Usacomplaints.com » Business & Finance » Complaint / Review: Huntington Banks - Overdraft Fee (s) for On Line Bill Payment posted to wrong date. #272012

Complaint / Review
Huntington Banks
Overdraft Fee (s) for On Line Bill Payment posted to wrong date

I do my banking on line and as an I.T. Person I am very cautious with my data entry. I posted four bill payments to be paid on January 24. This is the same day as my payroll check hits the account. However for some reason unknown to me one of the transactions posted on January 23 and was paid on January 24. This resulted in six overdraft fees at the rate of $38.50 each plus a 10.00 overdraft fee for an auto transfer from savings. Since there was insufficient amount in saving to cover the bill payment transaction the transfer did not result in any protection. Also the five other transactions were all under 10.00 each. The result was a total of $231.00 in fees being charged to my account.

After calling the bank I was informed that they would as a courtesy remove two of the fees or $77.00. But I explained that if the bill had not posed even though there was insufficient funds to post then there would not be any fees because there would have been sufficient funds available.

Now keep in mind that I monitor my account daily and consider myself a person who takes his account very responsibly. I do this be make sure such errors do not occur.

I have read on the Internet that banks are making billions of dollars on overdraft fees. They have lobbied in Washington to the Federal Reserve to protect these fees and there revenue from them. Banks also have been targeting the low and middle income bracket citizens by putting branches in supermarkets and in areas where they can attract customers who are more likely to overdraft there account.

As and IT Person I know it would be simple for the bank to have programmed there system to just not post or pay the bill payment without sufficient funds available. However, that would result in loss of fees for the bank. The consumer never is notified till days ofter this has occurred when they receive a statement in the mail. Banks could also have a way for customers to set up allerts on there accounts to page you or email you if something like this occurs.

But charging fees is a way of getting interest rates that exceed 500%. For example, one of my charges was $2.50 to McDonald's. The fee was $38.50 which resulted in what would be considered a short term loan. The interest rate for the loan of one day was over 500 percent.

The problem is the consumer has little or no choice but to change banks or seek a credit union. This is costly and time consuming as many have to change the auto deposits with there employer, order new debit cards and checks and make a number of financial adjustments. Banks know this and know that they can get away with it with out any real recourse from the customer.

Recently banks have cried when Credit Unions started expanding with branches and across state lines. Credit Unions use to only be available to a select group. For example your company if it is large enough may have its own credit union. But now anyone can walk into any credit union and join. Also many credit unions now offer on line banking and many other services that banks traditionally offer. So tomorrow if the bank does not remove all the fees in the interest of keeping my account I will close all of my checking and savings accounts and start working toward moving them to a local credit union.

I did find out that one Credit Union locally charges as little as $5.00 for an ATM or Debit Card Transactions and $15.00 for a check overdraft. Far more reasonable than Huntington Bank.

So consumers beware. Shop around because the banking systems are designed to trap you into paying a fee or fees. It is not by neglect or accident on the banks part but by design and you are the victim.


Offender: Huntington Banks

Country: USA   State: West Virginia   City: Huntington
Address: 919 5th Avenue

Category: Business & Finance

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