Overdraft Fees

J.R. wrote:

What a foolish argument.

The banks are charging fees on money that is not there, and is not spent, and that cannot be spent, because it is not there. It is a shell game, that has no expense to the banks, only income out of thin air, out of no service provided, out of nothing. There is no benefit to anyone but the banks.

The game of charging overdraft fees for money that is not there should be illegal and needs to be stopped immediately.

Genius.

You spent the money. It was spent by you. You acquired something using money you did not have, therefore the onus is on you.

Sorry to blow your argument.

When you swipe a card at a POS terminal the first thing that happens is a request is sent to approve or deny the transaction. You do not need people sitting around monitoring transactions, the process is automated and already built into the software. The problem is the banks approve everything. Why, because they can charge, and you will pay. Want them to stop. Stop paying, take your money elsewhere. Then they will change their practice or they will go out of business. You don't have to balance a checkbook, you just have to stop doing business with BOA, Wells Fargo, Chase, ING, AIG, or whatever giant corporation is trying to rob you.

Treadmillionaire wrote:

You don't have to balance a checkbook, you just have to stop doing business with BOA, Wells Fargo, Chase, ING, AIG, or whatever giant corporation is trying to rob you.

How are they trying to rob you? They put a penalty (overdraft fees) in place to teach you a lesson: keep track of your money. Do they make a boatload of profit off fees? Yes, because, for the most part, people are morons.

I bank with BofA, and I have never once felt "robbed" by them. In fact, since I started banking with them over 17 years ago (I was 9 when my parents opened my first account), I have never paid a single fee. How is this the case? I read everything they send me, and I keep track of my money. IT'S NOT HARD.

Trust me, life is much more simple when you don't go around blaming everyone else for problems you created yourself.

register man to the rescue wrote:

Trust me, life is much more simple when you don't go around blaming everyone else for problems you created yourself.

Agreed.

It is your responsibility to keep track of your money, not the banks. They are there to hold it and pay you interest. If you screw with them, they will charge you. It is well within their rights.

Why so much sympathy for banks?

These giant corporations helped to get us into the subprime mortgage mess, then the government bailed them out!

Do I get a government bailout when I overdraft by 33 cents after buying a gatorade and I simply forget to transfer funds from my savings into my checking? NO!

So all of you advocate a double standard for corporate executives who help plunge the nation into a depression? But I can't complain about ticky tacky worthless overdraft charges?

Hass Hole wrote:

If you do not like the terms of your bank account, go in and talk to the reps. It is simple, shop around until you find an account that you like.

The problem is that all banks charge overdraft fees. (I guess there are "protections" but they're questionable). Like another poster noted, it's not like the banks performed any service to get the $35 fee. They literally did nothing. And for those people saying that the banks don't have time to monitor thousands of accounts: they're called computers. Banks don't have to monitor each customer's accounts, they simply need to setup the system (as it is in some cases) to where if you swipe your card with insufficient funds it will say "insufficient funds". It won't let you make multiple $2 purchases (and get fined heavily) when not all of your check got deposited, there's a discrepancy between the online statement and your register, etc.

As for the apartment, I didn't mean that it's crazy that apartments ask you to pay money. What's crazy is that, often, you have to meet very strict financial guidelines. That is, if you don't make 3-4x the rent (even if you have the funds to pay rent) you wont get accepted. And pet "rent" is just stupid.

How many of you have signed a piece of paper for a job offer, medical services, apartment lease, etc. when you didn't completely agree with what you were signing but you had no choice? Extremely steep fine for breaking the lease, promise not to sue even if it is the other parties fault, etc. I'm willing to bet that nearly everybody has. You kind of have to to get by. And that's not right.

I'm all for personal responsibility (really, I am). But at the same time, as a society, if there are questionable business practices that are affecting millions of lives, we need to do something about stopping those practices, and not just saying "take care of yourself, it's not that hard to manage a register" (which I do, by the way).

ARE BANKS BENEVOLENT? NO, BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT!

THEY CHARGE A FEE THAT IS DISCLOSED UP FRONT FOR YOU MAKING A MISTAKE ON SOMETHING THAT IS YOUR JOB TO TRACK. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!!!!

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SUB PRIME MORTGAGE FALL OUT, BAIL OUTS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT.

THIS IS SIMPLE MATH.

THEY ARE A BANK, NOT YOUR MOM. WATCH YOUR OWN MONEY AND YOU WON'T BE CHARGED!!

NO LOVE FOR BANKS, JUST COMMON SENSE!

register man to the rescue wrote:

How are they trying to rob you? They put a penalty (overdraft fees) in place to teach you a lesson: keep track of your money. Do they make a boatload of profit off fees? Yes, because, for the most part, people are morons.

Overdraft fees exist for one reason: to generate income. Banks don't want to teach anyone a lesson, they want to nickle and dime them.

A debit card is basically money. If I didn't have enough money to buy a sandwhich, the store would just tell me "sorry you don't have enough money" and I wouldn't buy it. But the way banks are set up, my debit card is accepted SOLELY to cause me to incur a fee. I do not want to be able to overcharge. Yes, I should and do keep track of my bank accounts but if for some reason a check doesn't go through I don't want to rack up 200 dollars in fees before finding out.

I can't wait to leave BoA. These mega banks have us all tricked into thinking they're providing us a service. What service is that? Is it the .35% interest? It would seem more like we're providing them a service, since they've been investing our money in increasingly risky areas and paying us next to nothing in interest.

