Bank of america has done it to me again!
This is one of a few incidents where I have clearly identified this beviour from B of A. Last time they credited back the fee.
B of A can not charge an overdraft fee if an account goes negative for a fee such as an ATM fee, only for an overdraft such as a purchase. Typically if you do not have the funds for a purchase or especially with an ATM withdrawal they do not permit the transaction. I can now see that they manipulate events to their benefit even at times changing the DATE of an event to a date that suits them the most.
IN this latest instance I ran out of Gas while in Puerto Vallarta. I went to the nearest ATM with no cash, and because it was a Santander ATM it is a Fee free ATM foir Bank of America (which they will never tell you BTW), I checked my Bank of America Balance. I first checked my account balance, then I withdrew (in Mexican Pesos) a few dollars less than was shown available.
Later I checked the balance online, as I always worry about fees and B of A tactics, knowing that the account was low. B of A onliine CONFIRMED a positive balance after that withdrawal. This was at night, well after banking hours.
The next day, I was looking for a deposit that I was expecting, and My account now showed a Negative balance!
Investigating further, they now showed an ATM balance inquiry fee from a few days earlier. Yes I did make the balance inquiry, and did not anticipate a $5.00 charge. They did not hold out the funds when the transaction was made, nor did they back date that fee to the date of the transaction as they sometimes do. The truth is they back dated the fee ONE DAY, and since debits are posted BEFORE withdrawals (a policy in itself that is manipulative to charge more fees), this NOW meant that it posted BEFORE my withdrawal.
Had the funds been held out when the balance inquiry was made this would not have happened, as the ATM would not have showed those funds available. Had they posted the events in the natural order instead of re - ordering of events, this would not have happened, as B of A could not have charged an overdraft fee for an ATM fee.
Knowing that B of A has many tricks up their sleeve, I called their 800 number, hoping they would reverse the fee as they had done the last time. I was told it could be reversed, however it was "pending" and could only be reversed after the transaction was "completed". The next day the transaction was completed and after waiting on hold for about 45 minutes they refused to refund it.
First i do not understand WHY bank of America chooses to re order events ALWAYS to their benefit, never to the customers' benefit. ALso Why B of A seems to have flexible policies that seem to change from incident to nearly identical incident.in one incident then seemingly accept the responsibility and refund the fee and in the next they refuse it. Also why one person says it is refundable and the next says no.
Furthermore, bank policies should be more rigid, so that if one of the fees was refundable the other under similar circumstances should be refundable. It should not be up to what the person on the phone thinks at ALL.
Since al transactions on this account are the type thre are (all electronic) and now in the 21sst cenutry, why are these not posted more promptly anyway? My Mexican bank does! I suspect things are managed this way at B of A as they hope and are probably successful at charging more fees.
AT least the re - ordering of events is UNETHICAL! If it fringes on illegal, I think it is about time that someone start a class Action Lawsuit
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