Wachovia Bank N.A. Wells Fargo Company Erronious assessment of NSF Fees Charlotte, North Carolina

Actually this is already available of Wachovia. However a little explaination is needed. This is talking about the use of your debit card only. If you opt out, then your card will only be approved if the transaction is less than your current available balance. If you have $20 available and try to spend $20.01 it will be declined. But if you have checks or automated debits that your didn't list in your register then when they are presented they may cause OD fees to be accessed. The only way to prevent any OD fees is to keep an accurate register, subtract all card usage, checks, auto debits when you authorize them, add deposits when they are available in your account. Keep this register balance positive and you will get no OD fees.

The way Wachovia posts is this: Take the posted balance from the previous business night, subtract the entire amount of holds giving available balance, add any deposits and credits for that business day, subtract debits from largest to smallest. Any item that posts to a negative available balance or negative posted balance will be accessed an OD fee. Hope this explains what happened.

You can find a local bank or credit union that will have more fair and customer friendly policies. I was recommended to a several credit unions from friends..and they all have better policies for the consumers. Overdraft forgiviness..checks clear much quicker..direct deposits available sometimes 24 hours sooner, much lower fees and actually show concern to thier customers if a problem or issue arrises.

Again..it is still up to you to know what is in your account vs. what you spend..but sometimes circumstances happen in which we would think a bank would work with us..but it seems these days they work more against us. For whatever laws they have..the banks do at times try to skate around them..same if you report fraudulent activity or a dispute..many banks tell the customer there is "nothing we can do"..when they know d**n well the customer is supposed to be given a Federal Regulation E dispute form, which can easily be faxed or mailed to them.

I am not a big fan of Government intervention (they should never have given these banks a dime IMO..now they own the problem)..but sometimes our lawmakers can actually come up with laws that can help keep us from getting fleeced by shady deals, and that at least gives you something back for your tax dollars.

I'm usually one to side against the banks as well, but yours is clearly an issue of over-reliance on the automated system.

It is convenient to have your account information available with the click of a mouse, but you MUST still keep track of your balance independently. The automated system has these "lags" built into it, and sometimes they seem rather dubious.

But in your case, the only real issue you have is that the bank continued to allow you to conduct transactions when you had no money in your account, for which you were subsequently penalized.

In general, I would recommend that everyone switch to a small, locally owned bank or a credit union. This particular OP would have experienced the same problem regardless. But you're much less likely to run into traps that seem downright fraudulent, and much more able to correct errors, when you're not dealing with a "mega-bank."  

As for the second rebuttal, I don't agree that the cards are entirely stacked against the consumer per the law. There are laws in place to protect consumers from many egregious practices that banks undertake on a regular basis.

Regulation cc, for example, places limits on deposit holds, and states that any hold that is "unreasonable" is illegal. I once deposited a large, certified check into a Chase account. After five days of waiting for Chase to release GUARANTEED funds, I called the issuing bank, who informed me that the check cleared the day after I deposited it, and that Chase had possession of the funds the day after that.

Within a half hour of explaining to the branch manager that it was "unreasonable" for them to hold my funds past the second day, and that the continued hold violated Regulation cc, the money was available.

Lesson learned by me: familiarize yourself with the laws and regulations applicable to banks, and don't be afraid to throw around some threats of legal action.

Lesson hopefully learned by the OP: get your money out of the big banks, and never depend on your online statement.

 

This may surprise some of the bank defenders..because I generally place most of the blame on the banks..but in this case you admit in your first sentence..."With an account balance of nearly $500 on Friday, I made several transactions over the weekend.  When I check my account balance on Monday, I find that I have only $60 left in my account

.

In all honesty..you should know what is in your account already and not depend on the online statement.

I know the statements are deceiving..and the banks uses policies and tactics to make it easier to overdraft IF you depend on the statements only..and fee you more then you actually overdrafted for by re-sequencing the times of transactions...but you need to keep track yourself to help prevent this. There are lawsuits pending against many of the major banks due to this and you can do a Google search if you want to be involved. Or contact

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP
Michael W. Sobol, 415-956-1000
or
Bruce S. Rogow, 954-767-8909
Permalink: http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20091020005332/en/fee/overdraft/lieff-cabraser

or

Finkelstein Thompson LLP


Now when you say you were charged NSF fees..was this from writing checks or a debit card? Normally if you are using the debit card after the account is drained..the bank will cover it and charge you for an "overdraft fee".

You may want to consider opting out of overdraft protection..Wells Fargo will allow that soon...copied from a recent article...

Wells Fargo will eliminate overdraft fees for customers when they overdraw their accounts by $5 or less and will charge no more than four overdraft fees per day. In addition, Wells Fargo and Wachovia customers will be able to opt out of overdraft coverage, meaning customers can specify that they dont want their transactions authorized into overdraft if funds arent available to cover the transaction.

Now this does not excuse you from not keeping track and being responsible with your account to the penny...but it is added "protection" if you mess up again...the card will be declined at a point of sale or an ATM swipe if the funds are truly unavailable..even if the bank statement and your register says funds are available..we all can make a mistake..especially if we keep a low balance and use the card a lot..so if the card is declined it may be embarrassing and inconvenient..but at least you won't be charged hundreds of dollars in fees for a mistake or carelessness, a check deposit that takes too long to clear..a direct deposit that is late..an electronic payment that comes in early or any number of ways there are to mess up and unknowingly overdraft...and it will also protect the account being drained past zero due to fraud, theft, merchant and bank mysterious holds..and excessive check clearing times.

It seems easier to me then trying to have the bank explain what happened and they can't even explain it clearly. For me personally..I would never overdraft with intent since I use my card for small purchases often enough to know not to pay $35.00 for a coffee or burger..so I have no use for overdraft protection whatsoever. If you opt out just be careful if you still write checks because the bank could decline it..charge you an NSF..and then you may be charged to whomever you wrote the check to if it bounces. Now 2 fees are better then 4...but no fees are better then any.

ANYONE ELSE!!! Simply CANCEL your account with the bank NOW! Open up an account with a Credit Union in your town. The U.S. Legal System is also on the side of the large corporations like- Wachovia, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, Goldman Sachs, Toyota, GM, AIG.................... & all the others.