Bank of America is doing it again!!! And by "it" I mean Holding small e-payments and paying large...

[Up2Late]

...payments FIRST.

Why is this bad?

Well first, several Large Banks LOST a recent judgment (class action?) against them for doing this with regular Checks a few years ago (and, if I remember correctly, B of A was one of them) and,

Two: By holding the small payments (on B of A's website it's called "Pending") like a $20.00 or $40.00 ATM withdrawal or a $18.45 payment to a large discount retailer, and paying the Large payment (like my Past Due Water Bill for $129.35 that I payed on Friday August 24, 2007 which is still "Pending") and the my $300.00+ over due Electric Bill, which I just paid via Bill Matrix and is already registered to checking accounts "pending" list (and some how jumped ahead of the water bill payment from Friday and the ATM w/d and the $18 payment from Sunday) is going to cost me at least DOUBLE of what it should!

My ONE mistake, that I just made, is going to cost me TWO Over-Draft fees of $35.00 each, which will add another $70.00 to an already empty account, which could cause my trip to Kroger Sunday Night to also become over-drawn, adding another $35.00... etc.

Btw, last month I watched as one of my large payment (cable bill I think) sat in the "pending list" for over 5 days before this e-payment was finally cleared by Bank of America, something that used to take 2 days max! :grr:

So Yes, this is bad. Spread the word.

[goclark]

1. I hate B of A with a passion

I just paid off my VISA card and I pray that I will never have to use it again.

I told them that I was leaving it at a zero balance and that after 30 years I am one inch from closing my account. Then all of a sudden they started telling me how sorry they were for making so many errors etc. etc. etc.

They took off all of the late charges after goclark gave them a big piece of her mind!

[Greyhound]

2. B of A is one of the worst of a bad lot, why would you do business with them?

They have always been absolute scum, treat their employees and their customers like crap, yet so many just take it and keep giving them money.

I don't understand it.

[The Straight Story]

5. In my case it was ignorance and desperation

I figured that since they were as large as the bank I had been working for they might be a tad competent. Man was I wrong.

My unemployment checks go into a US bank account and not B of A. I will keep BofA active to cash local checks and such (setting up a new account is always a damned pain) but will go with someone else when I get back on my feet.

[Up2Late]

8. All the banks in Atlanta giant carnivorous banks and they all suck.

We have a few small banks here, but they are so small that you end up paying lots of ATM Charges to B of A anyway, because almost all of the ATMs are owned by B of A too.

And it seems like every time I try to change banks, it gets bought by a larger bank, usually B of A.

The system is just stacked against the poor.

[snappyturtle]

41. My long used university credit card that used to be MBNA, another

parana, was gobbled up by BOA.....sometimes it isn't a choice. I was mad enough with the sleazy practices of MBNA and I guess from this post BOA must be awful too.

[Greyhound]

46. I ended up with Washington Mutual through a series of mergers and purchases

and I've been with them for about 10 - 12 years now. They have been pretty good, no fees, only one mistake which they took care of and reversed all the charges and even refunded my expenses that it caused.

The more I hear about other banks, the more I like WaMu.

[snappyturtle]

47. My husband's card is from WaMu and he's pleased. My daughter

is really pleased with Discover.

[The Straight Story]

3. I got some gripes with em as well after I moved here and signed up with them

I deposited a large check with them to open the account, over 10k from my 401k when I got laid off. Had a lot of bills to pay.

The check was written on and from the 2nd largest bank in the US, whom I had worked for but has no branches here.

Took it 9 days to clear, even though online it was marked as cleared in 2 days they would not allow me to access it for 9 days.

Then the ATM/Check card they were supposed to have to me in 14 days...when I called on the 15th they said it just shipped and could take 14 days until I got it.

I helped in setting up a lot of the electronic check clearing systems after the new law passed (only need to scan a check once and then you can deal with it's image and not send the physical check all over creation) and I KNOW they could have cleared that check in no time.

