Overdraft fees

[kyoko]

Overdraft is really a killer. It does not only hit you $35 once, but every single transaction you get $35 charges until you put your money back to have "positive" balance. I know someone who got charged about $210 or so for overdraft because she did not realize it for a few days (the bank sends you a little postcard but who knows how long it takes?). During that time she had some auto-payment, small purchases, checks went through... about 6 transactions.

I personally don't have Overdraft protection, but keep about $1500 as a cushion. However, overdraft protection could save you money in some incidents like this.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I've got overdraft protection. They removed the fees, though citibank didn't want to. I have to call again.

Why BofA? We travel every year across the us to a couple of different places and I always find a BofA. I find that nice. I don't like banking with virtual banks because I find the atms hard to use. Maybe I'll change. I'm going to look into the credit unions

[Like2Plan]

I've got overdraft protection. They removed the fees, though citibank didn't want to. I have to call again.

Why BofA? We travel every year across the us to a couple of different places and I always find a BofA. I find that nice. I don't like banking with virtual banks because I find the atms hard to use. Maybe I'll change. I'm going to look into the credit unions

I'm glad they removed the fees.
That makes sense to keep them if they are giving you what you need overall.

[ua_guy]

BoA is one of the most venal banks I have ever had a displeasure of banking with.

Exactly. I'm proudly NOT a customer of BoA since 2009. Prior to that, I had accounts with them for more than 20 years. As my primary bank, they were never competitive on credit cards, vehicle loans, or home loans. Their savings and checking interest rates lagged the competition, and so did their ATM network for a good 10 of those years, for instance, using an out of state BoA ATM was problematic because our state was on its own separate legacy network. I've heard they since upgraded their ATM network, so that's good. In short, they couldn't offer anything great, and my loyalty to them meant absolutely nothing. As a comsumer, I don't have any time for that.

On the original topic:

Overdraft protection, a cash buffer, and an organized scheduling of electronic withdrawls (or setting everything up as one-time/non-recurring) are all good options. I'd pick the least expensive and least troublesome (leave a floor of cash in your checking account to safeguard against vibrations in your monthly clearing cycles).

[Spiffster]

I have never banked with BoA, so I cannot comment on them directly. Personally I think banks are evil no matter how accommodating and nice their employees are, the crooks actually running the show who never have to face 1 customer, are out to extract as much money from you as possible. I have run into the NFS trap a few times during my College years but there was one real doozy... USBank had actually re-arranged my charges to maximize the fees... 7 of them when it should have been 3, I kid you not. Something like $30/each IIRC. For a college kid, thats a lot of Ramen, Little Juan Burritos, and PBR. For a bank exec, thats one lap dance.

That was long ago but they hit me when I was most vulnerable... they reversed ONE, out of "courtesy" and made it clear that they would not afford the same level of kindness ever again. Said fine and moved my money to a CU where I had a few similar experiences but only ended up stuck with a fraction of the fees.

I cant even believe such a practice is still legal. Its much more reasonable to charge a high interest rate on the negative balance than to charge 30 dollars for something like a $1.50 debit transaction.

[snafu]

LAL, should you decide to change banks or even CU, I hope it's ok to remind you that any GPS can locate the nearest bank/financial institution nearest your location when travelling. If no GPS, devices like smart phone, tablet, iPad, laptop can locate what you seek with very specific directions with only a few key strokes from any WIFI location.

If you're willing to outline your problem with ATMS I'm sure SA participants will offer suggestions to make it easier. Many of us just use an electronic device to shift sums between financial institutions as easily as we can shift sums from checking to savings to investment accounts or paying bills. We're being heavily marketed to use an app for all our banking just now, likely the next leap to get us further from cash eh?

[Petunia 100]

I have never banked with BoA, so I cannot comment on them directly. Personally I think banks are evil no matter how accommodating and nice their employees are, the crooks actually running the show who never have to face 1 customer, are out to extract as much money from you as possible. I have run into the NFS trap a few times during my College years but there was one real doozy... USBank had actually re-arranged my charges to maximize the fees... 7 of them when it should have been 3, I kid you not. Something like $30/each IIRC. For a college kid, thats a lot of Ramen, Little Juan Burritos, and PBR. For a bank exec, thats one lap dance.

That was long ago but they hit me when I was most vulnerable... they reversed ONE, out of "courtesy" and made it clear that they would not afford the same level of kindness ever again. Said fine and moved my money to a CU where I had a few similar experiences but only ended up stuck with a fraction of the fees.

I cant even believe such a practice is still legal. Its much more reasonable to charge a high interest rate on the negative balance than to charge 30 dollars for something like a $1.50 debit transaction.

