Bank of America's abusive fee policies Charlotte, North Carolina

What does your register say?  You are keeping a register right.  You are on SSI and a Pension, so I am taking a guess that you have been around a while.  At least before Debit Cards and On-Line banking.  How did you keep track of your balance before?  I would bet that you used a register, so why would you change something that hopefully worked for you?  If you didn't keep a register you either got very lucky, or were overdrafting on a regular basis.

If it is "pending" that means that you have spent it.  If you have spent the money it is no longer available to you.  It does not matter how long it is pending for as long as you have accounted for it in your register.  That is of course as long as you don't spend more than you have available.

Yes you will probably see posts from well meaning, but somewhat misguided people on how this is good advise but the bank is doing things that should be illegal.  You will probably also be told about bills in Congress that died over 2 years ago, and how other Government agencies are "taking comments" on this.  You will also find out about their suit(actually only at the "investigation stage") which they have a stake in because if it ever gets to a suit and they become the lead plaintiff they along with the lawyers would be the only ones who actually gets any decent compensation.  While they would get decent compensation, you would get about enough for a nice dinner out.  So you can take their comments as you want.  That is hoping that they will come to your rescue and "save" you from all of these fees, or you can take responsibility and keep track of YOUR finances.  In the long run the later will be the much cheaper way to go.

Oh and by the way the bank that you say is intentionally doing this to cause overdraft fees has an entire set of web pages on how to avoid them.  Now why in the world would an "evil" bank tell you how to avoid their fees?

http://factsaboutfees.bankofamerica.com/manage-banking-fees/overdraft-and-nsf-fees/

At the end of your comment it is asked...

"Now why in the world would an "evil" bank tell you how to avoid their fees?"

Here is a better question...

Why would a bank that really cared about it's customers continue with policies and practices that is the subject of all these rip off reports?

and...

Why is it okay that the banks are altering, re-sequencing and otherwise manipulating times of transactions (something a register will not prevent the bank from doing)?... (which the bank knows darn well is causing ADDITIONAL fees on top of any legitimate overdrafts, and causing financial hardship to its customers to the tune of over 38 billion dollars in 2009 alone).

and...

Why shouldn't the people who feel this practice is wrong, unjust, unethical and possibly a violation of law, just give up and let the banks continue to get away with it....and let the Government that is supposedly by the people and for the people sit on their asses and do nothing to protect the consumers and tax payers that pay their salaries?

and...

Why is it okay for the banks to provide "overdraft protection" when in reality the only thing it "protects" is the fleecing of the pockets of the banks customers and putting the money into theirs...

and...

Why not it be okay for the laws to be changed to a more fair and reasonable terms and disclosure?..such as

To clarify that overdraft fees are covered, require written consent before enrollment in the overdraft loan program...

Require financial institutions to warn the customer when an ATM withdrawal will trigger a fee...

Prohibit financial institutions from changing the order of check clearing or delaying the posting of deposits solely to increase overdraft fees...

Is this so unreasonable to expect? Is it any less reasonable then the banks putting all the blame on the consumer and telling them to use a register to prevent the fees?

Is a bank that is truly not a greedy evil pig be so against these few reasonable "changes" we request?

Maybe they would look into it..but it appears some of the banks executives are a little busy partying and squatting in 12 million dollar foreclosed properties..wouldn't want to inconvenience any of them now would we?

That is all.

Really not much to add to the excellent post and excellent questions from Ronny G.

But just one other question. If the customer should not spend more money than they have, why would the Bandits of America allow it, especially if they have the ability to prevent it?  Deny the card at zero balance. Copout answer: the bank is not and should not be in control of how you manage your own money.

So one more question. If the customer, who's in charge of his own money, requests the bank to deny the card and decline the transaction at zero balance, why would the bank, who's not in control, mandate that courtesy overdraft is mandatory and you cannot opt-out. Huh? So, on one side of it's mouth the bank harps on not spending more money than I have, while on the other side it's mouth, you're telling me that it's mandatory that you just let me keep on spending away, past zero, even though I request not to? Hmmmmm.......Why is that?

And therein lies just one of numerous ripoffs here.