But they held onto the money and made interest off of it, and I spent a week worrying whether my electric would be turned off. So I went ahead and paid it using the account # they gave me - and even though I had the check in there, they paid it and charged me an overdraft fee because they had not released the funds. It was either do that or have no electricity...

[Cronus Protagonist]

4. BofA are financial RAPISTS

I used to work in wholesale lending and I can assure you that the corporate culture in BofA is rapacious. There's not a shred of overstatement in this either. I'm not kidding. I had to quit because of it.

[Tsiyu]

20. It is so frustrating and sad

to have to leave a job because you have integrity and they have none, and you don't want to wake up one day ten years down the road to be what they are.

[Tiggeroshii]

6. Are you saying your water bill was past due because

B of A was holding it?

[Up2Late]

9. It's was already past due on Friday, but that's not the issue here...

...the issue is how they are sucking extra fees from people who are just getting by, by paying the big bill payments first to cause several overdrafts instead of just one.

I hope they don't hold the water payment so long that they cut off my water or that I get hit my another fee from the county, but I did worry about that with the Cable last month.

[Epiphany4z]

13. two months ago I had the same

problem with US Bank as did 2 people in front of me in line. We went round and round ...it happened 2x in a row...It was not my mistake...they hit me to the tune of 500 by time it was all done...I closed my account ..the thing is when I went to bitch about it there where 2 people in front of me bitching about the same thing.

[InkAddict]

19. I must have "caught" the same banking virus.

Epidemic?

[ashling]

7. Call customer services

and press ) and hold for a live person ... you will get one ... I have had pretty good luck getting these fees removed.

I have a lot of problems w/ BofA, but when I have called they have always been responsive .... just my experience.

[Beerboy]

10. This is only what I heard, don't take it as Gospel,

but if you buy a cheap tape-head de-magnetizer, or even pass a strong magnetic field over the lower half of your checks, it will de-magnetize the magnetic bar code reading your checks, buying 2 or 3 more days, as they must then be typed in by hand after being rejected by all the normal checks.
I'm not suggesting that anyone should ever write a check knowing there's insufficient funds to cover, but anomalies in the banking system have been known to occur.:D

[Up2Late]

11. I've heard that too, but I'm only talking about e-payments here.

I think this is the new scam they are developing to compensate for all the fees they are losing since they lost that old 10 to 14 "checks traveling across the county" lag time excuse

[Beerboy]

12. E-payments definitely have their advantages,

such as if you might lose insurance coverage if not paid by a certain minute. But for other transactions of a less time-sensitive nature, the one writing the check has shown a good-faith effort to pay on time.
How can a multi-trillion dollar industry hold you accountable for the technological vagaries of their system? It's all about showing an effort in good-faith to pay on time, and I have yet to be personally penalized for doing so.
Old-school also has many advantages!

[w8liftinglady]

14. I was wondering what all those "Pendings" were about

also,B of A is notorious for taking FOREVER to post personal checks to your account.I have had to call them on several occaisions for taking up to a week to post one of my dad's "birthday" checks.they suck.Unfortunately,I worry other banks may be equally shitty,so I don't see the point of changing.

[youngdem]

15. Most banks do it

My bank did it to me recently. Gym membership for the year cleared twice by accident (gym submitted it twice)

My bank didn't clear my normal transactions for three days, then once the gym membership bounced my account, they cleared ALL of the little gas and food charges, overdrafting me $400. Oh, and they didn't bother to mail me a notice that I was overdrawn until they had assessed a second round of charges. I didn't know because I shouldn't have been overdrawn since the gym membership should have only been charged twice.

Both the bank and the gym pointed at each other, and I had to eat the fees.

Fucking CROOKS.

[fasttense]

16. I belong to a credit union and have never ever had that problem.

I've been with the credit union over 22 years and have never had my checks sitting around waiting for action. My e-payments are deducted immediately and my deposits are frequently available ahead of time. If my credit union ever did what you have described, I would have pulled my money out immediately. I have my credit cards with this company too and when AOL gave out my credit card numbers, the credit union worked quickly with me to change all my cards.

