I wrote several checks over a period of time, some done electronically and some by paper: $20.00, $5.00, $124.00 and so on. I had plenty of money to cover them. These numbers are approximations without getting out my statements. The checks totaled about $350. I had about $790 in the bank. Over the weekend I had written a check to the landlord for $500. I would be a little short, but if I didn't make it to the bank in time, the account has overdraft protection.
Well, every check came through on the same day. Their policy is to process by the highest amount in hopes to bounce all the checks they can. They paid the $500 first (written at the latest date), then the one for $100 and something, leaving multiple checks from 3-5 days prior to the rent check, including electronically processed ones from the week before. When they processed the next check, it took the rest of the money, causing 5 checks totaling $60 or less to bounce. My account, instead of being $100 negative, was $500 and something negative.
This is not the only time I have had trouble. They use the overdraft protection when they want. Also, the most recent incident happened yesterday. Last week I did an electronic transaction for $116. After everything cleared the bank, I only had $66. They did not use my overdraft protection and sent it back as NSF and charged me $35.00. One week later I needed some money and still had the remaining $31 in the bank. I pulled out $30. The bank does not want you to use hand written forms, they want you to write a check for cash. That night, I was charged $70 in fees. Even though I went into the bank and pulled the cash, here is what happened. The $116 was submitted again, and since it is the larger amount, they processed it (NSF) and returned it and charged me, and then processed the $30 and charged me an overdraft fee of $30.
Now, there was a time before when I used the debit card for credit and it did not process for 2-3 days, and I used it for a $5 purchase. That night a direct deposit went through at midnight for my payroll. The funds became available immediately. When they processed it that night, they processed and charged me for the $5 and NSF and then did the deposit, and told me they did it that way because the $5 transaction was done 12 hours prior to the direct deposit and so that is the order they process the money. It is based on when the transaction was done. Can we say liars and thieves?
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