Wachovia Bank Wachovia charged me overdraft fees for purchases made prior to the date they were processed. Internet

Here are a few things that I think will help you avoid this confusion in the future.

1.) never write checks you don't have money in your account to clear today. With the advent of check 21, checks are clearing much faster, and you cannot be guaranteed it will not post in 1 day, like yours did. (check 21 allows merchants and banks to turn your physical check into an electronic version of itself to clear faster, see your bank for more information.)

2.) Regarding posting of debit card transactions - Keep in mind, when you go to a store and buy something, the bank does not own that machine, and the store doesn't own it. Visa owns that. The merchant submits an authorization to visa for the money, and then visa sends that authorization to the bank. This process can take multiple days. The bank has no idea when it will come through, but all major banks I am aware of will put those funds on hold the minute the merchant asks for the authorization to withdraw the $20 you just spent at wawa.

3.) posting order - Wachovia does post things largest to smallest as the last poster said, and it is with good reason. I would be incredibly pissed if my bank rejected a mortgage payment of mine and paid my $5 starbucks purchase instead.

4.) suggestions to avoid this in the future -
a.) Set up overdraft protection account. Wachovia and virtually evey other bank offers this service, some times free of charge to eliminate those $35 NSF fees.
b.) use a check register, write things down immediately when you do them, and not rely on a 1800 number or atm balances, b/c they might not have the most up to the minute b/c of the visa lag time.

You're rage and anger should be directed at yourself as you were the one who caused this problem. Let's clear some issues up for your education:

1. Banks hold debit transactions pending because the merchants you dealt with had not verified the transactions as accurate. The bank holds those transactions until the merchant approves the transaction and ONLY then is the money disbursed from your account.

2. If you read your account agreement, it gives the bank (and all banks have this in their agreements) the right to clear transactions in any order they wish and if they choose largest to smallest - so be it. Since it's your account, you agreed to having them post largest to smalest. BTW - they also post largest to smallest so as to make certain important transactions (like a mortgage) clear before your payment to Starbucks.

3. You may as well leave your money there and not close the account. I would invite you to do a search on any major bank out there - they all have complaints similar to yours, which means they're all the same.


Banks only administer your money - the responsibility for your money lies with you and you alone. STOP using online balances to check your balance, STOP using a debit card, and START using a check register. You'll never overdraw your account again if you do this correctly. Best of luck to you.

You're rage and anger should be directed at yourself as you were the one who caused this problem. Let's clear some issues up for your education:

1. Banks hold debit transactions pending because the merchants you dealt with had not verified the transactions as accurate. The bank holds those transactions until the merchant approves the transaction and ONLY then is the money disbursed from your account.

2. If you read your account agreement, it gives the bank (and all banks have this in their agreements) the right to clear transactions in any order they wish and if they choose largest to smallest - so be it. Since it's your account, you agreed to having them post largest to smalest. BTW - they also post largest to smallest so as to make certain important transactions (like a mortgage) clear before your payment to Starbucks.

3. You may as well leave your money there and not close the account. I would invite you to do a search on any major bank out there - they all have complaints similar to yours, which means they're all the same.


Banks only administer your money - the responsibility for your money lies with you and you alone. STOP using online balances to check your balance, STOP using a debit card, and START using a check register. You'll never overdraw your account again if you do this correctly. Best of luck to you.

You're rage and anger should be directed at yourself as you were the one who caused this problem. Let's clear some issues up for your education:

1. Banks hold debit transactions pending because the merchants you dealt with had not verified the transactions as accurate. The bank holds those transactions until the merchant approves the transaction and ONLY then is the money disbursed from your account.

2. If you read your account agreement, it gives the bank (and all banks have this in their agreements) the right to clear transactions in any order they wish and if they choose largest to smallest - so be it. Since it's your account, you agreed to having them post largest to smalest. BTW - they also post largest to smallest so as to make certain important transactions (like a mortgage) clear before your payment to Starbucks.

3. You may as well leave your money there and not close the account. I would invite you to do a search on any major bank out there - they all have complaints similar to yours, which means they're all the same.


Banks only administer your money - the responsibility for your money lies with you and you alone. STOP using online balances to check your balance, STOP using a debit card, and START using a check register. You'll never overdraw your account again if you do this correctly. Best of luck to you.

You're rage and anger should be directed at yourself as you were the one who caused this problem. Let's clear some issues up for your education:

1. Banks hold debit transactions pending because the merchants you dealt with had not verified the transactions as accurate. The bank holds those transactions until the merchant approves the transaction and ONLY then is the money disbursed from your account.

2. If you read your account agreement, it gives the bank (and all banks have this in their agreements) the right to clear transactions in any order they wish and if they choose largest to smallest - so be it. Since it's your account, you agreed to having them post largest to smalest. BTW - they also post largest to smallest so as to make certain important transactions (like a mortgage) clear before your payment to Starbucks.

3. You may as well leave your money there and not close the account. I would invite you to do a search on any major bank out there - they all have complaints similar to yours, which means they're all the same.


Banks only administer your money - the responsibility for your money lies with you and you alone. STOP using online balances to check your balance, STOP using a debit card, and START using a check register. You'll never overdraw your account again if you do this correctly. Best of luck to you.

Every major bank that I know of processes transactions from largest to smallest. In other words, this scenario would have played out exactly the same at Wachovia, US Bank, BofA, Wells Fargo, etc...

It was the check that you wrote that triggered the fees. In the future, I advise you to not write checks until the funds to cover it are fully available. You just can't risk floating checks anymore.

Switch banks if you want to, I'm just not sure why you think it will do any good or why you think the bank ripped you off.