This is just classic big bank behavior of the 21st century. After depositing money at 10:18 PM (time will be a theme here) into a Bank of America ATM I subsequently logged into my account via my iPhone app to schedule a transfer to my savings account. I proceed through the prompts and reach the final screen before the transfer is completed. At the bottom it reads "Make sure there are sufficient funds in the From account. Otherwise, overdraft, returned item, or other fees may apply. See your Account Agreement and Fee Schedule for details." I glance up at my available balance to find that it is sufficiently greater than the amount I intend to transfer and thus click "Make Transfer". With my money properly allocated, I proceed to walk home.
In the morning I check the balances on my various accounts, as I've gotten in the habit of doing, and discover that I have overdraft fees. During a rather rude and patronizing conversation with a customer service rep I'm informed that all ATM deposits made after 8:00 PM do not officially post until the next day. I'm told this is so because, and I'm paraphrasing, that the accountants can't work 24 hours per day. A fair point, but why then was my balance transfer processed ahead of my cash deposit? It seems to me that these transactions should be processed sequentially. Well, as it turns out balance transfers will post up to 10:45 PM on the same day. I argue with the customer service representative that that's unrealistic for customers to expect that different transactions have different posting times. He argues that the iPhone app clearly says that all balance transfers made after 10:45 PM will post the next day and that since I made the transfer at 10:18 I should have known that the transfer would be processed immediately. Another fair point, but only superficially so because the app only informs you of the time table for processing transactions AFTER YOU'VE MADE THE TRANSFER. What's more the available balance listed included my ATM deposit. So how can the money I deposited be included in my available balance and simultaneously NOT be available? A good question for Bank of America, one that I'm hoping they'll be able to answer soon.
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