New law on ATM overdraft fees goes into effect this weekend.

reply to post by mothershipzeta




What I find hilarious about this national law, was that originally where I came from, they WERE NOT allowed to let you overdraft.

I went to another state, and found out the hard way that they let you. Cost me about 10 overdrafts.

The part that REALLY made them mad, when they would not remove the overdrafts, I closed my account with over $350 in overdraft charges.

Still get notices from them. I ask them to show me the loss they acquired from my overdrafts. They cannot LEGALLY make you pay. There is NO LOSS. They can get you on the contract, being that there is a contractual agreement, but I reinforced my argument because my company REQUIRED a direct deposit account. Funny when they call to try and collect. I ask them to send me money to pay for the shipping, ohhh they get pissed.

[edit on 12-8-2010 by saltheart foamfollower]

I for one am ECSTATIC about this. When I logged in to check my bank account online and saw them asking me for permission to overdraft my account I jumped up and down and screamed with joy, then clicked the 'no' check box.

Twice in my life I have had to deal with an over drafted account, and both times due to unauthorized transactions. In both cases, I was not notified of having a negative balance until after SEVEN days had passed, and only by a rotary call, not an actual human explaining how much and when my account was over drawn. I was charged $30 dollars for every time I over drew money (because of the unauthorized transactions I did not know had occurred, I assumed I had money in my account and made some small purchases, and was charged an overdraft fee EVERY time), and an additional 10 dollars every day I was over drawn.

So, the bank let this go on for over a week before notifying me and then said I owed them over $300 dollars, because of ONE unauthorized transaction.

And I certainly tried to get the bank to turn off over draft "protection", but they said that was not possible, it was a 'courtesy' for all their account holders.

Right. A 'courtesy' would have been informing your account holders that they were over drawn the day they are overdrawn instead of waiting a week so the bank can rack up the bill.

In short, this is a good measure that makes sense and will actually help the little guy out.

I for one am ECSTATIC about this. When I logged in to check my bank account online and saw them asking me for permission to overdraft my account I jumped up and down and screamed with joy, then clicked the 'no' check box.

Twice in my life I have had to deal with an over drafted account, and both times due to unauthorized transactions. In both cases, I was not notified of having a negative balance until after SEVEN days had passed, and only by a rotary call, not an actual human explaining how much and when my account was over drawn. I was charged $30 dollars for every time I over drew money (because of the unauthorized transactions I did not know had occurred, I assumed I had money in my account and made some small purchases, and was charged an overdraft fee EVERY time), and an additional 10 dollars every day I was over drawn.

So, the bank let this go on for over a week before notifying me and then said I owed them over $300 dollars, because of ONE unauthorized transaction.

And I certainly tried to get the bank to turn off over draft "protection", but they said that was not possible, it was a 'courtesy' for all their account holders.

Right. A 'courtesy' would have been informing your account holders that they were over drawn the day they are overdrawn instead of waiting a week so the bank can rack up the bill.

In short, this is a good measure that makes sense and will actually help the little guy out.

Sounds like the beginnings of banking reform....

I had a hacker get into a paypal account,and it took me some time to talk the bank out of taking money from me from no fault of my own....

Because they could.

I never go below $500 bucks,as a force of habit,but no!,they never considered that,they just tacked on the fees....

[edit on 12-8-2010 by chiponbothshoulders]

reply to post by ~Lucidity


Yep, when they figured they would make more on the accidental use than the planned use.

Just a heads up.......this is also the end of free checking. Yes, this was a "dumb-ass tax", but it also funded all those free things you've been getting. It has been pretty easy to get a free account with no balance requirements, no monthly fees, free checks, free use of foreign ATM's, etc. Not anymore. OD fees were (for better or worse) funding the management of your bank account. We are going to see a shift back towards a fee based banking system. $8/mo for a checking account, service fees for using your debit card, $2,000 minimum balance, etc.........

Someone has to pay for branches and their staff, computer systems to manage accounts, printing/mailing fees, the huge ATM network, and on and on. There's no free lunch and now instead of just taxing the dumb-asses, we are all going to have to pitch in.

[edit on 12-8-2010 by slt63366]

Originally posted by alonzo730
I've found that the simplest way to avoid overdraft fees, is to not have overdrafts. It's just all simple accounting. If I don't have the money to buy something, I don't buy it. I don't write checks if I don't have money in my account. It's quite simple. Credit cards, there's a trap.

And there you go

Nothing like a little personal accountability in today's world

Originally posted by SaosinEngaged
Using a debit card is ridiculous these days. Although I understand it, I absolutely loathe how I can go online, check my account, and see a number that essentially means nothing.

