BANK OF AMERICA: Steal's consumer's money with "hidden" overdrafts charges

A new policy. A manipulation of your funds.

Bank of America, apparently developed a new policy that will basically steal your money whenever they are short of funds. Complete bogus. Ive had other banking institutions and have friends who are Managers of banks, and have never heard of charging you overdrafts on funds that are pending, only when it is posted.

Heres what was explained to me and my situation.

They are still able to charge you overdraft charges when you swipe your card and you were short of xx amount, before anything was posted.

As to my understanding, when making a deposit $100.00 is available to you right away, even if it was going to take the next day to post. What was I suppose to understand, this was the system that I was used to. Never had an issue with it till now.

March 7th - -

I made a deposit through the ATM at 6:30pm. Yes, I missed the cut off time; but at least I knew I had $100 available to me through my debit card. I believe that those funds are available because it did show on my online banking that I had xx amount plus the $100.00 that was available to me through my deposit. I understand that my deposit wont post till the following Monday night.

Around 9:30pm I checked to see if my funds are available; and my online postings says that I had available funds. I made a purchase through paypal. Small funds, but a fund non the less.

At 10:30pm I went to buy food which costs $4.00 at Mcdonalds.

At 11:45pm I made a transaction for a drink for $13.00.

March 10th - - MEGA OVERCHARGE

Although those 3 charges above are at pending status; at the time of purchase I had the money available. Even on my online postings; there were no such negatives that had ever posted, but in the middle of the charges I was charged $35.00 for 3 transactions.

Theyve explained that the $100/ was only available for cash and not debit card transactions. Because when I had made the transactions, the funds were still pending. However, the charges that I made initially shows that it was in pendingstatus and not a posted status. I was being charge for the pending amounts; yet they were available to hold MY FUNDS AND DEPOSIT during pending, BUT COULD STILL CHARGE OVERDRAFTS FOR THEIR PENDING TRANSACTIONS.

So if you go to a restaurant an you were charged $34 on your debit card, and it was pending for $40.00 that have caused you for overdraft, even though that is not the actual amount that you authorized, you were overdrawn by 3 dollars for the pending; you WILL STILL BE CHARGED.. even if you did your calculations correct. SORRY NEW POLICY�¦ but when it posted, you were actually not overdraft. Oops, banks mistake but you'll be charged anyway because during the "pending" not posting amount was overdrawn. YOU WILL STILL BE CHARGED BECAUSE OF THE PENDING was over the amount.

Usually, in all banking institutions; you are not being charged until the amount is posted to your account without the available funds. However, this was not the case. Pending amounts are at times different when it is being posted. For instances, when buying gas, or at a restaurant; it will always shows as pending because the correct amount will post when they do their nightly postings. Reason for it being under pending.

However during the March 10th postings:

They posted my deposit, and then POSTED my transaction on the same day. Even if my posted deposit went through BEFORE the posted charges; therefore I had my funds there before any of my charges were being posted. Apparently the new policy is that they calculate the time that you made the transactions and then charge you.

For instance. We are use to seeing everything the next morning all together added the deposits and the charges. Now this is how they calculated.

Charges made at 5:24pm.. and you are negative of $3.00�¦ You made a deposit at 5:54pm of $600.00. THAT IS NORMALLY OK, BECAUSE EVERYTHING GETS PROCESSED AT THE SAME TIME, AND USUALLY YOUR DEPOSIT IS THE FIRST TO BE CREDITED. THIS IS NOT THE CASE HOWEVER.

Usually on normal circumstances and normal bankings; all of those we would see it as follows:

Current amount $1.25

Deposit credit: $ 600.00 = total: $601.25

Credit debit amount: $3.00 = total: $ 598.25

Above is normally what I see every night.

Now the new system.. you'll see the above on the same statement plus an overdraft charge of $35.. because you made a transaction 20 mins prior to your deposit.

How ridiculous is that???

Also my situation. Why even bother to let me see my $100.00 credit; when that isn�¢ï¿½ï¿½t the case.. when in my 5 years of banking with them.. I had $100.00 available immediately AFTER WHATEVER TIME I MADE THE DEPOSIT. Why are they charging me for money I had in my account?

Does this makes sense to anyone?

Now I would understand that when it was actually posted to the account and my account was in negative status, I would understand my overdraft charges. But because I was actually NEVER overdrawn; how are you going to charge me the XX amounts?

A lot of people are going to close their accounts with them.. and probably open up with their competitors. I am one of them. I would rather invest on something that has the same system as all other bankings. Good going bank of America!

Comment On This

The last six months BA has stolen a little over $400.00 dollars from our corporate accounts. They can justify anything. They will continue to do so unless people stop and close their accounts. All will fall victim to their legal loopholes and scams. Soon there will be a lawsuit and we will be in line. I have had their employees agree off record about the inside legal theft. Bankers beware. They are legally stealing from the small business owner. We will bank with CHASE starting tomorrow.

Comment On This

I've had the same problems with BofA.

I call and complain and they return part of what they purloin.

I filed a complaint with the better business bureau and The Office of the Comptroller of Currency. Below are their web sites where you can file a complaint electronically. I also found this organization and filed a complaint with my congressman.

everyone here should do the same.

http://www.bbb.org/us/Find-Business-Reviews/

http://www.helpwithmybank.gov/complaints/index.html

http://www.affil.org/

Comment On This

US BANK does the same thing.. I have paid over 700.00 in overdraft fees on items the wouldn't even equal 50.00 dollars.. RIP OFF... something has to be done.

Comment On This

OMG!same here. authorization on hold but not available and got overdraft charges, next day I still had available balance but their overdraft fees have made my account overdraft again and another fee charged. They said go ahead and close the account you still have to pay the fees.

Comment On This

Bank of America robs the consumer blind. They did the same to me. I made purchases for the amount I knew was in the bank. They charged me $35.00 NSF fee for each charge even though money was there at the time of the charge. At least it was showing up on my online account! But they claim the transactions hadn't processed yet. They will also hold your smaller charges for 24-48 hours so if anything larger comes in, they pay that first and if you're over a little, they charge you a fee for each of the small charges you made 2-days ago when it should have been one fee for the last large purchase. They are really the worst. I'm switching to a credit union. They just hit me up for 10 foreign transaction fees. I've used my ATM card to make purchases from foreign sites online befpre and NEVER got charged. Now they hit me up for various amount every time I use my ATM card. LEAVE THEM. They are not a Consumer-friendly bank.

Comment On This

THIS IS TOTALLY TRUE!!! I HAVE NOW BEEN CHARGER $210 IN OVERDRAFT FEES FOR FIRST OF ALL...THEIR FEES CAUSING ME TO OVERDRAGT AND ADDITIONAL FEES FOR THE OVERDRAFT TRANSACTIONS....IT IS VERY RIDICULOUS! I'LL BE WRITING A COMPLAINT LETTER TO KENNETH D. LEWIS, BofA CEO, I'M CLOSING MY ACCOUNT TODAY. HE'LL BE ONE CUSTOMER SHORT AND WILL PROBABLY BE A HUNDRED MORE WHEN I TELL MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS ABOUT THEIR "NEW POSTING PROCEDURE". THIS IS NOT ONLY RIDICULOUS BUT UNFAIR. ESPECIALLY FOR ME, I'VE BEEN AFFECTED DEEPLY BY THE POOR ECONOMY AND CERTAINLY DON'T NEED THIS RIGHT NOW.