Bank Of America-ripoff On Overdraft Charges When Your Account Isn't Overdrawn Exploitive fees and charges Iowa Nationwide

You may not be an idiot but you are unaware of how a checking account works.

"When I asked why I couldn't see those authorized charges prior to them being accessed.."
- You like many others are probably relying on the On-Line or automated banking. This is a very inaccurate system. It does not know when you have used your debit card until the actual debit card transaction has been submited by the merchant. It does not know you have written a check until that check is submited. The only thing you should be relying on is YOUR checkbook register. When you make a purchase write it down and deduct it from your balance that YOUR register shows.

"They "held" authorized charges that were going to be posting to my account prior to me making a deposit--even though they were both on the same day. I knew these charges would be coming out which is why I deposited money...."
- Actually if you did this on the same day you didn't have enough money available in your account. Banks post transactions once a day overnight. All the debits from that business day are posted BEFORE all of the credits. So overnight the Debit purchase you made was deducted from your balance before the deposit was applied. Since you didn't have enough money to cover the debit(s), and in your post you admit that this was the case, you overdrafted your account.

Oh and if you do close out this account and go to another bank. If you don't change what you do, don't expect the end result to be any different.

As pointed out in the previous response:

If you had used and paid attention to your check-register, you would not need to worry about your balance or any OD fees that may or have occur(ed).

From the original post:

>>B of A went on to explain that there were authorized charges being held against my account, which is why these charges were legitimate. When I asked why I couldn't see those authorized charges prior to them being accessed they explained they have a system problem that doesn't allow you to see these fees. Isn't that convenient.>When I contacted "Customer Service" they explained that the fees were legal based on their policies. So, if you put it in writing that you are going to take advantage of someone...it's okay?>Bottom line is that my account was never OD...B of A even admitted this to me. According to them this is a timing issue. They "held" authorized charges that were going to be posting to my account prior to me making a deposit--even though they were both on the same day.>I knew these charges would be coming out which is why I deposited money....duh. I'm not an idiot and I know how a checking account works.>Apparently B of A didn't get enough of our money from the TARP and now need to invent ways to overdraw peoples accounts in order to get additional income.>Bottom line is that B of A is unethical in this practice. Not that anyone at B of A cares, but I will be closing my bank account.>I'm just a lowely working fool who doesn't mean crap to B of A however I refuse to let this type of mismanaged, financial giant take advantage of me any longer. In addition, I will be filing a complaint with the banking regualtors as well as my elected officials. The $70 I was charged isn't the issue to me at this point, its the fact that this type of unethical behavior is practiced. At some point someone will have to take all the individual claims against B of A seriously and hopefully will do something about it.<<

If you want to write the banking regulators and your elected officials, it is your right. However, the bottom line is that you overdrafted your account and the bank charged you the fees that you agreed to when you opened the account. I should think that the time you'd spend writing letters would be put to better use filling out a check register.

Good luck to you.

I'm not going to go to much effort in responding to the people who have commented on my entry except to say that I do balance my checking account and you really shouldn't dismiss people when you don't know what you're talking about. I don't care if you think I'm to blame....you don't matter to me nor do you know the facts of the matter. B of A acknowledged that my account was never overdrawn...period....end of story...nothing more to say. The issue at hand here is timing (their words-not mine) and unfortunately I don't think this "timing" issue is accidential-it's quite profitable for B of A and it will continue. There are numerous other reports out here with the exact same concern. While I agree some of these instances can be dismissed as poor accounting practices or mistakes however don't be ignorant enought to think that all of them are.

My whole point in posting this information is to let others know that B of A has less than ethical standards and don't really care about their average customer.

My previous post was mangled. Here's Take Two.

From the original post:

"When I contacted 'Customer Service' they explained that the fees were legal based on their policies. So, if you put it in writing that you are going to take advantage of someone...it's okay?"

Not by itself. You laso have to agree to the terms and conditions when you open the account...which you presumably did.

