Wachovia Bank Charged NSF Fees with Plenty of money in my account Internet

when you make a purchase, we set the funds aside for the merchant..then the merchant sends us a receipt. then we post the transaction. if your purchase made on the 4th gets us their receipt before the purchase on the 3rd, we pay it first. hate to break it to you, but its done by computer..a wachovia employee doesnt sit there and say, oh lets put this through first so he gets 3 nsf instead of one! besides, what makes you think wachovia wants a customer that cant keep a positive balance in the first place? you think your hurting us by SAVING us money that we shell out to pay for your over authorizations, whether its one or 3? of course we charge a fee, this is not a LOAN, we do not HAVE to pay your purchases if the money is not available..you should not try to over authorize at all, whether it only be one time or more! a "checking account" is NOT a line of credit..therefore, any attempt to treat it as such SHOULD be assessed a fee! a fee, that i might add, was outlined to you in the packet you received upon opening your account..which i will assume you did not read, because if you thought 35.00 was such a rip-off, you should closed your account imemdiatly, and certainly should not have attempted to spend more than available, regardless as to how they post!

Well it seems that the White House has FINALLY listened to consumer complaints and announced today that Banks will have to secure their customers' consent before charging large overdraft fees on ATM and debit card transactions. YEAH!!!!

"The rule responds to complaints from consumer groups, members of Congress and other regulators that the overdraft fees are unfair because many people assume they can't spend more on a debit card than is available in their account. Instead, many banks allow the transactions to go through, then charge fees of up to $25 to $35.

For small purchases, such as a cup of coffee, the penalty can far exceed the actual cost of the transaction.

Under the Fed's new rule, which will take effect July 1, banks will be required to notify new and existing customers of their overdraft services and give customers the option of being covered. If customers don't "opt in," any debit or ATM transactions that overdraw their accounts will be denied, Fed officials said.

Many consumers do want checks and regular electronic bill payments to be covered in the event of an overdraft, Fed officials said. As a result, those transactions aren't covered by the rule.

Banks earn as much as $25 billion to $38 billion annually from overdraft fees, Fed officials said, but that total includes check overdrafts.

Many larger banks, including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo & Co. began instituting similar "opt-in" plans in late September after coming under fire for the fees.

But consumer groups and other regulators, including Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair, said new rules were still necessary to ensure smaller banks followed suit.

Many lawmakers have criticized the Fed for failing to provide sufficient consumer protection in the past, a defect they say contributed to last year's financial crisis. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., on Tuesday introduced a bill that would strip the Fed of its consumer oversight.

Dodd also proposed legislation last month that would have imposed limits similar to the Fed's on the banks' ability to charge overdraft fees."

It's about friggin' time!  

Actually...my statement is true.  I did have plenty of money to cover all the debits on my account and there were deposits being made...from my savings (which is supposed to be a mechanism for overdraft protection).  What I am saying is true.  They charged me Overdraft Fees for no reason.  I had money to cover every single debit I made.  It is a bank error.  Not my error.  I do keep a register.  I had enough money in my account...with money to spare after my expenses.  So, Wachovia has given me a credit...and I am hoping to receive the rest back shortly.  I spoke with a bank manager and even she says what they did was messed up.  So, please understand...you can't be so skeptical to blame the consumer...why do you want to argue that someone who is probably making a mistake is me?   Some people are honest...and I happen to be one of them.  But, since you don't know me...you don't know...so I don't hold any ill feelings toward your scathing responses.  Good luck in your search for the truth in these postings.  Hopefully you will open your minds and hearts.  Good day!

This report doesn't really make sense.

First, how would the bank even know about the large debit if it "wasn't a transaction until the next day"? Without a crystal ball, I can't see how they have the foresight to charge an overdraft fee for a transaction that will be conducted in the future.

I think what you mean to say is that something, somewhere, is telling you that this debit did not or should not have posted and/or affected your available balance until the next day.

But if that is the case, then your only real complaint is that the bank's system didn't allow you to pull a fast one.

And here's where the math really falls apart: no money was ever put into this account during these couple days, right? So, while two debits from day one arguable could have gone through if the big debit was delayed, it still would have been the big debit, not overdraft fees, that put you in the negative on day two.

So either way, overdraft fees were not the reason for bouncy debits on day two.

The first $105.00 actually was what made my account be overdrawn

- You don't have plenty of money if a transaction you made causes you to be overdrawn.  Because if you truly had "plenty of money" for ALL of your transactions you wouldn't have overdrawn, no matter how they process the transactions.

You didn't say how you are managing your account, so hopefully you are using a register and not relying on on-line banking.  If you keep low balances you must keep a very good track of your account.  This means that you need to write down each and every transaction you make.  Unless you have the money available in your account do not spend it. 

You also didn't say what these transactions were made up of.  But in addition to a register look into "opting out" of the Overdraft Protection.  This is where they will decline your debit card if you are currently negative.  It does not stop checks or other ACH transactions.  So it is not a free pass to no longer manage your account.  It may not have even helped in this situation.