Robert
Irvine,#2Consumer Comment
Mon, June 22, 2009
Your son had overdrafts because he did not wait for the money to become available. If he did not know about the availability or didn't keep track of his balance that is his fault. Per the terms of the account he overdrafted and was charged the fees accordingly. If you or he thinks they are outragous then you need to find another bank that has lower fees. Or better yet make sure you understand how items are posted and funds made available to avoid them all together. Your second issue is because you are on the account they have the legal right, actually called the "Right of Offset" to take money from a positive account to pay for a delinquent account that you are also on. Which they did, and is no different than any other bank would have done. Your actually lucky that 5/3 contacted you first, most banks won't. They will either let you figure it out on your own after the fact, or send you a letter in 7-10 days if you haven't figured it out by then. Whether you think it is fair or not, the fees are what you agreed to when you opened the account. So you are not going to be able to get out of them. Putting any more money into the account is not the wisest thing either. Because until your son's account is positive, they will continue to use the Offset to take money from your account to your son's. I would highly recommend that you either pay the fees before they turn you over to collections, or open another account at another bank ASAP. Because once they do you will also be put into ChexSystems which will make it impossible to open an account at any other major bank.