Okay, I'm one of those people who don't use a register. I also don't purposely spend more than I have. HOWEVER, sometimes mistakes or miscommunications happen and I end up with an overdraft. As much as I hate it, I understand it. What I didn't understand was why I'm being charged overdraft fees for transactions not resulting in a negative balance.
Here's my branch manager's explanation of their process (this applies primarily to transactions using a debit card because there is little or no delay like there is with a paper check) -
All of the transactions that reach the bank on a given day are totalled up and compared to the available balance in your account. If the daily transaction TOTAL is greater than the available balance, then EVERY transaction received by the bank (received, not posted) that day triggers an overdraft fee, regardless of how much it is or what the balance was when the transaction was made. HUH?
Hoping I misunderstood, I gave the manager this scenario (not real, thank heavens) - I have $9.50 in my checking account. I make 9 debit card transactions in one day of $1.00 each - no problem so far. At the end of the day I make another $1.00 transaction, therefore totalling $10.00 for the day - $. 50 over my balance. Does that mean I'm getting hit with $330.00 in overdraft fees ($33.00 for each transaction that day)? Her reply... I'm sorry, yes.
How is that legal? Overdraft fees for 9 transactions made to an account with enough to cover them, just because one transaction at the end of that day brought me into a negative balance. Okay, in my scenario I was an "idiot" (as Fifth Third customer service rep Christopher called complainers like me in an earlier report) to spend more than I have. But to be charged fees for those first 9 totally legal transactions is exceptionally unethical.
Then, to rub salt in the wound, I was lied to. The manager told me that this is common practice and that Fifth Third was actually the last bank to adopt this process. Bull%. I called around to other, larger, banks and was told that this is not common practice at all - mostly, they were disbelieving that a bank would even do this. I tried to call the bank manager back, but the branch closed at 5pm - 1 minute after she placed her call to me (returning the call that I had made early this morning). So, I called Fifth Third as a non-account holder to see if their customer service department even knew the details - either they are undertrained or trained to deceive, because I did not get the same info which I got from the branch manager and which is (unfortunately) confirmed by my bank statement.
Can someone honestly tell me this is ethical?
0 comments