I have 2 checking accounts...one set up strictly to pay bills and one for everyday bank card use.

2nd on has plenty of money, 1st one is usually just enough to cover the auto billpays every month

I overdrafted the 2nd one, and made 4 or 5 small purchases from that account. they charged me $35 per overdraft and now it says I owe them close to $250.

I have overdraft protection, and I thought that meant when my balance got dangerously low, my card would be declined when I tried to use it.

any tips on how I can fight this? there has to be a banker on TWW or at least somebody who has gotten dicked by Wachovia

9/24/2008 11:51:27 PM

Overdraft protection means they transfer money from an account with money into an account without money when a charge is made against it to mitigate an overdraft.

You spent money you didn't have. You're responsible for the consequences. There's no way you're gonna get out of that.

9/24/2008 11:53:49 PM

9/24/2008 11:54:02 PM

Quote :

"I thought that meant when my balance got dangerously low, my card would be declined when I tried to use it."

You really thought a for-profit bank was going to screw itself out of easy money in a shitty economy?

Quote :

"there has to be a banker on TWW or at least somebody who has gotten dicked by Wachovia"

I'm sure there's at least one or two of the former; there are probably MANY more of the latter.

9/24/2008 11:54:15 PM

nope overdraft protection is when it is hooked up to another account so when you overdraft it kicks money in to the account plus like a 10 dollar fee.

talk to the person at the desk. tellers can't do anything about it. if you have a student account and it is your first offense you can use your get out of jail free card... if it is a normal account then you just need to be really nice. they can take a percentage off normally.

9/24/2008 11:54:40 PM

I've overdrawn way too much.

With a lot of luck, give them a call and just explain what happened. At the end of the day they charge you for the most expensive purchase, so if you had smaller purchases after a large purchase that wouldn't have overdrawn your account they'll refund you for that. Otherwise, you're pretty much screwed

Just a piece of advice. I went to vegas a few weeks ago and never found a Wachovia ATM. Apparantley on top of service charges, everytime you use a non Wachovia ATM they charge you like 2 or 3 dollars. Needless to say I racked up like 35 dollars in penalties on top of losing my ass in vegas.

Cliffnotes(FUCK Wachovia)

9/24/2008 11:55:43 PM

um, welcome to any bank that you don't use their atm for. there aren't many that don't charge for non inhouse atms... many cases the atm will charge you and then the bank will charge you.

9/24/2008 11:57:44 PM

just about every credit union, as well as several online banks (ING Direct, for example), don't charge when you use other people's ATMs

I would never open an account at a bank that did charge

9/25/2008 12:03:15 AM

I <3 SECU

9/25/2008 12:04:50 AM

that's exactly what it was...

I had a payment of $50 to DirecTV, a $100 pament to DirecTV and a $120 payment for my student loan. the $120 was posted on the 20th, but didn't come out til the 23rd. that's what fucked me.

then the purchases I made after the account was overdrawn were $4.99 at Exxon, $2.13 at Wendy's, $15 at Walgreens and $5.50 at Cookout

so i bought a $40 pack of cigs/7up, $37 spicy chicken sandwich, $50 contact solution/deodorant and $40 Cookout tray

9/25/2008 12:06:13 AM

sounds like you should quit smoking and ease up off the fast food, you could save hundreds!

9/25/2008 12:07:29 AM

credit unions aren't exactly the run of the mill bank though. and normally they are fairly limited in location so charging at other ATM's would be kinda messed up for them since ALL atm's are other atm's.

same with the online banks. i've never seen an ing direct ATM. which means that for them to charge for an ATM they would have to charge in every instance you need money.

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 12:09 AM. Reason : ^^that sucks bro. you should probably get one of those little check card registers.]

9/25/2008 12:07:57 AM

Quote :

"I <3 SECU "

Seriously. I've heard SO many bad things about Wachovia.

9/25/2008 12:08:46 AM

nope, it sucks but too bad. Just have to be more careful.
It happened to me once, earlier this year.
I made a $40 purchase. Then $30, and then I made a $100-something purchase. I had at least $100 in there, but didn't realize I was low on funds. Well those assholes put my big purchase first, and then the small ones, so I ended up owning more because they charge overdraft fee every time. And then right before I go to the bank to deposit a check, (still don't know I'm under) I use my card to buy a $4 lunch. Big mistake. The lady at the bank acted so nice about it, telling me I wouldn't get charged overdraft for the lunch. Bullshit, I got my statement and that lunch cost me $30-something.

Moral of the story: I got raped in the butt by this bank and so did you.

9/25/2008 12:15:55 AM

actually, sometimes if you call them and this is your first time, they will waive at least some of the charges.

worst that can happen is that they say no.

9/25/2008 12:20:40 AM

^yea, its always worth the call...and you get to listen to that awesome waiting music

9/25/2008 12:21:36 AM

ncstatetke, Wachovia allows you to drop the charges once per year.

You should call the number on the back of your debit card and ask them if you can get the charges dropped because you've been a good customer.

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 12:25 AM. Reason : user]

9/25/2008 12:25:22 AM

Your first mistake is banking with Wachovia.

