the point of this isnt to whine but to warn you not to make the same mistake I/we did.
i've always had trouble with overdrafting. at one point wamu blocked my debit card from being able to go into a negative balance at all because of this issue. ive been using cash to correct this problem, and have been overdraft free for over two years. but 2 1/2 weeks ago I decided to use my card a few times because it was convienent and my balance was too low to hit the atm (huge mistake). I ran up 3 little charges, about 2 days before my paycheck, on the 22nd.
on the morning of my payday, the 24th, i bought gas with my debit, thinking it wouldnt show up in couple of hours before putting my check in (HUGGGEE MISTAKE). i decided this paycheck to cash it mostly out and leave just enough to cover these charges (fucking stupid). this is what happened.
my 18$ goes to -$2 because of twenty in gas which they INSTANTLY charged, on the 24th, which then resulted in a 34$ insufficient funds fee. so now im -36$, but my bank account still shows 18$ at the time I deposited 38$, i even worked out this number with the teller and was told id have some change left in my account for a couple of weeks, and even asked if I should put in more just in case. I was told there was no reason to put in anymore money as I was covered against everything coming in. i could have, SHOULD have put in more money, but I wanted it down to leftover change, and thought i was covered, so why would i have.
on the 27th, what happens? all of the sudden my online statement updates itself and low and behold, i have been hit with 4 overdraft fees. 1 for the gas, and the rest for the other 3 charges, none of which were even over 8$ and which did not add over the 18$ balance i originally had, but since i was overdrafted because of the gas, im now fucked as they come in 5 days later. the worst part of this all was my deposit was convienently held for 3 days, posting only after i had buried myself deeply.
what the bank does not tell you is that the teller sees everything real-time. meaning, if you use your debit card anywhere, they instantly see it and it becomes a pending charge, and they put a hold on it for however long they want, up to 5 days. dont believe me? use your debit card, then walk into your bank two minutes later and ask for a printed statement. youd be surprised how different this looks from your online statement, and surprised to see that the charge will be there as pending, even if you cannot see it online or hear it through telephone banking for days to come. everything is there to the minute. maybe they made a mistake in letting me see this. so my charges on the 22nd were held for 5 days automatically because of how low of a balance i had in my checking account. i dont know if its a computer program that detects certain balance circumstances to orchestrate this kind of bullshit, or if someone is paid to sort through and rearrange this shit.
the bottem line is, the teller clearly saw i had a negative balance, i clearly had the money to put in, i clearly asked if i should put in more, and i was clearly told that i already had enough in which I did not. i go to argue this point at the bank and they tell me theyre really sorry and to go to the bank where i started my account at, because only there can my fees be refunded. I drive 5 miles there, and talk to a teller, who refers me to some advisor, who refers me to a lower end manager, who then refers me to the branch manager. the branch manager at this point clearly wants me out of the bank, even though all i am doing is asking how this happened and why was i lied to, when the information was in front of the tellers face. I was then lied to again when they told me that it was not real time, even though 5 minutes beforehand i was told it was, and was proved it was when i saw the statements printed by the teller and the lower end manager. when i brought up that even as we speak i am being lied to again, the branch manager became red faced and began to yell at me, stating that this is entirely my fault and no matter what i say and how long i stay here she cant do anything at all. right. so i stayed in the bank another twenty minutes politely talking to her, using logic, asking not to be yelled at, and she finally calmed down and told me as a courtesy she would refund only one of the insufficient fees, which she did in front of me and printed a new statement. when i laughed and stated that she lied again, saying she could do absolutely nothing and then now saying she could get rid of the fees, but only one, she threatened to take the charge back, saying that she only did it because ive been at the bank for 6 years and it was a courtesy to me. which was funny because when i brought up the fact that my previous overdraft protection no longer works she said that i should look upon chase as being an entirely different bank, with my account being a fresh chase one. I pointed this out and said that even now she was still contradicting what she had previously said, and was then asked to leave the bank or be 'removed'.
of course all of the blame is put upon me, because there is no way to dispute that it was me who used the card, unless i had reported it stolen or some other shit and proved someone else used it, which was not the case. id hate to think of how theyd treat me in that kind of situation. You need to keep a running ledger blah blah, "It's not my fault you are a financially unresponsible person", etc.
bottem line is the banks need your money in their hands, they need as much capital as they can get, and if you try to use them just to cash your checks they will find a way eventually to catch you slipping and lay it on hard. they want to always have as much of your money in their hands as possible, and if you arent a person who writes down everything they spend the debit card is the most powerful tool they have to confuse and mislead you into overdraft fees brought on by hidden pending charges, which are not hidden to them at all. if your balance is low, charges will be held until the circumstances permit them to be charged not in the order you used your card but by how much they are, and will be charged in a calculated order to maximize overdrafting
anyway, rather than write down all of my charges, or pay to get rid of my debit card for a new atm only card, im choosing to pay up then close out my accounts. id rather not get sued by chase. im going to a credit union.