You don't have to put up with such awful service.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

42. Agreed

When I had one problem in ten years with my debit card and checking account as far as a hold on it, I called my credit union (a local number), got a real person on the phone off the first ring and they said "whoops, we'll fix that right away for you", and it was done in less than five minutes.

Stick to the little guys.

[ThomWV]

17. Maybe you could explain a little better just what is happening

Its not at all clear what they are doing.

Are they rapidly processing large checks in an apparent attempt to lower your account ballance so that later small checks (which may have been written much earlier) will bounce and thus be subject to irrationally high fees?

[Epiphany4z]

18. yes....

say you right 4 checks...one for 10 one for 20 one for 30 and one for 80 in that order.the first 3 you write saturday the last one for 80 on sunday....the bank shoots the 80 dollar check through first...if you have messed up your account and over drafted... ....the banks holds the 10 ..20 and 30 dollar checks and sends the 80 through so they get 4 over daft charges of 35 instead of just one.

[EnviroBat]

22. Sounds to me like over drafting the account is the problem.

Doesn't matter the order of the checks processed, if you've written $140.00 dollars out of your account, it's gone, end of story. Even pending items show a running balance in my online accounts. It's ridiculously easy to balance my account to the penny everyday. If your bank has a Jurassic online system, close the account and go with a bank that's no longer in the dark ages. Oh, and hold on to all of your debit receipts until they show as cleared online.

[Up2Late]

28. Yes, that plus...

...when you or I make one mistake by making an e-payment that's $50.00 too large, they put that large e-payment ahead of the small ones ($18 and $42.50) that I made days earlier and were already sitting in a "Pending" que.

By moving this already paid out larger e-payment to a higher position on my balance sheet, it lowers my available balance to bounce multiple smaller, already paid out electronic withdrawals, rather than just the ONE e-payment that I made the mistake on, which then triggers a cascading effect insufficient funds fees of $35.00 each.

This is all just a dis-honest accounting trick and most likely Bank Fraud.

I noticed the Bank of America software doing this doing this several months ago and have been watching it and being very careful, but this time I just got fed up with not being able to log on to my account info at my Power companies website (which was completely shut down last weekend btw), so out of frustration and a little panic, I made ONE payment that was $50.00 to large. I should have to pay ONE Insufficient Funds fee, but because of this Accounting Trick which is built into the B of A software, I will have at least TWO $35.00 I/F fees (or $70.00), but it could even trigger one or two more. If that happens, a $50.00 error will cost me not $70.00 additional dollars (That I don't have), but could end up costing me $105.00 Dollars or $140.00 additional Dollars that I don't have.

Fortunately, I only have a few "Pending" transactions in my account, I bet most here have 10 to 15 which could trigger a dozen I/F Fees for them.

This is accounting trick built into the B of A Software that serves no other purpose than to generate Profits for Bank of American and is Wrong.

[Javaman]

21. My story...

I had a b of a account. I switched backs to a local, which was then bought out by national which was then bought out by...B OF FUCKING A!!!

I pulled out all my money and went with a credit union and never looked back. My credit union is the best.

[recoveringrepublican]

24. I second that! Have used our credit union for 9 years

never had a problem. The only thing that sucked was there was only 2 of them and I had to drive 30 minutes if I wanted to talk to someone in person. They merged with another credit union and now there is one just 10 minutes away.

[MadHound]

23. So why not switch away from BoA?

If you continue to stay with them, in a sense you're giving them your tacit consent to continue using these practices. If all of those people who are upset about this would move to a different bank, BoA would get the message and stop this shit:shrug:

[Kajsa]

25. You can literally die in a BofA.

kid you not.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20337541

a few more hours and she would have died!

This is my mother's branch.
She's 86 and an invalid.

I told her "never go in that branch by yourself!"

Yes, the way they hold payments really screws us up,
doesn't it? I have a VISA through them.

