Comerica Bank Overdraft fee ripoff Grosse Pointe Branch Michigan

Some of these comments are clearly written by Comerica employees.  Bank of America was sued for this very same thing and lost the class action suit.  These banks post transactions in a way that maximizes their fees, not in the order they occurred.  Other banks now offer the option to have your debit card decline if there is not sufficient funds.  This will prevent you from receiving a $35 nsf when you by a $3 coffee.

in may i had the same problem mi war $2500 in overdraft fee

if classaction let me know

Many people think Comerica is a sleazy bank. I sympathize with the victims of Comerica's devious and greedy practices. Comerica has a long record of acting against the public interest and charging customers high fees while providing poor service. Your best bet is to move your accounts to a credit union. Profit driven banks are simply vehicles for executives to loot the wealth of the population and tax payers.

One thing not metioned in this report is the fact that Comerica changed their posting practices about a year and a half ago and it is possible to receive a bank statement from them indicating overdrafts where your balance is never negative. Don't bank with these people, they are not honest.

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 monthly account 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 account 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. The Federal Reserve publishes a Consumer Compliance Handbook which gives detailed information about what banks can and cannot do with deposits, holds, and funds availability. You can download this handbook at http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/supmanual/cch/200711/cch200711.pdf

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.

What you need to do is change the way you manage your finances. There are two distinct areas in your report that indicate where your overdraft fees are coming from.

"I recently (in the month of May) incurred $1,000 in overdraft fees through usage of my debit card with my checking account. Many of these fees were caused by other overdrafts. Although, I monitor my account daily on line they claim that there are some differences in actual posting date and that reflected on line."

And...

"My contention is that if you have exceeded your balance the charge on the debit card should not go through, but obviously this is a way for them to charge their excessive and what should be illegal fees."


While you didn't come out and say so, I have to wonder if you are keeping a check register or a ledger. If you are using online banking to determine your account balance, you should stop doing that. That's not what the system was designed for and it's not accurate for that purpose.

As for your contention that the bank should deny charges if you don't have enough money to cover them... well, you can feel that way but it really comes down to what you and the bank agreed to when you opened the account. If Comerica is like most banks, the terms and conditions probably say that they may or may not pay transactions when there are not enough available funds and that the user will be charged overdraft fees.

$1,000 in overdraft fees is an outrageous amount to pay, especially in this economy. I hope that you can take control of your finances and put this behind you.

Best of luck to you.

So when did you stop keeping your own register? Because hopefully in your 25 years of experience you didn't go by the thought of "I can't be broke I still have checks left", and learned that keeping a register is the best way to know what you spent WHEN you spent it.

"My contention is that if you have exceeded your balance the charge on the debit card should not go through, but obviously this is a way for them to charge their excessive and what should be illegal fees."
- Your contention is WRONG. On-Line banking can not have 100% accuracy. Because it does not know of any purchases until the merchant submits them. It does not know of any checks or ACH transactions you made until they get received. Not only that but even if you have them block charges if it is negative you can still overdraft. A good example is if you go to a Gas Station, the pump will "authorize" $1. So as long as you have at least $1 it will be approved. However, if you have only $20 in your account and pump $50 you will overdraft when the station submits the actual amount. Because by regulations the bank can not decline an authorized transaction.

To incurr about $1000 in OD fees that is around 25-30 overdrafts. Which while you didn't say it sounds as if a majority of these fees were caused by your debit card and using it for small purchases.

The best thing you can do is start to keep your own register. Writing down each and every purchase, Check, and ACH transaction. Then don't spend money in your account until it is available. Take out a set amount of cash for those small purchases. If you do overdraft, only put money back until you are sure that ALL of your debits and credits are posted and you are back in a positive status.

As a note about "Overdraft Protection", again by government regulation you are limited to a set number of withdraws per year from any account classified as a "Savings" Account. If you constantly overdraft this "protection" will save you from the overdraft fees but you will have added fees for excessive withdraws.

The only one ripping you off is you. Don't expect when you remove your money that your next bank will be any different if you don't change your ways.