This has been happening for years and it seems I am the latest victim. Last week (on the 2nd of March, of the year 2009), my account was suspiciously overdrawn according to BoA email and their Website. The weekend prior, I had decided to buy a xbox 360, and went on the website to make sure I had enough money to do so. The site said I had a total of 274 dollars, which should have included all the items that were waiting to be processed in their system.
However, this sadly wasn't the case. There were 3 items, in my honest opinion, left out on purpose. They hadn't been processed for over a week, and for some reason never was accounted for when the system told me I had 274 dollars remaining. They weren't even on the web page when I looked at it. Even on the day prior to the overdraft, they weren't even there, leaving me to believe they had been taken care of.
On the 2nd of March, I get a notice, telling me I have insufficient funds in my account, even though I got an email that day telling me I had 10 dollars remaining. Turns out the first 2 items had been charged. The first item was a 16 dollar haircut and the second one was a 5 dollar fast food order. They took out the 16 dollar one first, then the 5 dollar one, so that I would be overdrafted, not once, but twice, to maximize profit.
All the while, I was told in emails that I had money still on my account. Then on Friday, March 6th, I was charged 10 dollars for an item I bought twice on paypal in the course of 10 mins, both 10 dollars. The first one I bought, went through the next day, the one that I just got overdrafted on took over 1 week. I had bought them on Feb 25th. This was also never on the account, or never taken in consideration on how much money I had left.
Today, March 9th, I went into BoA to discuss this issue with them. I brought proof of what I am saying with me, with printed emails, exact print outs from their site, emails from them, and all the receipts. I told them that I had been overdrafted unfairly, and wanted to discuss this matter. I asked the Employee why was the 16 dollar purchase first, before the 5 dollar one. She said it was in the system first, which is true. However, here's the kicker. The xbox 360 that I had bought that weekend, was processed before any one of these ever were.
When I pointed this out they told me that it was my fault for not keep track of what was going on with the system. I am 19 years old and in this day of age, most teenagers don't really keep track of how much they spend, they just go online to see how much is remaining and take it as is. So I asked to file a petition to have these fees reversed due to that. They told me I had overdrafted my account 3 months ago, which was a lie. I hadn't overdrafted the account for over 8 months, last time in July.
Before I forget, during this whole process, I asked her how long can a company not report any charges to a debt card. They told me 3 days and after that we don't consider the charge valid.
Soon after this, I asked them about the whole paypal thing and why was it not processed when the other was. They told me that paypal didn't report it... Which would mean the 3 days were up right? No. They said you will need to discuss with Paypal, even though it was over the 3 day reporting period. They still charged me for the overdraft on that, even though what they said earlier contradicted this charge.
I was charged over 120 dollars for a "system error." I would have gladly paid for the 16 dollar overdraft fee, but they insisted it was all my fault and not theirs. That being said, I had clear evidence they were keeping things back and not showing them up on my account. Were they doing it on purpose? I hope not, but it really looks that way.
I am happy to say that I am done with them for ever. They obviously are more worried about getting money than keep customers, even though, they are the ones giving it to them in the first place.
Keith
O'Fallon, Illinois
U.S.A.
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