Oh, I know you're not kidding. There was a lawsuit over this practice, and it resulted in some reform. Have you been notified that you will be receiving a refund?

http://www.startribune.com/business/225447282.html

[Spiffster]

Oh, I know you're not kidding. There was a lawsuit over this practice, and it resulted in some reform. Have you been notified that you will be receiving a refund?

http://www.startribune.com/business/225447282.html

Wow, thanks for posting this! Reading the article... kinda pissed me off, really. USBank, are trying to say they did nothing wrong, thats complete BS. lawful or not, reordering transactions for financial benefit is immoral and unethical.

I never got a postcard, I may give them a friendly call.

[freedomv]

No Harm in Asking

Sorry you got pinched like that. Bottomline it can't hurt to ask your bank to waive some of the fee. Worse-case scenario they say no, best case you'll get a reprieve.

[joshuaking]

BoA is one of the most venal banks I have ever had a displeasure of banking with.

I would never open an account with BOA or Wells Fargo or any of the big national banks. They are all horrible to deal with, clobbering consumers with fees and constantly changing rules.

I also haven't paid a monthly fee for the "privilege" of a bank account in over 20 years.

I am quite happy with Navy FCU and like many have expressed here, I can't understand why anyone would bank with any of the big banks. Wish the government had just let them fail.

[disneysteve]

I also haven't paid a monthly fee for the "privilege" of a bank account in over 20 years.

Neither have I and I'm with BoA. There are no fees for anything unless I screw up, in which case I deserve to be charged.

[TheMom]

Neither have I and I'm with BoA. There are no fees for anything unless I screw up, in which case I deserve to be charged.

I'm with Chase and have never paid a fee either. They even have some nice perks like free checks. I don't write many, but free is nice.

[hamchan]

Neither have I and I'm with BoA. There are no fees for anything unless I screw up, in which case I deserve to be charged.

I really don't understand this mindset. Why on earth would you think you "deserve" to get penalized for making a mistake? I don't feel any sort of moral obligation to "pay" for my mistakes, and as a consumer I see no reason not to look for financial institutions, credit cards, etc with terms that are favorable to me whether I mess up or not. I am a human being, not a robot, and thus mistakes are inevitable. Even when I did use a bank I would always call and ask them to reverse fees any time I got them, even if it was due to a mistake or miscalculation on my part, and 90% of the time they would reverse all or part of it. It makes no sense to me to cut down on consumption, and find other ways to save money, yet not do what is in my best interest with regards to my banking services. No sense at all.

[disneysteve]

I really don't understand this mindset. Why on earth would you think you "deserve" to get penalized for making a mistake? I don't feel any sort of moral obligation to "pay" for my mistakes, and as a consumer I see no reason not to look for financial institutions, credit cards, etc with terms that are favorable to me whether I mess up or not. I am a human being, not a robot, and thus mistakes are inevitable. Even when I did use a bank I would always call and ask them to reverse fees any time I got them, even if it was due to a mistake or miscalculation on my part, and 90% of the time they would reverse all or part of it. It makes no sense to me to cut down on consumption, and find other ways to save money, yet not do what is in my best interest with regards to my banking services. No sense at all.

Oh, if the bank were to hit me with a fee for something, I'd certainly call and ask to have it waived. If they said yes, great. If they said no, I'd pay it because the mistake was my fault. I'd have no problem taking responsibility for that.

My point is that these fees aren't a surprise. They clearly state them when you sign up for the account. They tell you what actions on your part will trigger them. If you then proceed to do things that trigger those fees, you can't turn around and complain about the bank being unfair or greedy. It isn't their fault. They gave you fair warning.

It reminds me of a friend who used to get all angry every month when his landlord charged him a late fee for rent. Obviously, it wouldn't have happened if he didn't pay his rent late, so how was that the landlord's fault?

[BuckyBadger]

We have our accounts with Wells Fargo and our primary credit card is a Chase gas rewards card. I've had no problems with them - you just have to figure out the rules at the beginning and then follow them.

My checking account needs to have a direct deposit to be free. Okay. My savings accounts need to have at least one transfer to them every month to be free. Okay. In the first few months I got charged a couple $10 fees because I didn't have everything set up right and they waived them and told me exactly what I had to do in order to avoid getting any more fees. My mortgage was bought by them and their website is EXCELLENT and allows all sorts of scheduled payments to pay off early.

I had one issue with Chase and I called them and they fixed it, too. I was erroneously charged $60 of interest and I called them and told them and they reversed it.

I keep a buffer in my account for unexpected expenses. Once I accidentally scheduled two ~$5,000 credit card payments and learned that $5,000 is more than my buffer. They went into my savings account to cover the balance and charged me a fee. It was my fee because I made a mistake. Not their fault - mine.

I mean, i suppose you can argue that they shouldn't have charged me that fee because it was my own money in my savings account, but that's not policy. It was $14 and I learned a lesson to not accidentally doble-pay my credit card bill!