;(

Edit:
Laguna Woods is a huge retirement community.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

26. Fleet (which was taken over by BofA) did somewhat similiar practices

When I used to have a Fleet card (I picked it because it seemed like it was easy to get to on my campus), little did I know that they would take out a little bit of my money, essentially charging me to have an account with them. I remember checking my records and wondering where that money went, always putting it down to "Maybe I did withdraw that money?".

When I took that semester off, Fleet called my house to tell me that I had no money in my account. I was like, "Huh? I thought there was at least ten dollars left and I don't remember using my card here to withdraw money."

That was when I discovered that they did that practice.

I quit Fleet and looked around for another option. Once I did (Century Bank), I asked them before I signed up if they charged to have an account like Fleet did. They said no, which was honest as I would continually keep track of my records and they didn't do the same thing Fleet did.

I knew I had at least 10 dollars left (I checked prior to closing the account) in my Fleet account and went to cancel the card. So I canceled it, I stood waiting for the girl to give me my ten bucks that was left in my account. She asked, "What do you want?" And I said, "I thought I had money left in the account." "No, you don't have any money left."

That was 4 years ago. I've moved to the UK, where I can use my bankcard in ANY rival ATM without incurring charges (except for the rental ATM you see in the convenience stores and pubs). If my bank did the same as Fleet, there'd be mayhem.

EDITED: because it pisses people off if they see "ATM machine" in a sentence, so I'm very sorry :-(

[AlCzervik]

27. i paid 3 bills on line 2 days ago, $24 to PG&E, $84 to Sprint and $100 there abouts to comcast

none are pending, i know because i just called the automated line and checked.

[Up2Late]

31. You should double check at their on-line banking website...

...because these are PAID, yet they could still be sitting in the "Pending" que waiting to sting you.

If you never get very close to the edge, you have nothing to worry about, but this is an accounting trick that only targets accounts with low balances.

It's probably a software program that doesn't start tracking your account until it sees a pattern that says, "this person is having financial trouble, let's help make that happen."

[pitohui]

29. i don't understand what you just said

i don't write checks for any amount unless the money is in my account

i don't micro manage -- wouldn't even know how to micro manage -- which payments get paid first

i write the check and either put it in the mail, or send the e-payment online, and after that they get paid in whatever order they gets paid -- not sure really why it would make any difference if for some odd reason the bank decided not to pay out the smaller payments for awhile

but there is no possible order that it could get paid that causes me to have an overdraft

what am i missing? :shrug:

[Up2Late]

32. Sorry, I really don't have time to explain this accounting trick right now....

...it's complicated and very tricky, but I really do have to make some phone calls before the bank closes.

I'll try to get back to you in a few hours.

[walldude]

35. OK let me explain... what happens is, say you have

$100 in the bank. On Monday you deposit another $50, and make 5 payments. 1 for $100 and 4 for $10 dollars. You should be fine with an extra $10 in the bank. Well, what the bank does is, they hold back your deposit for a day, they put through the $100 and 2 of the $10 dollar payments. Bingo, 2 overdrafts at 35 apiece. Now you are 70 bucks in the hole. They put through the $50 deposit and it doesn't even cover the overdraft so you are still in the hole $20, then they put the other 2 10 payments through netting them another 70 in overdrafts. Pretty simple. It only works on families that really need the money families living paycheck to paycheck and barely making their bills. I had been there for years and can't tell you how many times I was almost homeless trying to cover overdrafts that I didn't deserve. Thank god I started my own business and it took off or I'd still be playing the "online banking shuffle".

[Xenotime]

30. You could just pay with a credit card and then make one payment...

And you would earn points.

[walldude]

34. Yeah.. at 18% interest...

no thanks.

[tammywammy]

36. Actually

If you're paying off the credit card each month, there's no interest accrued. That's what the previous poster was suggesting.

[walldude]

33. Every bank does it. US Bank is the worst...

At one point they nailed me for over $300 in overdrafts by rushing through a large check while holding back on my e-payments and a few charges on my debit card that totaled less than 20 bucks but for which I paid $105 in overdrafts. When I confronted the bank they told me I should feel lucky that they didn't bounce the check and covered all the payments for me. That was when I cleaned out my checking and savings and found a new bank. Who at least had the courtesy to tell me they would shuffle the money around to get the most overdrafts they could out of me so I need to be careful.

