Twice this month Bank of America has taken $175 in overdraft fees at once (then more after that since they cleaned out my money with fees) for NO REASON.
The first time they didn't even try to give me the usual BS about bank procedures and policies. They were stumped. They charged five overdraft feees, yet nothing overdrafted and I didn't even have that many transactions. I had $210 refunded due to their unexplainable error.
So this past week, I logged on to my account, expecting there to be about $100 for the week, and it said -$77. I viewed transactions and there were five overdraft fees ($35 each) charged. Do the math: Even if you don't count the amounts of the transactions, if I don't have enough money in my account, items clear, and I am charged $175 in fees, shouldn't my balance be at least $175 overdrawn? Of course. It was only -$77 because there were no overdrafts.in fact. There was a positive balance after the five fees and four additional transactions. It was only after that with newer transactions that the account started getting into overdraft status because of the fees that should not have been charged. (I have a screenshot of my account showing this.)
When I went to get a refund, they give me a song and dance about order of holds and transactions etc. Yet I had several hundred dollars in the bank. They were going to refund my money, but because I had already received overdraft refunds that month (due to their error) they could not.
Bank of America's Policies All Consumers Should Know:
DEPOSITS:
- If you give cash money to a live teller, it is not really in your bank account until the next day.
- If you put anything into an envelope and stick it into a machine and no one will see it until the next day, that money is immediately available, up to $100 (or $200?), and will cover transactions made even if there is not enough money in the account.
- If you have more than one account and transfer money online between accounts, it tells you that the money is immediately available, and the information on the side of the screen also says it is available to cover amounts on transactions clearing that evening as long as the transfer is done before the cut off time. That is not true. The money is there immediately, but if the transactions were pending prior to the transfer, it won't matter.
- Basically, if you are out running alot of errands and discover you overspent and attempt to remedy the situation while items are still pending, it is impossible unless the total pending amount is less than $100 (or $200) that can be covered by an ATM deposit, as long as that ATM deposit is made after the cutoff time for that day. Yup, we all make mistakes sometimes, but even if you immediately figure it out and try to take care of it before BOA has even sent money to anyone (it all goes in hold status), BOA still wants to take all of your money.
DEBITS/CREDITS:
- Purchases made using debit card are immediately gone from your account. But they do show pending like other transactions.
- Purchases made using the credit option of your debit card are immediately deducted from your account but are not finalized for a day or two, depending on when the merchant sends the information. For example, restaurant amounts are usually different if you tip on your card. The bank puts a hold on the transaction and deducts the amount from your account.
- Transactions are deducted immediately from your account in the order they are made, even when not finalized and are not finalized in the same order.
- The nightly transactions are processed in an order designed to screw you. Before any deposits are cleared, all debit and credit card transactions clear first. These are all processed together, in order of highest amount to lowest, which means that if you made an error of only a couple dollars, they take the most amount of money out first and eat up the funds so that instead of paying one overdraft fee, you end up paying multiple fees on small transactions.
- Even if your account is several hundred dollars overdrawn, you can still make one credit transaction on your debit card, thereby incurring more fees. Cards used to cut you off if your available balance became negative.
You cannot close your account while it is in overdraft status.
If you had any overdrafts at all for any reason, bank error or your error, BOA will use this as an excuse to not refund other overdrafts. Apparently if you have ever made a financial mistake, you must be punished indefinitely. If you are living paycheck to paycheck, this is not the bank for you. Forgetting to record a small $10 transaction could cost you hundreds of dollars, and there is nothing you can do about it. The bank will take money and give explanations that don't make sense. Their policies are designed to get the most amount of fees from their customers as possible.
Also, I signed up for an account under a special promotion that meant I did not have monthly maintenance fees. Typically the account does not have fees if you have direct deposit, but the deal I had was if I signed up for a savings/overdraft protect account at the same time, there were not monthly fees. Meanwhile my job had direct deposit, but when it ended, all of a sudden I had fees. I told them that was wrong, and they said they couldn't see anything that far back as to when I signed up and that I should submit paperwork to prove it. The account signup was online.
I thought the purpose of putting my money in the bank was to keep it safe. I'd be better off giving it to a kind stranger to hold it for me.
Figaro8895
North Richland Hills, Texas
U.S.A.
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