Quote:
Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk
Like anything else when it comes to bills...you pay on time they leave you alone.  |
You'd assume so, but the practices banks sometimes use to rig the system make it so that even "paying on time" doesn't guarantee anything.
If they can get away with it, they will process a day's transactions starting with the largest to the smallest debit, and ending with any deposits/credits, regardless of the order in which the transactions actually occurred. Consequently a deposit made at the opening of business and that the customer thinks will cover any expenditures made later that day, will actually do nothing of the kind according to the bank. The bank may finalize all the electronic debits first and "pend" the deposit (even an electronic one) until they've racked up as many overdraft fees as possible.
My paycheck goes in by direct deposit at the start of business on payday and will still sometimes show as "pending" after the end of business on that day when I check. I don't pay any bills out of that money until the next business day when it's no longer shown as "pending" and I don't care what they tell me my "available balance" is.