Complaint Review: BBVA COMPASS - Internet Internet

Okay please explain why it is the banks fault that you did not know about 11 that is ELEVEN items?  If your wife looked on-line and saw you had a little over $200 and spent more than you expected why is that the banks fault?`

Yes the banks are changing and if you want to "opt-out" of the automatic overdraft protection that is great.  But do not let people give you a false sense of security.  If you do not manage your account you WILL continue to have fees.

The new regulations ONLY cover Debit Cards and ATM transactions it DOES NOT cover Checks or Automatic Debits(ACH) transactions.  So in your case all of those purchases would probably have been approved because the Electric Bill comes in as an ACH and it comes in during the overnight processing.  So at the time of the purchases you would have had enough available, and they would have been approved. 

However, when the bill comes in overnight with the new regulations the bank would most likely reject the Electric Bill. Why, because as part of this banks are limiting the number of overdraft fees they assess each day.  So if by returning that one Electric Bill will keep you from overdrafting they will do that.  Oh, and the other main reason is that by law they can not just decide to no longer pay a previously authorized Debit Card Transaction.  So those 11 transactions MUST be paid once authorized.

So you now have to deal with the electric company and the rejected payment.  So it is true you will have less "overdraft" fees, but you may be paying more fees to other companies.  Oh and before you go on the "Yea it is this bank other banks won't do that".  Well then you may be in for a rude awakining the first time this happens.

Now with two people managing a single account does become harder but it can be done.  You basically need to reconcile all of your purchases every night and keep them in a register so you both know what the other one is spending.  Then give each of you a maximum amount to spend each day.  If you need to spend more talk to the other person BEFORE you spend it to make sure that they have not spent too much.

Yes it is harder but it is also YOUR money, and if this extra bit of work can save you even one overdraft fee wouldn't that be worth it?

This is partially your fault because your wife did overspend and you forgot about the autopay.

However, your last bank probably did not re-sequence transactions so you were used to only getting fees for transactions that overdrafted the account..not all the little things you bought days ago when the funds were there at the time.

Opting out of the overdraft coverage is a good thing for low balance customers since it will prevent debit card transactions from being approved and you can avoid the fees. The thing is..you were already enrolled and knew about it since you stated before this bank was taken over you had to pay the "loan" fee before, so you got trapped in this case. Many people did not know they had the option to opt out, or some banks would not allow opting out. The banks profit center for the last several years have been these kinds of fees, so if left up to them, they would want everyone to be trapped. The law changes will prevent this..at least to those who are aware. Obviously, the banks are going to encourage keeping the "coverage" and using the online account to manage you finances..this is how they want it to be. A way to make them more money, and "bait" customers into thinking they are "protected" and using a safe reliable way to manage the account.

You also need to keep better track these days as you can't depend on the online statement as the bank made you believe you should.

The banks mission statement is "rape, pillage and plunder" anyway they can so you need to be careful these days. The "hostile" corporate takeovers have cause quite a bit of "hostility" towards hard working financially struggling people during a bad recession..and this in when the swindlers hit the hardest.

bear in mind, even after you are opted out of the debit card overdraft coverage, your autopays or any checks you write can still be subject to fees if they overdraft the account "NSF", and there is no way around those fees unless the transaction was fraudulent.

The automatic payment for the utility bill would not have shown up in any online banking system until after it was hard posted. Entering it in the register and asking your wife to check that instead would have meant that she'd know about the payment and adjust her spending accordingly.

I'm not sure what you mean by eleven transactions you didn't know about. Are you saying they weren't authorized by you or your wife? Were they authorized by your wife?

If she made the transactions, then she needs to either enter those transactions yourself or at least let you know so you can do it.

You wrote:

My wife wanted something from the store and I told her to check the online account to make sure we had enough money to cover it. She checked it and there was a little over $200.00 in the account. The scheduled direct deposit was about four days away. She spent about $135.00 which was more than I suspected and the next day the automatic withdrawl for the Electric bill was taken out. This brought the balance to a negative amount.

A couple of things:

1. After using the search function, I found the words CHECK REGISTER nowhere to be found. Online account information can't possibly account for outstanding ACH/check transactions. It was YOUR responsibility to make sure the funds were there and account for potential transactions.

2. By your own admission, you overdrafted the account. You stated:

Then in the next couple of days eleven more things came in that I had not known of totaling $226.56.

ELEVEN withdrawals you didn't know about?

I hate to sound harsh, but you should really re-evaluate your account habits and/or whether you are really fit to have an account in the first place. When someone has nearly endless transactions they can't track at a given time, they are announcing themselves unfit to have a checking account.