OT Checking Account Overdraft Issues

[drewpate]

I have a problem with my bank and was wondering if anyone has had something similar happen since the new overdraft protection laws went into effect.
I am pretty good with money, have two jobs and live at home, so I'm never hurting for money. When I opened my second bank account I chose not to opt in to overdraft protection for those reasons, I've seen it screw up too many peoples lives.
Anyway I had a few pay checks around my house and didn't bother to deposit them since I've been busy and hadn't been home in about a week and not worried about my account, I knew if I ran out I'd just be declined. I got declined the other day so my grandmother took my checks in (totalling a pretty substantial amount) and deposited them for me. Card still gets declined so I go to the ATM and check my balance and it's at only 48 dollars. I go home and in the mail I've got a letter saying I have nearly 800 dollars in overdraft fees alone!!!!!
I'm going to the bank tomorrow to try and straighten this out, but I have zero proof that I didn't opt in to overdraft except that my grandmother was there and ironically told me that not getting it wasn't smart. (and this was the reason I dont want it).
Worst of all was that none of my charges that were overdrafted were more than ten dollars. Food and gas was all..... And I had all of this money in checks at my house.
Does anyone think I have a chance of convincing anyone that I didn't opt in to overdraft?

 

[ufomom]

Can't answer this now because details are fuzzy, but the same thing happened to my niece and my dad was able to fight it. And then it happened again and again. For some reason bank would continue to "set" her up (opt in). It would happen when she would go into the bank to cash a check, someone would see she didn't have it and "fix" it for her. I will call him and ask details. Start with the manager of your branch. And take your grandmother since she was there when you opted out. Will call my dad as soon as it is a reasonable hour to call and send you pm.

From myself, I highly suggest online checking where you can check your account daily! It takes less than a minute, and you know if something is going on and can stop it sooner. I do it with my credit cards and checking account as a habit (just like checking Fierceboard!) I have caught fraudulent use of my credit card this way twice the day it posted instead finding out at the end of the month and ending it sooner. My card was skimmed.

 

[Mamarazzi]

Not sure how long you've had the accts, but when I first got my accts, overdraft protection was optional. As of last year, it's mandatory on all checking accts.

 

[Just-a-Mom]

Aside from the fact that I don't think you have a snowball's chance in you-know-what of convincing a bank of the the fact that grass is green, let alone anything that has to do with them refunding money, convincing them won't matter.

Here's the deal. Even if you have overdraft protection, the bank still charges you fees. The only thing OD protection "protects" you from is the place you wrote the check/used your card from charging you NSF fees. Your bank is still going to get their money.

http://banking.about.com/od/checkingaccounts/a/overdrafts.htm

So let's say you write 10 bad checks. Normally, these would cost you $300-ish at your bank ($30 each, for 10 checks) and then another $250 at various other institutions for their fees for writing them a bad check. In addition you'd obviously still need the original amount of the checks too. Let's say you have $500 in OD protection. Woot! Now you're in luck, because your bank is going to pay your bad checks to all 10 of those people! But they're also going to charge you $30 apiece still. but you would not have to pay that other $250 AND you wouldn't have to be embarrassed at 10 different places.

Now here's the GOOD NEWS: your bank MIGHT charge you a lower fee if you have OD protection. Mine is still $30 because they are the worst bank in the world. But many only charge $10-ish.

So, basically hate to tell you but I think you're out 800 bucks - or at least some of it. I hate, loathe, despise banks. with a fiery passion. they literally make me sick the way they conduct business - and I have no idea why they keep passing MORE laws that help them. But it's either deal with it or keep your money in a drawer at home.

If you do succeed can you please PM me who you bank with? I'm looking for a bank that actually cares about customers, so I'd love one that actually believes one. Good luck!

 

[TheVipersMom]

That sucks!! I wish you the best of luck!
I had Amsouth/ which turned into Regions- I did have overdraft protection with them
-if I went over they took $100 off my credit card I had with them and transferred it into my acct- and then charged me $10 for it.
So for every time I exceeded I got $100 into my acct.

I switched to US bank whom I LOVE!
I did not do overdraft protection with them because I hate that! If I don't have the money please decline me!!
However they said if I swipe my card and it goes through as credit then the whole amount might not be authorized but let's say I write a check and it is cashed before that purchase done as credit hits my bank then they they will still cover the transaction but I will have to pay the amount covered and fee.. I don't know the amount because I have yet to find out

Plus regions customer service reps were always rude- just like chase bank!
US Bank is my favorite I've had experience with. My dad likes bank of America but I don't know too much about them!

 

[redsmom]

The new law which went into effect last summer requires you to "opt in" for overdraft protection, but only applies to ATM withdraws and debit card usage (google overdraft protection law). You can still be charged overdraft fees for bounced checks and automatic withdraws that you may have set up. You certainly need to go up there and discuss with the bank manager. (My college age son has had issues a few times over the past few years, and I will say he has gotten fairly good results at our branch of M&T Bank.) The other thing I would highly recommend is see if you can get direct deposit set up for your pay checks! Good luck!

 

[drewpate]

Woohoo I got all my money except for 90 back. Luckily the owner of my mcdonalds is also on the board of my bank so I came in with a little ammo, but all I did was explain to the teller that i didn't opt in. She looked on the computer and showed me were it said I did, and I asked her if she had the paper with my signature on it. She flipped through her computer for a bit and said shed return all but the one check and two stock purchases that are autodrafted from the account.
Idk if she was being nice or saw that there was a mistake (she was the same teller that opened my account and I'm in there most weeks at least twice on personal business and 3-4 times making business deposits and change orders) but either way idc.
Moral of this story is to watch your account closely and if you ever opt out I would go back in a week to double check and make sure it got entered in correctly.

 

[ztaprincess]

Overdrafts SUCK. I am always really good at making sure I always have plenty of money in my account in case of an overdraft. Well I bought a purse at the beginning of April (about the 3rd of the month) and when the 29th of the month comes around I have about $100 left in my account thinking that is plenty until the 1st when my next VA Check goes in the bank (I only keep half in my checking). Well I go to make sure everything is good and the Coach store waited until the end of the month to turn in my slip so I was negative $300 because of it. Problem was there was nothing that I could do about it because the bank would have sided with the store. I know this doesn't really completely relate but I feel your pain on how overdrafts suck. Hopefully your bank understands. The important thing I learned from my situation is to check my account every few days to make sure everything clears right away and things are going smoothly.