Bank Of America Alert
While this is not related to Single Parent Travel or single parenting, it is important. I write for a local blog here in Annapolis and one of the other bloggers just discovered that Bank of America is now playing hardball with their fees.
They apparently are holding transactions in anticipation of overdrafts and then posting them to maximize their fees. Of course they are posting debits before credits which does not help. As single parents, we need every penny we can keep and this is just bad business!
Read his story at Eye On Annapolis.
If you bank with Bank of America, keep an eye on your fees. I miss the old days of a local community bank!
PS–will have the Rocking Recap and photos soon!
Credits are always posted before debits, and yes if your funds are being reserved for purchases that you have made then they may not cover other purchases that come in. If you keep up with your purchases (check register) then you will not have to worry about fees. Trust me I live paycheck to paycheck and I run very close at times, but I still don’t over draw my account. Stop blaming the banks and take responsibility for spending more than you have.
I’m a single parent too. I never get over draft fees but I too live paycheck to paycheck. I am very careful about spending and I rely on online banking to let me know how I’m spending. I don’t have time to take every piece of paper and write things down. You would think that technology especially from a bank of this stature would remove the need for “check register”. I watched my balance closely and supposedly their is another link within your account that shows another version of your account (pointed out to me). That showed how my OD fees were triggered. That version does not automatically pull up when you open up your account. I’ve also set my account to alert me of a low balance. What’s the point?? I agree, what is this world coming too…corporate America. Whew…I had to get this off my chest.
I had signed up for Bank of America alerts that are suppose to notify me if an account is overdrawn so that I can do a quick transfer. They don’t send you the alerts until after they charge you the overdraft fee. Had spoke with them each time through chat and each time they conclude that it is a technical problem and since I was overdrawn they were entitled to charge me the overdraft. Why offer the alert protection if it only comes after the overdraft fee!
Annoyed: Don’t trust the alerts. They even mention it in their Online Agreement (which you should’ve read and memorized when you signed up for the online banking.. you did read it didn’t you 😛 ) that these alerts are not guaranteed, and they’ll argue that these are tools to help you, but not tools to rely on.
Even I, who regularly checks his account daily, and even use a register. Couple days I got swamped and didn’t check and it turns out there was a banking fee which I forgot about lead to 2 overdraft fees. I never got alerted, so when I checked after the two days I saw I was already charged 2 fees, and that there are three transactions that has already triggered three fees. I was relying on the text messages to help remind me if I forgot or it simply slipped my mind. Now I agree the first two fees I got were fair (as much as fair can be for $70 fees on two transactions that was barely over $15)… but it was my mistake ok no problem. Then I never got a text alert to tell me that I have overdrafted my balance and that new transactions will be going through (the usual text message of “your account might be subject to additional charges”).. I even went online and tried to send a test message and I am not getting it.
Also dont try to argue that because you didn’t get it you shouldn’t get the overdraft fees. They’ll say two things, #1- The alerts are tools to help you but not be the one sure solution to rely on. #2- This service (even though they call it just a tool, it is a service they provide) is not guaranteed to work and the bank will not be liable if it doesn’t work as it should (it says it in the online banking agreement).
Even though we are in the 21st century with people depending on 21st century “TOOLS”; banks (who have the funds to perfect such a system) still can’t give us a proper means to accurately monitor our accounts. From now on, the act of paying for anything will require me to do two things, pay with my card and note every single transaction at the time of payment, and forget that there is something called online banking.
Online banking to me now is nothing more than just to see if there are any scrupulous activities on my account, and to check for any fees (other than over draft fees) that the bank takes.