Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

[cardsfan2222]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

I used to work at a bank that did this. One poor guy came in with $200 in overdrafts because he cashed a check after he had used his debit card for several $2 purchases. The bank deducted the check first, and charged $25 for all the debit card transactions. I was nice and reversed it for him because I thought it was wrong they did that.

[MassNole]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

I used to work at a bank that did this. One poor guy came in with $200 in overdrafts because he cashed a check after he had used his debit card for several $2 purchases. The bank deducted the check first, and charged $25 for all the debit card transactions. I was nice and reversed it for him because I thought it was wrong they did that.

Too bad you said you used to work for them, they need more people who know the difference between what is right and what is wrong.

[USF11]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

Ouch......

How did they respond when you called them out on it? When I called BOA customer service from the issue in my previous post I was told that it had always been their practice to run debits before credits and called me a liar for saying my previous statements showed this wasn't even remotely true. What was best with BOA is that AFTER I closed my account they still ran through transactions of stuff on autopay and billed me for it because it would have been illegal to have no processed the transactions......wtf mate? Basically I paid what they paid out and literally told the bitch they had in the branch to **** herself if she thought I was paying over draft fees on a CLOSED account. She said they would sue me I told her I was a lawyer and I would welcome them to do so as the countersuit would be for millions.

Chase always fixes over drafts fee's for me. I threaten to close my accounts and get my friends and family to follow suit. It works surprising well.

[JohnDoe8865]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

I used to work at a bank that did this. One poor guy came in with $200 in overdrafts because he cashed a check after he had used his debit card for several $2 purchases. The bank deducted the check first, and charged $25 for all the debit card transactions. I was nice and reversed it for him because I thought it was wrong they did that.

You are one of a few really decent people that have ever worked at a bank IMO. Thank you.

[PVarck31]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

I absolutely loathe banks. Every last one of them. I had this BS happen to me at US Bank, and National City Bank (now PNC) I went without an account for about 3 years because I didn't want anyone near my money.

I just recently opened an account with Huntington bank so I can get my money direct deposited. Everything was going well until last week when I brought my step daughter in to cash a $20 birthday check. They refused to cash it because I only had $18 and change in the account. I understand that every bank has rules, but come on. I used to cash checks for well over $20 with no money in my account at my past banks.

I said to the lady that you mean to tell me that my daughter can't have her birthday money because I'm $2 short of the $20 needed to cash it? She just said sorry can't do it. Unreal.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

I used to be with US Bank back in the day, and they pulled the same BS. I would get furious with them as this was happening almost every month.

They made some garbage up about processing the higher debit amounts first like car payments/mortgage payments/etc. as they were important and needed to be processed ASAP to avoid payments being late. LMAO!

Meanwhile my deposited checks/cash (can't remember if they held cash deposits, I am sure these scammers did) that were deposited ahead of time would sit pending and then go through after everything else cleared.

I got hit by a few of these when I was with Washington Mutual (now Chase) when I was younger. Pretty much every time, I was able to call them and have them reveresed.

They'd process the high one first which would bring me (-) and then process another two or three smaller ones, which made me more negative. Had they processed them in the opposite order, I would have had one charge, which I would have accepted and gladly paid, but because they processed them in the order they did, I would be hit with four.

This is the only thing that really pissed me off.

Everything else was my fault. I'd forget I had a check out that hadn't cleared and then of course it would clear when my funds were low. Or I'd forget to input a charge and my checkbook would be off. Or I'd transfer to the wrong account and think my money was in one account when it was in another. All of that stuff was my fault so I understand if I got hit with charges.

[cardsfan2222]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

Too bad you said you used to work for them, they need more people who know the difference between what is right and what is wrong.

I quit when they were threatening to fire me because I wouldn't push credit cards on people who had no money to begin with. I was really good at my job, but all they saw were dollar signs on everybody who came in.

[Speedy]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

I have BB&T and haven't really had any issues. If I had to pay an overdraft fee, there was a plausable reason (being I didn't have any money in the account when the check/debit cleared).

I have my overdraft tied into my savings and always ensure I check my account to ensure the money I have so I won't go over.

[PantherBeast_OS]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

I honestly think this so wrong. People in this country already have trouble making it now adays without having to waste more money on stuff like this. This is just Greed.It will just make it worse. This is what is going to ruin america in the next 10 years.

[ODogg]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

My roommate once had this happen to him. He bought $200 worth of lumber and was due to get paid $350 the next day. The next day he got the $350 but the bank processed the $200 charge first, before his direct deposit, as well as three other minor transactions for about $60. Now logic would tell you that $350 - $260 = $90 left in his account. But banks don't use logic. Instead they did this deal:

-$200 <= $35 overdraft fee
-$20 <= $35 overdraft fee
-$20 <= $35 overdraft fee
-$20 <= $35 overdraft fee = -$400 + $350 = -$50 in his account.

