I remember when BB&T called me to beg me to authorize them to enable overdraft "protection" on my account. They acted like it would be doing me a favor, and when I asked them why they would even bother me about something so horrible, the lady on the phone insisted that "the government" was trying to interfere in our freedoms or some other such bull crap.
The $36 soda: Overdrafting in America
11–20 of 182 posts
Re: The $36 soda: Overdrafting in America
#12I had an annoying run in with them. It happened because I didn't know Suntrust didn't take out charges in the order they occurred. They take out the largest charge first, and each charge as they decrease in value. One day I had had a few small charges, and realizing it was a week intl payday, I figured I'd run to the grocery store and make a large precise of groceries, to ensure I had food taken care of, expecting to…
It's a very easy trap to fall into if you're living check to check and make even the slightest mistake. In each such story online, I've heard a claim that they specifically have algorithms to maximize the penalty fees on these mistakes. Its another instance of a practice that disproportionately affects the poor. Unless you're living paycheque to paycheque, you would never even bother looking into such niggling detail…
and when you are living paycheck to paycheck, you don't often have the time or energy to wander the maze of niggling details.
Re: The $36 soda: Overdrafting in America
#13In the book "The Big Short", Michael Lewis mentions how one CEO admitted to an audience that free checking accounts were simply a way of screwing over poor people for all these additional fees, like overdraft, etc. It's really because people with less money need to spend more time managing their money because they are closer to drawing down the account, and the banks are betting on this. It's basically predatory banking, and I guess based on the numbers, extremely profitable.
It's the exact type of behavior I would expect from a bank. But let's not swallow everything that the article said. It's not like banks of yesteryear were so magnanimous. Back in the Great Depression, it was the banks that screwed over so many farmers and home-owners that many states, including California, made mortgages non-recourse meaning that banks could only take back the house in the case of foreclosure, something that many people took advantage of during the latest housing boom.
Re: The $36 soda: Overdrafting in America
#14For months after the new regulation my bank was giving me a screen when I logged on to online banking. It went something like this: Recent Federal regulations require us to re-confirm your enrollment in this valuable service you'd previously been getting with your checking account. [ YES! Please! ] [ Remind me later ]
lol sounds like Wells Fargo...
Re: The $36 soda: Overdrafting in America
#15I had an annoying run in with them. It happened because I didn't know Suntrust didn't take out charges in the order they occurred. They take out the largest charge first, and each charge as they decrease in value. One day I had had a few small charges, and realizing it was a week intl payday, I figured I'd run to the grocery store and make a large precise of groceries, to ensure I had food taken care of, expecting to…
Please tell me that you called them, or walked into the nearest branch, and demanded that they reverse all but one of the charges, and, either (1) They agreed, or (2) You promptly closed your account.
I had a similar situation happen at Bank of America except in my situation I wasn't relying on a single overdraft, I wasn't expecting any. They put in a transfer from my savings to my checking a day after they said it would go through and did the exact same sorting of large purchases to charge my multiple fees.
It took me two and a half hours to get the charges reversed, 30 minutes of which were spent in the nearest BoFA location until I learned I had to commute around town to go back to the original place I opened my account to even discuss the situation.
Re: The $36 soda: Overdrafting in America
#16I had an annoying run in with them. It happened because I didn't know Suntrust didn't take out charges in the order they occurred. They take out the largest charge first, and each charge as they decrease in value. One day I had had a few small charges, and realizing it was a week intl payday, I figured I'd run to the grocery store and make a large precise of groceries, to ensure I had food taken care of, expecting to…
Banks do this but they will easily reverse all but one of them if you call without even arguing. If you argue a bit, I think they would reverse even the legitimate one.
Not KeyBank. I had a situation like this in college. Several levels of escalation finally got two of six overdraft charges lifted, but I was told that two reversed charges was the limit per year, no matter what the reason.
Re: The $36 soda: Overdrafting in America
#17I was discussing this with my friend the other day and she's convinced that if she didn't have overdraft 'protection' there are still certain merchants who run debit cards as credit cards which then incur an overdraft fee anyway. Has anyone heard of this? I'm looking for some evidence I can use to get her to cancel the overdraft nonsense before she gets further in debt.
Re: The $36 soda: Overdrafting in America
#18I had an annoying run in with them. It happened because I didn't know Suntrust didn't take out charges in the order they occurred. They take out the largest charge first, and each charge as they decrease in value. One day I had had a few small charges, and realizing it was a week intl payday, I figured I'd run to the grocery store and make a large precise of groceries, to ensure I had food taken care of, expecting to…
Which is why you shouldn't be using such a dangerous service when living check to check. Go to a bank machine, inquire about your current balance, and then extract cash to make your purchases with. Banks may be predatory with fees, but really it's your own responsibility to avoid this trap, and it's not even that hard to do. You can also join a credit union.
Downvote all you like, but so long as your response to getting screwed is "I always get screwed by these evil people" rather than "Shit, they got me. I'm going to take steps to protect myself.", you'll forever be a victim.
I used to suffer the same mentality until I finally woke up and started to take responsibility for my own future.
Things happen to victims. Victors make things happen.
Re: The $36 soda: Overdrafting in America
#19I had an annoying run in with them. It happened because I didn't know Suntrust didn't take out charges in the order they occurred. They take out the largest charge first, and each charge as they decrease in value. One day I had had a few small charges, and realizing it was a week intl payday, I figured I'd run to the grocery store and make a large precise of groceries, to ensure I had food taken care of, expecting to…
Bank of America is currently facing a potential class action lawsuit for this very practice. I have no idea where it is at, or if it will be successful, but one can hope.
Re: The $36 soda: Overdrafting in America
#20For months after the new regulation my bank was giving me a screen when I logged on to online banking. It went something like this: Recent Federal regulations require us to re-confirm your enrollment in this valuable service you'd previously been getting with your checking account. [ YES! Please! ] [ Remind me later ]
My bank had something similar. I really don't understand why they're allowed to do it at all, even as an opt-in "service". If I wanted to spend money I didn't have, I'd use my credit card. At my bank, an overdraft counts as a cash advance from your credit card anyway. It's just a way for them to force you to borrow money at an inflated interest rate, and it's absolute bullshit.