Complaint Review: BB&T - Branch Banking & Trust

I have to agree with him this bank has done the same thing to me i have kpt track of my backing they know my checks come in on the third of every mth. but that does not stop them from holding them so they can make alittle money off of me in the last year they have got me three mths in a row charges of 400 to 600 in over draft fees causing me to take out loans to pay them off them knowing the money is there when i would pay my bills on the thired when the money was there they would hold it for two days before it would show up so they could get me . it does no good to go to the top of the banking to complain or ripoff report or the bbb or internal affairs. some where down the line is another person holding there hand out for your money they collect. that is how it runs.

in stating the bank may have a disclaimer on how they assess fees.

However, what many of the large banks are currently being sued for, and why the laws are changing soon, is also regarding overdraft coverage enrollment on the DEBIT card. Seems many banks did not disclose this properly and fairly, and it earned the banks Billions of dollars in fees.

To put it in a nutshell, the banks have been applying policies that were originally put in place to "protect" large check transactions, such as a mortgage payment. What the banks "discovered", is that if they apply the same policy to a debit card, which is generally used for small everyday purchases, that it would rain gold from the sky into the bankers pockets, off the backs of financially struggling customers.

When debit cards first came out, they were primarily used for ATM withdrawals, many merchants did not even accept them. As well, if you went to make a cash withdrawal at an ATM, if the funds were not available, the transaction was simply declined.

The banks had a good run and have profited close to 40 Billion dollars in these types of fees in 09...once all the banks (or a majority) caught wind of this gold mine, the amount they have been profiting from these fees, have nearly doubled in the last few years.

So what the law changes are going to do (as Robert stated), is not allow the banks to automatically enroll every customer into this OD coverage service, which is really a loan or line of credit no matter how you slice it. The problem is, many customers did not want this line of credit, no..not hard to believe many customers did not want to pay 35 dollars for a coffee or sandwich..which went right to the bank taken from our direct deposits. A debit card is NOT a check, and it is not a credit card, but the banks have been treating it as such, unknown to many customers until it was too late.

What is going to happen soon, is all banks will un-enroll every customer from OD coverage on the debit card, unless they CHOOSE to be in it, and sign for it. Any new customers, will be asked if they wish to be enrolled, they will not be automatically signed up.

If this bank had not signed you up automatically in the first place, you would not have been able to overdraft the account with your debit card, since the transactions would have been declined at a point of sale or ATM withdrawal..just like the good old days not too long ago.

Now as Robert stated, there is no substitute for keeping accurate track of what you are spending from your account, as you do NOT want to depend on the bank to do this for you..there is no money in it for them if they help you keep track, so they will always try to decieve you. Opting out is just a good back up plan to prevent any fees if you or a merchant mess up, and lord knows..it happens, and will always.

So you know that they deduct pending debits from your available balance but somehow thought that if that puts you into the negative they won't assess overdraft fees until it posts?  Sorry but that seems like a case of "Selective Memory".

The simple answer is you spent more money than was available. Whether you did this intentionally did this or did this because you don't manage your account is something only you know.  But it does sound like you were relying on the float, hoping that you could beat the money back to the bank. Unfortunatly the days of the float are long gone.

Now, what may be good news for you. The banks are changing their polices and you now have(or will have within a couple of months) the option to "opt-out" of this type of overdraft coverage. That is if you do not have the money available in your account at the time you attempt to use your Debit Card or ATM card it will be declined. So in this case that "pending" debit would have been declined, and while it may have been a bit embarasing at least you wouldn't be charged any overdraft fees. However, don't let this give you a false sense of security. As it only deals with ATM and Debit transactions, it does not apply to Checks or ACH transactions. So if you have money available at the time for a Debit card it will be approved, but if a check comes in later that night that puts you into overdraft you could still be charged overdraft fees. This is why there is no substitute for keeping your own register and never attempting to spend more than you have available.

As for a "disclaimer" you want. I would bet that if you read the terms and conditions of the account you have that how and when they assess overdraft and NSF fees is covered.