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

[slickdtc]

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

My situation was resolved yesterday, thankfully. I had deposited a check on a Saturday (we usually get our checks on Thurs, they came on Fri). It would've taken until Tues for the check to finally clear, which I did not know because I always deposit on Thurs or Fri. Anyway, I used my card a ton and later in the week checked my account and saw I was in the negative.

I talked to the bank yesterday and the guy was very helpful and saw that I had the money (guaranteed funds, work check) it just wasn't cleared yet. This happened before and I got a letter explaining what happened and it was cleared (I accidentally used my card after taking out my first 100). But I guess since this time I used my card multiple times, there was no "courtesy" of seeing it was an honest mistake. Thankfully, the guy who helped me yesterday saw I regularly deposit on Thurs/Fri and I don't take advantage of the overdraft stuff and knew it was an accident. He may have actually kept me banking with them.

[kehlis]

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.

This is one of the biggest gripes I get and I don't understand where the confusion is.

You spent the money on Wednesday. You got paid Thursday.

No the credit from Thursday will not post before the debits on Wednesday.


There are PLENTY of things I don't like that banks do, but that is not one of them.

My bank does it's batch around 10 pm, so ANY visa transaction that is authorized before 10 pm affects that day's business whether or not it posts. This caused quite a few problems (obviously) but the new overdraft coverage regulations should go along way to helping out with that.


In your roomates scenario, with the new coverage (unless he opts in) that transaction would not even have been approved.