It's about time!

[gimpy117]

Finally somebody is bringing those banks to justice for their shady practices!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Judge-...36279.html?x=0
Ive been the brunt of these tactics too so im overjoyed. A 2 dollar overdraft ended up costing me 70 bucks .

[magic452]

I left Wells Fargo Bank for just that very thing maybe 15 years ago, so that is not a new practice.

They paid the one big check and bounced about 5 others.
After much complaining on my part they reversed all but one $30.00 fee.
After I got it all straightened out I never left the window but closed not only that account but my business account as well. You should have seen the girls face when I told her I wanted to close the accounts, like she couldn't believe it.

Magic

[SteamWake]

I had to go into a bitch fest at a bank once when there 'service fee' caused an overdraft on the account and I got charged 27.50 for an overdraft fee which triggered another 27.50 overdraft fee.

Almost all banks participate in this kind of practice most of it automated and frequently does stupid things like this that often go un-noticed by the average consumer.

Then they act as if they are doing us a favor by offering an 'overdraft protection' service (for a fee).

The solution is simple of course try to leave a positive balance though I know it can be hard sometimes.

[Jimbuna]

by changing its policies to process checks, debit card transactions and bill payments from the highest dollar amount to the lowest, rather than in the order the transactions took place. That helped drain customer bank accounts faster and drive up overdraft fees,

Quite a nice scam if you can get away with it

I hope the leeches in UK banking don't read that article

As SteamWake "leave a positive balance" if at all possible.

[mookiemookie]

Credit Unions are much more consumer friendly than banks.

Signed,
A former large bank employee.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

I had to go into a bitch fest at a bank once when there 'service fee' caused an overdraft on the account and I got charged 27.50 for an overdraft fee which triggered another 27.50 overdraft fee.

Yep. I was with a local bank known as Walker Bank, founded by Joseph Walker in the 1880s when he and his brothers became the bankers for the Park City miners. I was happy.

They became part of a group called First Interstate. I was happy.

That group got bought out by Wells Fargo, and that's when the fun started. Same exact thing. I'm poor, so I timed my spending right down to the dollar. Then an unanounced fee for something, $2.50 I think it was, triggered an overdraft which triggered another overdraft which triggered etc...

My my estimation Wells Fargo took more than $2000 out of my account over a ten-year period, and only a small part of it was actually my fault. Never again.

[AVGWarhawk]

What my bank does is use the money in your savings to pay the overdraft and charge $5.00 for the service. It sure beats the hell out of $33.00 they normally charge. I'm not a big fan of Wells Fargo. My car loan was sold them. Like anything else when it comes to bills...you pay on time they leave you alone.

[frau kaleun]

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.

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

What my bank does is use the money in your savings to pay the overdraft and charge $5.00 for the service. It sure beats the hell out of $33.00 they normally charge. I'm not a big fan of Wells Fargo. My car loan was sold them. Like anything else when it comes to bills...you pay on time they leave you alone.

That 'service' is not free, even if you never use it. It is part of your accounts maintance fee. Depending on your bank you can choose to opt out of it and save a couple of bucks a month. (Till that overdraft hits)

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

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.

No you cannot draw upon funds deposited for 24 hours. It used to be 48 hours till the feds busted their chops for investing 'your' money overnight on the foriegn markets and put a stop to that.

[AVGWarhawk]

That is wrong Frau. If there is an electronic transfer that money is to be available immediately. I think I would be having a discussion with the bank or find a new one. That is to much of a game that bank is playing. What I have seen credit card companies do is mysteriously change you due date. The reason is a person sets in their calender and in the brain when it is due. It becomes automatic after a while until you do not look at the due date at all. Just cut the check and send it. This is when the company changes the date unannounced. You get zapped with a late fee! Do this across the board with all you card holders and you make a nice sum of money. I think under the new laws the card companies can not do this anymore without written notice three months in advance.

[AVGWarhawk]

No you cannot draw upon funds deposited for 24 hours.

I think this depends on the bank. My bank releases the funds immediately.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

No you cannot draw upon funds deposited for 24 hours. It used to be 48 hours till the feds busted their chops for investing 'your' money overnight on the foriegn markets and put a stop to that.

And yet if I go online and check my account the day my paycheck is deposited, and look at the number they show for my "available balance," that number will INCLUDE the amount of the deposit that went through at the start of business that morning.

It's only when I go 2-3 clicks deep into my account details that they show any indication that the deposit is still "pending."

Someone who didn't know any better might check the account and look at the Available Balance and believe that the funds were actually, you know, available because the bank is showing them an account balance that does not reflect the current status of their deposits. It's deceptive.

Edit: I'm not sure I made it clear that my paycheck is an electronic deposit - so I don't know if that makes a difference with how quickly the bank can "clear" it for my use. Nevertheless, it will show as part of my available balance even though on further investigation, the individual transaction is listed as "pending."

It may very well be that the web site does not update the transaction status in a timely manner, and I could spend money from that deposit later the same day and not have any problems. But I'm not taking that chance and then letting them screw me over by saying "oh but the transaction was still pending."

Overall, though, I'm with Chase now (since they took over Bank One, who took over the local 3-branch bank I started with years ago) and I really have little to complain about. I haven't had an overdraft since the days when all my business was still via paper checks, and wrote a check that I assumed would not reach my bank until after my paycheck had been deposited and cleared. I was wrong, and learned my lesson... now with almost everything done electronically, I watch things very closely and if I have any doubts about where an account stands I check before I spend.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

What I have seen credit card companies do is mysteriously change you due date. The reason is a person sets in their calender and in the brain when it is due.

I've only had one card do that - and believe me, I notice, because I have all my regular bills and expenditures programmed into Quicken and as soon as I have a statement, I go in and update that month's listing for the item to reflect the exact amount and date it's due.

I had this card for maybe 15-20 years and the due date had always been on the third of the month. IIRC did get a notice that they were changing the date well before it became an issue for me, but they moved the date back by over a week which pushed it into the same month as the due date from the previous statment with only about three weeks in between the two. I can only imagine that they ended up collecting quite a few late payment fees from people who'd already paid the first statement and thought they had at least four weeks before they had to worry about the next one.