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=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: RustyOrgan on June 11, 2008, 11:37:00 am
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This just happened to me. As of today I'm out $175 ($35 x 5) and I have ANOTHER 4 or so incoming $35 overdraft charges. Keep in mind that at no time did my account ever go into overdraft! Bank of America is now charging overdraft fees when items go into PENDING and not when they POST as the bank has done previously. Therefore their online banking gives an inaccurate snapshot of current activity.
For instance - Let's say you have $10 in your account and you purchase a $12 lunch. Once back in the office you check your online banking and see that the $12 pending charge would put you into overdraft. On the way home you make a $20 cash deposit to cover the pending charge. In the past this would not have incurred any overdraft fees - this is no longer the case! Now Bank of America charges the $35 as soon as the purchase is made regardless of whether or not it will eventually post or fall off as some authorizations are later reversed such as when a restaurant authorizes your account for an anticipated tip or when a gas station puts a temporary hold on your card.
I called Bank of America and they basically told me to "Take off, you hoser!"
The consumerist has a nice article on this deceptive practice:
http://consumerist.com/tag/overdrafts/?i=5011987&t=bank-of-america-lets-charge-three-overdraft-fees-to-the-account-flush-with-cash (http://consumerist.com/tag/overdrafts/?i=5011987&t=bank-of-america-lets-charge-three-overdraft-fees-to-the-account-flush-with-cash)
I'm going to try my luck at writing a letter as it worked in a similar situation:
http://consumerist.com/5009230/polite-letter-gets-bank-of-america-to-refund-overdraft-fees (http://consumerist.com/5009230/polite-letter-gets-bank-of-america-to-refund-overdraft-fees)
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This is so easily solved. Just always have a billion dollars in your account, and you never have to worry about pesky fees.
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Rusty, you are not out $175 YET since you have ZERO BALANCE RIGHT NOW! But you will be once put your next paycheck in there :D :eek:
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Originally posted by RustyOrgan:
For instance - Let's say you have $10 in your account and you purchase a $12 lunch. Once back in the office you check your online banking and see that the $12 pending charge would put you into overdraft. On the way home you make a $20 cash deposit to cover the pending charge. In the past this would not have incurred any overdraft fees - this is no longer the case! Now Bank of America charges the $35 as soon as the purchase is made.
This sounds entirely fair to me. If you don't have any money and want to wait to pay, then use a credit card.
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What is "overdraft"?
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I'm just saying that when a bank makes a change such as this they should put some effort into informing their customers. Bank of America is always barraging us with offers we have to either accept or decline but when it comes to important policy changes such as these, they try to keep it as quiet as possible. If you read the Consumerist article I think you'd get a better idea of the practice.
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Originally posted by wanderlust j. marshmallow:
Rusty, you are not out $175 YET since you have ZERO BALANCE RIGHT NOW! But you will be once put your next paycheck in there :D :eek:
That's the thing though! At no time was my account balance zero!
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something similar happened to me with chevy chase and they reversed it
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I'm wondering why you would purchase a $12 lunch if you knew you only had $10 in your account.
You know, that's why they have internet banking and whatnot.
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ding ding ding
If I had $10 in my account, I'd be trolling the trash for scraps, not buying a $12 lunch.
Originally posted by miss pretentious:
I'm wondering why you would purchase a $12 lunch if you knew you only had $10 in your account.
You know, that's why they have internet banking and whatnot.
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Originally posted by miss pretentious:
I'm wondering why you would purchase a $12 lunch if you knew you only had $10 in your account.
Exactly! Just because your bank has, out of their infinite largesse, not charged you before when you spent more then you had in your account if you fixed it quickly, doesn't mean they're rat bastards for doing to now.
Imagine the good old days when there were no banks and you had to pay cash for anything: what do you think would've happened when you tried to buy a $12 lunch with only $10 to your name?
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Also, as a sexual assault survivor, I find it offensive that "rape" is downgraded by being likened to the charging of a $35 insufficient funds fee.
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BofA is really, really fee-happy. i tried calling BofA to reverse overdraft charges, and their line was "those fees are stated in the terms of service so you signed up for them". can't fault them, really, other than having horrible terms of services. what exactly am i getting for those $35?!? it's almost exploitation. i closed my accounts there. unfortunately, other banks aren't that much better. at least i get no ATM fees at PNC, which is a plus.
Originally posted by RustyOrgan:
I called Bank of America and they basically told me to "Take off, you hoser!"
must of thought you were canadian. how embarrassing for us.
