Like dozens of postings I've seen on the web tonight, I have been dinged unnecessarily by Wachovia. Yes, I allowed the account to be over drawn, but Wachovia's policy of posting the largest to the smallest amount has resulted in $695 in overdraft charges in the last 10 days - despite numerous deposits made to try to correct the problem.
It started with a single bad day in which 10 items were posted to the account. Had they been posted from smallest to largest, all would have been covered, except the largest one.instead, Wachovia posted the largest to the smallest, resulting in $360 worth of charges in one day!
Two days later, my direct depoist went in, and was reduced by nearly $900 in overdraft charges and fees paid. Yet, if Wachovia had simply posted the first days debits from smallest to largest, then my night mare would have been over.
Instead, I find myself still $291 overdrawn, with a total of $675 in fees charged - when if they had posted smallest to largest, I would have $327 in the account.
We have spoken with the local branch manager, who spoke with someone in Charlotte at the headquarters. Wachovia has generously agreed to refund $90 tonight and $90 in the morning of the nearly $700 in fees they have charged me! Thanks, but no thanks. I would much rather find only a small number of others who have been in a similar situation with Wachovia, and file a class action lawsuit, based on Wachovia's violation of the TILA. Their practices are nothing more than a fraudulent "loansharking" operation.
Representative Maloney introduced House Bill 3449 last congressional term, which would seek to outlaw these types of practices, which clearly indicates that despite the spin produced by Robert in many of the rebuttals, that the time to act is now! It is time these large banks stopped taking advantage of good, loyal customers who make a simple mistake.
Additionally, similar class action suits against Bank of America and Wells Fargo have been settled, without a trial, for $1 billion and $24 million respectively. Clearly the banks are aware they are breaking the law, and willing to pay huge sums of monies in a settlement, rather than being found guilty in a court of law, and therefore be forced to change their practices.
If anyone is interested in joining me in this class action suit, please feel free to post a response in this forum. If there is enough interest, I will take the lead and retain an attorney. Clearly, in order for a class action suit to be effective, the more people participating, the better.
Additionally, I would like you to contact your US Representative, especially if they sit on the Finance Committee, and encourage their support of HB3449.
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