HOLY CRAP OVERDRAFT FEES

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I already hit myself for poor financial management this month.

I forgot to pay tuition on August 15th so I paid $800 of it on the week of the 20th. You only need to pay about 20% of it for you to count as a registered student. Then I transferred some more money from my high interest savings account to cover the rest of the 2800 I owed. I figured I would transfer enough to cover my rent for Sept and my CC bills too.

I start paying my bills and I'm left with tuition... then I noticed my account went haywire when I paid the $800. While I did have $1000 at that moment, my roommate never cashed the $785 check for August rent until AUGUST 24th. DAMNIT. I forgot I usually do the rent payments so I deposit her share of the rent by the 5th because I need enough money to write one fat check for rent...

How I wish I was using WAMU right now as my main account and get that 1 free overdraft...

Ok must track my finances a lot better from now on =)

 

[mugs]

How many overdraft fees did you have? Call your bank. If it's the first time they'll probably let you slide on all but one.

 

[ISAslot]

Yeah, check with em. My CU let me drop two overdraft charges in exchange for setting up a line of credit on my account.

 

[Skeeedunt]

That's why I pay for everything in pennies.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: mugs
How many overdraft fees did you have? Call your bank. If it's the first time they'll probably let you slide on all but one.

What do I say for that? I mean it feels kinda weird to me being like "Hi can you please drop the charge? Pretty please? It's my first time I promise I won't do it again."

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: mugs
How many overdraft fees did you have? Call your bank. If it's the first time they'll probably let you slide on all but one.

What do I say for that? I mean it feels kinda weird to me being like "Hi can you please drop the charge? Pretty please? It's my first time I promise I won't do it again."

Well for starters, did you have more than one? If it's just one, I'd just pay it. $30 lesson learned. If it's multiple overdrafts, call them up and say that it's all related to one mistake (which it was), and ask if they'll drop it down to one fee. I was in the exact same situation, except I was really poor and it was a $300 check and I didn't that high yield savings account with the rest of my money in it - I really did have no money. 😱 Got 7 overdraft fees to the tune of $250 (nearly a week's pay after taxes at the time). Called them up and they said they'd remove all but 2. Turned out they removed all of them. I got lucky. Usually they'll remove all but 1 at least.

 

[rikadik]

I got a £30 overdraft fee. I phoned them up and asked to waive it and they said no. So I went into my branch and spoke to an account manager, asked her nicely to remove it and she did. It's worth a shot at least.

 

[Eli]

Call them if it's more than one. They might resist and say "We can only do it if it's a banking error". The last time it happened to me, it was the first time in a long time, and I was quite frank with the CSR.. I laughed and said, "Yeah.. I know how it works. I haven't had an overdraft in a long time, can you see if you can do something for me?" She went and talked to her manager, and took the second one off. Shrug. 34 bucks is 34 bucks.

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: Skeeedunt
That's why I pay for everything in pennies.

Pennies are good.😎

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: mugs
How many overdraft fees did you have? Call your bank. If it's the first time they'll probably let you slide on all but one.

What do I say for that? I mean it feels kinda weird to me being like "Hi can you please drop the charge? Pretty please? It's my first time I promise I won't do it again."

Pretty much how you do it.

If you've been a long time customer there is no good reason why they wouldn't do it. Just go to the branch that your account is actually with and ask if you can have a couple minutes of the bank manager's time, explain that it was a complete oversight on your part and ask if they could waive the fee this one time out of the kindness of their heart. Try to relate that you are a college student and win the pity vote, but don't overdo it.

This whole thing is the reason they give you those ledgers to keep track of your funds when you get check books. Your roommate waiting to cash a check is not their fault and I guess you learned the hard way that the number on your ATM recepit and the number on the screen when you do online banking is a really bad way to keep track of your funds, as it's not uncommon when you have a lot of bills to pay to have a couple hundred dollars in limbo on any given day (as you found out) I hate to preach, but I also hate seeing banks taking people on a ride for $30+ a transaction when they make honest mistakes. It's like kicking a person when they are down.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: Eli
Call them if it's more than one. They might resist and say "We can only do it if it's a banking error". The last time it happened to me, it was the first time in a long time, and I was quite frank with the CSR.. I laughed and said, "Yeah.. I know how it works. I haven't had an overdraft in a long time, can you see if you can do something for me?" She went and talked to her manager, and took the second one off. Shrug. 34 bucks is 34 bucks.

Exactly. I'd happily take 34 bucks than nothing. It's better than 34 bucks of your money pissed away with NOTHING to show for it... NO return on it.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I'm guessing you never back up files on your PC either. Who needs that tern paper?

Lesson: learn to balance a checkbook. You current balance means nothing except as something to compare against what you know the balance should be.

 

[silverpig]

If they say no, then pay the fee and then go in to the bank to withdraw all the cash from your high interest savings account. When they ask why, tell them you're going across the street to bank with the other guys across the street. They'll probably waive the fee then.