Originally posted by miss pretentious:
I'm wondering why you would purchase a $12 lunch if you knew you only had $10 in your account.
when it happens to me, it's because i don't have enough money in my checking account. also, sometimes charges take a while to appears on your card... so you look online in the morning, see you have $$$, go buy something, then a charge from a few days back emerges, and all of a sudden you're in the red and out $35. sucks.
i also have a joint card with the missus, and if one of us uses it without telling the other, buying $50 of groceries can end up costing us $85. sweet.
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You guys are fucking retarded. Read that Consumerist article... I don't think you can grasp the complexity of the situation!!
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When I raped that dude he described it in the police report as akin to his dealing with Bank of America and SPECIFICALLY SIGHTED their $35 fees. True story.
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Originally posted by RustyOrgan:
You guys are fucking retarded. Read that Consumerist article... I don't think you can grasp the complexity of the situation!!
Actually, you are retarded for spending more money than you have. Be a big boy and learn how banks and money work.
<img src="http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/specialcat-pam.jpg?w=604&h=422" alt=" - " />
Also, you should probably brown bag it tomorrow.
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Originally posted by RustyOrgan:
SPECIFICALLY SIGHTED their $35 fees.
"Right there, officer, number 3 in the lineup. That's the $35 who touched me!"
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Originally posted by RustyOrgan:
When I raped that dude he described it in the police report as akin to his dealing with Bank of America and SPECIFICALLY SIGHTED their $35 fees. True story.
cited?
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While I don't symapthize with Rusty's particular situation, I do know what the article is talking about (and it's NOT rusty's sitch).
I've been a happy BofA customer for 20 years, but I have seen this change described by consumerist. Recently, we switched the majority of our savings cash to ING (better interest rate). When Smackette and I bought a new car (on a Saturday), we wrote the check and while waiting for the car to be brought around, we transferred the money from ING to BofA (Saturday afternoon). The money was transferred from ING that evening. Toyota deposited the check at around noon PT on Monday.
BofA decided not to post the transfer until COB Monday, depsite having the money in their possession and left in pending for two days.
BofA refused to honor the check and dinged us for $35 (which of course we didn't pay after a polite phone call). Toyota was cool about it and put the check through the next day with no additional charge. They said BofA does stuff like this all the time - their theory is that BofA's computers are programmed to find instances like this to make money.
My advice to those of you living pay check to paycheck is to (1) find another bank or (2) pay the $30 fee for overdraft protection and get a free BofA credit card with a low limit to use soley for overdraft protection. They'll get their $30 one way or another, but at least you can limit the damage.
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Originally posted by vansmack:
While I don't symapthize with Rusty's particular situation, I do know what the article is talking about (and it's NOT rusty's sitch).
I've been a happy BofA customer for 20 years, but I have seen this change described by consumerist. Recently, we switched the majority of our savings cash to ING (better interest rate). When Smackette and I bought a new car (on a Saturday), we wrote the check and while waiting for the car to be brought around, we transferred the money from ING to BofA (Saturday afternoon). The money was transferred from ING that evening. Toyota deposited the check at around noon PT on Monday.
BofA decided not to post the transfer until COB Monday, depsite having the money in their possession and left in pending for two days.
BofA refused to honor the check and dinged us for $35 (which of course we didn't pay after a polite phone call). Toyota was cool about it and put the check through the next day with no additional charge. They said BofA does stuff like this all the time - their theory is that BofA's computers are programmed to find instances like this to make money.
My advice to those of you living pay check to paycheck is to (1) find another bank or (2) pay the $30 fee for overdraft protection and get a free BofA credit card with a low limit to use soley for overdraft protection. They'll get their $30 one way or another, but at least you can limit the damage.
My situation is EXACTLY the same as the one in the Consumerist article. Maybe i used a poor example as an illustration..
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What kind of car did you get?
Originally posted by vansmack:
While I don't symapthize with Rusty's particular situation, I do know what the article is talking about (and it's NOT rusty's sitch).
I've been a happy BofA customer for 20 years, but I have seen this change described by consumerist. Recently, we switched the majority of our savings cash to ING (better interest rate). When Smackette and I bought a new car (on a Saturday), we wrote the check and while waiting for the car to be brought around, we transferred the money from ING to BofA (Saturday afternoon). The money was transferred from ING that evening. Toyota deposited the check at around noon PT on Monday.
BofA decided not to post the transfer until COB Monday, depsite having the money in their possession and left in pending for two days.
BofA refused to honor the check and dinged us for $35 (which of course we didn't pay after a polite phone call). Toyota was cool about it and put the check through the next day with no additional charge. They said BofA does stuff like this all the time - their theory is that BofA's computers are programmed to find instances like this to make money.
