Bank Plus BankPlus Overdraft Fees, NSF Fees, Stacking the Deck Jackson Mississippi

It is very obvious that your mind is stuck on "Bank evil...Me good", so anything I say will unfortunatly be lost on you.  So I am actually aiming this at other people who actually have an open mind and may learn something.

First of all regardless of if you overdraft by $1 or $1000 you are using the BANK'S money and it is like a line of credit.  As such they get to dictate the terms of your use of that.  This was all spelled out in the terms you agreed to and ADMITTED you received, and signed(either digitally or in person) that said you did read and understand them.

 Let me handle a few of your latest inaccuracies.

Why do banks let you overdraft your account? Because they want to save you the embarrassment of a “declined” transaction? -  Because they are just good hearted people? -  OR - because they make millions of dollars off of people’s mistakes?

- This is truly a useless argument.  This may be a shock but they are a business and as such as a business they have a right to decide what they want to do.  Because remember the overdraft is 100% optional, and all a person has to do to not get hit with all of these fees is to manage their account.

Why can one NOT - OPT OUT of OD “Protection”?? Simply treat my check card like a credit card….when the $$ is gone – decline the transaction!!

- Ummm, you CAN do that NOW..it is FEDERAL REGULATION.  You just have to contact your bank and make sure you "opt-out" of the Debit Card Overdraft Proection.  Then anytime you attempt a Point of Sale or ATM transaction and there is not currently enough available to handle that transaction your purchase will be declined.

Although a few warnings.  It ONLY covers ATM and Point of Sale.  It also only covers based on your current available.  So if you make a purchase for $10 and have $20 in your account but you have a $50 check outstanding..it will be approved because the $50 check has not hit your account yet.  When your $50 check hits you will overdraft.  It also won't cover "pending" transactions.  Once a transaction is "pending" and if you happen to go from positive to negative before it is finally posted you will still be hit with an overdraft fee because by regulation the "pending" transaction has to be paid.

If you write a check or have an ACH transaction come through with a negative balance the bank has the right to either approve or decline the transaction. But don't think if they decline that transaction you escape any fees, you will be hit with an NSF fee by your bank as well as a returned check fee by the company that submited it.  This is not just this bank..this is EVERY bank.

What justifies a $36.00 overdraft fee? Meaning – in what way is the bank harmed in approving a negative transaction?

- Go take a basic banking economics class and learn all about the negative impact it causes.

But you want to know the entire killer in this entire thing. 

You didn't even read the links you posted, as basically there was one that describes EXACTLY what I suggested YOU do to AVOID these fees.  So I suggest that anyone who wants to actually avoid overdraft fees read the very good article that you posted entitled "Why a Third of Americans Treat Checking Accounts Like Payday Loans".

Some of the highlights

75% of the Overdraft Fees are paid by 8% of the Customers.

Approx 50% of the people who admitted to overdrafting also said that they did not know their account balance.

WOW..just..WOW.  The plus side is that 92% of the people "get it", and if we could just get the remaining 8% to take responsibility 75% of these nasty overdrafts would just go away.  No government Regulation..no forcing the banks to do certain things..just regular people taking responsibility for their actions.

But then the other sad part is you get the 11% or so that intentionally overdrafted because the fee was less than the purchase....Really?  Sorry but you can't legislate away stupid.

In closing I will say one other thing.  I personally dispise overdraft fees and since I do I will do everything in my power to avoid them.  But I really have no pitty on people who constantly overdraft and then want to blame the bank when the bank does exactly what it said they would. 

So instead of spending all of this time trying to get the bank to change, perhaps you should work on the small percentage of people and help them learn to manage their account.

Gentlemen, I appreciate the long winded rants and lectures on money management! However, I was hard pressed to actually find anything relating to the issue at hand which is the abusive OD practices of Bank Plus.

Robert you stated that “Your Checking Account is not a line of credit”… I know! And I DON’T want it treated like one!!!!!…. Tell me this….

1. Why do banks let you overdraft your account? Because they want to save you the embarrassment of a “declined” transaction? -  Because they are just good hearted people? -  OR - because they make millions of dollars off of people’s mistakes?

1. Why can one NOT - OPT OUT of OD “Protection”?? Simply treat my check card like a credit card….when the $$ is gone – decline the transaction!!

1. What justifies a $36.00 overdraft fee? Meaning – in what way is the bank harmed in approving a negative transaction? There is NO loss of any kind to the bank……

Off subject – Common Core will ultimately prove that 1+2 DOES equal 5!

Also concerning the class action suits …. Please refer to

http://www.responsiblelending.org/overdraft-loans/tools-resources/overdraft-news.html

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/overdraft-fees/

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/bank-overdraft-fees-news-and-analysis?page=2

TYG – You stated that banks do re-arrange transactions after the fact and normally from largest to smallest. So let me ask you why they do this….??

1. Because they want to make sure the most expensive items are covered? Again being good Samaritans….
2. OR – because it brings the account negative quicker….and all the smaller transactions will result in OD fees?? – Why re-arrange at all? Seems logical to post transactions as they happen don’t it? There is no reason to re-arrange if everything will be covered anyway is there?

