# PLEASE read your bank statement
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [September 11, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868 "2003-09-11T00:04:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@1kBR\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1kBR_Kid)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/1 "2003-09-11T00:04:34Z")
Earlier today I checked my balance at an ATM. I was going to take out 20 bucks and let my brother borrow 10 for a doctor visit co-pay. I should have had about 100 bucks in checking but I was several hundred overdrawn. I went to the bank to have a statement prineted and found 440 dollars in fraudulent charges along with 210 in overdraft fees.
I spent an hour on the phone with the bank. They were super. No complaints with the bank. It’s all being refunded tonight. Their best guess is a hacker did it. In my case it was enough for me to notice all at once.
Please folks, read every line item on your bank statements. It doesn’t matter if you are loaded or just getting by. A lot of these dirtbags will take a little here and there because most people do NOT scrutinize their statements.
Oh, to have a street address for the hackers and an MP5K.
---
### Author:  [@Spellbound](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spellbound)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/2 "2003-09-11T00:15:25Z")
At the present time, my bank statement reflects a balance of eleven dollars and twenty-seven cents.
Unfortunately, that is correct.
Unfortunately that is almost ALWAYS the balance.
Sorry you were hacked. It’s never fun getting ripped off.
It doesn’t sound like your bank’s server is secure…
---
### Author:  [@1kBR\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1kBR_Kid)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/3 "2003-09-11T00:39:26Z")
It’s Bank of America. I think they are ok. It looks like I’ve been hacked.
…some folks just need killin’…
---
### Author:  [@Spellbound](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spellbound)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/4 "2003-09-11T00:43:49Z")
Well. I’d be glad to offer you some protection.
Just email me all your pertinent banking information and I’ll make sure your server is secure.
_grins_
(By the way, I appear to be a thread killer, and I don’t want you to feel bad if you don’t get more replies… just so you don’t, I’ll go look at the thread a few more times.) hehe
---
### Author:  [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/5 "2003-09-11T00:47:29Z")
I check my accounts a minimum of every other day, online. I’ve also become very particular about keeping records of all checks written and all other transactions recorded in my register.
If something unauthorized shows up, I don’t want to wait for my bank statement to know about it!
---
### Author:  [@Papaveraceae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papaveraceae)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/6 "2003-09-11T01:04:47Z")
Bank of America = Anti Christ. :mad:
I’ll bet you that was no hacker, but instead B of A screw ups.
Just remember, it is bank policy to take out money before adding deposits. So, say you have a check out for 100.00, and have 95.00 in your account. You go to the bank that day, before cut off, and deposit 10.00 to cover plus a little more.
Guess what… you are SOL. The bank pays out the 100.00, notes that you are five dollars overdrawn, charges you 30.00 for that, and THEN adds your 10.00, which is now gone immediately~ and then you are overdrawn by 25.00. And they charge you the overdraft fee everyday untill it is fixed, INCLUDING the day that you deposit money to fix it.
I dont bank with them anymore, obviously.
---
### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/7 "2003-09-11T01:07:15Z")
I keep a loose-leaf notebook for all my bank statements, and I paper-clip all cash deposits I make to the month those statements were written. The only thing that pisses me off is that the ink on those deposit slips is very quick to fade. I want that stuff _legible_ even though it’s supposed to be on the statement.
Anyone else have this problem?
1kBR Kid: A very good thread and thanks for the reminder! It’s something all of us should do.
Q
---
### Author:  [@7\_up\_yours](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/7_up_yours)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/8 "2003-09-11T01:10:07Z")
Mmmhmmm… I’m always paranoid about how much money I have, so I always keep my passbook updated. Not because I’m scared that anyone will take what little money I have, but because I don’t want to use my debit card to buy something only to discover that I don’t have any money left in there to use.
Happened to my friend once. Caused much embarrassment.
---
### Author:  [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/9 "2003-09-11T01:20:21Z")
My biggest problem with Bank of America is that items will show pending…and then disappear. So the charge isn’t there anymore, but two days later, it posts to my account. Huh? Charges disappear, but show up again a week later.
I’m not totally adept at keeping up with my bank account, but I _never_ had these problems with my Citibank account. I’m so ready to switch to SunTrust.
I’m with the “It’s B of A’s fault” camp, too.
Ava
---
### Author:  [@ShadiRoxan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadiRoxan)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/10 "2003-09-11T02:04:13Z")
I’ve noticed that my pending transactions disappear too.
