Can banks legally charge.......?

Question

a person 96 dallers for being 46 cents overdrawn?this happened to my elderly parents and i am not too happy. anything they can do to get it back?

Answer 1

$96? thats really high. most banks usually charge $25-35 for an overdraft fee. u should really talk to the bank and tell them their was a misunderstanding

Answer 2

That $96 may also include bounced checks, besides being overdrawn.  Your parents should be your name on their acct. so you can deal with the bank.  

Answer 3

In most countries there's a legal concept known as "unjust enrichment", in other words, how much work was done, or reward gained compared to the resulting value of the consideration (money) passed.

In many coutnries if you could show that the bank, even in spite of any terms and conditions, really did effectively 0 work to gain $96 and the penalty was totally disproportionate to the value of the hassle it caused them, you have a good case to get your money back.

I got slugged a $30 for causing a $6 overdraft.  Then at the end of the month I got slugged another $35 for being $36 overdrawn, and then the next month for being $71 overdrawn.  This put me in a cycle where I was always $106 dollars behind when my pay went into the account.  They made $100 from $6 overdraft that the computer imposed and therefore did no more than about $0.01c work.

I rang them to split the difference to help get my account in order and they refused.  I then sued for all the fees ever charged ($1100) in my entire bank history and they settled for $505.

This is because:

1) They had not produced a tax invoice properly billing me for financial services

2) They had not contacted me to give me a chance to correct the matter thereby mitigating my ability to fix the problem and avoid a debt

3) They bascially got something for nothing

4) They didn't want my case to set a precedent that could s***w the bank

And remeber, this is in spite of the fact that they sent me terms and conditions EVERY month.  After all, one of their terms was they could change their terms.  And since a contract requires UNDERSTANDING, and you can't understand a change when you signed that hasn't been implemented yet, there's no understanding.

In your country it might be tighter.

Look, call them first and offer to split the difference on the basis that you'll then both be $48.23 worse off - and that's fair.  If they refuse then go back over the statement and ask for half of ALL fees charged.  If they still refuse say, look, wipe out the $96.48 and we'll call it square or I will sue.  And if they refuse, immediately sue them for the entire fees plus legal costs in small claims court where they shouldn't be able to get a lawyer.  It'll be a commercial hassle and they'll probably give you $200 plus costs to get lost.

This isn't legal advice, just what I did and why.

Answer 4

Find a credit Union that does not charge for overdrafts but treats them like a loan  that charges interest up to a pre approved amount. Your bank is running a scam, although a legal one.