I deposited my paycheck as usual every other Friday, only this time I went to a branch that is not my usual branch. They indicated that, because of the Columbus Day holiday, they were going to put a hold on my paycheck until the following Tuesday. When I asked to speak to the manager, she would or could not explain to me why this payroll check, drawn on Wells Fargo Bank, was subject to this lengthy hold. She told me that it made no difference which branch I was going to, that the hold would be applied. I argued and pleaded, to no avail. Finally, I deposited the funds and left the bank. I received a statement from the teller indicating that I had a balance available of a little over a thousand dollars, funds that had been in the account prior to the held deposit.
The following day, which was Saturday, I checked my account online and learned that I was now overdrawn by $180 due to the bank processing items that had been "on hold" at the time of my deposit. Of course, I should have known that the bank had items "on hold" but looking at the statement given to me at the branch falsely suggested that funds were available. I made the mistake of purchasing something that Friday night using my ATM card, falsely assuming that I had funds available. That purchase now sits "on hold," as do several withdrawals that I scheduled earlier to be deducted on Monday.
When Monday comes along, I expect I will be charged NSF fees for those withdrawals and for my purchase of Friday night. That is in addition to the $60 they charged me for the $180 overdraft. To add insult to injury, the Customer Service people responded to my emailed complaint by stating that the funds will actually be held until WEDNESDAY, not Tuesday as I was told at the branch! This means there will be yet another day where I cannot access my funds, and where I will be open to multiple NSF fees.
I know there are people on this website who will chastise me for not being aware of the withdrawals that the bank had "on hold." And I know it is my fault for scheduling withdrawals with the assumption that my paycheck would be cleared by midnight on the day of deposit, as had been the case for the many years that I have had this account. As far as I know there is nothing I can do to prevent the hundreds of dollars of NSF fees that will be charged to my account prior to the funds being released.
Bottom line is, not only am I completely without funds for the next four days, I have no way of preventing the NSF fees that are certain to be applied to my account. I think that it is entirely unreasonable of Wachovia Bank to have placed a hold on a legitimate payroll check in the first place. It is also unreasonable of them to pay items for which there are insufficient funds; such withdrawal requests should be declined. Lastly, it makes it quite difficult to know what's going on with your account when items are held in this shadowy "on hold" status, and one doesn't know when they will be applied to one's account. I am extremely angry and upset at these developments and I feel helpless and used by this bank.
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