"B of A went on to explain that there were authorized charges being held against my account, which is why these charges were legitimate. When I asked why I couldn't see those authorized charges prior to them being accessed they explained they have a system problem that doesn't allow you to see these fees. Isn't that convenient."

If you want to see all of the charges that you authorized, look in your ledger or check register. If they are properly filled out, all of your account activity can be easily checked.

"Bottom line is that my account was never OD...B of A even admitted this to me. According to them this is a timing issue. They 'held' authorized charges that were going to be posting to my account prior to me making a deposit--even though they were both on the same day."

This is all one needs to see. You did spend more than the available amount of funds in your account. Just because funds are deposited doesn't necessarily mean they are available. If you make purchases that exceed your total funds and then make a deposit, of course you are going to be charged overdraft fees.

"I knew these charges would be coming out which is why I deposited money....duh. I'm not an idiot and I know how a checking account works."

These two sentences contradict each other. The deposited funds need to be available before the charges are made.

"Bottom line is that B of A is unethical in this practice. Not that anyone at B of A cares, but I will be closing my bank account."

Why? Because you overdrafted your account and are mad that you received the charges that you agreed to when you opened the account? That just seems to be an emotional act that doesn't address the fact that you need to change the way you manage your finances.

"I will be filing a complaint with the banking regualtors as well as my elected officials. The $70 I was charged isn't the issue to me at this point, its the fact that this type of unethical behavior is practiced."

It couldn't have been too unthecial since you agreed to pay these charges when you signed the account agreement. The bottom line is that a bank cannot force you to overdraft your account. That takes a person who willingly authorizes transactions that exceed their their available funds. The time you spend writing banking regulators and your elected officials will be put to better use maintaining a check register and ledger.

From the update:

"I'm not going to go to much effort in responding to the people who have commented on my entry except to say that I do balance my checking account and you really shouldn't dismiss people when you don't know what you're talking about."

There really isn't much you can say. By your own words you exceeded your available funds.

"I don't care if you think I'm to blame....you don't matter to me nor do you know the facts of the matter. B of A acknowledged that my account was never overdrawn...period....end of story...nothing more to say."

The facts as you presented them indicate that this is not a ripoff on the part of the bank. That's the end of the story.

"The issue at hand here is timing (their words-not mine) and unfortunately I don't think this 'timing' issue is accidential-it's quite profitable for B of A and it will continue. There are numerous other reports out here with the exact same concern. While I agree some of these instances can be dismissed as poor accounting practices or mistakes however don't be ignorant enought to think that all of them are."

I don't think that all of them are due to poor account management. However, most of them obviously are, including this one.

"

My whole point in posting this information is to let others know that B of A has less than ethical standards and don't really care about their average customer."

And my whole point is to help people see how checking accounts work so that they don't wind up paying ridiculous overdraft fees.

Martin,

Nobody is calling you stupid, but neither are we!
We understand what your complaint is, HOWEVER, it is NOT a valid one.

You do not understand the "funds availability" policy that you agreed to when you opened the account, nor do you PROPERLY maintain a checkbook register.
That is obvious from your posts.

In the same business day, checks/charges will post BEFORE deposits/credits.

This means that you need to have adequate funds posted and available PRIOR to INITIATING a transaction.

If you would do this, the order of transactions would be absolutely irrelevent.
Therefore, you would have no NSF fees.

I very seriously doubt that any BofA representative told you that you had no overdraft condition on your account.

If they did say this, then you would have gotten your money back, as they would have admitted fault, right?

The facts here show, by your own admission, that you had pending "authorized transactions" BEFORE you made the deposit. That is the problem here that caused the legitimate fees.

When you use a debit card the transaction legally occurs when you swipe the card. If your account does not have adequate available funds at that instant, then you are overdrawn. There is no possibility at that point of beating the transaction to the bank, it's already a done deal.

Edge and Steve make very valid points. This isn't a BoA issue, you're likely to encounter it most anywhere. My own personal reccomendation would be to can the debit card and go back to using checks and cash. Not quite as convenient, but at least you stand a fighting chance.