My advice to those of you living pay check to paycheck is to (1) find another bank or (2) pay the $30 fee for overdraft protection and get a free BofA credit card with a low limit to use soley for overdraft protection. They'll get their $30 one way or another, but at least you can limit the damage.
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Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
What kind of car did you get?
I wasn't kidding when I told Brian Wallace that I contribute to the Smug.
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I had an unauthorized charge on my card for a couple thousand dollars that triggered my overdraft even though it was only pending and never actually went through.
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Originally posted by RustyOrgan:
My situation is EXACTLY the same as the one in the Consumerist article. Maybe i used a poor example as an illustration..
Well, all we know is what you tell us, and the difference between your example and the example I provided and Consumerist provided is the timing by which BofA chooses to honor the transfer. In your example, for maybe the 10 minutes between buying lunch and making the deposit, your account was in the red.
A better example would have been on the way to buy lunch, I deposited the money, but BofA charged me an overdraft fee when I bought my lunch because the deposit was not posted until COB, despite it being a cash desposit.
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Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
What kind of car did you get?
the vansmacks strike me as a toyota matrix couple
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Originally posted by vansmack:
Originally posted by RustyOrgan:
My situation is EXACTLY the same as the one in the Consumerist article. Maybe i used a poor example as an illustration..
Well, all we know is what you tell us, and the difference between your example and the example I provided and Consumerist provided is the timing by which BofA chooses to honor the transfer. In your example, for maybe the 10 minutes between buying lunch and making the deposit, your account was in the red.
A better example would have been on the way to buy lunch, I deposited the money, but BofA charged me an overdraft fee when I bought my lunch because the deposit was not posted until COB, despite it being a cash desposit. [/b]
one time , when i was younger, much younger...i accidentally overdrafted my checking account.
I made a number of purchases:
$3.00 for 2 packs for smokes
$6.99 for a 6 pack of beer
$25 for gas
in that order.
I overdrafted my account by $12.00
Now, instead of taking my transactions in the order they were made, they took the gas first, which immediately overdrew my account and incurred a $29 fee. The next two small transactions posted after the account was negative, thus incurring 2 more $29 charges.
Awfully shady i thought, until I realized that some places (such as Mobil Gas Stations) post their credit transactions faster than others (crappy Asian liquor store under my apt), so its not the bank's fault really because its not like there is someone personally handling my transactions to notice something like this.
Usually, if this happens on a rare basis, you can call the bank and have the charge waived.
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I was asking because we just got a 2006 RAV4.
Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
What kind of car did you get?
the vansmacks strike me as a toyota matrix couple [/b]
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Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
I was asking because we just got a 2006 RAV4.
Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
What kind of car did you get?
the vansmacks strike me as a toyota matrix couple [/b]
[/b]
why do i think Vansmack would have something nicer than a matrix?
i just bought a car too but i certainly wont be telling you people what it is!
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Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
the vansmacks strike me as a toyota matrix couple
I'm not sure which is more sad: the fact that I couldn't find the Red X (strike) from the Family Feud anywhere on the interwebs, or the fact that I spent over 20 minutes looking for it.
Back in March we bought a Prius.
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Originally posted by Erinaceous Sonickus:
i just bought a car too but i certainly wont be telling you people what it is!
Hey, I own a car too, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it, chief.
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Originally posted by vansmack:
Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
the vansmacks strike me as a toyota matrix couple
I'm not sure which is more sad: the fact that I couldn't find the Red X (strike) from the Family Feud anywhere on the interwebs, or the fact that I spent over 20 minutes looking for it.
Back in March we bought a Prius. [/b]
Really? I thought you were better at using the Interwebs than that. I was able to find this in under a minute.
<img src="http://a218.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/56/s_f42eeeea38714910ad6ef7dedd9a0b31.jpg" alt=" - " />
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OMG! i TOTALLY own a car too! we should, like, start a club or something! i say we call it the "Super-dooper, hipsters-only, BofA-hating we-own-cars-GNAAA-GNAAAAAAA club"! we'd be so cool.
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i knew smackie would have a prius, cause he's a white person that likes stuff
also funny that the wife has an 06 rav-4 and i have a matrix
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Originally posted by miss pretentious:
Really? I thought you were better at using the Interwebs than that. I was able to find this in under a minute.
I hate you.
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Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
i knew smackie would have a prius, cause he's a white person that likes stuff
Seriously? White and likes stuff? That's all you've got for me?
I bought the Prius for foreign policy reasons!!!
[hangsheadinshame] And because I like stuff [/hangheadinshame].
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That's one reason I switch from Bank of America to a different bank. The Overdarft Fees was one reason I quit them. No wonder people dislike them.