Citizens Bank Charging unethical overdraft fees! Riverside, Rhode Island

This is an honest question, not just to upset you. I am curious though, since you say you are a business owner, do you charge any type of fee for a person who bounces a check at your business? If so, what is it and why do you charge a fee?

Many of us happen to have bank accounts and we do not bounce them. I wonder why? I personally know on a daily basis, what my account is . I write it down, I know when all my utilities are withdrawn and I also write down in my check register every single check, deposit and withdrawl. Why? I do that because it has worked for many generations. I doubt you would be so understanding if someone consistently bounced checks at your place of business. It is time for you to begin to manage your bank account. There is not a reason to not have money in your account. If you truly do not have money in the account, then do not use the account. Honestly, this is not rocket science. It truly is 3rd grade math.

Can be found in the very first sentence of the original post:

>>Citizens Bank is ripping YOU off! They are charging YOU $39.00 everytime you go over the amount you have in the bank, even if by a penny.
There you go. We now know what triggers overdraft fees. Going over your account balance. Stop doing that.

Overdraft fees are charged per occurrence. If you went over by a penny or a hundred dollars, the fees are charged the same way. Not knowing your account balance is astounding to me. This is your money, wouldn't you need to know how much is in your account as you authorize transactions?

$3,000 is an outrageous amount of money to pay. As a parent of four, I am certain you can put that money to better use. That means you will have to carefully manage your accounts, know how much money is in there, when deposits are credited and how debits are processed.

Best of luck to you.

You failed to give the context of the Federal Register Posting.

The text you posted was a Rule from the PROPOSED "Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices". The section you posted has to do with your account being charged overdrafts only becase of "holds".

The OP did not mention a single thing about holds, only spending more than they have in their account. The OP does not want to take responsibility, instead they want someone to babysit their account. If they go over they want to be notified immediatly that they are over. Of course if you ask the OP to keep their own register that is expecting too much. But on top of that, they want 48 hours to rectify the situation.


As for the regulations, as far as I am aware this has not been enacted into law.

If you want to read the entire proposed law you can go to the following link.

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-10247.pdf

Also, it has to do with *holds* causing overdrafts.

Example would be:

You buy gasoline with $50 in the bank. Previously your bank only held $1. Now they are holding $75 for just swiping the card.

Your final bill ends up being $20. But they charge you an overdraft fee on the $75 when in fact you had sufficient funds for the settled amount.

That would be prohibited under the new regulation. The proposed regulations have been discussed on this site for months, and I agree with other posters that this will probably cause the banks to stop charging on holds, because if a hold is dropped without ever settling, it would be the same as a zero dollar transaction, which can't cause an overdraft. Also, I think the banks will begin to stop debit card use into the negative, and resume bouncing checks, so that $5 starbucks purchase that comes in before the mortgage payment, and then when the account will go overdraft by one penny if they clear the mortgage payment, well, they'll bounce the mortgage payment.

I have finally found PROOF that what this bank is doing is ILLEGAL. I have filed a formal complaint with the appropriate authorities. I am expecting a call from someone in their "internal legal department".

We have been assessed over $1700 in overdraft fees - NEVER ONCE WERE WE ACTUALLY NEGATIVE!!


The following is copied from the Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 97 / Monday, May 19, 2008 /
"Comment 32(b)1 as proposed
clarifies that the prohibition against
assessing an overdraft fee in connection
with a debit hold applies only if the
overdraft is caused solely by the
existence of the hold."

"Legal Analysis
Assessing an overdraft fee when the
overdraft would not have occurred but
for a hold placed on funds in the
consumer's account that is in excess of
the actual purchase or transaction
amount appears to be an unfair act or
practice under 15 U.S.C. 45(n) and the
standards articulated by the FTC.
Substantial consumer injury. There is
substantial injury to consumers from
incurring overdraft fees resulting from
debit hold amounts that exceed the
amount of the transaction. The effect
can be compounded if the consumer
conducts more than one transaction
overdrawing his or her account, as a fee
is generally charged each time the
consumer overdraws the account."

I hope they get theirs

How is this a rip off? You spent money that wasn't in your account! When you opened your account, the bank told you via their disclosures that if you did this you would pay the fee. You made the account overdraft - so the bank charged you.

"By allowing your debit card to work, even if there is not enough money in your account, they are profiting from you not knowing every single cent in your account"

Managing YOUR account is YOUR responsibility. If you choose to not know every single cent - you will incur fees, regardless of the size of the bank. Banks make lots of money on fees charged to people like you who refuse to take responsibility for your own actions. Don't use your debit card if you don't have any money in your account - the same as don't write a check when there are not funds to cover it.

Why would the bank offer a 48 hour grace period for your mistake? The old days of floating a check for a few days, or using a debit card thinking you have a few days to deposit money to cover it are gone. Get the money in the account, make sure it has cleared the banks Funds Availability Policy - then spend it. If you spend it before - you will suffer the consequences of fees.