I too have been ripped off by BofA.  I like MANY other people have found BofA's overdraft policy extremely abusive.  On Friday 9/11 my paycheck was direct deposited.  First thing I did was pay bills, then through out the weekend went about my business, charged a few thing here and there.  On Monday morning I see 5 overdraft fees, then tuesday I see 4 more for 9 totaling $315.  So went to work going over all my charges and making sure I accounted for everything and realized I forgot to log 1 transaction for $25. 

Now, I sit down with my starting balance on Friday 9/11 and start re-doing all my math to discover that I DID overdraft, twice.  I emailed them multiple times, went into a branch, and called their customer service line and explained to every person that if you follow my charged by chronological order I should only overdrafted twice and I was completely willing to pay for those two fees.  Now before every one breaks out the "you need to keep a register blah blah blah" and "don't spend money you don't have" replies let me say that I do keep an excel spreadsheet to balance my checking account, but I am not perfect and am liable to forget to record a transaction from time-to-time (and to mell you never have cause that's BS). 

 As has been posted before, when charges are applied in "real-time" I would OD twice, fine, I can live with that as punishment for forgetting to log a charge.  But, when the bank manipulates the order of posts to reduce your balance as quickly as possible so that all your dollor here and 2 dollars there charges create 9 ODs instead of two, that is abuse.  In my case I went over $16, my OD fees were $315.  of the nine almost all of them were actually generated on Friday 9/11 and posted Tuesday 9/15 and the largest of them was my Taco Bell debit for lunch totaling $4.98. 

I will call the bank a thief, because they STOLE $210 from me by creating a system the rearranges charges out of the sequence they were generated and posting deposits after all the withdrawls.  They are business and I do realize that they are out to earn money but this is abuse, it's underhanded, and a flat our ripoff and the bank refuses to work with people at all. 

BofA also seems to engage in a practice of hidding charges, pending them for days, and not showing an accurate representation of your account balance any of their modes of checking it.  I do not carry a check register in my pocket every place I go, so when I utilize the mobile banking service the advertise I trust that the balance is at least somewhat accurate so I know what I have to work with other wise what is the point in have online banking, telephone banking, mobile banking, ect. if they can not be relied on to be truthful, accurate, and up to date?  And how is charging me $315 to cover $16 a courtesy?  That is nearly 20 times the amount I overdrafted, that's absurd.  In Oregon, where I live, we passed a law that says payday lenders couln;t charge these outlandish 526% interest rates on short term loans, and overdrafts are essentially short term loans, so shouldn't they have to abide something similar?  there is a legal term for this it's called Usury (Usury is defined as the act of lending money at an unreasonably high interest rate).

James wrote:

"I emailed them multiple times, went into a branch, and called their customer service line and explained to every person that if you follow my charged by chronological order I should only overdrafted twice and I was completely willing to pay for those two fees."

The problem here is that you didn't authorize them to process transactions in chronological order. You authorized them to process transactions in any order they wish.

From page 19 of BofA's terms and conditions:

      "We may determine in our discretion the order of processing and posting deposits, fees, charges, checks, debits and other items o your account. We may credit, accept, pay, certify or return deposits, fees, charges, checks, debits and other items and other items arriving to your account on the same day in any order at our option. We may give preference to any fees, charges, checks, debits or other items payable to us. We may change our processing and posting orders at any time without notice to you.

     We may establish categories for fees, charges, checks, debits, and other items and designate a posting priority for each category. A category may include more than one type of item. For example, we may treat ATM withdrawals and loan payments as one category and checks as another category and then process ATM withdrawals and loan payments before checks. Within each category, we may process and post items in any order we choose. We may use the same or different orders for different categories. We may change categories and order within categories at any time without notice.

     When you do not have enough available funds in your account to cover all of the items presented that day, some posting orders may result in more insufficient funds items and more fees than other orders. We may choose our processing and psoting orders regardless of whether additional fees may result. If you want to avoid fees for insufficient funds and the possibility of returned items, you should ensure that your account contains sufficient funds for all of your transactions".

And:

      We do not process transactions in the order in which they occured.