** YES I am aware that staying out of the red is MY responsibility! And 98% of the time I do! I just hate being raped for 100’s of dollars when times get harder than anticipated.

- If you truly understand that is it YOUR responsibility..then you MUST also ACCEPT the concequences of your actions. In this case Overdraft fees and how your transactions are posted. This may come as a shock to you but a bank is not a charity. Your Checking Account is not a line of credit. And you can not expect a bank to change their policies because things are a little tough.

(rant) By the way...if you want to know what it feels like to be raped...go to a womans shelter or Rape Support group and use those sames terms you used here with them. Let us know how that goes (end rant).

Anyways if you truly hate it..then do something about it. For starters DON'T spend more money than you have available. If you are somone who thinks times are tougher than you thought, then perhaps buying that $1.50 movie or cup of coffee isn't the soundest use of your money. Oh but you say you want those. Okay, I am not saying you can't but if you buy them when things are tough, you have to accept the consequences because YOU agreed to them.

If you want to really save for the unexpected...do this. EVERYTIME the urge to get coffee or a movie hits you, take that money and put it into a savings account. This way if you get some unexpected expense, guess what? You have a little savings to help. Oh and don't say..well "$1.50" here and there won't help. Oh yea...well remember that $1.50 came with a huge overdraft fee.

Do you realize the amount of time you are spending TRYING to prove THEM wrong, you could spend a fraction of the time managing your account by the use of things such as a written register and never have to worry about going into overdraft..well that is unless you continue to do it intentionally and in that case no one can help you if you are unwilling to help yourself.

So let's get back to school and educate you on a few things....

Granted Bank Plus will credit back a PORTION of the very FIRST incident (which is suspicious in its self!) but after that they don’t want to hear it.

- Suspicious? Really? What is suspicous about a company giving the benefit of the doubt that a customer made a mistake and didn't really know. Absolutely nothing, but it is also up to that same customer to then realize they need to pay attention to their account to avoid future "mistakes".

Bottom-line: Many other banks have successfully been sued via class-action for this unethical malpractice. One of note which is local to me is Trustmark Bank.

- Have you read the suits? No of course not. As when you do you will find that not a single suit made the way a bank processes transactions illegal. Those suits had to do with NOTIFICATION, which by your own admission is meaningless in your case as it was in your terms that you signed when you got the account.

**This practice clearly and directly abuses the poor and lower middle class that lives paycheck to paycheck. And in MS we certainly have plenty of those.

- Ah the incorrectness of your statement is just glaring. It has NOTHING to do with the income level of a person, it has to ONLY do with how a person manages their account. They can live paycheck to paycheck and as long as they don't attempt to spend more than they have available. In the past I have taken my account down to under $1 and guess what...not a single OD Fee. Because regardless of how the bank arranges transactions it is IMPOSSIBLE to overdraft the account if you do not spend more than you have available. Don't believe me, okay take 1+2 and make it add up to 5.

Of course if you still want to use your Checking Account as a line of credit and don't like this bank. Then go out and find another bank that will let you do that. Oh and when you find one..be sure to let everyone know. Or better yet, why not get a Credit Card to use to even out your "cash flow" issues, or should I guess and say that you can't get one? Or is it a case you don't want to get one because of the Interest. Well every regular credit card has a "grace period" that is a period of time before you are charged interest. If you truly are just using this to cover the gaps, as soon as your DD comes in you pay off the CC..voila..no interest.

 As I understand it, if YOU don't have the money in the account, then its YOUR fault. PERIOD!!!! You can whine and cry about it but it boils down to a very simple fact. YOU over spent. YOU didn't have enough money to cover YOUR purchases. HOW is it the banks fault when they charge YOU the NSF? I know its unpleasant but its NOT the banks fault that YOU spent more money then you actually had. Banks "reorder" by most expensive to least expensive. NOT in the order in which you made your purchases. By the time the most expensive ones are paid YOU are overdrafted and THAT IS ALL!!!! Its not some massive conspiracy to make money. The American consumer has no problem spending other ppls money. From credit cards to NSF. The American consumer willingly goes over what money they have to spend, so there is no need to generate "extra" fees. Many times the issue is just bad information. Such as making a purchase then checking your account. YOU will have assumed that the purchase YOU just made is included in the amount on your account. But many ppl don't realize that banks do their reconciliation AFTER the bank has closed. Roughly around 11pm-12am. What that means for YOU is that YOU checked your account but your most recent purchases HAVE NOT HIT YET!!!! Which means YOU have bad information. Information that if you took it at face value would cause an overdraft fee. I have found that if I make a purchase BEFORE I check my account balance, however much I spent I immediately take that much off the amount shown. That way Im 100% sure im not going to overspend. Just a tip take it for what its worth. Just remember there is no grace period on YOUR money. If YOU have over spent by even a PENNY, you will be charged the overdraft fee. Even if you get money into the ATM to cover any overdrafts, its NOT going to protect you. Banks do "pay outs" BEFORE they do "Pay ins". The only way to ensure accuracy is to GO INTO THE BANK!!!! Make your deposits IN THE BANK. This way YOU can ask the bank teller if the money you have deposited will be in there NOW instead of tomorrow.