I started under Nations Bank, before they were bought out by BofA. Right after it switched over I noticed they started charging me for using the bank teller. I went in and bitched about it. I got my money back and some free checks (still have most of that box too). I keep a close eye out on my statements. I’m not so much worried about people hacking into my account as I am about the bank helping themselves to it.
I wish there was another bank that is both where I live and where my mother lives. I’d switch over in a heartbeat.
---
### Author:  [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/11 "2003-09-11T02:15:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Quasimodem \*
> **The only thing that pisses me off is that the ink on those deposit slips is very quick to fade. I want that stuff _legible_ even though it’s supposed to be on the statement.**
You could scan/photocopy them so you have a more durable copy to keep with the originals.
---
### Author:  [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/12 "2003-09-11T17:41:26Z")
I never read my bank statements. I get the envelopes in the mail. Carry the mail to work and shred it in the machine. I use duplicate checks so I have pretty accurate records of what I have and don’t have. I just trust myself. Stupid I know but I have always done it this way.
---
### Author:  [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/13 "2003-09-11T17:48:44Z")
Yes, do. I never used to read mine until my maid stole $5949 from me. He’re a pit thread I started about it:
[My rage burns with the fire of 1000 suns. And, you’re going to jail. Bitch.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=187444)
---
### Author:  [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/14 "2003-09-11T17:49:25Z")
Why exactly did they refund you the money, **1kBR Kid**? If a hacker got your financial information\* and the bank itself had nothing to do with it, I can’t imagine why they would feel compelled to give you money back when its disappearance wasn’t their fault. IANAL, but it seems to me they would be under no actual obligation to put money back in your account unless they themselves screwed up.
\*I hope you have a new PIN…
---
### Author:  [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/15 "2003-09-11T17:52:24Z")
I had that happen to me about a month ago. Still in the process of getting it all straightened out. There’s a thread I started about it but I don’t have the time to search, I have to get to class.
---
### Author:  [@ThatDuckIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatDuckIsEvil)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/16 "2003-09-11T19:53:35Z")
When I had money erroneously removed from my bank account, I CERTAINLY couldnt fix it with just a phone call. Even when it was uncovered that it was the bank tellers fault! It involved scads of forms, some I even had to take to be notartized elsewhere, at my own cost, AND an interview in person with the branch manager. (Who ended up firing the teller who made the error)
So if an INTERNAL mistake involves all that, I’m astounded that you fixed your alleged “hacker” prob with a mere phone call. B of A is soundin shadier and shadier by the post…
---
### Author:  [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/17 "2003-09-11T20:48:50Z")
Do balance your statements as soon as you receive them. If the bank does make an error on your account you have 30 days from the date of the statement to bring it to the bank’s attention or legally they do not have to fix it. This fact is noted on your statement by verbiage like “If no error is reported within 30 days of the closing date the account will be considered correct”. They may still fix the error but are under no legal obligation to do so.
> [@](#):
>
> Just remember, it is bank policy to take out money before adding deposits.
This is just wrong. I worked for Bank of America for 3 years after they bought out my former employer. The posting policies are “credits before debits” and “largest debits first”. That means that deposits are posted before withdrawals and withdrawals are paid in decending value order. Say your balance is $0 and you have 1 deposit for $100 and 5 checks ($95, $30, $20, $15, $10) to post that night. The deposit posts first, making your balance $100. The $95 check posts next, making your balance $5. The $30 checks tries to post next but funds are insufficient and an overdraft fee is deducted immediately. You are now overdrawn. Repeat that step for the remaining checks. You are now overdrawn by 4 times the overdraft fee amounts less $5 and have 4 unpaid checks.
You could argue that the bank’s decision to pay largest debits first is a ruse to collect more fees. The example above, if posted from smallest to largest, would result in 4 paid checks ($10, $15, $20, $30) and 1 overdraft fee with only one check unpaid ($95). The bank’s official position is “We would rather pay your mortgage check and bounce the smaller ones than the other way around”. In other words, they assume the larger check is more important. YMMV.
In any case, the bank must dislose to you their posting policies at the time you open the account and any time you ask.
---
### Author:  [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/18 "2003-09-11T21:01:55Z")
Yeah I think the bank is more than happy to blame a mysterious hacker, when more than likely it was their own screwup.
---
### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/19 "2003-09-12T13:32:15Z")
I have online banking and I check it every day, once in the morning, once in the evening.
---
### Author:  [@Beech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beech)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868/20 "2003-09-12T14:08:41Z")
Microsoft Money - (or simular software) is your friend!!!
Always balance your accounts at least once a month
However, having held a bank account for over 35 years, I have to say they have never made a mistake on any of my accounts!
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-read-your-bank-statement/200868.md?page=2)