And:

      In most states we process and post items within each category from highest to lowest dollar amount. If you do not have enough available funds to cover all of your transactions on any given day, the high-to-low posting order may result in more insufficient funds items and more fees than may have resulted if we had used another posting order.

So you see, James, you knew how Bank of America processed their transactions and you were okay with that when you continued to do business with them. If those terms and conditions were not to your liking, it was up to you to close your account.

 

"I will call the bank a thief, because they STOLE $210 from me by creating a system the rearranges charges out of the sequence they were generated and posting deposits after all the withdrawls."

No, you donated $210 to the bank. So long as you stay within your account balance, the posting order for transactions doesn't matter.

 

"BofA also seems to engage in a practice of hidding charges, pending them for days, and not showing an accurate representation of your account balance any of their modes of checking it.  I do not carry a check register in my pocket every place I go, so when I utilize the mobile banking service the advertise I trust that the balance is at least somewhat accurate so I know what I have to work with other wise what is the point in have online banking, telephone banking, mobile banking, ect. if they can not be relied on to be truthful, accurate, and up to date?"

Mobile and online banking is not intended to be used as a substitute for a check register and it's not accurate enough to be used for that purpose. I see that you tried to slip the word 'truthful' in there, but the truth is that the bank only knows what the merchant tells them. For example, last night my wife and I went out to dinner. My online banking only shows the charges for our meals and drinks. The bartender and server tips have not been submitted by the restaraunt yet. Without a check register, I'd be led to believe that there was more money in my account than there really is.

My advice is to start carrying a check register with you. It doesn't have to be a pen and paper. I just enter my purchases into a money app on my phone and then enter them into my ledger when I get home.

"there is a legal term for this it's called Usury (Usury is defined as the act of lending money at an unreasonably high interest rate)."

Usury does not apply to overdraft fees. They are a flat rate charged per incident. The fee is not determined by the amount you overdraft.

You are one of thousands (well however many customers it took to have over 38 billion dollars for the banks to collect in fees this year)..but a handful of bank defenders will always put ALL the blame on the victim of this banks (and many others) unfair, misleading and unethical tactics.

Now yes..you made mistakes in your accounting and record keeping..and this happens. You openly admit you were in error..and in good faith were willing to pay the fees on the legitimate overdrafts...correct?

And..the bank gave you the overdraft protection we would assume in an emergency..or due to an error you would be "protected". Now the bank must be aware that some people do not use a register...or make mistakes..or have an oversite etc since they force you to take the protection..make sense?

But then why does the bank tell you to use a register when you protest these fees...if they offer the protection for exactly what the register is supposed to always prevent..according to them and the bank defenders? I sense hypocrisy and contradiction here.

Of course anyone with slightly more intelligence then a neanderthal will advise you be more careful and use a register..and don't spend more then you have...right? Not exactly profound advice..is it?

As far as the legality....it IS in question..at least with some of the tactics..and there will be a day in court..well many days and many suits to come. But to really nip this in the bud..we need some laws and disclosures changed to offer realistic and reasonable "protection" from those we are trusting with our hard earned money...so keep on checking back here..and don't be surpried if you get a letter soon.

Many of us are sick and tired of the bank getting away with anything they want...and to expect forgiveness if they err..but if we don't follow their rules to the letter..or make a human error..then we have to pay the fee for it..AND all the additional fees brought on by their tactics..that are excessive and not befitting of the error..which caused one or two overdrafts..and we are charged for a dozen..we can't let this fly forever.

thank you very much Ronny G

Most of the antI bank posters on this web site do so, because they overdraw their accounts, and try to blame others, wouldn't you agree?

Most of these people live from paycheck to paycheck, and never maintain a cushion of cash in their accounts from paycheck to paycheck, wouldn't you agree?

Most people who live paycheck to paycheck do so because they are unmotivated, lazy louts who feel that the world owes them a living, and they are entitled to what everyone else has.

This OP feels that because the transaction is "pending", they should not remove the balance from his "Available Balance", and let him spend money he has already spent.

He wants to FLOAT, taking advantage of timing issues.  Well the bank will allow you to float, but it will cost you 35.00 for each item you decided to float on.

