It's standard these days for banks to keep track of two separate balances for an account: available balance and ledger balance. If you authorize a transaction (say, on a check card), the funds are removed from the available balance immediately. When the transaction clears, the item is inserted into the ledger and the two balances are reconciled. A similar procedure holds for deposits, and there's nothing intrinsically scandalous about the process.
My old bank respected the real chronological order of transactions when it posted them, but PNC manipulated the timing to rip me off for almost $300.
About a month ago I used my card over the course of a week for a number of small transactions: $10 for lunch, $1.50 for a Pepsi, etc. All of them sat in pending limbo for a long time - much longer than the usual 1-2 days for a check card transaction to clear. I checked my balance and noticed that I had about $20 in available funds, which wouldn't last through my next paycheck. So I bit the bullet and withdrew enough money to cover my expenses, knowing I would swallow a $31 fee.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered $248 in fees on my next statement - 8 separate fees. The ledger had been updated in reverse order (and all on the same day), so my big withdrawal came through first and my $1.50 soda cost me over $30. This isn't a case of a deposit not being available yet when the debit was made. The funds were there, available, and authorized - 7 legitimate transactions. But PNC manipulated the ledger to make them all overdrafts.
PNC's erratic bookkeeping has been a nuisance in the past. I've seen items sit pending for 2 weeks and then enter the ledger at their original date. I've seen ATM withdrawals take 5 days to clear. I've seen items appear pending, disappear altogether, and reappear a few days later. Annoying but tolerable. This time it hit me in the wallet, so I complained.
Act 2: I found a reasonably sympathetic ear at a branch, and the representative agreed to remove 3 of the fees. Still reeling from the fees a few weeks prior, I was close to overdraft again. With three fees eliminated, I felt free to go spend some of the funds on groceries. Big mistake.
The fees weren't removed. They were refunded. More importantly, the fee refund sat in pending status long enough for my most recent two transactions (made after my discussion with the bank rep, mind you) to overdraw my account and create MORE FEES.
What was pending? Nothing had to clear. It was an internal adjustment. No money changed location. It's a clear cut case of shenanigans.
Act 3: Wish me luck getting the new fees back. And finding another bank.
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