Just when I thought Bank of America

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-29-2003
Just when I thought Bank of America
19
Thu, 07-15-2004 - 1:16pm
couldn't tick me off anymore... they did. I'm sure some of you read my rant a few weeks ago about BOA charging me with an overdraft fee when they had no proof that my account had overdrafted. I was seriously considering closing my account but decided to give them one more chance since they do offer free checking, bill paying, etc. Well this was my experience this month:

I made 3 small payments (electronically) and had about $900 left in my account. My rent (over $1000) was due and I didn't want to pay it late b/c I'm assessed a $100 fee, so I decided to go ahead and send the payment (by check) and risk the overdraft fee of $33. Well somehow, my rent CHECK went through before my ELECTRONIC payments so I ended up with 3 overdraft fees instead of just one! Wait, it gets worse. One of the electronic payments I made was to my Fleet credit card account and since I didn't have the funds to cover it, it rejected. I waited a few days to see if BOA would resubmit it and they didn't, so I made ANOTHER payment. Wouldn't you know that the very next day BOA resubmits my ORIGINAL payment which of course, caused me to overdraft AGAIN. So now I'm up to 4 overdrafts at $33 each. Finally this morning, I checked my account and noticed a 5th overdraft b/c of a charge I made on my bank card last weekend. Thank God I get paid tomorrow! Needless to say, I will now be banking with my credit union. I know I'll still get charged for overdrafts but at least it will only be $15!

Oh, and just to make matters worse, my BF dumped me this weekend BY EMAIL.

Oh the bright side, I will be moving into another apartment at the end of August where the rent is about $200 cheaper!

By the way why if Bank of America and Fleet Bank are basically the SAME company now, why does it take 3 days for my eletronic payment to my Fleet Credit Card to go through from my Bank of America account? Ugh!



Kimberly



Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Tue, 07-20-2004 - 12:05pm
I had a bank (good ol' CIBC) once cash a check early that I HAD POSTDATED. Of course it bounced, I got the NSF charge, yadda yadda yadda. I called the bank's 1-800 number to give them sh-t, and was told I have to speak directly to my branch. Well, my branch happened to be two-thirds of the way across the country, so a personal visit was out of the question. They obviously were also in another time zone, 3 hours ahead of me, so co-ordinating a phone call during their business hours was not fun.

Do you think I could find their phone number in the phone book?? After I finally DID find their phone number (long distance of course), I would keep getting an automated message. I would have to listen to this thing ramble on while I paid for the call (pressing '0' did nothing), just to only be able to leave a message. Arrrghh!!! I think I did this several times over the course of at least a week before I was able to finally talk to a real live person. Then she had the gall to tell me she wasn't authorized to reverse the charge!!!! She told me to call back when such-n-such a person was back and they would be able to do it. I tried again with the calling back, getting the automated system, leaving a message.... finally I gave up - I figured the $25 NSF charge was not worth the hassle or headache of trying to get through to these clowns (not the mention my growing phone bill).

Moral of the story - banks suck!



Powered by CGISpy.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-06-2003
Wed, 07-21-2004 - 4:29pm


I know that here in the US, the bank does *not* have to honor the date on a check, and can cash it as soon as it's presented. Beyond that, I have heard (though am not sure if it's true) that if you want to post-date a check, you must call the bank and make arrangements with them *ahead of time* and prove that you have permission from the check recipient to post-date it.

***

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-06-2003
Sat, 07-24-2004 - 9:58pm
I'd imagine the reason she continues to bank with BOA is for the ATM -- I love my credit union. But the closest branch is 3 hours away. I keep my savings there (little access) and I direct deposit the amount I save ($100/pay check) and my car loan which gets automatically taken out of that account. The rest I do through Wachovia. Although I'm thinking of doing more of my banking through the credit union (bills and such) to keep my from being able to spend Bill money.
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-14-2004
Sat, 07-24-2004 - 10:30pm
Credit unions are such a better deal. The only good thing I can say about BOA is that they are the only creditor that dropped our interest rate to 0% as part of the debt management plan. Go figure.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-06-2004
Wed, 08-04-2004 - 10:08am
You are right. The bank doesn't really even look at the date, they will take one unsigned if they don't catch it. When you give a post dated check to someone to hold, you are trusting that person.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-09-2004
Mon, 08-09-2004 - 6:26am
Wow, I thought I was the only one having problems with BOA and their goofy NSF's.

My hubby likes to use our card instead of cash for little things, like his daily cigarette and candy bar fix, usually costing only a few bucks (never mind that I've begged him not to nickel and dime the card that way, and have since taken it away from him, but that's beside the point). Recently BOA whacked us with FIVE NSF charges, totalling $165, for less than $10 worth of purchases.

How did this happen, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Apparently, instead of declining the card when there is no money in the account, like EVERY OTHER BANK WE'VE EVER DEALT WITH, they let the charges go through! When I asked why, oh why, would they do something like that, they smugly replied that it's "a courtesy" to us. I begged them to please stop being so courteous, and to simply decline the purchase. They refuse to do so.

Of course we've learned an extremely valuable lesson (get a new bank), but that doesn't change the fact that their version of "courtesy" is my version of being forced to grab my ankles.

Avatar for skinny42
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-12-2003
Tue, 08-10-2004 - 1:47pm
another moral of the story, don't write post dated checks! I used to be a bank teller, and trust me, they don't look very carefully at things like the dates on checks.
Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 08-10-2004 - 2:11pm

My understanding on post dated checks is that by law, they are cashable in the U.S.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2004
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 12:40pm
A good rule of thumb that has kept me out of trouble: I don't pay bills with money that isn't in my checking account.

Pages