What the poster may, or may not realize is that when he slides his card at a merchant site, his merchant has asked the bank to HOLD that amount of the sale, until he presents the transaction to the bank.  The merchant has up to 3 business days to present the debit transaction to the bank for payment.  If the merchant takes longer, then the pending hold is released, and the available balance is increased!!!

What the poster may or may not realize is that if the pending hold is released, is that when the transaction finally gets presented it will be PAID, unless the poster reduced his balance to an amount that was insufficient to cover all his presented items.

The bottom line here my goofy little peons is that when you write a check, use a atm card, or use a debit card is to keep a check register, and after you conduct business with a merchant, Reduce your available balance in your register.   This way when you go to the store to buy your star bucks coffee, you check your check register first, and it says you have 1.35, and the starbucks charge will be 8.00, THEN DONT MAKE THE TRANSACTION, EVEN IF BOA SAYS YOUR AVAILABLE BALANCE IS 100.00

BOA HAS NO IDEA OF THE TRANSACTIONS THAT YOU HAVE MADE WITH A VENDOR, THAT HAVE NOT YET BEEN PRESENTED, ONLY YOU DO!!!!!!

i DONT WANT TO SEE ANY MORE POSTINGS FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE SO GD IGNORANT THAT THEY DONT KNOW HOW TO BALANCE A CHECK BOOK.

YOU GOOFY LITTLE BANK BASHERS SERVE TO DO NOTHING MORE THAN ENCOURAGE THESE PEOPLE TO CONTINUE TO OVERDRAW THEIR ACCOUNTS, BECAUSE YOU DONT ENCOURAGE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!!!

I THINK RONNIE G, AND ROBERT, ACTUALLY WORK FOR BOA, BECAUSE THEY WANT TO HAVE IDIOTS LIKE THIS OP, KEEP INCURING FEES!!!!

ALL OF YOU GO SUCK A LEMON, AND GROW UP!!!

 

The bank is a business, not a charity ( or a therapist, or a friend, or a personal adviser) . They are going to do EVERYTHING they can to make money.......off of EVERYONE. They do not baby or help people in any way and they give you a book explaining this upfront when you open your account. Sorry this happened but if you keep a check register you will not have this problem in the future. Good luck!

Why do you take this so personally? These fees are abusive and you know it so kindly stop being so insulting or I will request you be banned from this site. Thank you. Now in response to some of your replies..

First off..you can't generalize the reason everyone incurs and overdraft..there are several ways that do not necessarily mean the customer was stupid..so stop calling EVERYONE stupid please..it takes away your credibility, if any.

"BOA HAS NO IDEA OF THE TRANSACTIONS THAT YOU HAVE MADE WITH A VENDOR, THAT HAVE NOT YET BEEN PRESENTED, ONLY YOU DO!!!!!!"

Lie or misinformation. They know at the swipe..hence why the transaction is either approved..or declined. And why I opted out. So if there are not enough funds for ANY reason to cover a transaction..the card will be DECLINED at the swipe..why is that so difficult for you to understand? And what does "pending" mean then? To me it would imply that the bank as "some" idea of the transaction..not "no" idea as your lie implies.

"i DONT WANT TO SEE ANY MORE POSTINGS FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE SO GD IGNORANT THAT THEY DONT KNOW HOW TO BALANCE A CHECK BOOK."

This one is easy. Don't come here anymore unless to either need to post a report of your own. If you stop trolling here to insult banking customers..then you won't have to see these posting anymore..fixed.

"YOU GOOFY LITTLE BANK BASHERS SERVE TO DO NOTHING MORE THAN ENCOURAGE THESE PEOPLE TO CONTINUE TO OVERDRAW THEIR ACCOUNTS, BECAUSE YOU DONT ENCOURAGE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!!!"

Another LIE. Show me where I encouraged anyone to continually overdraft an account, or stop lying.

"I THINK RONNIE G, AND ROBERT, ACTUALLY WORK FOR BOA, BECAUSE THEY WANT TO HAVE IDIOTS LIKE THIS OP, KEEP INCURING FEES!!!!"