[MissB]

49. My credit union has never ever ever done that.

If I make a deposit, then the funds are immediately available unless it is a large check (over $5k) that I didn't bother to deposit in person.

If I make an electronic payment, it is taken out at 12:01 am of the day that it is scheduled. They don't dick around with holding a deposit, waiting like a vulture for me to schedule electronic debits.

Credit unions rock. Some of them have completely open memberships - i.e. - you don't need to be employed with certain employers to join.

Mine allows me to do as many damned e-payments as I want in a month. For free. If the other end can't take an e-payment, the credit union will cut a check and mail it. All at their expense.

[AZBlue]

37. I've had that happen with both Chase Bank and Wells Fargo.

I thought it was just standard procedure. It's wrong though - they should take them in date order. And, IMO, if for example there's $40 in your account and you have two $10 transactions and a $30 transaction, they should pay the two $10 and let the $30 be returned, not the other way around, thereby lowering your overdraft fees. But they don't because they want to make the most money possible off you. (which makes a lot of sense - if something's been returned in your account, you can really afford extra overdraft fees??)

(I'm not advocating spending money that's not there, but sometimes mistakes happen, especially when you don't have a large account balance!)

[cui bono]

38. Sorry, I don't understand.

I didn't see in your post where they held up a deposit, so if they're only holding back on your debits how are they forcing you to be overdrawn?

[KT2000]

50. not forcing the "overdraft"

He/she would have been overdrawn after the last payment was made. Not questioning that. But they made it so when he/she was overdrawn it was NOT for the most recent (and largest) payment. That was paid first. Then the account was overdrawn and they were able to collect multiple overdraft fees for the smaller payments made earlier but held in "pending" status by the bank. The bank likely puts the checks in pending status when the account is low on funds in the hopes something like this will happen. If it was done chronologically and fairly, there would have been an overdraft for the last check only.

The banks have figured out a way to maximize our mistakes so they collect as much money in penalties as they can. It is dishonest though.

[cui bono]

51. Oh, okay, I see. So they maximized the amount of overdrafts.

Thanks.

[Up2Late]

52. O.K. Here's my 3rd attempt to explain this here, I hope this makes it clear...

And No, I didn't tell you "...where they held up a deposit...," I also didn't tell YOU that I'm Unemployed right now either, so that limits the Deposits I can make, doesn't it? Some of us don't have the option of "just making a deposit" whenever we want.

So let's go over this again for everyone here.

First, I'm ONLY talking e-transactions here. Instant. Electronic. Payments (to my utility companies)

No Checks, No Float time. No "waiting for it to clear." Instant internet transactions.

Which also means that, when you get a "Confirmation Number" from "Bill Matrix" or "Pay Pal" or "JoeBlows Internet e-check service," that means the money WAS in the account when you made the payment.

It also means that you have ZERO time to put a "Stop Payment" on that e-payment. As soon as you finished with it and get your confirmation number, it was gone, subtracted from your checking account and put into B of A's "Pending" list.

And if you watch carefully, (like I usually do) you will see the largest e-withdrawal moves to the top of the priority list, so if you screw up, like I did by going $52.00 over what I had in the account when trying to pay my electric bill) they don't charge you for the ONE e-withdrawal overdraft for the $391.20, they get you for 2 or 3 or 4 or 7 or whatever number of Insufficient Funds charges at $35.00 for each smaller w/d you made that got pushed to the bottom of the "pending" list.

What they should do, if they were honest business people, is charge me $35.00 for my ONE screw up, but by doing it the way they ARE doing it, they hit me for $70.00 Dollars (from an already over-drawn account) which could result in another $35.00 or $70.00 or $105.00 Dollars (more money that I don't have).

Here, maybe this will help:



By moving the large payment to the front of the line, the Bank create THREE(3) overdrafts instead of ONE(1).

