Complaint Review: Wachovia Bank - Chatham Mall - Ellicott City Maryland

Assuming that your story is true, you went to an impressive amount of effort. If you can do all of that, it should be a simple matter for you to use a check register in the future and not overdraft at all.

What a lot of people don't know that most banks will refund your Overdraft Fees the FIRST time this happens. Them doing this really depends on the "attitude" of the customer. You probably could have gotten the same fees refunded without all of your "research". However, you now know what the policy and process of the bank is. So if you overdraft again don't expect this same courtesy, if you try to get the fees reversed in the future. If you don't like the policy of the bank then you need to find another one. But be sure to ask them these questions BEFORE you put your money into the bank. You will probably be surprised that this is standard in the banking industry as a whole. One interesting item is that just as the articles were slanted in a certain direction, your report seems to be guilty of a bit of exageration also. In your original report you state "...It is costing me THOUSANDS of dollars and it has to stop.."(emphisis added). Yet your update states that you received your $470 back, and it was inferred that this was the entire amount. So just how did it go from THOUSANDS to only $470? The best way to avoid this problem...Don't overdraft. You do this by doing proper account management, and yes this includes keeping a register. If you have $100 available in your account and spend $95, it does not matter how they "sort" the transactions you can't overdraft.

I got $470 Overdraft Fees refunded. Here's how I did it. On Saturday, July 25 I went to my local branch office - Wachovia Chatham Mall. I was treated with the utmost respect by the customer service rep. After showing her my research --- a copy of a letter from Congressman Barney Frank, Carolyn Maloney and Luis Gutierrea to Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve System, stating "...we urge the Board to immediately address manipulative clearing practices by prohibiting institutions from posting transactions in an order that maximizes overdraft fees, as also provided by H.R. 1456." I also showed the customer service rep. a 7/8/09 copy of an article from ABC Nightline that quotes Jack Drew, a former VP Bank of America, Dallas, TX stating that he implemented sophisticated computer programs to maximize bank revenue. I also showed the rep. that I had, in my hand, a CUSTOMER COMPLAINT FORM that I was sending to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The clincher was when I stated I was not mismanaging my money, (that's what the banks want you to think), rather I was being victimized by sophisticated computer programming that was probably paid for with the taxpayers bailout money. I would not accept any "settlement". I said it is my money, I control the order of how I pay my creditors, NOT A SOFTWARE MODULE. I repeated over and over, IT IS MY MONEY, NOT THE BANKS AND I WANT ALL MY MONEY BACK, NOW!!!! Also, using the banks website, I displayed one day where I was hit for 6 overdrafts fees (6 X $35 = $210). I printed that data. I then put the same data in an EXCEL spreadsheet and sorted it by deposits first, then low to high withdrawals. I got a full refund. :o)

I got $470 Overdraft Fees refunded. Here's how I did it. On Saturday, July 25 I went to my local branch office - Wachovia Chatham Mall. I was treated with the utmost respect by the customer service rep. After showing her my research --- a copy of a letter from Congressman Barney Frank, Carolyn Maloney and Luis Gutierrea to Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve System, stating "...we urge the Board to immediately address manipulative clearing practices by prohibiting institutions from posting transactions in an order that maximizes overdraft fees, as also provided by H.R. 1456." I also showed the customer service rep. a 7/8/09 copy of an article from ABC Nightline that quotes Jack Drew, a former VP Bank of America, Dallas, TX stating that he implemented sophisticated computer programs to maximize bank revenue. I also showed the rep. that I had, in my hand, a CUSTOMER COMPLAINT FORM that I was sending to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The clincher was when I stated I was not mismanaging my money, (that's what the banks want you to think), rather I was being victimized by sophisticated computer programming that was probably paid for with the taxpayers bailout money. I would not accept any "settlement". I said it is my money, I control the order of how I pay my creditors, NOT A SOFTWARE MODULE. I repeated over and over, IT IS MY MONEY, NOT THE BANKS AND I WANT ALL MY MONEY BACK, NOW!!!! Also, using the banks website, I displayed one day where I was hit for 6 overdrafts fees (6 X $35 = $210). I printed that data. I then put the same data in an EXCEL spreadsheet and sorted it by deposits first, then low to high withdrawals. I got a full refund. :o)