I used to utterly sabotage myself with overdraft fees. As a teenager, my parents used to cover me every time I overdrafted. Shielded from the consequences of financial irresponsibility, I developed such bad habits that I eventually altogether stopped keeping track of my balance because I knew my parents would always have my back when my statement came in the mail. I had to take some devastating blows before I wised up. I still cringe when I look over my old bank statements. My advice to anyone who has this problem is to make sure that you're feeling the pain of your own mistakes and that nobody else is coming to your rescue.

Overdraft fees also exist because theres potential loss to the bank when you are spending money YOU dont actually have.

Common sense point 1.

Nobody is just randomly defending banks. We are taking a look at the situation and giving the most logical answer to it.

You can only overdraft your account if you spend money you dont have, it never matters when an item posts because you had spent that money regardless.

Deposits take time to clear. Banks cant do that based on a percentage because you can make fraudalent checks. Most banks only take between 1 to 2 business days to clear a check.

You can opt out of overdraft authorization. That is technically put there for emergency use of your debit card. If you opt out of it, then your card will get declined if the funds are not there.

Very simple things to understand. I can not make this any easier for you to comprehend. Either you do and you agree with me or you dont and you are just too stupid.

Grouchy old man wrote:

Yes, I should and do keep track of my bank accounts but if for some reason a check doesn't go through I don't want to rack up 200 dollars in fees before finding out.

Bank of America provides free online banking. They also provide banking by phone, although it's been so long since I've used it I'm not sure if they charge for it. For most accounts I would imagine they don't. If you ever have an inkling about a deposit, it's very easy to check if it cleared.

A debit card is a convenience. Back in the day you'd either write a check or pay cash for everything. Not every retailer accepted credit cards. Now we have the ability to debit our checking account whenever we want. It's great, but it comes with responsibility.

Bank of America, more like bank of extortion.

register man to the rescue wrote:

If the money is not there YOU SHOULD KNOW IT.

There is no excuse for that. There is no excuse for not using a checkbook register to log all of your transactions. If you go into a bank they will give you a register for free. Bring a pair of tin snips and you can take one of their chained down pens and you're all set. Keep track of your damn money and you'll never overdraft.

It doesn't matter one bit when transactions post. And I've known from the day my parents opened my first savings account that deposits take time to process.

I'm 27, and I bet I'm the only one of my friends who maintains a register. I'm also the only one who has never overdrafted. The thought that I'm the only one with a balanced account is baffling to me.

hahaha. checkbook register. what a sweet kid. UM...ever heard of e-banking on the INTERNET?

Klondyke Runner wrote:

ARE BANKS BENEVOLENT? NO, BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT! ...

Writing in all caps isn't helping your case. You're right, banks aren't benevolent. Does that mean they can get away with unethical business practices? I'm assuming you'd agree that the answer's no, we're just disagreeing on whether overdraft fees are at all unethical.

I think they are somewhat, because they're a way for the banks to make money by doing nothing. Like others have said, the banks allow overdrafts to occur so that they can make money at the consumers expense. Somebody said that it is a luxury being able to overdraft. I guess that could be true, if you REALLY need something and are willing to pay the fee. But, by and large, it is an unfair way for banks to make money from their customers.

Does that diminish personal responsibility? Not at all. I get that I am responsible for balancing my checkbook. I am not stupid, as you suggested. But rather, you're appearing foolish by failing to see questionable affairs by banks for what they really are.

Again I ask, have people had to sign paperwork that they didn't really want to? Have some people on here really never felt like they were treated unfairly by the system? Any arguing against that? And why are people defending banks? To promote personal responsibility? You'd be right in that respect, but there's more to it.

yt wrote:

hahaha. checkbook register. what a sweet kid. UM...ever heard of e-banking on the INTERNET?

hahahaha....irresponsible douche. Ever heard of BOTH?

The internet doesn't know when you write a check and someone decides to stuff it in a box for three months before depositing. The internet doesn't know when a company's computer system is down and they decide to take three weeks to enter the transactions. There are a million situations where th internet might not immediately know about a transaction that has taken place.

Keep track on your end and show some responsibility. I am a software developer and I still keep a manual register. I am not a technophobe. I rarely write checks, but I still maintain a register. Why? Because I care about my finances. I am responsible.

Get a life.

old dudes wrote:

I think they are somewhat, because they're a way for the banks to make money by doing nothing.

For you to have this opinion, you must have ABSOLUTELY no idea how banks work. In fact, you haven't the slightest concept of how our market system works at all.

When you buy something with money that you don't have, you are borrowing money from a bank. That is money they cannot earn interest on, so they charge you for it. It is all there in black and white, as someone else mentioned. There is nothing backhanded or sleazy about it.

They are doing something for the money, they are lending you money that you demanded when you made a purchase.

I am sickened and saddened buy your thought process. No wonder we have so many economical woes in this country. I totally overestimated the intelligence of the average consumer.

i write 2 checks a month. rent and utilities.

number of registers? 0

overdrafts in my life? 0

i don't write checks i can't cash.

me > you. registers are for grandparents and n00bs.

I cannot believe there are so many people questioning overdraft fees. Sure, they are high, but that is because they are entirely avoidable. Don't want the fee, don't overdraw your account.

You want to know what else is a high fee? DUI. Guess what, don't drive drunk.

Overdrawing an account should be a crime. Deadbeats get themselves into these situations. I feel sorry for your wives.

yt wrote:

i write 2 checks a month. rent and utilities.

number of registers? 0

overdrafts in my life? 0

i don't write checks i can't cash.

me > you. registers are for grandparents and n00bs.

...said the douchebag who still rents. Get back to us when you grow up.