Not mine. In fact I was at the grocery store and the debit transaction was denied for insufficient funds. :o They are also really nice and go above and beyond to give the customer the benefit of the doubt and remove overdraft charges.
For example, I deposited my coins toward the end of the month (on a Monday) when I was scraping the bottom of the barrel. Their policy is that they have 48 hours to credit loose coins toward your account. I knew I was playing the float and might not make it, but when this didn’t get credited in time (for Wednesday) I called and said could they just honor the automatic payment to the electric company and I would pay whatever fees. I just didn’t want a blot on my record at the electric company.
They said I hadn’t submitted the loose change until after 4:00 and so that day didn’t count. I didn’t even have to say that I had had an appointment elsewhere at 4:00 that I got to on time, so I must have seen the teller before 4:00. She had already agreed to waive the fees and credit the deposit and cover everything!
They are employee-owned and perhaps that has something to do with their philosophy, but I appreciate it especially after I was gambling with the time.
gigi,
Why were you so concerned about a ulility payment? I thought they were the most liberal as far as being lenient and not reporting late payments(?).
This is why I’m leery to work with debit cards. One little fuck-up and the whole thing comes crashing down. I know everyone behind me gets a little antsy while I write my check, but honestly…if something can go wrong, it undoubtedly will when I try to dip my toes into the world of technological savvy. It’s just my luck.
That’s the exact opposite of my experience. I have had several instances where I put a charge on my debit/credit card, and five days later it still didn’t show up on my account. When I called the bank, they said, “I see the approval, but the merchant hasn’t submitted that charge yet.”
Well, my overdraft is linked to my savings account. The bank charges me five dollars to do the transfer at the end of the night. In other words, if I screw up and ten checks are presented, they will only charge five dollars instead of five dollars per check. Well worth the five bucks for piece of mind and not having to worry about overdraft charges and bounced checks.
I never knew you could get overdraft without having money in another account to cover it but I would imagine they would get their fees somewhere and interest would make the most sense. You probably need a decent credit history to do this.
Learn something knew everyday on this message board.
Knowing something about Citizens Bank and their rapacity, I can well believe the $150 overdraft charges. I had once set up savings accounts for my kids at Citizens bank, and they turned $100 dollars into about $30 in the space of a year – it’s all the fees, you see. So Elysium, the first thing you do is change banks. There are better options out there – try Wainwright or Eastern Bank, or try a coop or a credit union. Look for something on the SUM network, so you can use Citizens’ ATMs at no cost (at least for some of their ATMs, and at least for now).
At my old bank, their overdraft protection was essentially a short-term personal loan. If you overdrew your account, they would automatically deposit enough to cover it (in increments of $50, with a $500 cap). Then you just paid interest on the loan for however long it was until you paid it back off. No other fees, just the interest.
At my current bank, the couple times I’ve overdrawn, they called me up and told me I needed to deposit some money to cover it. No fees, either.
Not really. Some banks do “overdraft protection” but charge you a daily fee of 6 bucks or more for each day you remain overdrawn. In addition to the overdraft fee. And, because of that 6 dolalr fee per day, you will probably overdraft MORE stuff, leading to more fees. And the fees can be up to 35 dollars or more per transaction, so you can quickly get in the hole by a couple hundred bucks. For many many people this means you are flat broke, and for sometimes longer th an a month.
Remember, median income in the USA is about 29K per year. A couple hundred bucks in charges in a month could easily cripple the finances of nearly half the population.
I have a small savings account at BofA solely for the purpose of overdraft protection. My bank account is linked to my savings account, and if there is an overdraft, the difference comes out of my savings account. And fucking BofA charges me $10 for the privilege of using my own money.
Man, some of your banks really suck. I’ve never had occasion to overdraw my account, but my chequeing account is connected to the reasonably low interest line of credit I set up when I bought my car. I’m not sure if they would pay that off automatically or not with my next paycheque, but it would only take me 3 minutes of online banking to swap funds.
If ‘overdraft protection’ seems like it’s rigged in the bank’s favour, perhaps see if they do something similar.
I guess I felt like paying late (i.e., sending in a check late) might be OK, but a “bounce” on automatic payment might make them rescind the whole agreement and make me pay with checks.
Right. A Transaction such as this one, almost certainly went thru something called the “Automated Clearing House;” the ACH. Bank of America is an extremely large institution and I’d be very, very surprised if they aren’t a member of ACH. When transactions are submitted thru ACH, the initial action simply places an electronic hold on the funds in your account; the actual exchange of funds is still pending. Then at some pre-determined timeframe, the ACH sorts all pending transactions are banking institutions and their own various internal priorities. Then, and only then, is the actual exchange of funds completed in a large batch-type process. Once the batch transactions have been completed, the individual member institutions can reconcile the individual accounts This helps reduce the total number of transactions which need be made, helping reduce the costs of electronic transfers and normalizing the flow of money and information.
Heh. I was checking my balance by phone on Saturday and it gave me my balance avalaible, which included deductions for the pharmacy debit I had made five minutes before, and the pizza debit I had made two minutes before. technology is wonderful.
I’ve never ever seen anyone split a bill at a supermarket and I think this sounds like a major pain in the ass. In my experience, hardly any cashiers can even count these days, let alone add or subtract. Hell, I’m embarrassed when I forget to swipe my debit card immediately and cause any amount of delay in the transaction. I’ve actually been taken to task by cashiers for swiping my card too early because their system is incapable of accepting a card prior to the completion of the total. These places are always outside of California.
I’m an impatient old fart, and can’t figure out why people still write checks. I also get peeved when cashiers and customers get in long winded conversations after finishing the deal. Come on people, I’m in a hurry here.
