Dade County Federal Credit Union Charged me a penaly for overpayment. Miami FL

When a person doesn't get the answer they want, it is typical on this site to go to the standard "You must work for them".  Well sorry to burst your bubble but this is a PUBLIC web site and no one who posted here works for a bank. In fact if you looked around this site you would see that we have been accused of working for everything from banks, to car dealers, to once when I was even accused of being the Chief of Police of a small town.

Obviously, the people that are contradicting my statements, work for banks. I have said very clearly that checks that are still in the process of being cleared, are included in the displayed balance, which is wrong and misleading.
- Or the people that are contradicting your statements are telling you that your belief of how checks are processed is incorrect.

Their goal is to make money as much as possible. A big part of their revenue comes from fines and penalties imposed on the customers. It does not surprise me to find these people defending the banks, since they work for them.
- So IF we really did work for banks and/or credit unions, and our goal is to make as much money as possible. Why would we tell you EXACTLY how to avoid such fees and penalties? We are telling you how to AVOID these fees.  

I encourage all customers who are facing situations like this, to file complaint with the Better Business Bureau and other organizations that protect customers. Do not allow people like this to lecture you, they are biased and are protecting their jobs.
- That is actually very hillarious. You go on about the bank, but have you looked at the BBB? First the BBB is NOT a Government agency and has ZERO authority over banks.   Second, the way a business becomes a member is to pay the BBB a fee. If you really think that they are really for the consumer just look up "BBB Pay for Play" and then come back and tell us what you think.

What you really should be doing is encourge all customers to properly manage their accounts by keeping a Written Register....Just like we are doing.

As usual, another person who thinks the people here work for banks.  The people who commented here are not bank employees.  We simply understand how to manage our money.

You have been explained why this is not misleading and your overall ignorance as to why is obvious.  Federal Banking laws require the bank to provide the first $100 of every deposit as immediately available, and the rest is shown as pending - pending amounts clear in 1-3 business days.  It works that way in banks and with credit unions. 

You cannot make a deposit and then immediately initiate a disbursement from the account - if you are going to assume your just deposited funds are available - they are not.  Even if you cannot clearly comprehend the online system, and the vast majority of people can, the only way those recently deposited funds can become available is with time.

The next time you make a deposit, keep in mind your funds are not available immediately.  Keep a check register as well and if you're going to depend on an online system for your banking (a bad move), at least learn from someone at the credit union so it doesn't happen again.

Obviously, the people that are contradicting my statements, work for banks. I have said very clearly that checks that are still in the process of being cleared, are included in the displayed balance, which is wrong and misleading. We have to tak into consideration that banks are for profit businesses.

Their goal is to make money as much as possible. A big part of their revenue comes from fines and penalties imposed on the customers. It does not surprise me to find these people defending the banks, since they work for them.

I encourage all customers who are facing situations like this, to file complaint with the Better Business Bureau and other organizations that protect customers. Do not allow people like this to lecture you, they are biased and are protecting their jobs.

If you maintained a check register than you would know there were not enough funds available. BUT what are you doing paying bills from a savings account?? Most use a checking account. And NO I do not work for this bank. I just know how to use a check register and manage my money proactively. 

In summary, they have problems with the way they display the balances on line, which mislead the customers.
- The only problem here is your failure to maintain a proper account register. Checks are not "posted" as soon as they arrive at the bank, the bank will post Checks, and most ACH Transactions in the overnight hours on regular Banking days. Yes, this means that if they have posted transactions to your account and another bank submits a check after that, it will not be until after the next business day when the check is actually "posted" to your account.  So contrary to your belief they did not "hide" any checks, they just were not posted yet due to the regular process every bank goes through.

The ONLY one to blame is you..well perhaps you and who ever else taught you how to manage a bank account.  This is not meant to be mean or rude, just a blunt statement of the facts.

If you haven't figured it out, the "fix" is easy. When ever you write a check, do a withdraw at a Point of Sale or ATM, or have some other transaction to withdraw funds you must write them down in a register and subtract it from your balance. If you do this, it doesn't matter when the item gets posted to your account, you know you have spent it and no longer have it available. If you don't have a register you can find many free one's on line, you may even be able to stop in a branch and ask them for one. They may even show you how to use one if you ask.

In the end if all this did was cost you $29, think of it as an expensive lesson. But not as expensive as it could have been, because there are people who continually overdraft because they refuse to manage their account.  Because of that they end up paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars in fees they don't need to.

The other factor here is you say you have a "Savings" account. If you are doing multiple withdraws on your account, or writing "checks" doing this off a Savings account is a very bad idea. As per FEDERAL guidelines there are limits to the number of withdraws you can make over a period of time on any account classified as a "Savings" account. If you reach those limits the bank(or Credit Union) is required by regulation to either start assessing you fees or convert you to a Checking Account.  Just something to think about.

What you see is what every system with every bank works.  You have to wait until the pending items clear and become available before you can access the funds.  You therefore need to look at what the Available Balance is if you have that many checks that get deposited at a time.  What if the checks were no good - then what?  Checks that are deposited will remain pending until 24-48 business hours - after that period the funds will be available for you to use.

There is no principle on which you can lean on to justify your position.  And no, I do not work for this or any bank.  This is how these systems work.