Bank of America Overdraft Fees

I have been a loyal BOA customer for almost 15 years. Until recently, I couldn't say enough nice things about the bank. I even had a favorable review published in our student newspaper while I was in college that got the attention of a regional BOA representative who wrote me a personal thank-you letter and granted me a year of free services.

Then earlier this week I got socked with nearly $200 in overdraft fees that were completely unnecessary. I had two accounts with BOA - a checking account and a credit line that was tied to overdraft protection. I had recently maxed out the credit line for $500 when I needed a quick loan. Several days ago, with nearly $800 in my checking account, I decided to pay off that overdraft credit line, ordering an online funds transfer of $500 from my BOA checking account to my BOA credit line. That $500 was immediately debited from my checking account, but was NOT immediately applied to my credit line. A day or so later my online balance was still positive when I deposited a check for $2000 into my checking account. However, because I made the ATM deposit after 3PM, the funds from that deposit were not available until the next day, and I was socked with a fee for each transaction that came through that night.

But it gets worse: had I not ordered that funds transfer of $500 from checking to my overdraft credit line, I would have had enough money in checking to cover the transactions, and avoided any fees. OR, if they had immediately applied my $500 transfer to my credit line, I would have had enough credit to cover the transactions that way. The irony is that, because my money was in limbo between two BOA accounts, neither account was available to cover the transactions. I have gone over this at length with BOA on the phone, and they refuse to refund or reduce the fees.

This practice is completely deceptive, and I am sure they will be sued eventually for this practice if they haven't been already.

Today I have already begun the process of switching to another bank.