First off, I do agree in principle with the "know your balance" advocates. That said, any intelligent observer can see the hammerlock the big institutions have on rule writing through the legislatures and comptroller of the currency. It's a water-tight, my-way-or-the-highway scenario.
My grievance has to do with the extortionate theft of $490 from my checking account.
I did know my balance. It was enough to pay all of the outstanding items I had authorized, as they were presented for payment in the daily clearing process. This included a "phantom" item for an annual subscription which I had stupidly paid a year ago with the Visa check card, not noting the fine print for an automatic renewal this year.
This brings up a point which I have not seen discussed in the hundreds of related posts in this and other complaint forums. I apologize for being long-winded, but, the self-serving bank settlement manipulation goes even deeper than most people realize.
In the old days, when a paper check was issued, that item made it's way back to the payer's bank through a constantly evolving system of physical transport of that paper from hand to hand. Banks and the federal reserve operate a network of clearing facilities which add and subtract deposits and checks each night. This physical handling and cross-country transport added "cost" to the banks' account, in the sense that they could not invest this "float" for their own benefit. The issued but not yet settled items represented potential earning power for the customer's account, not for the banks.
When the check arrived at the issuing bank's home clearinghouse, the order of settlement would be: balance, plus deposits, minus checks, minus fees equals new balance.
Long story short, with the advent of massive computing power, new electronically logged transactions and a subservient rule making apparatus, the banks have managed to turn the clearing process on it's head, to their sole advantage. The new clearing sequence is now: balance, minus fees, minus checks and electronic items, plus deposits equals new balance.
Be aware: when you authorize a purchase with your Visa checkcard, that amount becomes encumbered/sequestered/appropriated. You no longer have the benefit of use of that amount in your account. It may still show in the balance, but the extortionists have declared that amount to be available in the bank's investable funds. The ownership of the float now goes to the bank.
The exquisite irony of this change rests in the fact that many of these electronic items still are not immediately "presented for payment" in the clearing process. You may buy something from a vendor on the 1st of the month. The item may not be "presented for payment" until a few days later. Even though your balance may be sufficient to cover the item when it is presented for payment, if it wasn't covered when the charge was authorized, an overdraft fee is charged to your account.
Be aware: Again, the overdraft fees are applied first in the clearing sequence. Even if you made a deposit that day, and the deposit would have been sufficient to cover the paid items and fee, the fee takes precedence and causes the overdraft.
Net effect, banks are allowed, by law, to prospectively and speculatively apply fees to your account. The fact that fees are applied when the "phantom" charge appears, not when the actual item is presented for payment, represents a massive shift of advantage to the banks.
This is the gist of my specific complaint. My account was charged $245 on two successive days even though the balance was enough to pay all the items presented for payment, ON THE DAY THEY WERE PRESENTED. The overdraft fees caused the carnage by sucking out all of the available funds before paying the items and before applying deposits.
The branch manager told me she could not do anything about this as their authority to refund fees was curtailed. Why? Because they had been refunding too much! I asked her to please request to a higher authority on my behalf. No response was forthcoming. A note to their "Overdraft Resolution Team" did not elicit a response. A second, delivery confirmed note to the ORT and branch manager went unanswered.
I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. No reponse yet.
The whole thing galls me. Caveat Emptor.
Ralph
Sarasota, Florida
U.S.A.
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