Bank Of America Unauthorized Fees Leading To NSFS! Took serivce charge on free accounts and charged me 350.00 in nsfs! 4 days later still trying to get relsolved! Roseville california

The reality is that using an account register and reconciling that register with a monthly account statement from the bank will prevent any account holder from causing any NSF/OD fees.

The majority (if not all) of the reports I've read about NSF/OD fees have common behaviors of the account holders:

using atm cards for everyday purchases.
using more than ONE card attached to the account (husband and wife)
using atm cards for online purchases.
using atm cards for 'auto-bill pay' (autodebits)
relying upon telephone or online account balances to determine what money is available for that shopping trip to Walmart.
*NOT using an account register.
*not reconciling an account register with the scheduled account monthly statement generated by the bank.

Ways to avoid these NSF/OD fees:

1. Use an account register and reconcile the account register with a monthly written statement generated by the bank. If the bank is not mailing statements, contact customer service to have monthly statements MAILED to you.

1a. Be aware of ATM fees, such as the 'non-bank ATM fee' that most banks charge when you use an ATM that is not owned by your bank to make a withdrawal and post that fee in your account register immediately.

1b. Also be aware of any monthly 'account service fee' charged by your bank and post that to your register on the appropriate date.

2. Do NOT GIVE bank account information (or ATM card info) to any merchant, service provider, utility, online service to pay for services and goods. Use a REAL credit card for this purpose (either secured cc or unsecured cc.) Do not setup any automatic deposit to an account that is attached to said cc-NO auto payments to CC company-mail a check each month. If the entity demanding payment makes a mistake, you're gonna have a host of problems and risk OD/NSF fees.

3. Do NOT use an ATM card for everyday expenses-USE CASH. Establish a monthly budget and withdrawal a weekly 'allowance' for every day expenses such as 'milk and bread' from the corner store, Burger King, etc. This will reduce the amount of transactions on the bank accout which in turn makes RECONCILING the account and detecting ERRORS easier to accomplish. Again, if the entity demanding payment makes a mistake, you're gonna risk NSF/OD fees.

4. Do not shop with the ATM card-use a real credit card. A real credit card offers protections that you don't have with an ATM card. If the merchant/service makes a mistake, you can dispute it with the CC company WITHOUT getting any OD/NSF. Not true if you use an ATM card-if the merchant makes a mistake, your money is gone until you can convince your bank to give it back, as well as OD/NSF fees.

5. ONLY ONE ATM CARD to one account. Do NOT have 2 or more atm cards for one bank account. Having 'his and hers' ATM cards attached to the same account is the same as in the old days when some folks would have 2 checkbooks for writing checks. It was an invitation to disaster then, and it is today.

6. Verify that deposits to the account have actually cleared. Deposits can take anywhere between 1 and 5 BUSINESS days to clear depending on the type and/or source of the deposit.

Follow ALL of these suggestions and you will NEVER pay an OD/NSF fee again unless it is a LEGITIMATE bank error, and then the bank will gladly and quickly rectify the situation and credit any fees generated as well as contact payees and cover any fees the payees assess to you.

This is a tried and true method to avoid these fees. It works EVERY TIME it's tried.

You state that you had $20 taken out of each account as a fee on what should be a free account. BofA doesn't offer free accounts per se, but it does waive service charges if you meet certain criteria such as carrying a certain daily balance, having a direct deposit, or maintaining an automatic transfer to a savings account. If your account didn't meet one or more of these criteria then this would explain why the $20 fee was applied.

As far as the NSF fees, you're stating that after the $20 withdrawal you had a balance of -$.74. This means your starting balance was $19.26. $350 in fees means you had 10 items post to your account while it was in an overdrawn state. Did you really have 10 items post to your account that added up to less than $19.26, or would those overdrafts had occurred regardless of the service fee? Something doesn't quite add up.

And, admins, is it really appropriate for Karl to post an "Erection Poem" on the site? I'd love for someone to tell me what that could possibly have to do with the consumer's complaint and how it meets the posting requirement that "Solid, productive criticism, your opinions and other comments accepted only" and that "all other nonsense will be ignored." How long will this be allowed to continue?

was just posted as an 'Update' to one of the Ripoff Reports here at the BANK OF AMERICA page. Go find it NOW!

SPREAD IT ALL OVER THE WORLDWIDE WEB!

More poems coming.


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