So instead of having $90 in his account he had -$50 in his account. This is the kind of nonsense that banks pull. I understand charging money if someone overdraws their account but that kind of logic above in how transactions are processed is just a scam.

One way to fix it would be to say that there needs to be a 24 hour delay in charging ANY overdraft fees. If that was the case then the bank wouldn't be able to use creative accounting like above to get overdraft fees. Because in reality if there is a deposit of $350 and withdrawals of $260 in a day then you should have $90 left over and if no charges can be charged on that day for overdraft that is how it would be. Make it a 24 hour period before fees can be assessed would be a good start to doing away with this crap.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

My roommate once had this happen to him. He bought $200 worth of lumber and was due to get paid $350 the next day. The next day he got the $350 but the bank processed the $200 charge first, before his direct deposit, as well as three other minor transactions for about $60. Now logic would tell you that $350 - $260 = $90 left in his account. But banks don't use logic. Instead they did this deal:

-$200 <= $35 overdraft fee
-$20 <= $35 overdraft fee
-$20 <= $35 overdraft fee
-$20 <= $35 overdraft fee = -$400 + $350 = -$50 in his account.

I see what you are saying, but your buddy knowingly went to the lumber yard and spent $200 which wasn't in his account yet. If he ran his ATM card, those transactions go through instantly and at that time he didn't have the funds in the account to cover the transactions. and IMO, the bank rightfully penalized him from spending money, which he didn't have. Regardless of whether it was 4 hours or 4 days, the bank basically lent him money he didn't have.

Should it just have been one charge instead of several? Sure, but as far as I am concerned they were legit in penalizing him at least once.

I don't think anywhere in the contract it says go ahead and rack up charges to your account that you can cover later. You have to have the funds in your account at the time of transaction.

My only gripe with them is when someone has say $99 in their account and they have 4 charges of $5, $20, $25 and $95 and the bank process them in order of highest to lowest so that you get charged three penalties instead of one. But as far as spending money from your account, which does not yet exist in your account, you are at the banks mercy as far as I am concerned.

The same goes with checks. People often look at their available balance and forget they have a check or two outstanding and then get upset when they clear a week or two later and it puts them in the red. It's your responsibility to account for all money you have outstanding.

It used to get a little tricky because you can usually choose to swipe your card as an ATM (enter a pin) or a credit card (sign) and ATM transactions are usually processed immediately and credit card transactions can take a day or two or three. Now days, most of that stuff, including checks, goes through immediately as banks are trying to put an end to people floating their money.

One way to fix it would be to say that there needs to be a 24 hour delay in charging ANY overdraft fees. If that was the case then the bank wouldn't be able to use creative accounting like above to get overdraft fees. Because in reality if there is a deposit of $350 and withdrawals of $260 in a day then you should have $90 left over and if no charges can be charged on that day for overdraft that is how it would be. Make it a 24 hour period before fees can be assessed would be a good start to doing away with this crap.

Not a bad idea, but you are still letting people use money they don't have in their account, which IMO is just a bit sketchy. If it were up to me, I'd at minimum say that the transactions should have to happen on the same business day. In other words, you can't have $5 in your account on Thursday, go out Thursday night and spend $500 and then get paid $1,000 on Friday and everything be OK. Just seems shady to me.

I just don't think it's the right mentality to go out spend money and then say, it's cool, I'll run to the bank tonight or sometime tomorrow and put that money in there to cover it. Just seems irresponsible to do. I get that it happens. It happened to me a few times to year in college, but every time I knew that I was risking it or just forgot to account for something.

[nastynate30]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

Wow! This is huge! If this goes through I can expect at least $300 back.

YES!!! When and where do I pick up my check?!?!?!?!?!

[superjames1992]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

I have my overdraft tied into my savings and always ensure I check my account to ensure the money I have so I won't go over.

Same here.

[p_rushing]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

I agree with Trevytrev11.

The bank should process the transactions in the order they come in. If you have $100 and spend $200 at 12PM and get paid $200 at 4PM, then you get overdraft fees. If you get paid at 11AM, but the bank doesn't process it until after the the charge, then that is wrong.

[Hutton]

Re: Wells Fargo ordered to pay back over $200 mil in Overdraft fees

My wife works for a somewhat major bank in the Midwest. She complains about this same type of stuff all the time. The bank bends customers over & screws them all the time, and she has to deal with the irate customers who complain about this.

She's gotten to the point where she tells them that it's unfair & they should try to find a credit union instead of a bank. She will eventually get fired for this lol, but it's highway F'ing robbery. And the people who it effects the most are the people with the least money, so it's just so sickening.