Am I getting screwed??? Please Help! Need Advice!!

Question

I think I am getting screwed over by my bank ( Wells Fargo)

The banks guideline is that if you have to have a positive balance before 4pm each day to not get a overdraft charge. If you are overdrawn at all after 4pm you will get a 35$ overdraft charge.

But I feel like I have been getting screwed over by them because, we have had over 1000$ in overdraft charges in the last couple months!! We are getting hundreds of dollars of overdraft charges every other day!! Usually 200$ at a time! And theres nothing we can do about it!!

We make sure to have a positive amount in the bank everyday before 4pm!

When I call and ask about these charges they very rudely tell me there is nothing they can do about it because even though it shows the transaction came out right away, it really didnt!

However the part they are making it impossible for us is, they "randomly" post transactions from all different times in the week to our account ALWAYS at 3:59pm!! pretty much every other day, which only gives us one minute to be able to fix it, but even if we could fix it in one minute, they don't show us they are doing this, not online, nor at the ATM, it shows we have a positive balance and that no money is being taken out! There is no way for us to know when, or how much is being taken out and at what time! So even if we wrote down every transaction from the past couple weeks, which we do, we have no way of knowing which ones, and how much, they are going to decide to post that day! Also, they ALWAYS "randomly" post JUST above the amount we have in our account at 3:59pm!

So if we had 150$ in our account at 3:58pm, they would post 5 diff transactions to our account (that were made at all diff times in the last couple of weeks) that add up to 155$ at 3:59pm!! So we would be overdrawn by 5$ at 4pm!! And they charge us 35$ for EACH transaction they decided to post!! So instead of getting one 35$ charge, we would get FIVE 35$ charges at the same time!!

This happens throughout the entire week! We asked them how we can know when somethings coming out, and what time its coming out at, and the guy said "I guess you can't" !!

This makes it impossible for us to avoid these rediculous charges! Because one day they will post 5 different transactions from monday, wednesday, and friday lets say, then the next they will post 4 different transactions from tuesday and thursday! We don't know from when and how much thats going to be taken out each day, so we don't know how much money needs to be in to cover the amount on a day to day basis!! If it doesnt show us on the ATM or online, then we have no way of knowing! The people I talk to on the phone are very rude and just tell us we can't do anything about it and we should "just know"!

They told us we can't get a overdraft protection because our credit card is hooked up to our checkings, but we have to have it that way.

We are definatly thinking about changing banks, but not wanting to lose ALL the money they have taken from us in "overdraft charges" we are young struggling students and can't afford all these charges!

This just doesn't seem right to me?? Does it to you?? We are thinking something fruadulent is going on?? Has anyone else gone through this with Wells Fargo or anything simular?? What do you think we should do? Any advice??

Thank You for your time! :)

Answer 1

Yes they are!

But you really need to be morresponsiblele!

I hate wells fargo!

Switch too Washingtomutualal...

Answer 2

Can't you get overdraft protection on your account?  You may have to occassionally pay interest but you won't get penalized with an overdraft fee.

Answer 3

Sounds like a pretty screwed up system.

Why are you spending so much that it would cause your account to be at a negative amount at all? That's something you should look at.

Just take your banking elsewhere straight away. I work for a bank in Australia and I have never heard of anything this ridiculous happening before. It's not something you should have to put up with.

Also speak to the banking and finance ombudsman if you have one and explain the situation. Hopefully you have been taking screenshots online of the banking account and keeping receipts for transactions and from ATMs with times on them, etc to keep as evidence against the bank.

Answer 4

If you want to do it the easy way, get a lawyer. The bank is stealing your money. If you want to put things in your own hands, close your account at that bank and open an account at another bank. you should of done this a long time ago.

Answer 5

this is pretty complicated

i would suggest you look for free financial advice

there should be community agencies or govt ones that will give you free advice and follow that

don't leave it too long sort it out before it costs you too much

good luck remember the KISS principle, keep it simple

don't get involved with complicated financial deals

you must understand what is going down

so keep asking the questions to get the right advice

Answer 6

I Recommend Wamu...Its Free...You Do Sound Like Your Getting...."Screwed?"...

Answer 7

wamu will s***w u too...

believe me the same thing happened to me there...

try using the bank of ur wallet...

its easier and u always know how much u have

Answer 8

im suprised you had to ask someone im fourteen and I can obviously see that your getting screwed big time.if i were in your position i would get another bank even if it costs a lot of money ur gonna get screwed out of alot of money regardless so id get out before i went bankrupt.

Answer 9

I recently had $100 in overdraft charges by wells fargo in the last week, something to the effect of possibly 300 in a given 6 month time period, because there were things that I had signed up for (gym club membership, online purchases charged the following month, or small expenditures used for purchases that I thought the merchant and bank had already resolved speedily) that I ended up paying more for. It's not necessarily fradulent, but to protect yourself from any future overdraft fees, I would consider asking Wells Fargo to stop activity on your current checking account and ask for a new checking account and atm card number, so those "automatic deductions" by a merchant that you long forgot won't end up costing you thousands. You can easily resolve the issue with the merchant later, by making sure to follow up with Wells Fargo on what transactions have tried to post in the past week or 2 form your old account, and making sure those transactions were made by you, or you can simply switch to another bank and find out their overdraft protection agreement to you. If you like your bank, however just verify those purchases in any given month by making a few calls to your bank or looking at any statements you may have for errors.

Answer 10

Yes, your bank is s******g you. This is how banks make a big profit and more banks are following the lead of the big banks.

Close this account, stop depositing money with them (WF) and open up a credit union account. Credit unions work for their members and do not focus as much on profits. Credit union fees are substantially less than bank fees and may even have free ATM fees.

Check out the article in the USA Today newspaper from Monday  titled:"Bank fees get more aggressive", if you can find it.

Here is an excerpt from the article that gets me angry: "Leslie Parrish, senior researcher at the Center for Responsible Lending, argues that this is "another way (for banks) to manipulate account holders' balances to spur more overdraft fees." Banks defend the practice, saying it provides customers with accurate information about account balances."

Here is another part of the article:

"The Federal Reserve has proposed a rule to give customers the right to demand that banks deny transactions that overdraw their account. The Fed has also asked for comments on banks' processing of transactions from high-to-low dollar amount. This practice, according to USA TODAY research in 2006, often triggers more overdraft fees than if banks paid the transactions in the order they were received"

Maybe if enough consumers get fed up with these illicit bank practices and move to smaller institutions, they will get the message. Good luck.

Answer 11

Get an account with Bank America or Chase. Never bank with Wells Fargo, since consumer banking is not their forte. In the meantime, simultaneously file a complain twith the Better Business Bureau in your city.

Answer 12

read the book by kevin trudeau DEBT CURES ..you will be amazed at how the banks are s******g us every day with fees, fees, fees, this book has enlightened me and made me soooo strong  I know now how to fight back..and I am winning!!  good luck..

Answer 13

I didn't read the whole story because it was way too long.  Change banks.