximum possible overdraft charge is very frustrating. I was assessed three overdraft charges of $35 each, adding a $105 debit to our account. This policy may be in the fine print, but that doesn’t make it a good business practice.
And we understand that, we really do. But there’s an onus of personal responsibility here that exceeds any responsibility of the bank. You agreed to these fees. You didn’t have to. You agreed to the way in which they are applied to your account. You didn’t have to.
You knew all of this beforehand, and you did make a mistake – a small mistake, but still a mistake. The bank acted accordingly per your contract with them, and it’s not right to call foul on them for that. The claim that their fees are outrageous falls on deaf ears considering that you agreed to these outrageous fees. If anything, the bank has gone above and beyond here by exhibiting sympathy and courtesy by returning $52 of those fees.
It sucks, yeah. And some of those fees are outrageous. But no one’s suckered you into paying them. No one’s forced you to agree to their terms. You did on your own volition, and now you cry foul because they’re too high. That really doesn’t display a level of personal responsibility.
Hey, I feel ya. But you always have the option to vote with your feet. A few years back, I disagreed with something Wachovia did. They didn’t budge on it, so I switched banks. Haven’t looked back since.
So what do you have to say about my situation, atomicbadgerrace? I recently went out of town for a few days and needed to get some money out of the ATM. My bank has no branch where I was, so , of course, I used another bank’s machine. I knew that there would be a fee for doing so, both from my bank and the bank whose machine I was using. The ATM charged me a fee of $3.00. My bank charged me $16.00!:eek:
I would like to know where to find the fine print that says this is what I’ll be charged for using a different ATM.
Banks are in the business of making money, I agree; I just don’t think the way they go about it is the right way.
Why don’t you go with a real bank that offers overdraft protection? It is free as far as I know. I have $5000 worth of overdraft protection on all relevant accounts. Some people seem to love the small banks but Bank of America can set you up so this never happens again as well as offering kick-ass online banking. I rarely bring any account down to $0 but, even if I do, there is nothing to worry about. You just pay it back like a credit card. If you do it right away, overdraft protection is free.