Bank of America is charging $35.00 for each "Pending" transaction even if made in the wee hours of the night and you know you will be transfering the money as soon as you get home from your savings on the internet.
Even if you know that you are depositing a large amount of money the very next day. Even if you know that the store where you made the purchase said that they are not "Batching out until that evening at 5PM" and you will be depositing the money on your way home. The whole reason for Insufficient funds fees is so people don't "use" the banks money as an "advance". But a "pending" transaction means just that - "the money has not yet been dispursed". Even if the transaction NEVER goes through if it puts your "pending" balance in the negative, Bank of America will charge you an "NSF fee".
My son is a student and works very hard for his money. He was out and about one night and knew that his father's child support had come in and I was to give him a portion of it the next day to cover some of his gasoline expenses.
He had $21.24 in the bank - He had gone to Panda Express on the 25th of March - $11.58, had gone to Arby's for 7.71, got a soda for 1.59 at the TA truck stop a prior day, $1.04 at Jack-in-the-box from a prior day and another drink for $1.29 later that day. Needless to say there were a lot of little "charges" that he swiped his card for and the "pending" charge that put him over by $. 36. They automoatically charged him $35.00 on the 26th of March. They took the $35.00 charge out first which put all of the other 3 transactions in the negative pending too so they took out $35 times 3 more. So there were 4 charges of $35.00 on "pending" transactions that put him over by $. 36 cents" He checked the bank in the evening of the 26th of March and the only thing showing on the internet was the "pending" charges. He made a deposit from his savings account on the 26th of March. (Wouldn't you know, the deposit didn't post until the 27th even though that was a "pending" transaction also. Nothing was showing to be a problem as of 11:30 PM on the 26th of March. According to what was showing on his statement on the internet, the Bank of America had not had to pay out any of their "own" money and my son knew he would be depositing another $250.00 on the 27th. Now mind you, At the end of the day on the 26th, the account showed that it had $21.24 in the bank and all of the transactions that they charged $35.00 to were all still pending. Yes, the pending charges put him in the negative. That is why he transfered some money from his savings which did not show up until the 27th of March.
On March 27th, he woke up to a nightmare. Because of the First $35.00 that they charged on the last $. 36 that he was over, he now was in the negative $140.68. And then on top of that, in the morning, 3 more "pending" transactions that were "very small amounts" had hit so they charged him $35.00 three more times along with the transaction, of course.
What really sucks is that I had to go back into the bank for him because the $250.00 check that I gave him to deposit was not enough. He was still overdraft "pending" by about $3.00
Now, this was his gas money for the MONTH - I am disabled and his father pays child support until he is out of high school. The bank people were less then sympathetic. I looked all over the rules for Bank of America and it does not spell out that they can not do this. They actually told him that if he felt it was unfair to tell a congressman or something and maybe they will change the law.
The Bank of AMerica has no right to that money. My son had no intentions of "using" their money and did not. The transaction was not "complete" when they charged them that money. It states in their paperwork the following:
"A Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) fee occurs when there are not sufficient enough funds in an account to cover a given transaction."
The dictionary describes a "financial transaction" as the change in status of two different accounts. Possibly one being a business. A "pending" item has not yet changed the status of the bank account because it has not been completed. "Pending" also means "remaining undecided; awaiting decision or settlement; unfinished". How can you base a decision on something that is unfinished or charge money for something that is unfinished. It's unethical.
When the transaction is no longer "pending" or "unfinished" it states right in their paperwork that when submitted to the bank they can either "refuse" to make the payment or "pay".in that case if they refused they could charge a fee or if they paid they could charge a fee. They did neither and charged a fee. There were "NO" funds transfered from the Bank of America that caused my son to be in the hole. Everything was pending and everyone knows that "pending" means that the transaction "has not been submitted for payment".
I do not have the money to give my son for gas now so he can get to school and back. He will get it because I will refrain from paying a bill in order for him to get there. But I shouldn't have to do this. Bank of AMerica is now "ripping off" their patrons and should be stopped.
If there is anyone that knows how to get my son's money back - please let me know. This is outrageous.
Beverly
Tonopah, Arizona
U.S.A.
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