I have had a TD Bank account in Massachusetts for 15 years back when it was Salem Five Cents Savings Bank (at least two mergers ago) and never had a problem with overdraft fees. I had written a $250 check to an heating oil company on monday and had made a deposit of $385 on that same day and the account had $78 in it at that time. I did expect that the deposit would beat the check debit to the bank but as it turns out it tied. I'll elaborate. Over the course of that day and the next several small dollar amount debit card transactions occurred (each less the $10). I checked over the course of those two days and the debits from the second day (first day's debits hit on second day), check, and deposit had not hit the bank. Third day comes along and TD Bank decides they are not going to process the transactions in the order they occurred but rather in this order: check to oil company for $250, each of the debit transactions from the second day (one for $5.09 and the other for $5.83 and an authorization for gas for a $1), and THEN the deposit of $385. Now they didn't deposit the entire check, they put a hold on $285.00 and deposited $100 (with the teller saying to me after the fact that they additional $285.00 would have gone through on the 4th day) so doing some math they started at $78 and subtracted $250 to give me an overdrafted account of $172.00. They charged a $35.00 overdraft fee immediately at this point. Next they then hit the account for the 3 debit transactions of $11.92 total and charged an overdraft fee of $35 EACH equals an overdrafted account of $288.92. So finally now they go to process the deposit (partial of only $100 because they put a one day hold on any amount over $100) and I end up with a negative balance of $188.92 as of today. The real killer is that their own online banking service (i.E. Where I check my statement online) showed me today that I had a POSITIVE balance of $57.00 so I went ahead and used my debit card again today for 3 more transactions (I hadn't checked my statement at that time) so now the bank is telling me I'm going to get WHACKED with 3 more $35.00 overdraft fees! I called to discuss this and was told it was my fault (somehow - they didn't give me a good reason why) and that they always process debit transactions the next day (later changed to over the next two plus days) even though the debit transactions I was talking about with her and that I mention above have always gone through on the SAME day since they were point of sale transactions. No explanation of why the check processed first and not the deposit. I was told they would not refund the fees. Now I am forced to have to stop direct deposit of my paycheck so I can make sure I can pay the rent to house me, my wife, and our four kids another month and bring this account positive JUST so I can close it and tell TD Bank to go stick it in their hats. How is this legal? WHY is this legal? Is there a class action lawsuit I can join or is there a lawyer out there interested in starting one?
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