Bank Problems

[Feanor727]

Bit of a long story, but the short version is basically I overdrafted my checking account over Friday and Saturday (all purchases made with a check card btw) I found out about this Sunday Afternoon. Needless to say, I immediately discontinued using my card. Monday noontime (I have class in the morning) I called my bank about the overdrafts and through much begging and pleading (and promising to make a deposit that would cover the rest) they reversed 2 of my 4 overdraft charges. I then immediately leave to go make said deposit. Here comes the bad news, in the 3 hours it took me to get to the bank, they charged my account 4 more overdraft fees for deposits that had already posted. I make the deposit (that, btw covers all of the purchases I've made plus some of the overdraft fees), yet this still leaves me almost $70 in the red. 24 hours later, numerous more overdraft charges appear My account now being almost $300 in the red. from their draconian $30 fees

snip

The point of this being, I've made deposits sufficient to cover _all_ of my purchases and even _some_ of their fees. My question for any of you with experience, how bad would they screw me if I just let the account sit and do nothing to it? Other background information I'm a 21-year old fulltime college student working 2 part time jobs to try and make ends meet.

 

[Keego]

Well I doubt you want your credit to go bad, I'd go in and talk to them, but I personally have no experience with overdrafts or banks for that matter.

 

[davee]

sort it out with them but dont worry about it ,if you ignore it you will lose someway ,i am in small business and regardless whether its a dollar or 10,000 dollars you got to deal with every problem its the best way

 

[RossMAN]

Unfortunately it's your responsibility as a customer to watch your account activity and ensure that you have sufficient funds to cover all transactions whether they be ATM, debit or checks. Banks make A LOT (million$) of money in charging fees for everything so they're not that willing to just waive fees for anyone. If you're able to talk to your branches manager or their boss (the district manager) maybe you can get them to waive some more to get your balance to 0 or at least higher than 0, but that's doubtful since it appears to be your error.

The good news is, chances are very slim this will be reflected on your credit report. If you were to just leave your account balance at NEGATIVE $70 and do nothing, you may be charged more fees (monthly maintenance fee, if it applies to your account) which will make this even worse. Eventually your account will be written off, the bank will assume a loss and your credit will be fscked up for a long time.

I would first try to reason with your bank, if the branch manager isn't willing to work with you try their manager (the district manager). I used to work with a co-worker who'd bounce at least 2 checks a month, one time she had 7 NSF fees at $20 each that's $140 in fees alone! She was able to talk the branch manager into waiving 5 of those if she paid for 2 of them.

I would do whatever it takes to scrounge up that $70 and get your account balance back to 0 or higher immediately, do not wait, this will only get worse for you as time progresses.

Your account is probably no longer in "good standing" and your bank will keep a record of the number of NSF's you incur, I wouldn't make it a habit of bouncing checks. If you can, I would strongly suggest getting a savings account and linking that or a credit card to your checking account for overdraft protection to protect yourself in the future if this were to happen again.

I would chalk this up to an expensive learning lesson.

 

[StageLeft]

The good news is, chances are very slim this will be reflected on your credit report. If you were to just leave your account balance at NEGATIVE $70 and do nothing, you may be charged more fees (monthly maintenance fee, if it applies to your account) which will make this even worse. Eventually your account will be written off, the bank will assume a loss and your credit will be fscked up for a long time.

I don't want to challenge the resident credit guru and I know you work at a bank but are you sure they'll report this to the agencies? I know they have his SSN but will they definitely report them...?

---

Also is it easy to get overdraft protection built into a credit card? I know that compassbank has an overdraft setup but it requires credit check and other silly garbage - so can you easily have an account back up to a credit card?

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

The good news is, chances are very slim this will be reflected on your credit report. If you were to just leave your account balance at NEGATIVE $70 and do nothing, you may be charged more fees (monthly maintenance fee, if it applies to your account) which will make this even worse. Eventually your account will be written off, the bank will assume a loss and your credit will be fscked up for a long time.

I don't want to challenge the resident credit guru and I know you work at a bank but are you sure they'll report this to the agencies? I know they have his SSN but will they definitely report them...?

---

Also is it easy to get overdraft protection built into a credit card? I know that compassbank has an overdraft setup but it requires credit check and other silly garbage - so can you easily have an account back up to a credit card?

Maybe my post wasn't clear enough but his bank WILL report him to the credit bureau if he leaves everything as is (negative $70 balance) for a while, the account will be closed and the bank will assume a loss THEN he will be reported ... in terms of just having a few NSF's? Nah, I doubt he'll be reported but if he DOES NOTHING then something bad will happen several months from now. Whatever he does he's probably now in Check Systems system, so if he applies for a checking account with another bank they'll probably see his name appear and might turn away his business. Bouncing checks is serious but it's not the end of the world.

I have my checking account linked to two accounts, my primary (default) is my savings account, if that has insufficient funds then funds are pulled from my secondary (backup) which is my credit card. If I were to overdraw my checking account (i.e. bounce a check), I would be charged an overdraft fee of $9 then funds would be pulled from my savings or cc to cover my checking. It all depends on your type of checking and your bank's technological capabilities. If you have the right kind of banking software, almost anything is possible.