Wachovia Bank Make the first $100.00 on atm deposits available, then charge fee when used. Raleigh North Carolina

I keep a tight checking account. I made a deposit after the cut off time of 4pm through the wachovia atm at the branch. After making the deposit, the available balance rises the first $100.00 of the deposit. So in other words if you have $100.00 already in the bank, you make a deposit of $500.00 through the atm; just after the deposit you check your balance; the available balance increases to $200.00 and you have to wait for the deposit to post before the rest of the deposit shows.

The problem came about after such a deposit. I used the debit card to make a purchase and since the transaction went over the original $100.00 ,(but was less than the $200.00 limit), they sent the transaction in overdraft and charged a fee. I was told that if I would have just taken cash out of the atm no overdraft fee would have been charged. When I looked at the website at the transactions, they showed the deposit first, then the debit just as it should have been.

How can this be legal. If they are not going to allow the funds to be used they need not show them to be available This seems like a bait and switch type thing, where they make the funds appear to be available, but when the customer tries to use them, (other than at the atm), they send the transaction to overdraft.

They don't decline the transaction, they just charge the $22 or whatever overdraft fee is.

This caused two transactions of mine to go into overdraft, when I called and asked for the refund of fee, they agreed to give half back, but this is not good enough. For now, I have not been able to get the other half of the fees back. No telling how many customers are having the same issue and are being charge fees like this. I am not sure how this can be legal because it seems to be deceptive.

I'm sorry to hear that this happened to you. But as you found out, if you make an ATM depsoit after cut off time (4 PM) the money will show as available and you will be able to use it for purchases, ATM withdrawals, etc. However it is not available to cover anything that posts from your account that night. The best thing to do is if the deposit is after 4 PM don't use the money until the next day. That way the depsoit would credit to your account before anything posts. I'm sorry that you have only gotten half of the fees refunded, especially if this was the first time that this has happened to you. We understand the problem and put in customer listening forms, but until the procedure is changed, that's the way things are. I know it doesn't help you but my understanding from some of the posts her from other banks this happens a lot. Believe me, the customer service reps would like to see it available if it says it is or to not show as available if it's not.

This seems like a ridiculous policy to me specially in light of the fact that DEPOSITS MADE AT THE ATM RIGHT OUTSIDE THE BANK have a cut-off of 4PM.

So ... when you hand cash to a teller for deposit they can verify your identity, count the cash but if the deposit is made after 2pm you will only have access to your money the day after next. However, if you take the same cash, stick it in an envelope and deposit it to the ATM OUTSIDE the bank it will post that evening and be available next day. This discrepancy is RIDICULOUS.

All cash deposits made by end of business should post to the account the same day (or preferably IN REAL TIME).

Let's look at it another way since Wachovia is so fond of making funds UNAVAILABLE immediately upon a debit transaction (even charging UNAVAILABLE FUNDS fees even though an item hasn't posted yet). Why not be consistent and make the cash deposit AVAILABLE, i.e. it shows up applied the AVAILABLE FUNDS BALANCE in real time ????

Well we all know the answer ... it is that the longer the funds are UNAVAILABLE, the more likely it will be that the account might overdraft. PLAIN AND SIMPLE.

the items processed through the teller have to be packaged and processed. The cashier has to close out the current cash drawer and balance the transactions that they have processed. To make sure that this is completed within the time frame required Wachovia has established a 2 PM teller cutoff and 4 PM ATM cutoff.

But then again if you are rushing to the bank to make a deposit to cover money you have already spent, you're wrong. The proper, legal way is to deposit the money and then spend it. it is illegal to write checks or make DBC purchases without the money already in your account to cover that transaction.

I think its fine for the bank to have the cut off time for deposits. But what I don't agree with is the bank telling/showing that funds are available for withdrawal; then when the funds are withdrawn, charge a overdraft fee. This is wrong. Transactions should be time sensitive, in that after 2pm or after 4pm all transactions are posted the next day.

Not to allow debt or check card transactions, but to allow the money to be withdrawn from the atm is a sham. The money is still coming out of the bank any way its being used.

Sure the bank has a right to just allow atm withdraws after this kind of deposit; but if a balance inquiry is made after the deposit there should be a notice that these funds are only available through the atm and not a general funds are available message

The programmers that write this code, how much trouble could it be for them to put a statement on the balance inquiry stating that the money is only available at the atm. This is just a print statement.

