Bank Of America - BofA Ripping off customers with excessive overdraft fees Palm Springs, California
On 6/12/09 my account went into into a -49.06 overdrawn status.
By the time I went on line (I work full-time and am a full-time student) and noticed I was in the red, I had a total of 24 overdrafts and my account balance was overdrawn by -550.19 but the bank's balance was -1,390.19 due to total overdraft charges of $840. I immediately deposited a check of 2450.44 of which a total of $840 ($35 x 24 in item fees)was taken by Bank of America to cover 24 overdraft transactions, many which included for items such as $2.18, $3.24, $6.64,$8.00). I spoke to the bank manager but he said he could not do anything to lower the charges. I feel that in this economy, a bank that engages in unethical fee charging should be brought before the law. I am not rich and cannot afford this type of gouging.
5 Updates & Rebuttals
Karl
highlands ranch,Colorado,
U.S.A.
Edgeman, It seems as though Wells Fargo is 'lacking details' regarding Jim's $100,000 CD that he CAN'T GET from Wells Fargo that he took out for his grandchildren's.....
#6Consumer Comment
Sun, October 11, 2009
college education, right?
Maggie
San Antonio,Texas,
U.S.A.
You don't have to pay overdraft fees
#6Consumer Suggestion
Sun, October 11, 2009
If you keep a check register, and enter every check/debit as soon as you make it, you will know how much you have available to spend. Then you won't get overdraft fees.
Common sense will tell you that you can't rely 100% on an online balance -- there may be checks/debits that haven't been sent to the bank yet.
The bank did not rip you off, you did. Start a check register NOW.
Edgeman
Chico,California,
U.S.A.
Lacking details...
#6Consumer Comment
Sun, October 11, 2009
You didn't specify what caused all of your overdrafts but two dozen fees goes beyond the realm of a simple mistake and suggests that a review of your financial management techniques are in order.
I don't know about your specific situation, but the vast majority of overdrafts tend to fall into one of these categories:
Account holder spends deposited funds before they are available.
For example, I deposited a check in my account on Saturday morning. Normally my deposit will be considered a Monday deposit and funds available on Tuesday but Monday is a holiday so the funds will not be available until Wednesday. If I attempt to spend beyond my available funds, I will incur overdraft fees.
Account holder uses online banking as a substitute for a check register.
This is probably the most common cause of overdraft fees. Online banking was never intended to be a substitute for a check register and was never intended to be used for that purpose. Many people feel that online banking means that they do not have to practice any kind of financial management and this is simply not the case.
I suggest that you refer to page 19 of your account agreement. To save you some trouble, I'll post the relevant text here:
"We may determine in our discretion the order of processing and posting deposits, fees, charges, checks, debits and other items o your account. We may credit, accept, pay, certify or return deposits, fees, charges, checks, debits and other items and other items arriving to your account on the same day in any order at our option. We may give preference to any fees, charges, checks, debits or other items payable to us. We may change our processing and posting orders at any time without notice to you.
We may establish categories for fees, charges, checks, debits, and other items and designate a posting priority for each category. A category may include more than one type of item. For example, we may treat ATM withdrawals and loan payments as one category and checks as another category and then process ATM withdrawals and loan payments before checks. Within each category, we may process and post items in any order we choose. We may use the same or different orders for different categories. We may change categories and order within categories at any time without notice.
When you do not have enough available funds in your account to cover all of the items presented that day, some posting orders may result in more insufficient funds items and more fees than other orders. We may choose our processing and posting orders regardless of whether additional fees may result. If you want to avoid fees for insufficient funds and the possibility of returned items, you should ensure that your account contains sufficient funds for all of your transactions".
and:
"We do not process transactions in the order in which they occurred".
and:
"In most states we process and post items within each category from highest to lowest dollar amount. If you do not have enough available funds to cover all of your transactions on any given day, the high-to-low posting order may result in more insufficient funds items and more fees than may have resulted if we had used another posting order."
I can understand your frustration with having to pay 24 fees but you couldn't have thought that they were too unethical as you agreed to their methods when you opened your account.
Kathie
Phoenix,Arizona,
USA
A SUGGESTION....
#6Consumer Comment
Sun, October 11, 2009
If you can't afford the overdraft charges, don't spend money that you don't have. The bank is letting you use their money at $25-$35 a transaction. You chose to accept those fees when you continued to use your debit card or write checks after you spent all of your funds..
Kathie
Phoenix,Arizona,
USA
A SUGGESTION....
#6Consumer Comment
Sun, October 11, 2009
If you can't afford the overdraft charges, don't spend money that you don't have. The bank is letting you use their money at $25-$35 a transaction. You chose to accept those fees when you continued to use your debit card or write checks after you spent all of your funds..