The number you see online should ALWAYS reflect the amount that's actually in your account and available for use.

I understand that it takes several days for funds to clear, but that transaction should at least visibly deduct from your balance the second you swipe the damn card, since it's all electronic, and then the actual funds will transfer at the appropriate time.

I'm sorry, I work 55 hours a week, going to be starting grad school, will be getting married, etc...I don't have time to carry a journal with me and constantly balance my account when I'm supposed to have an online account that does that for me. It's totally asinine.

So banks can suck it. Glad this passed.

In a perfect world, yes, that would be great. But unfortunately the debit card system isn't up to par to make this happen yet. First off, its not the banks fault. Many small retailers only batch their credit card machines once a week as there is a charge for every time they send in a batch. So if you buy gas at a independent gas station and they dont report it to the system for a week, then there is no way for the bank to know and as a result, no way for your online banking to correctly reflect it. Right now, the lost art of keeping a register is still the best way to manage your account.

Someone mentioned the ABILITY to keep a register.

Now, the best way to do things if you do not have to have a bank accoutn-company requirement of a direct deposit, is to have a community credit account. They do NOT require min balance, plus many other things.

BUT, if you can, ask for a check. Cash it at the bank it is written from. If they attempt to charge you, SUE them. They are no longer allowed to do that. About the ONLY thing in the new laws that makes sense.

Anyway, put your money in GOLD or SILVER, as FAST as you can.

Otherwise, look forward to set prices for labor.

It is coming.

Originally posted by denynothing
My local bank chewed my mom out about overdraft fees, because we deposited a check on Saturday and went shopping on Sunday. On monday they called and us said we were very overdrawn. The reason is that they require 2 buisness days to process the transaction because they have to get the money from the Fed reserve if I remember right. So I guess the moral is you have to wait even after a legitimate deposit.

Just so you know how this works, when you deposit a check, there is no "electronic system" that automatically processes and debits the check from the remitter's account. The bank makes note on your account that the check has been received but it is not available yet because it hasn't been truly processed. Why do banks "cut over" at 2pm to the next business day? That is because that is when their courrier comes and picks up all the checks that they have received from 2pm the previous day and take them to a central processing center. Often times this center is in a different city and all those checks picked up at 2pm are processed that night. That is why checks are usually "next day availability". The checks get processed that night and that is when they become available.

In your case, that check you dropped off on Saturday sat at the bank until 2pm on Monday when it was picked up and taken to the processing center to be processed that night. It would have been available first thing Tuesday morning.

They can no longer charge fees when you go over the available balance?

Then there is a simple solution - they will just remove access to the overdraft. IE - you don't have the money in your account, they won't give you any extra, if there is no profit to be made.

Simple economics. This will be incredibly bad for the average consumer, and before long, they will be asking for the return of the fees so they can have access to the overdrafts.

Originally posted by saltheart foamfollower
BUT, if you can, ask for a check. Cash it at the bank it is written from. If they attempt to charge you, SUE them. They are no longer allowed to do that. About the ONLY thing in the new laws that makes sense.

Ummmm, no. You are not a customer of that bank and they can charge you to cash a check. You want a brick and mortar building with a pile of cash in the back waiting at your beck and call to give you money? Someone has to pay for it. If you're not a customer, then they'll hit you with a check cashing fee. Simple as that.

I am so glad I know how to do basic math and am also capable of exercising the very small amount of personal responsibility required to stay away from messes like this in the future.

More and more legislation is passed to protect people from their own ignorance. Pretty soon, I am going to have a government rep on duty in my bathroom in order to ensure I wipe my ass correctly.

Sure, there are situations where overdraft fees can be a problem (such as theft of personal information leading to unauthorized access to one's account), but they are few and far between compared to the bulk of overdraft fees. If I was a bank, yeah evil me, I would do the same thing they were doing. And that is making a profit of people's ignorance. Since there is no shortage of ignorance, there is no shortage of profit.

Oh government!!!!!! Swoop down and save me so I don't have to think for myself!!!!!!!!

