Bank Of America Charging NSF fees for "PENDING" transactions BEWARE Goodyear Arizona
Bank of America is charging $35.00 for each "Pending" transaction even if made in the wee hours of the night and you know you will be transfering the money as soon as you get home from your savings on the internet.
Even if you know that you are depositing a large amount of money the very next day. Even if you know that the store where you made the purchase said that they are not "Batching out until that evening at 5PM" and you will be depositing the money on your way home. The whole reason for Insufficient funds fees is so people don't "use" the banks money as an "advance". But a "pending" transaction means just that - "the money has not yet been dispursed". Even if the transaction NEVER goes through if it puts your "pending" balance in the negative, Bank of America will charge you an "NSF fee".
My son is a student and works very hard for his money. He was out and about one night and knew that his father's child support had come in and I was to give him a portion of it the next day to cover some of his gasoline expenses.
He had $21.24 in the bank - He had gone to Panda Express on the 25th of March - $11.58, had gone to Arby's for 7.71, got a soda for 1.59 at the TA truck stop a prior day, $1.04 at Jack-in-the-box from a prior day and another drink for $1.29 later that day. Needless to say there were a lot of little "charges" that he swiped his card for and the "pending" charge that put him over by $.36. They automoatically charged him $35.00 on the 26th of March. they took the $35.00 charge out first which put all of the other 3 transactions in the negative pending too so they took out $35 times 3 more. So there were 4 charges of $35.00 on "pending" transactions that put him over by $.36 cents" He checked the bank in the evening of the 26th of March and the only thing showing on the internet was the "pending" charges. He made a deposit from his savings account on the 26th of March. (Wouldn't you know, the deposit didn't post until the 27th even though that was a "pending" transaction also. Nothing was showing to be a problem as of 11:30 PM on the 26th of March. According to what was showing on his statement on the internet, the Bank of America had not had to pay out any of their "own" money and my son knew he would be depositing another $250.00 on the 27th. Now mind you, At the end of the day on the 26th, the account showed that it had $21.24 in the bank and all of the transactions that they charged $35.00 to were all still pending. Yes, the pending charges put him in the negative. That is why he transfered some money from his savings which did not show up until the 27th of March.
On March 27th, he woke up to a nightmare. Because of the First $35.00 that they charged on the last $.36 that he was over, he now was in the negative $140.68. And then on top of that, in the morning, 3 more "pending" transactions that were "very small amounts" had hit so they charged him $35.00 three more times along with the transaction, of course.
What really sucks is that I had to go back into the bank for him because the $250.00 check that I gave him to deposit was not enough. He was still overdraft "pending" by about $3.00
Now, this was his gas money for the MONTH - I am disabled and his father pays child support until he is out of high school. The bank people were less then sympathetic. I looked all over the rules for Bank of America and it does not spell out that they can not do this. They actually told him that if he felt it was unfair to tell a congressman or something and maybe they will change the law.
The Bank of AMerica has no right to that money. My son had no intentions of "using" their money and did not. The transaction was not "complete" when they charged them that money. It states in their paperwork the following:
"A Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) fee occurs when there are not sufficient enough funds in an account to cover a given transaction. "
The dictionary describes a "financial transaction" as the change in status of two different accounts. possibly one being a business. A "pending" item has not yet changed the status of the bank account because it has not been completed. "Pending" also means "remaining undecided; awaiting decision or settlement; unfinished". How can you base a decision on something that is unfinished or charge money for something that is unfinished. It's unethical.
when the transaction is no longer "pending" or "unfinished" it states right in their paperwork that when submitted to the bank they can either "refuse" to make the payment or "pay". In that case if they refused they could charge a fee or if they paid they could charge a fee. They did neither and charged a fee. There were "NO" funds transfered from the Bank of America that caused my son to be in the hole. Everything was pending and everyone knows that "pending" means that the transaction "has not been submitted for payment".
I do not have the money to give my son for gas now so he can get to school and back. He will get it because I will refrain from paying a bill in order for him to get there. But I shouldn't have to do this. Bank of AMerica is now "ripping off" their patrons and should be stopped.
If there is anyone that knows how to get my son's money back - please let me know. This is outrageous.
Beverly
Tonopah, Arizona
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Bank of America
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Beverly
Tonopah,Arizona,
U.S.A.
I agree - it doesnt add up if you think it was done all in one day...
#4Author of original report
Mon, April 07, 2008
My son, on the first day had 4 transactions which put him in the hole by $.36 - that was on the 25th of March. That would have been a $35.00 charge. He made a $7.98 deposit that evening which did not hit until the next day but the pending chages of these 4 transactions is all that he had on the 25th of March. On the 26th, they did the $35 debit for the NSF funds. His items were still pending so because of their $35 debit they gave him $35 charge on the other 3 because now they were showing a negative balance X 3 even though they were submitted on the same day as the prior. Even the statement shows that there was $21.24 available before they took out the $35 X 4. Because they put their $35 through first the other 3 transactions were charged additional fees.
And that is where I believe they are wrong. The other charges just compounded the problem. There would have only been $35.00 in NSF charges if the bank had put through the "pending" (unfinished) transactions before they put through their charge on the 4th transaction. I'm sorry I confused the initial report with both days transaction amounts. I was a bit upset when I wrote it. Nonetheless, I think this is all absurd.
Anonymous0364
Fort Worth,Texas,
U.S.A.
i agree..math doesn't add up
#4Consumer Comment
Fri, April 04, 2008
I have to agree with the above rebuttal. The math doesn't add up. Given it's possible that you were off on the beginning balance and the small charges did cause the NSF's then it doesn't matter. I understand your frustration on the fee issue. However I would be more frustrated with my son if I were you. He should consider this a lesson learned. I bet next time he will pay with cash for small charges. Did you try to call BOA and ask them for a courtesy refund? If he has never had an issue in the past they are very good at doing this. I had a mess up in my past also, I called and spoke to them and they were all for helping me out. Even though they are a huge corporation we as customers think our little 35.00 shouldn't matter to them and they should be nice to us and always refund it. But if we all thought that way people would take advantage of them. The NSF's aren't given by a single person sitting there deducting each one. It's all system generated, which means no one even has a change to waive those unless the customer calls and tries to beg for mercy....
Edgeman
Chico,California,
U.S.A.
The problem is...
#4Consumer Suggestion
Sat, March 29, 2008
Bad math.
Using the transactions in your description:
Starting balance: 21.24
Panda Express- $11.58: 9.66
Arby's- $7.71 1.95
TA Truck Stop- $1.59 0.36
Jack-In-The-Box- $1.04 (0.68)
Drink purchase- $1.29 (1.97)
So your son now has two transactions that put his balance in the negative and you say that there was another transaction. That makes three transactions that racked up O/D fees of $105. I have no idea how much this last transaction was for but you wrote that he woke up to a balance of negative 140.68, so I assume it was in the neighborhood of thirty dollars or more. By any chance, was it a gas purchase paid for at the pump? (Not that it makes any difference- just curious)
He did a fund transfer on the EVENING of the 26th. The bank has already closed out for the day by that time so yes, the fund transfer is technically a transaction pending until the 27th. Since the account already showed a negative balance, the three pending transactions couldn't be covered and those NSF fees brought your son's balance to negative $250.
I am sorry to say that the bank did nothing wrong here. This could have been avoided had your son simply kept a check register instead of relying on the online banking feature.