I go to deposit some money to cover my ATT bill which posted to my account the day before. I'm thinking at best the payment is still be pending and my deposit will save me an overdraft fee of $35 and at worst I will only need to pay my ATT bill plus $35.
But no honey, Bank of America charged me 3 overdrafts fees (3 x $35 = $105). Now you would think that I had other charges done when I had no money in the account. I know that this is a debt account not a credit card account. I can only spend what I have in the account. I also keep a check register so I can match what is online with what I used either by check or debt card. I bought food and gas and paid by debit card which left me with a very small balance (just before pay day) the only other charge to go through the account after that was the ATT bill.
With the system that BOA has in place, all charges that are made as credit or even debt typically pend for several days before they post to your account. So what BOA does is when those charges actually post they arrange them in order from the highest to the lowest. So in my case I had enough to cover the food and gas, and then my paycheck would take care of the ATT bill when it came through. Well they held the food and gas in pending status until the same day the ATT bill came through and put the largest charge (ATT bill) first which put me in overdraft, and then the food and gas where also in overdraft.
My first thought is I'll call the bank and see if there was a mistake. After waiting 10mins on the first call, I called a second time and waited another 5mins. The lady that answer the phone was very pleasant but what she was trained to say made no sense or reason. I asked why the charges for food and gas were post after the ATT charge, when these charges were almost a week before. She explained that the food and gas charges are posted when the merchant decides to request payment for them and added that they have up to a year to request payment from an account. And then suggested she can help me avoid this in the future. So I listened some more. She suggests that I keep a check register and record all spending done by check or debit card. I just about jump through the phone. I explained that I already did that because I did not want to spend what I did not have.
I think is absolutly unfair and done specifically so they can reap the most money from an overdraft. I have closed my account at Bank of America and will be posting my thoughts any and everywhere I can. They should be shamed and ashamed of themselves.
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