I file this report on behalf of my father is utterly speechless at the number of overdraft fees that Bank of America charged him for one transaction.
A week ago, he overdrew his account $200.00. Now he admits that he overdrew the account, and is willing to accept a reasonable overdraft fee to cover expenses, and the transaction.
The kicker is that prior to making the offending transaction, he made three small purchases at two different stores. Each purchase was approved when the clerk swiped his Visa Debit, and he had funds in his checking to cover these purchases.
You would think that the amounts were automatically deducted from his available checking balance immediately, right? Wrong! The bank places the transactions on hold for up to three days to allow the merchants time to transmit electronic hard copy to the bank to confirm, and complete the transaction.
Hence, when he made the overdraft, not only was he overdrawn by the $200.00 but by the other three transactions as well because they were in pending status, and since they process the largest amount first, the $200.00 overdrew those as well.
At this point, he is now subject to not one but three additional overdraft fees totalling $140.00. On top of this, he has overdraft protection but there was not enough in it to cover the $200.00. Regardless, their computer took whatever was there, and applied it to his negative balance. For this automatic feature, they charge an automatic overdraft fee of $10.00. Now we are up to $150.00 in fees.
But it gets even better. He is now subject to a one-time extended overdraft fee of another $35.00 if he does not deposit funds by the end of the fifth business day which is today. Unfortunately, he is a pensioner that receives a scheduled direct deposit each month but it will not arrive in time for deposit to make this deadline. Thus, he will now face $185.00 in fees for the $200.00 he overdrew. What is wrong with this picture?
Can you imagine what he would have paid in overdraft fees if he had made more than the three small purchases, and they too, went into pending status?
If you try to discuss the fees with customer service, their position is that it is bank policy across the board, period.
In conclusion, when you make a purchase with your Debit Visa, and you think that the money has been deducted from your available balance, beware of the hold that they place on the transaction, and its pending status when you check your account on-line. This will effect how they assess overdraft fees, and how many times.
And Bank of America claims that they need Federal Help?
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