I'd like to start by defending myself. I know there are some (most likely bank employees) that like to blame us (the victims) for crazy overdraft and "NSF" fees this bank piles on us. Of course it is easy to blame us. Easy to state things like "just use cash if you can't keep track of your spending" or "don't spend so much if you don't have the funds to cover it" I also see things like "it's not illegal what the bank is doing, it is in the terms and conditions".
I am writing that all because I am fully aware of this. No one commenting with anything above that I wrote will matter. Because I am aware of it.
Okay, now on to the reality of how these heartless vicious criminals operate, and how the "system" is designed to specifically target the most financially struggling of us as potential victims they can fleece every last penny out of. And then some...
SCAM 1- When you are issued your debit card, you will be informed that there is a fee if you use any "non-Wachovia" ATM machines. What they will fail to tell you is they charge you a fee AS WELL AS the ATM machine. So if you are like me and keep track of your spending to the penny. The bank has been socking you with a $2.00 fee ON TOP OF any fees the ATM machine has you agree to
at the time of dispensing cash, so keep note of this. You are also charged a fee if on some of these machines to select to "view balance". They are HOPING you are running low on money and struggling financially. That makes you the PERFECT victim for the "OVERDRAFT FEE RE-SEQUENCING SCAM".
I won't get too much into that has there are plenty of lengthy reports here on how that works. But in a nutshell what happens is you view your balance be it
on-line, over the phone, at an ATM, wherever and it leads you to believe you have a certain amount. Then if in accidently overdraft only ONE item. Even if by a PENNY. Many of your previous transactions will be "re-sequenced" unbeknownst to you at the time. And you are hit up a 35 dollar fee for each transaction. And this "scam" also is cleverly designed to compound it self. As the fees themselves can cause overdrafts and "NSF" fees. Oh it can get brutal and completley wipe you out and set you back for weeks of hardship. Apparently and surprisingly somehow (at least not at this point in time) the banks can get away with this legally.
But that is going to change. Many class action suits are underway. And we are the type of people that don't roll over easy, they would have to kill me first.
So as of now there is no legal way around this scam other then to get involved with the lawsuits. But to protect yourself take out enough cash for all the little things and try your best to keep enough money in the account to cover unexpected hidden fees. These fees are kept "hidden" for a reason so don't let them use it to cause what I call the "overdraft avalanche".. It is horrible. Also. You can fight the bank and sometimes recover some or all of the money they stole from you. However, this gets extremly difficult if this has happened more then once to you. For whatever reason. They DO NOT CARE how or why this happened. This scam/scheme makes the banks BILLIONS of dollars. And they are not compassionate at all about your hardship so do not expect sympathy, you will get none from them.
SCAM 2- "Free checking". I will keep this one short and sweet. I had a situation where I went to check my account and instead of it being several hundred dollars like my statement book had me believe. It was overdrawn several hundred. All overdraft and NSF fees. So I went to a Wahovia branch and asked how this is possible. Turns out I was being charged some 5 dollar a month fee. So when my direct deposit went in. They had fleeced it dry because the 5 dollar fee took me over by a few cents the DAY my paycheck was deposited. Fortunately I was able to fight that and recover ALL the money they tried to steal. The banker told me, "Hmm, I don't understand, it says you have free checking but you have been being charged 5 dollars a month. Sorry, I will fix that for you." So that time I got lucky. But I imagine they have ways to hide that fee and others may not be so lucky. The way around this is do NOT roll over and let this bank squash you. If they tell you it is FREE checking. That means NO FEES. Period. The banks may have a lot of power. But not enough to change the definition of such a simple straight forward English word.
Now here is the BEST way to avoid all these scams and schemes. Take all your money out of this bank... Close the account. And use a credit union!!! Advise everyone you know to do the same.
0 comments