My husband had to pay for a rental car, and the company put a $300 hold on his BB&T account. He returned the car the next day, and although this was a Friday, the hold should have been released in a timely manner, right? No more than a day or two. Instead the bank kept the hold on for who knows how long. Our laptop cord broke and I was unable to check the account to see whether the hold had been released. In the meantime, the bank was busily bouncing checks left and right because this hold on the account was not released, and this set up more bounce fees. The fees totaled $380 the first go-round.
Then, because we live paycheck to paycheck, especially this month, because the rental was needed due to brake work that ended up costing $650, and then the transmission went out on the same car, and my husband missed 4 days of work with no way to get there, each and every $10 or $20 debit that we made on the account ended up costing us more in OD fees. So we are basically in a vicious cycle. We have no money because we have been fee'd to death, and we still have to put gas in the car so that he can go to work, so that he can pay more in fees.
Yes, it is our fault that we did not stop living as soon as we realized we had paid $945 in fees, but I challenge you to live with no money, having all of your money going to pay the $945 in OD fees. I suppose we should have just sat at home with no food, money or diapers, and no gas to get to work. Yep, we are total wastrels. And yes, we understand that the bank's policy is that OD fees discourage overdrafts, but the bank charges a $35 fee each incident, totaling $945 in one month, greatly because it is bank policy to take the largest amount out first and then down from there. Some of these OD fees were on non-bank ATM charges of $2.50, so we paid $35 on a $2.50 fee. Some of these fees were the result of automatic payments. I did try to call the company to ask that the automatic payments not be taken out, but they basically told me to get lost.
I called the branch manager several times, leaving messages on her machine, and never got a call back. I also wrote to the bank website, basically begging them to please help me break this cycle, and they told me that I was out of luck. They said that they only refund fees if the bank makes a mistake, and as far as they are concerned the hold on the account in the amount of $300 was not a mistake, and the fact that they did not release the hold in a timely manner was not a mistake.
So yes, to all you out there who feel we got what we deserved due to our reckless spending, and to BB&T, who was so understanding of our plight, thanks! We have $10 in our account to make it through the week and no money for rent or utilities, because as soon as we get the next paycheck it needs to go to rent, which means we will have no money again for the gas and food for the week. Maybe we will have to bounce something to get through the week, which will mean more fees, and the cycle continues. Yes, I understand it is my fault that I did not check to make sure the $300 hold was released. But if you honestly believe that these practices are fair and balanced, then you have never really lived paycheck to paycheck. I have read some of the less than sympathetic responses to these types of posts, and I understand that many take the stance that if you do not have it, do not spend it. But I challenge you to make it through a week with absolutely no money because the bank fees just ate it all.
Yep, we certainly learned our lesson. My husband's company only does payroll through direct deposit, but I am closing this account and moving to a local credit union, hoping that we will never be stuck in a cycle like this again. I feel that the practice of OD fees and high-to-low debits targets those of us with lower incomes, because we are the only ones who ever end up in situations like this. And I remind you, this whole cycle started because of a hold on the account that was not released in a timely manner. The cycle begets the cycle, because once you have paid a couple hundred dollars in fees, it sets you up for the next week to be that much short, and if you live paycheck to paycheck, you are pretty much out of luck.
We have been stuck in a cycle of financial distress anyway. Two of the houses we were renting last year ended up in foreclosure due to nonpayment of mortgages by the owners, so three times we have had to come up with first, last and security deposits, eating up whatever savings we had managed to accumulate and putting a big dent in any future savings. My husband's company of 5 years went broke, causing a month of unemployment, so our financial situation was tenuous anyway. Reading posts on this and other sites, and reading the replies to some of these posts, I understand that many feel that people in our situation are there because of our own reckless spending, but I assure you that we are not spending money simply to be spending it. The vast majority of our money goes to basic household expenses. We do not shop for the sake of shopping, we have not taken a vacation for 7 years, and we do not have parties for the kids' birthdays. I am still wearing socks I bought 17 months ago. I wish that more people would understand that sometimes the people who have the least are not there because they recklessly spend money, but because it costs money to live.
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