Overdraft fee question?

I believe that you get an overdraft fee for every day that your account is over. That's why you get it fixed as soon as possible if it happens, or else the overdrafts can build up fast. But then again, I'm not completely sure.

 

Oops, maybe I was wrong. You get charged for every transaction that there are insufficient funds in your account for. Maybe it was already over in your account? Was she sure that there was that amount left? It doesn't make any sense to charge an overdraft fee if there was enough money in the account for the transaction. Maybe check your statements, online if you have it.

Sorry about the double post!

 

I believe it's because gas stations put a hold (sometimes around $75, depending on the gas station), the hold lasts for a set amount of time, and the charge for the actual amount is charged. So with the hold, all transactions were over drafted.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/BetterBanking/HosedAtTheGasPumpByYourDebitCard.aspx

 

Overdraft protection? Use a credit card?

 

That's what I was thinking.

OD accts are kinda old school dude.

 

Wells Fargo has been known to run charges for the biggest charge first, regardless of which day the transactions occurred on. So, in this case, they probably ran the $100 ATM fee first, which meant that instead of having one transaction that overdrafted, they charged you two overdraft fees for the $40 in groceries and then the gas and food expenses that would have originally been covered by the amount in the account.

Meaning: if you're close to overdrafting, and you have 3 pending transactions, the bank will run the biggest transaction first even if it occurred two days after the other pending transactions. That way they can charge you an overdraft fee for each small transaction.

Like this: Say you have $100 in the bank. You go out on Monday and you spend $30 on gas, $10 on a meal, $20 on a pair of leopard-print underpants, and $30 on some Ugg boots. That leaves you with $10 in your account. You know it's gonna overdraft but you need extra cash for bills, so you go to the ATM and you take $100 out two days later.

The bank, clever and greedy bastards that they are, have ALL these transactions pending (because your account was less than $100 or whatever), so they run the $100 transaction first - that way, they can charge you overdraft fees for the gas, your meal, the leopard-print underpants, and the Ugg boots instead of just charging you a single overdraft fee for the ATM transaction. That way they can charge you 4 overdraft fees instead of just one.

Look it up on the internet - lots and lots of people are complaining about their bank doing this.

 

She KNEW she was going to get charged an overdraft fee (my guess is $25 - $35) and made the charge anyway?

 

Go to a local branch of your bank and talk about it. They might take them off depending on your past history. Whatever you do, do not call a telephone banker first. They don't have to talk to you in person and therefore are likely to be more cold and just say no and once that happens the people at the branch can't overrule them.

 

If you have WaMu and go to the bank and explain your story, they will waive one if not all of those charges..

and why are you spending on the card when you know the balance is not there? Why not use a credit card instead?

 

Why did she spend $140 when she knew she only had $40 available?

Sounds like the gas and food purchases were just holds, not actual withdrawals. And banks are ALWAYS going to deduct cash withdrawals before ANY other type of transaction done on the same day. If you think about it, can you blame them?

 

Unfortunately, WaMu is now Chase and their fees are why I left. First, they hit you with the OD fee. You pay your account back to 0, then they hit you with a OD fee service charge of $10, thus making your account negative again. Then they hit you with another OD fee and another service charge. Before you know it, you're $50 in the hole.

 

If I were a banker and he explained his story exactly as he explained it here, I wouldn't refund the charges considering the account was deliberately overdrawn.

 

agreed

 

debit always comes out before credit, when you buy something on your bank card with credit, the store just checks for approval, alot of them batch out at the end of the day and thats when the request goes to the bank for money. Debit is always taken out immediately.

Most banks, will do largest to smallest, i have like 5 things pending on my account right now from 2-3 days ago, went yesterday and bought something with debit, it was out of the account before i drove home.

 

Also, in terms of your checking account, debits (i.e. money spent, such as checks written, card transactions whether debit or credit, bills set to autopay, etc.) are always posted before deposits. Deposits generally don't post to your account until the end of the day, so if you are at or near zero, any spending done during that day will accrue charges. My bank processes charges in the order in which the are posted, so the size of the transaction may or may not make a difference, depending on your account.

Sounds to me like your wife was "floating" debit/credit transactions, much like people used to "float" checks. If this was a one-time occurrence, you might be able to talk the bank into crediting some or all of the fees back to you. However, if this becomes a regular occurrence, not only will you not get credit, you might lose your account all together and be reported to credit agencies as a credit risk. This is, after all, technically an illegal practice.

 

make your wife pay the overdraft fees.

I've only had 3 overdrafts my entire life. Good thing I knew people working for my bank who reversed the fees.

Also I learned a lesson during one of them. When writing checks even if you post-date; the check can still be cashed before the date.

 

BoA set me up where if I overdraft from my checking account, my savings account will automatically route money over to over the difference, so I don't get charged with overdraft fee.

Then again, you should probably be smarter with money next time.

 

I'm still confused as to why your wife deliberately made the $100 withdrawal knowing full well she just used the last $40 in the account to buy groceries? I guess if it was an emergency, then I can understand. Basically, the overdraft charges are coming because the gas station didn't immediately process her charge. They processed it AFTER the other charges were already made, hence the overdraft fees for all of the purchases. If anything, you might be able to talk to the bank, and get them to waive the overdraft fees for the purchases that were made BEFORE the $100 was taken out (the gas).