I got $470 Overdraft Fees refunded. Here's how I did it. On Saturday, July 25 I went to my local branch office - Wachovia Chatham Mall. I was treated with the utmost respect by the customer service rep. After showing her my research --- a copy of a letter from Congressman Barney Frank, Carolyn Maloney and Luis Gutierrea to Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve System, stating "...we urge the Board to immediately address manipulative clearing practices by prohibiting institutions from posting transactions in an order that maximizes overdraft fees, as also provided by H.R. 1456." I also showed the customer service rep. a 7/8/09 copy of an article from ABC Nightline that quotes Jack Drew, a former VP Bank of America, Dallas, TX stating that he implemented sophisticated computer programs to maximize bank revenue. I also showed the rep. that I had, in my hand, a CUSTOMER COMPLAINT FORM that I was sending to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The clincher was when I stated I was not mismanaging my money, (that's what the banks want you to think), rather I was being victimized by sophisticated computer programming that was probably paid for with the taxpayers bailout money. I would not accept any "settlement". I said it is my money, I control the order of how I pay my creditors, NOT A SOFTWARE MODULE. I repeated over and over, IT IS MY MONEY, NOT THE BANKS AND I WANT ALL MY MONEY BACK, NOW!!!! Also, using the banks website, I displayed one day where I was hit for 6 overdrafts fees (6 X $35 = $210). I printed that data. I then put the same data in an EXCEL spreadsheet and sorted it by deposits first, then low to high withdrawals. I got a full refund. :o)

I got $470 Overdraft Fees refunded. Here's how I did it. On Saturday, July 25 I went to my local branch office - Wachovia Chatham Mall. I was treated with the utmost respect by the customer service rep. After showing her my research --- a copy of a letter from Congressman Barney Frank, Carolyn Maloney and Luis Gutierrea to Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve System, stating "...we urge the Board to immediately address manipulative clearing practices by prohibiting institutions from posting transactions in an order that maximizes overdraft fees, as also provided by H.R. 1456." I also showed the customer service rep. a 7/8/09 copy of an article from ABC Nightline that quotes Jack Drew, a former VP Bank of America, Dallas, TX stating that he implemented sophisticated computer programs to maximize bank revenue. I also showed the rep. that I had, in my hand, a CUSTOMER COMPLAINT FORM that I was sending to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The clincher was when I stated I was not mismanaging my money, (that's what the banks want you to think), rather I was being victimized by sophisticated computer programming that was probably paid for with the taxpayers bailout money. I would not accept any "settlement". I said it is my money, I control the order of how I pay my creditors, NOT A SOFTWARE MODULE. I repeated over and over, IT IS MY MONEY, NOT THE BANKS AND I WANT ALL MY MONEY BACK, NOW!!!! Also, using the banks website, I displayed one day where I was hit for 6 overdrafts fees (6 X $35 = $210). I printed that data. I then put the same data in an EXCEL spreadsheet and sorted it by deposits first, then low to high withdrawals. I got a full refund. :o)

Kathy, all banks transaction sort. This has been a universal practice in the industry for quite a few years. The problem however isn't in the transaction sorting because no amount of sorting can overdraw your account. Only you can overdraw your account. Even the courts recently issued a summary judgment against the class in the case of Gutierrez vs. Wells Fargo which essentially makes transaction sorting LEGAL. I guess Nightline forgot about that little factoid since that decision was issued in May 2009. The article on Nightline was also very misleading by blaming the entire issue on transaction sorting. They claimed revenues for overdrafts increased over 300% in 14 years. The part they left out was that the main cause of those overdrafts were debit cards; people today use debit cards without the slightest idea of what the consequences are to them financially. When debit cards first became popular, overdraft fees also increased substantially but no one wanted to report that because debit cards seem to be so popular to use and because banks could really prove it wasn't a bank issue - it was human error on the part of the account holder. Transaction sorting did increase revenues further, but again the reason the fees got to be so high in the first place is not because of the sorting but because of the card usage. If you want to minimize the effect of transaction sorting, get rid of your debit card, stick to checks and cash, and keep a WRITTEN register of your transactions. Do NOT use the bank's online service as a substitute for your register; it isn't and was never designed to be a substitute. Pay your fees and never let this happen again.