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No, the bank clearly wants customers to overdraft, no reminder that this is only available through the atm, no nothing, please use the money that you don't have via check card or debt card so I can charge the overdraft and make more money.

Customer service?

I seriously don't understand these issues with people and overdrafts. The bank will not know about every transaction whether it is pending or not. It depends on the merchant when the batch is sent. iTunes and gas stations are notorious for this. iTunes will take mininum 3 days for an item to show up on your bank statement as pending, and gas stations will only deduct 1 dollar until they send their batch to the bank. iTunes, you can't really get around short of using a gift card every single time, but gas stations, select the debit option, and the amount will show up as pending immediately.

I suspect you had to have a 2nd charge at the very least for you to be in overdraft since you said you had 100 - deposited 500 - showing the available balance for 200. Otherwise, you purchase between 100 and 200 should have been fine unless Wachovia took away the 100 dollars that was credited on the deposit.

I do think cash should post immediately, whether it is the ATM or inside the branch. To the person that works for a bank, does the ATM reconcile cash deposits after each one? What happens if someone breaks into an ATM and steals all the cash that was deposited in it, what would happen to the customer's deposits that were made?

The posting date is never available for any bank online. That is why you should deduct the amount from your register (in my case, I use Quicken) immediately, so you know what is in your account because the available balance is never right.

if a deposit is made through the ATM after cutoff, $100 is shown as available and can be used for purchases, ATM withdrawals, etc; but that $100 is not available/posted that night. It can not be used to cover anything posting that night, but the use of it for DBC purchases can lead to OD fees being accessed on anything posting that night. If you have a Wachovia account and this has happened to you, please call in and request a customer listening form be done to try and change this.

Usually I agree with the keep a register response, but in this situation it is not the correct response.

The first $100 of the deposit can be withdrawn from the atm and this will not cause any problems with overdrafting the account. Only if a check card purchase or a debit card purchase is made using the same "available funds" does the problem happen. What is the difference between taking the money out of the atm or using the money as a debit or check card purchase? The money is still out of the account. This is where the problem is. This is a proecessing thing that the bank is doing to rip folks off.

Showing money available, in my mind, means it should be available for use, regardless of the posted balance or what the posted balance will be later that afternoon or the next morning. As long as the available funds are there.

In my case the posted funds and available balance never showed below zero, according to the transactions listed on the website, but I still was considered overdrafted for some reason.

What happens when uncle sam puts in a direct deposit. The money shows available not posted, yet they allow access to this money without issues like this.

How many millions is wachovia making on these kind of fees? Sounds like a scam to me.

The same thing happened to me. I made 2 CASH deposits yesterday, both to the teller, and after two. I was told cash is available immediately. I checked online and my "available" included my 2 cash deposits. Only once the money was showing available in the account, did I pay a bill. Well today I have 140.00 in four overdraft charges, even though I have no negative balance. I called and was told that the cash is NOT available. I told him that I was told yesterday the cash was available and it was showing available online, he tells me first that it isn't saying that, that it's saying available on 3/23/09. I told him I am not an idiot and I am looking at it right now and it is showing available as of today (3/21/09) and it is including my deposits from yesterday. He then says even if it is showing available online it isn't. According to Wachovia, "cash does show as an immediate credit, however it is not really". So basically even if my cash deposits are showing available they aren't, but because I had a pending hold for the bill I paid, anything that posted is subject to an overdraft charge. So why then does it show up as being available?? If I deposited a check it wouldn't show up as available until the next day. So basically they tell you when you deposit the cash it is available and online it states available, however once you spend it they tell you a different story.

Pretty much when you deposit cash, it is available, but not really... however pending hold will cause you to suffer an overdraft fee, even if the cash that is available, but not really available is showing on your account. If I had spent the money which resulted in the pending holds, causing overdraft charges, then it would be my fault, no problem. HOWEVER WHEN YOU SPEND MONEY THAT IS AVAILABLE IN YOUR ACCOUNT AND THEN ARE CHARGED OVERDRAFTS THERE IS A PROBLEM!!!!! Especially when you are told sorry we told you it was available, because it really isn't HAHA we tricked you!!!!!