I'm happy (??) to know i'm not alone. I'm telling my story to all who will listen for a couple reasons. One is to warn others who haven't actually opened an account yet in the hopes they will search for a bank that doesn't engage in this rip-off practice. The other is to fulfill a promise i made to the customer "service" rep that defended this practice with the compelling argument that "all banks do this". The easiest way to explain it is to take it right from the blog that i created and posted that day. I actually studied for quite a while to figure out how to blog just so i could try to get the word out. CHECK WITH YOUR BANK to see if they do this. IT IS OBSCENE!
Well! I can't believe i'm actually going to all this trouble to try to reform a practice that will probably only get worse. I found out (the hard way) that BANKS, specifically WACHOVIA BANK (they say ALL banks), have a practice of manipulating, electronically, the order and occurance of transactions in order to generate and incur further punitive fees on the same items. For example you are swiping your debit card for various purchases and fairly mindful (or not) of what you have in the bank but you better be aware that the bank system sees those transactions differently than just a debit. They "post" at different times than your actual purchases occur.
IF you deposit a check and assume that because you put it in that it will be available, BEWARE! Recent electronic transactions may not be honored and SEVERE PUNITIVE FEES start applying! ($35 fees for $4.67 hardware store debit, for example.) Say you get 2 items (NO MATTER THE DOLLAR AMOUNT) they take a $35.'unavailable funds' fee for each item. OK, they take $70.00 from you.
This is where it gets STUPID and in any other business "UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES" laws would apply. (and i'm not sure that they don't in Florida, but i will find out) The BANK TAKES THEIR PUNITIVE FEES in precedent over your other previously paid items, effectively bringing those items out of the paid category and then they are 're-presented' for payment. THEIR PUNITIVE FEES now create a NEGATIVE BALANCE in your account (EVEN WITHOUT THE ITEMS). Then the bank RE-PRESENTS the same items for payment and WHACKS YOU $35.00 EACH AGAIN! THIS TIME FOR "INSUFFICIENT FUNDS"!!!
I am sure that this is going to be an uphill battle because the practice is geared toward people who get down to the nitty gritty in their accounts fairly often, in other words MOST of us. AND most of us are too BUSY scratching away to make ends meet to do anything about it so we just keep taking it and accept the 'rap on the knuckles' and keep on keepin' on. I, for one, hate the attitude if these institutions and the pinheads that conjur up and implement these RIP-OFF POLICIES.
SO... If you have experienced anything like this, TAKE THE TIME to go to your bank and DEMAND at least that they block transactions if there is no available money, AND ask for a minimal OVERDRAFT PROTECTION on your account (They put it on their 'elite' clients' accounts automatically).
Believe it or not, because of the way transactions are posted and viewed electronically, even these measures doesn't fully protect you. But it is WAY better than not having the methods in place.
If you have incurred PUNITIVE FEES like this, MAKE NOISE about it at least to your representative at the Branch and to a HEAD OFFICE representative. DON"T TAKE IT! Find a bank that DEALS FAIRLY with situations. Whether it is LEGAL or not is not the ISSUE. The issue is whether it is FAIR.
As for me, I'm going to keep pursuing the matter any way I can to try to stop BANKS from sticking it to "the little guy". WHAT GIVES WITH THESE GUYS, ANYWAY!!!
I went to a local credit union that has acquired a good reputation and gathered info on how to join their organization and was informed that three other people had come in that afternoon fed up with wachovia and opened new accounts at the credit union.
This is absolutely unfair and deceptive and would be illegal in any other business (assuming it is legal in banking). The practice needs to be stopped!!!
Mykeyz51
sarasota, Florida
U.S.A.
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