What the heck??

[Zephik]

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/5917/overdrafteditedm.png

Does that seem right to any of you? This is the first time I've dealt with overdraft fee's, so I'm just wondering if this is right or if my bank is seriously ****ing me over right now?

Apparently I spent $10 I didn't have, even though at the time I checked and I DID have enough, but I guess there was some pending stuff or SOMETHING. The next thing you know I'm overdrawn $10 or so, so the next day I go and deposit money, get home, check my online statement and I have this little surprise. So... they charged my $20 in overdraft originally... then I deposit money into my bank and they charge me $70 more?? WTF?? Really??

Maybe its just me since this is my first time being overdrawn, but this seems really... not.. right??

**looking at it again, its also saying that I've made even more purchases when I was overdrawn. I DID NOT!?? Those were from Amazon and iTunes, and my order dates from Amazon and iTunes are BEFORE 4/01/09. WTF is going on?? The very first day I noticed I was overdrawn, it said -$5, the next day it said -$20 I guess. That make sense in a way I guess, like I spent 5 that I din't have, so they charged me 20, so now I owe them 25. So what are these two $35 charges?? God, I am so confused right now.

Also, why am I just now being charged the additional overdraft fee's?? All because I deposited money?? This does not make sense. If I would of never deposited any money, they wouldn't of charged me the additional 70, but they did, right after I deposited it.

[Luke122]

I would go into the bank and talk to them about it. If they arent willing to help you out, then close the account and deal with another bank. The way things are going, they better be willing to help a customer.

I was getting absolutely screwed by my last bank too, so I went across the street, and they saved me $600/month by consolidating some debt for me! They are also working to refinance my mortgage and save me a bunch more! Goodbye BMO, hello Scotiabank!

[Zephik]

Yea I think I might change banks after this. I'm so irritated right now.

One day it says I'm negative 5, then the next I'm negative 25, which makes total sense. I borrowed 5, they charged me 20, so now I owe 25. FUNNY HOW THATS NOWHERE ON MY BANK STATEMENT ANYMORE?? Now its just saying I made two purchases which I couldn't afford.

How I went from being very careful and good with my money, to knowing I have enough, to finding out that the last two or three purchases I made were borrowed. I mean. it just doesn't make sense to me. But reading the statement it makes perfect sense doesn't it? Funny how it changed like that, so now it makes sense. Maybe there online banking just really sucks. Saying you have this much money when you don't because of some pending bs or something? But it says what you have pending, and I pay attention to it, yet this still happened. Just doesn't make sense to me.

Sigh...

I guess I'll just cut my losses and deal only in cold hard cash for now on.

[DaveW]

When I was in the US, I went into my overdraft by about £50. When I returned home, I was hit with fees of around £500.

I went into the bank and asked them why the hell they had charged me so much money.

You're going to love this.

First, they charged a flat £35 for exceeding my overdraft. Then they charged me interest on my overdraft. Then they decided that I was no longer a student, and therefore, no longer entitled to a student overdraft (£1000, which was entirely depleted after touring the US). So they switched me over to another account with an overdraft and a high interest rate. Then they charged me interest on the £1200 overdraft I had.

Then, to cap everything off, they back-dated it all to when they 'decided' I was no longer a student. Total fees; around £500. Whipping out your matriculation card and forcing them to pay you back every penny? Almost priceless. I still had to pay the original 'over the overdraft' fee though, which I thought was pretty ludicrous considering what they'd put me through.

So yeah, $19 for going into your overdraft by $12? Pretty much how banks make their money these days, by giving you a chance to slip up then waiting like vultures for you to take it. Soon as you do, they bend you over the counter. If you're lucky, this is where they'll lube up.

Good luck talking with them, but the banks are faceless now. The pleb behind the counter likely couldn't help you if she/he wanted to.

-Dave

[Zephik]

I finally understand why they are charging me so much.

They charge a flat rate of $35 NO MATTER WHAT. So that 1 dollar iTunes purchase? Yep, they charged me $35 for that, which is where my second (or third depending on how you look at it) overdraft fee came from.

I contacted a friend who works for them and who helped me get my account set up, I'm hoping he can do something. Especially since I've never had any problems before, so maybe they'll let me go easy.

This whole situation is so ridiculous. I can't believe they are charging me $35 for accidentally spending $1 that I didn't have that I thought I had, since thats what the available balance said at the time.

Now my question is this. Notice that first overdraft fee? WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?? I had $8.29, then all the sudden I have been charged an overdraft fee. I'm sure there is something there, but why the hell is it not telling me what I bought that I didn't have the money for the first time around?? Either I'm stupid and missing something or this is total BS. I went from +8 to -10 overnight for something, I want to know what it was! grrr.

[Luke122]

Monthly rape charge? Err... I meant Service charge?

[nevermind1534]

I guess I'm lucky. My credit union will transfer money automatically for $1 when there is an overdraft. Very helpful if a mistake is made.

[Zephik]

Monthly rape charge? Err... I meant Service charge?

Maybe. I've never had any before though. Its just a checking account, which I believe is free with US Bank.

I'm sure glad I got that check from my last employer for my first week of work there. It sucks that it just disappeared basically like that, but I'm glad it was there, so technically I didn't lose too much since I wasn't even expecting it, but damn it sure would of been nice to have. I've been dying to pick up some new shirts. Looks like I'm stuck for awhile to wearing old shirts and wearing sweaters over them so I can actually go out in public without feeling like a hippy. lol

[Omega]

I'm sure glad I keep a register of all my transactions and keep at LEAST a $50 cushion in my bank account.

Trust me, once you start keeping track of all your transactions (save reciepts, fill out an excel spreadsheet and calculate your own balance), you become much more aware of your expenses and are more careful with your money. This is a lesson I am very glad I learned BEFORE I could get into any real trouble.

If you check your account online, don't just look at the "available" balance and use that. That balance doesn't have pending charges already removed and if you have any outstanding charges, an overdraft could sneak up on you hard. I used to do this until I got slammed with Wells Fargo's preposterous $50 overdraft fees for buying a soda or something. I also changed banks (Exchange Bank FTW), make sure I always have $200 in savings and $50 in checking, and set up for overdraft 'protection' ($10 instead of $19, and it automatically transfers money from savings to cover the negative balance, so I can't go below 0$ in my checking account).

Still though, watching your money closely is a good idea in general, especially in these hard economic times. Also, if you don't know your balance 100%, then don't spend any money. I've thought I had $120 only to find out that I had closer to $80 after making a purchase I had forgotten about.


tl;dr: banks don't exist to help you, you gotta watch your own back

[Zephik]

Well I talked with my bank and they basically gave me a good thorough rundown about how all of this came to be. It pretty much comes down to online banking being more confusing and tricky than I thought and the reason why it has never happened before since I am usually very careful with my money, is simply because I didn't fully understand how it works and because in the past I've usually had a cushion to fall on so I never really noticed that I was spending more than I thought I had.

The good news is that they reversed the first overdraft fee, so I got $20 back. Which I'm very grateful for since I wasn't expecting to get anything back. I wish it would of been more, but hey, I'll take what I can get at this point.

The bad news is, well, I didn't get it all back so I still had to pay the $70. However, I did get $15 in returns from Amazon with that misunderstanding with the Halo 2 purchase I made. So I can look at that as $15 off the $70 I owe which brings me to $55. So all in all, it could have been worse. It could have been almost double that.

And as a sort of weird and useless bonus, I got to keep the Halo 2 Special Edition purchase I made. So now I got a pretty metal box with a Halo 2 special features DVD inside. Woot. lol