Why does Wachovia bank continue to allow transactions on an account *long* after it is overdrafted, and more importantly, why does the Federal Reserve Bank continue to allow banks to do this?
I was recently charged over $800 in overdraft fees, and I admit that I made accounting errors — I was getting married, things needed to be paid for, and there simply wasn't time to confirm my account balance. But they were small debit card transactions here and there, and I foolishly believed that when I ran out of money, the transactions would be denied. That's what's happened before, and I just trusted my bank in this regard.
Wachovia bank happily paid my charges and in return for "courtesy payment" that they call it, I was charged over 90% interest.
Yes, I undertand it's my responsibility to follow my balance. But what stuns me is that Wachovia appears to have no responsibility whatsover to protect it's customers.in fact, we must be diligent to protect ourselves from banks. Why does the one profiting from this have no responsibility to its customers? I can hear the chorus of "don't spend what you don't have, " but Wachovia made a decision to pay these charges, too. I was never informed that Wachovia would process charges regardless of whether or not the account was funded. That's the real problem. That's Wachovia's responsibility.
I pay Wachovia in exchange for them paying my charges, so can ayone explain why this is not loan, and therefore regulated under lending laws? Why is there no disclosure of this practice? Yes, yes, I know... It's in the fine print.
I tried to negotiate a settlement that refund a portion of those fees, because by objective measure, they are exorbitant, and measurably userous. But they were unwilling to refund even those fees that I proved were charged in error. For example:
5/9 I had a balance of $90 and was charged $70, and had a balance of $20. The following day, transactions totalling $140 posted. After they posted, I was charged again for every one of those transactions. If they are going to charge fees in this kind of anticipatory way, it is impossible and useless to follow my balance.
If someone wants me to feel sorry for them because they've been inconvenienced, Wachovia posted a 24.5% profit *increase* from 2004 to 2005. They can afford a little more service to their customers. I'm in business for myself, and I can write a greedy contract, too. But is it ethical?
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