But hey, it might all work out for ME, because I just went and did a $200.00 Cash Advance from my Credit Card and deposited into this checking account and it already posted, so it may be O.K. for me, but that's not at ALL the point of this post.

I posted this to let everyone else know what they are doing, so the others in the same financial situation as I am can know to be extremely careful when dealing with these Mega-Banks.

[yowzayowzayowza]

39. BofA dinged me for $70 on a $0.26 overdraft last month.

Whined at online Customer Service to no avail. OTOH tho, I made very sure they are now aware of the def'n of usury. Bastards.

[Up2Late]

56. Your case is my nightmare scenario.

I've never gotten an overdraft quite that small before, but I did have the old "Crocker Bank" in California overdraft my account back in the 1980's when they took their $6.00 account maintenance fee (when I left only about $4.00 Dollars in my account while I was home on Christmas Break).

Wow, $6.00, that was a long time ago.:hippie:

[LiberalUprising]

40. There is a very simple solution to all this crap

Don't use banks, I haven't had a bank account in 15 years because of crap like this and am doing just fine.

Break the chain. Stop feeding the system that enslaves you, you won't regret it.

This should explain things:

Paul Grignon's 47-minute animated presentation of "Money as Debt" tells in very simple and effective graphic terms what money is and how it is being created. It is an entertaining way to get the message out. The Cowichan Citizens Coalition and its "Duncan Initiative" received high praise from those who previewed it. I recommend it as a painless but hard-hitting educational tool and encourage the widest distribution and use by all groups concerned with the present unsustainable monetary system in Canada and the United States.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9050474362583451279&hl=en

Edited to add link

[Midlodemocrat]

43. How do you pay your bills if you don't have a bank account?

[LiberalUprising]

45. I pay with money orders

and cash my checks at a local check cashing store.

Simple, no fuss, they take a 2% fee and will cash any check I bring in immediately with no questions asked.

I have no use or need of credit, I live a simple life, don't need or want the frills but I have peace of mind so it all sorts itself out.

Had the big house and cars, didn't do it for me.

[high density]

59. Why do you want to take a 2% pay cut just to avoid the banks?

Not to mention all those fees you're then paying for to purchase money orders. That's just nuts. Every two weeks my pay gets deposited into my account through the wonders of ACH... It can't get any more "no fuss" than that.

A checking account seems pretty darn simple to me.

[LiberalUprising]

60. Oh I don't know, maybe it's because

of all the bullshit charges you can rack up if ya don't have thousands in your account as this thread demonstrates or maybe it's because of the wait before you can use your money after a deposit.

It makes it easier to keep track of your money, if ya don't have it, you're not gonna spend it.

Mostly though it's because banks are the scourge of the earth and I don't believe in supporting the source of your own slavery. Plus no checkbooks to balance every month! (that's gotta be worth 1% at least)

For me those reasons are more than enough to not use banks.

But then again, I'm just nuts :-)

[rndmprsn]

44. i read this post last night...

low and behold when i got home a thank you letter from BANK OF AMERICA was in the mail.

their ears must be burning

[backscatter712]

48. The big banks are the worst...

Several years ago, I was burned by Wells Fargo for several hundred dollars in overdraft fees, and yes, they played the same games - processing the big charges before the little charges to maximize the number of overdrafts, and processing debits before deposits. The thing that pisses me off the most is that the overdraft fee gouging is designed purely to take advantage of people who are of limited means, who are counting on that last few bucks in their account to help them eat and pay the bills, and are least able to handle being ambushed with hundreds of dollars of fees. Eat the poor!!!

Today, I have my money at a small regional bank, which has far better customer service. I can head to a branch and end up talking to a vice president if I have to. They don't play games with my debit card charges. They actually appreciate my business.

Credit unions are even better, from what I've been told. Great service, no games or fee gouging.