there has got to be more stories of being raped by a bank?
i've always had trouble with overdrafting. at one point wamu blocked my debit card from being able to go into a negative balance at all because of this issue. ive been using cash to correct this problem, and have been overdraft free for over two years. but 2 1/2 weeks ago I decided to use my card a few times because it was convienent and my balance was too low to hit the atm (huge mistake). I ran up 3 little charges, about 2 days before my paycheck, on the 22nd.
on the morning of my payday, the 24th, i bought gas with my debit, thinking it wouldnt show up in couple of hours before putting my check in (HUGGGEE MISTAKE). i decided this paycheck to cash it mostly out and leave just enough to cover these charges (fucking stupid). this is what happened.
my 18$ goes to -$2 because of twenty in gas which they INSTANTLY charged, on the 24th, which then resulted in a 34$ insufficient funds fee. so now im -36$, but my bank account still shows 18$ at the time I deposited 38$, i even worked out this number with the teller and was told id have some change left in my account for a couple of weeks, and even asked if I should put in more just in case. I was told there was no reason to put in anymore money as I was covered against everything coming in. i could have, SHOULD have put in more money, but I wanted it down to leftover change, and thought i was covered, so why would i have.
on the 27th, what happens? all of the sudden my online statement updates itself and low and behold, i have been hit with 4 overdraft fees. 1 for the gas, and the rest for the other 3 charges, none of which were even over 8$ and which did not add over the 18$ balance i originally had, but since i was overdrafted because of the gas, im now fucked as they come in 5 days later. the worst part of this all was my deposit was convienently held for 3 days, posting only after i had buried myself deeply.
what the bank does not tell you is that the teller sees everything real-time. meaning, if you use your debit card anywhere, they instantly see it and it becomes a pending charge, and they put a hold on it for however long they want, up to 5 days. dont believe me? use your debit card, then walk into your bank two minutes later and ask for a printed statement. youd be surprised how different this looks from your online statement, and surprised to see that the charge will be there as pending, even if you cannot see it online or hear it through telephone banking for days to come. everything is there to the minute. maybe they made a mistake in letting me see this. so my charges on the 22nd were held for 5 days automatically because of how low of a balance i had in my checking account. i dont know if its a computer program that detects certain balance circumstances to orchestrate this kind of bullshit, or if someone is paid to sort through and rearrange this shit.
the bottem line is, the teller clearly saw i had a negative balance, i clearly had the money to put in, i clearly asked if i should put in more, and i was clearly told that i already had enough in which I did not. i go to argue this point at the bank and they tell me theyre really sorry and to go to the bank where i started my account at, because only there can my fees be refunded. I drive 5 miles there, and talk to a teller, who refers me to some advisor, who refers me to a lower end manager, who then refers me to the branch manager. the branch manager at this point clearly wants me out of the bank, even though all i am doing is asking how this happened and why was i lied to, when the information was in front of the tellers face. I was then lied to again when they told me that it was not real time, even though 5 minutes beforehand i was told it was, and was proved it was when i saw the statements printed by the teller and the lower end manager. when i brought up that even as we speak i am being lied to again, the branch manager became red faced and began to yell at me, stating that this is entirely my fault and no matter what i say and how long i stay here she cant do anything at all. right. so i stayed in the bank another twenty minutes politely talking to her, using logic, asking not to be yelled at, and she finally calmed down and told me as a courtesy she would refund only one of the insufficient fees, which she did in front of me and printed a new statement. when i laughed and stated that she lied again, saying she could do absolutely nothing and then now saying she could get rid of the fees, but only one, she threatened to take the charge back, saying that she only did it because ive been at the bank for 6 years and it was a courtesy to me. which was funny because when i brought up the fact that my previous overdraft protection no longer works she said that i should look upon chase as being an entirely different bank, with my account being a fresh chase one. I pointed this out and said that even now she was still contradicting what she had previously said, and was then asked to leave the bank or be 'removed'.
of course all of the blame is put upon me, because there is no way to dispute that it was me who used the card, unless i had reported it stolen or some other shit and proved someone else used it, which was not the case. id hate to think of how theyd treat me in that kind of situation. You need to keep a running ledger blah blah, "It's not my fault you are a financially unresponsible person", etc.
bottem line is the banks need your money in their hands, they need as much capital as they can get, and if you try to use them just to cash your checks they will find a way eventually to catch you slipping and lay it on hard. they want to always have as much of your money in their hands as possible, and if you arent a person who writes down everything they spend the debit card is the most powerful tool they have to confuse and mislead you into overdraft fees brought on by hidden pending charges, which are not hidden to them at all. if your balance is low, charges will be held until the circumstances permit them to be charged not in the order you used your card but by how much they are, and will be charged in a calculated order to maximize overdrafting
anyway, rather than write down all of my charges, or pay to get rid of my debit card for a new atm only card, im choosing to pay up then close out my accounts. id rather not get sued by chase. im going to a credit union.
there has got to be more stories of being raped by a bank?
