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Banks Fee-d on Procedure, Critics Claim
For most bankers, it is simply a matter of doing business as usual. But for their customers, the way checks are processed can be inconvenient — and costly.
A Fauquier County business woman who asked that her name not be used said her daughter, a college student, chose to do business with a regional bank with offices in Warrenton because it has branches here and in the state where she goes to school.
Because her daughter is a student with limited funds, she had some problems with overdrafts, this Jane Doe said.
When she and her daughter went to the bank to find out why, "we found out the transactions weren't processed in the order she made them. The largest one was processed first.”
As a result, Doe said her daughter was charged overdraft fees for several smaller transactions that, had they been processed first, wouldn't have been a problem.
Instead of bouncing one final larger check, she bounced five smaller ones, each costing her $35 in banks fees.
“The way the bank explained it to us was that the larger transactions are processed first because they are 'more important,'" Doe said. "But who are they to say whether a $50 check for your electricity is any more or less important than a $400 check for your rent? They are both important.”
What the bank considers a policy seems more like a way to make money by charging exorbitant fees, she added.
She is hardly alone In fact people are so frustrated that the Internet site www.consumeraffairs.com is overflowing with complaints about banks. In all, there are 83 pages dedicated to complaints about Wachovia alone.
One woman, identified only as Lisa from Baltimore, said she made a deposit, then wrote several checks, thinking the money would be available.
For some reason, she said, the bank held the deposit for 11 days. She did not find out until she went to the ATM and found out her account was overdrawn by more than $700. That amount included $245 in fees for unavailable funds, she claimed.
However, the ire is not directed solely at Wachovia.
Another man, John of Clayton, N.C., claimed that BB&T is “clearing debit cards, checks and other drafts from the account first, and holding deposited funds until the next morning solely so they can charge $35 [fees for non sufficient funds].”
He alleged that the bank charged him $700 in fees in one month. The bank refunded only $290, he said.
“This is predatory, unfair and nothing more than BB&T trying to steal from its customers,” he insisted.
The list goes on.
Diane from Cincinnati said her experience with PNC bank wasn't much better. She, too, made a deposit which was reflected in her account. Certain “pending items” made her available balance go into the red, even though her posted balance never did. As a result, she got hammered with nine overdraft fees.
According to spokesman Aimee Worsley, Wachovia follows “standard banking industry practice” by processing customers' largest checks and other transactions first.
See the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story...
This also happened to me recently at BB&T and I have an overdraft account! My direct deposit paycheck hit the same day other checks or online pymts hit my account and they processed all the payments, charged my about $300 in overdraft fees and THEN credited my account with my paycheck. They even admitted to me on the phone that the pay check got to the bank at the same time as the debits but that they process debits before credits. Everything except my mortgage check could have even been taken care of by the overdraft account but because they process the BIG checks first, all the little ones bounced. Again, my direct deposit paycheck was already there anyway! I am glad the banks are being investigated for their processing procedures. So much for "NO FEE" banking. They are going to get their money one way or another.
Gretchen, Marshall, VA
Posted by gbehan
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Something similiar happen to me at Wachovia. I setup auto bill pay for the Mortgage and noticed last month that when I got my mortgage statement I had late fees assessed. The mortage compnay said that they received the electronic check late. After calling Wachovia because they too had charged me overdraft fees, Wachovia states that the BIG companies (ie your mortgage or insurance checks) can choose from month to month to accept paper or electronic payments. Supposedly, in my case, the bank choose that month to accept only paper payments. In short, I was charged $35 by Wachovia and $98 by my mortgage company for a late payment. Keep in mind I setup this payment well in advance to avoid this whole situation.
Posted by ginnalynn
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