[SoCalDem]

53. Two words for you.. Provident bank

Free checking..no ATM charges.. small banks..friendly people..no long lines..

see if there's one near you :)

If you are over 55, you even get a free safety deposit box and free checks, free travelers checks ..free money orders

[Up2Late]

54. Thanks, but since you are in California, I need to give you this warning about Safety Deposit boxes!

California has changes several Laws lately regarding how long you can leave stuff in a Safety Deposit Box there before the contents are considered "abandoned!" I think it's down to about 18 months.

Here's the story NPR did a few weeks ago, I was shocked to here this:

State Unclaimed Property Laws Under Scrutiny

Listen to this story... by Gloria Hillard

All Things Considered, August 1, 2007 · Every state in the United States has an unclaimed property law loosely based on English feudal law known as "escheat." Essentially, it means that in the absence of an heir or rightful owner, property reverts to the lord state or sovereign. Many states have become more aggressive about locating those forgotten assets, and less aggressive about trying to find the rightful owners.

But a ruling by a federal judge in California has halted that state's practice of seizing lost or forgotten assets.

Attorney Bill Palmer in Sacramento, Calif., represents more than a dozen plaintiffs in lawsuits against the state. He says that in recent years, the state controller's office turned what was essentially a "lost and found" for unclaimed property into a "for profit" business that provided nearly $400 million a year for the cash-strapped state. "I've received a lot of calls, and some of them are truly heartbreaking — people who are hard up for money, and they go to their savings account and discover it was looted by the state of California," Palmer says.

Richard Valdes, 71, is one of Palmer's clients. He says he forgot about $25,000 in stock from a business sale in 1976 that he set aside in an escrow account. When he remembered about it, 20 years later, it was too late: California had seized the stock and sold it under the unclaimed property law....

(more and audio at link) <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12379040>

[LeftHander]

55. Years of GOP leadership deregulated things like this....

Add onto it the politicization of the Justice Department and you have the makings for corporations to fleece people with no accountability.

[seriousstan]

57. I have the answer......don't write checks you don't have the money to cover.

Also, if you are having trouble paying for water and electric, you probably can do without cable.

[Up2Late]

61. I have an Idea, why don't you go back and read what I posted here...

...because this has NOTHING to do with "...Writing Checks" and I was not asking anyone, including you, for advice on how to manage my money.

This post is, and always was, about raising awareness of this New deceptive way Bank of American is squeezing more money out of it's low income customers through this new accounting trick.

This post is NOT and never was about me whining about not being able to write fraudulent checks, this post is about warning folks here about how Bank of America turns one small mistake, that should only cost them ONE $35.00 overdraft charge, into Two or THREE or SIX Overdraft charges which could end up costing people, who are already broke, hundreds of Dollars they can't afford.

And, not that it's any of your business, but as a professional Video Editor, Cable T.V. is a business expense for me, so save your advice on how people should spend their entertainment dollars for someone you actually know.:grr:

[seriousstan]

63. If your "professional Video Editor" doesn't pay enough to keep a couple hundred $ buffer

in your account you should look into getting overdraft protection....or maybe a paper route on the side.

I know you didn't ask for financial advice, but it was and is obvious you need some.

flame on.

[high density]

58. What?

So you submitted bill pays that went into processing and now you are surprised that you can't withdraw from those funds?? I think that's pretty much standard practice. Anything else would mean they're loaning you money, which they aren't going to do without charging you those pesky overdraft charges. If you didn't want them to come out of your account on the 24th, you should have scheduled them to be paid on a different date.

I'll agree that BoA sucks and I would never bank with them, but I'm afraid the blame in this situation lies with you.

[Up2Late]

62. NO! Where the hell did you get that? That's not even close to what I posted.

Re-read the OP and/or the replies, I'm tired of repeating myself. Your questions are answered in several of the replies.:crazy:

[and-justice-for-all]

64. I would never use Credit Cards to pay bills..

It never crossed my mind to do so either.

As soon as I get my BofA card payed off, its gone.

[Maven]

65. Yup. I canceled my account there as soon as I figured out their little scam.

They are criminals and they have several class action lawsuits pending against them.

Their M.O. is to shuffle the numbers to milk their customers of as many fees as possible.