I think this is a good thing because I'm sick of getting a $30 fee for going only $1-$2 in the red. Sometimes, the checking fee can cause this to happen as well, making them an easy $30. Always keep at least $5 in your account at all times to avoid such an inconvenience.

reply to post by mothershipzeta


what about the checks scam. I dealt with this one myself I had claimed a ten thousand dollar prize from PA lottery it was app $7,500 after taxes, even though it was drawn from a wachovia bank they wouldn't cash it made me put it in a new account, chekcing of course, gave me the checks and said the money would be in three days later. Well, these SOB's said three days, so I signed my children up at the local league for football and cheerleading and wrote the check for Postdated for the day the money was to be available. That MFing bank took the freaking check and put it through a DAY before the specified date on the check and of course it bounced and I had to pay their S***Y fees and also the fees for it bouncing to the local league. I was furious and I called up screaming over the phone and asked them is my money available now? They replied why yes it is! I ran over there and drew every damn dime that remained some 7,000 bucks out of that sheisty place, and I have never dealt with their vulterous institutions again!!!!! So when will the checking fees for bouncing a check stop or penalties served to banks who process checks before they are even dated???!!!!

Oh and BTW they were paid there fees yet this week I just found that they were charging off my account for what I haven't a clue, there was never any money owed to them, but yet they just filed a GD charge off on my GD CREDIT IN 2008!!!! WTF???!!!!! I have been out of that S****Y bank since 2005!!!! And mind you they were not owed any money The fees were paid before I took my money out!!!!! MFERS!!!! So now they F^*#&& my credit all too S*&^*$&)!!!!! BASTARDS!!!! CHARGE OFFS are one of the things that will F&**^ up your S*** bad!!!!!

[edit on 13-8-2010 by ldyserenity]

reply to post by Come Clean


Agreed, banks have made it all but impossible to know the ACTUAL balance of your account at any given time.

Especially for people who have a busy life.Or who work casual hours or overtime and do not know what the exact amount their wages will be from week to week.And with the difference in wages so too are different percentages deducted as tax.If i earn $500 one week 15% will be deducted in tax but if i earn $1500 for doing 15 hours overtime 33% will be deducted from my earnings.With few employers providing payslips on payday it's very difficult to know your account balance if you have automated debits.

Unless you keep a 1950's paper ledger detailing every $1 you spend you are vulnerable to fall into a trap of mistaking "pending" payments as cleared. Particularly when payments seem to clear in a random and unstructured order.

In Oz we are not even given the freedom to reject banking.It is a federal law that all wages are deposited into your nominated bank account.

We must also consider this, banks are often reporting quarters of 'record profits'.So here is an establishment making billions of dollars profit a year.Who is vulnerable to overdraft fees? Certainly not the wealthy.The most vulnerable group to overdrafts are the poorest people.So banks are profiting from the most disadvantaged groups in society.
The term 'corporate responsibility' makes me laugh.

I decided to accept standard overdraft coverage. Although I am not in the habit of overdrawing, I keep up with my account daily, while paying bills once this past year a clerk charged several hundred dollars more than the amount of my bill to my debit card. It would have caused chaos had overdraft coverage not kicked in. It took 7 days for the amount she punched in to refund to my account, in the meantime the bank still paid all my bills that I had paid that day. I didn't have to pay the fees for each overdraft either, the person and company responsible did after my bank called them and told them that it was the thing to do.

My GF and I have both lost hundreds of dollars to U.S. Bank. When I was there, they would take 3 days to do a direct deposit. Basically, I would get paid on Friday, and I wouldn't have money until Wednesday morning. I didn't realize this, and they never notified me that I was overdrafting. Basically I went to use my debit card, got declined when I was supposed to have almost $600 in my account. Apparently I had been overdrafting (at $30 a pop!) for about 2 weeks, and still owed them $150!!!

My GF would overdraft by pennies and they would run the damn thing through up to 3 times a day at $30 a pop. 3 days it took on less than 20 cent overdraft to get into the hole by $270!

I think total, we each got taken for about $1000 each, in less than a year's time.

reply to post by slt63366


Yes that is right, the struggling banks need to charge overdrafts to keep their heads above water.
THAT'S why they charge overdrawing fees

www.theage.com.au...

Thanks for clarifying.

Originally posted by mumma in pyjamas
reply to post by slt63366

 

Yes that is right, the struggling banks need to charge overdrafts to keep their heads above water.
THAT'S why they charge overdrawing fees

www.theage.com.au...

Thanks for clarifying.

OD fees are a huge source of income, whether thats right or wrong, I'm not going to argue. But dont think that the banks are going to go "aw shucks, guess we'll just make less money now" That missing revenue is going to have to be made up somewhere and it most likely is going to come in the form of a fee-based banking system.

ie: want us to manage your account, give you a free debit card, online banking/bill pay, have branches in every town for your convenience? Great! That will only cost you $10/mo. Keep at least $2,500 in your account that we can invest and make money on and we'll go ahead and waive that fee.

What you're not going to see anymore is the free account that you keep a couple hundred bucks in. Its more work than its worth with out the OD "dumbass tax" to subsidize it.

[edit on 13-8-2010 by slt63366]