I can't speak for Robert but I certainly do not work for a bank. I have been posting where to sign up for the lawsuits so it would not be in my best interest if i worked for BOA..since they are charged in a few lawsuits. I recommend to some to consider opting out of OD protection since this bank now allows it...BofA no longer FORCES mandatory courtesy overdraft protection onto every single customer..it is now a choice. This way the card will not be allowed to continually be used if the account is at or below zero..and then the customer will NOT get an OD fee...again..not too hard to understand..is it? And yes..checks can bounce and so can ACH..so the customer even if opted out..STILL needs to take some personal responsibility..or they will get fees big time. So why does IamGood have a problem with it? This policy choice was the banks to make.I just agree with it and recommend it to not ALL customers..but the ones who use a debit card for many purchases in lieu of cash..simple, no arguments or immature name calling necessary.

"ALL OF YOU GO SUCK A LEMON, AND GROW UP!!!"

You need to improve your social skills. Telling us "all" to grow up..while you post to go "suck a lemon"?...brilliant!

Ronnie:

This picture describes you, and your useless friends

 

$500 in fees in ludacris!  The pending nonsense is insane.  I too just incurred 5 fees for a 5 cent overdraft.  Now call me silly but I think $175 for 5 cents is very ridiculous! I put the money in as soon as I was done work but I had just missed the deadline.  I have tried for the past three days with 4 different people to get the overdrafts reversed and they have down right refused and talked to me like a child.  I even stated I have no issue paying the inital overdraft if they will simply get rid of the other 4 but they will not do it.  I have two bank accounts and honestly, am about to go down to one because I will be shutting my BOA account down as soon as possible. They are money hungry and look for every opportunity to screw people out of money.  You are 100% right with your report.

And no, to Iamgood.  People who overdraw their accounts are not lazy or irresponsible.  I obsessively look at my money before even buying a pack of gum. I am very frugal and hardly ever spend anything.  A company simply took their money out a day early before I was paid.  I work 2 jobs, attend school full time, and take care of my disabled fiance, father, and grandfather.  I do not think this to be lazy OR irresponsible.  So the next time maybe you should do us all a favor.  Realize your comments are just cruel, HATEFUL, and unfounded and keep them to yourself.

obviously being CONTROLLED by the banks & the bankers. The majority of people in America will most likely NOT see any 'real' help from the government, in my opinion. 

SCAMERICA POEM

Come to Scamerica
Have a wonderful life
Get married and raise children
Then cheat on your wife
Be a lawyer or a banker
Defraud people each day
Get a paycheck and a bonus
Then be on your merry way
SCAMERICA is rotten
SCAMERICA is broke
Controlled by corrupt people
Almost all are a JOKE
Guess this poem is over
The USA's sinking- it's true
A 'S'inking 'C'orrupt country
No longer for me and for you.

End.

"SCAMERICA POEM" was originally posted on May 22, 2010. Just type in 603724 at this site and it appears as 'Consumer Comment #19' at Ripoff Report #603724.

Thank You

"Knowledge is power."

POWER  TO THE PEOPLE

IMF
(Please sing to the tune of- "Yesterday")

Anyone can 'Google' this- FREE THE BEATLES MIDI FILES, and click on 'Yesterday' and sing the following lyrics to that tune, right?

Here we go- 1, 2, 3...

IMF,
 Something's very wrong at IMF
Call up Sally and please contact Jeff
 It's one big joke, it's IMF.

Underwear,
 Didn't have on any underwear
Things are fishy no one seems to care
 Their leader had no underwear?

Chased her 'round the room
 Now his days are filled with gloom
He was one 'big-shot'
 But guess what? The man was caught!

IMF,
 Things in chaos at the IMF?
All those people are inept and deaf
 It's one big lie, it's IMF.

Found some DNA
 Oh my gosh, what will they say?
Stains on hotel rug
 Take his picture snap a mug.

IMF, 
 Something's very wrong at IMF
Call up Sally and please contact Jeff
 It's one big joke, it's IMF
MMMM IMF.

End.

Anyone can 'Google' this- LIFE HAS BECOME ONE BIG TAMASHA (GRAND JOKE!), and read the related articles on the web.