9/25/2008 12:46:23 AM

despite all the Wachovia bashing in here I love banking with them, particularly in Raleigh. The people were always nice and always helped me out usually without having to wait in line more than 1-2 people. Here's what I have, why, and what's happened in the past... (keep in mind these numbers are 2 years old or so)

1) Any time you have a checking account with Wachovia get a wachovia branded credit card and tell 'em to put it as your overdraft card. By using a wachovia card the fee to overdraft to card is $5 instead of $15 to any other account. Overdrafting straight up is $35 without this feature. Once I got the card I just tossed it in my little safe and forget about it - it's sole purpose is to save me that $30. Additionally, from wachovia.com you can set it to e-mail or phone you any time the account is used - so you'll KNOW when you're overdrafting.

2) Be nice to the people on the phone, or at the CSR desk and you can get at least the first one waived for free and in this case I've seen people get off by paying one full $35 overdraft fee and having the others waived. I myself have had only 1 overdraft and 2 minutes on the phone had it waived.

3) I think you CAN have your card get denied once you enter overdraft, but of course that's by request - not default.

4) Lastly, check you accounts online if you fear you may have overdrafted. Transfer money BEFORE midnight the same day from Wachovia savings or other checking and the new 'posted' balance the next day will show no overdrafts (this has worked for me at least once, maybe twice...). Their systems usually update sometime around midnight every night (except friday) and you get charged overdraft fees based on the purchases over the DAYS closing balance. Get the balance straight before days end and you're good-to-go.

And I guess a YMMV is obligatory here...

9/25/2008 1:00:21 AM

Quote :

"Your first mistake is banking with Wachovia."

If you would like a better experience you might want to look at Coastal Federal Credit Union. They are not going to take advantage of you like Walk-over-ya will.

The large banks are beholden to shareholders, you will not get concessions out of them unless you have a fairly substantial amount of money invested with them. They make a ton of money off fees, so your options are: do not trigger fees, or close your account and move your money to a bank or credit union that is not gonna kick you when you are already down.

I have been with SECU since I was 16 and have gone in the red more than once and the largest fee was $12.00. My entire family and extended family bank with them and when I get older and have more money I will continue to as well. It is nice to not have the entity you invest your money with run over you each time you are at your worst.

Here is a list of fees from SECU for comparisons sake:
Bounced Check $12
Overdraft $0.50 (yes only fifty cents)
Negative account (due to check card purchase) NO CHARGE
Maintenance Fee $1.00 per month

I also have a credit card with them and you have to leave it over limit for an entire month to get over the limit fees. Even then it is only 9.99.

9/25/2008 1:11:28 AM

I really fucking need to open a Chase account up here in NYC

fack... please tell me more about Wachovia's fees for using other ATMs!!

9/25/2008 1:49:03 AM

I pay with a CC, no draft fee's. I only have like 100 bucks in my checking and never really touch that account. Only use checking for receiving money and transferring to the savings or paying off the CC.

9/25/2008 2:09:16 AM

I couldn't get past

Quote :

"2nd on has plenty of money... I overdrafted the 2nd one, and made 4 or 5 small purchases from that account."

9/25/2008 2:46:19 AM

Quote :

"At the end of the day they charge you for the most expensive purchase, so if you had smaller purchases after a large purchase that wouldn't have overdrawn your account they'll refund you for that. "

Yes. And their 'explanation'? We want our customers to get their most important bills paid first. It would be unconscionable for us to allow a mortgage payment to bounce because they also bought lunch that day'

Quote :

"I went to vegas a few weeks ago and never found a Wachovia ATM. Apparantley on top of service charges, everytime you use a non Wachovia ATM they charge you like 2 or 3 dollars."

Plan ahead. Holy shit.

Quote :

"I <3 SECU"

Quote :

"credit unions aren't exactly the run of the mill bank though."

That's the whole point.

Quote :

"normally they are fairly limited in location so charging at other ATM's would be kinda messed up for them since ALL atm's are other atm's"

They don't. SECU, for example, gives you free access to any cashpoints, anywhere.

Quote :

"i've never seen an ing direct ATM. which means that for them to charge for an ATM they would have to charge in every instance you need money."

With this statement, you're only making one point: that you have no clue what you're talking about.

How hard is it to do one of the following when broke:
- check your acct balances online regularly (which you should do whether or not you're broke)
- not spend money on frivolous shit like cigs and fast food (ditto)

As far as bitching about ATMs: if you, for some reason, end up in a situation where no amount of planning ahead would have helped, and are too dense to hit up a grocery store to buy a pack of gum and get cash back, and don't keep some cash on hand 'just in case' ...you deserve to be slapped with foreign ATM fees. This is doubly true for situations where one could have planned ahead, and elected not to (Vegas!)

Okay, so credit unions have limited locations. All their benefits more than make up for this, and they address potential issues caused by this. There's no excuse for not using a credit union if you have access to it.

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 10:40 AM. Reason : lkjdf]

9/25/2008 10:38:45 AM

It all depends on how often you overdraft. It doesn't happen to me a lot now that I actually PAY ATTENTION to how much I have in the bank, but I have had to call to get fees reduced a couple times. Basically, they have a certain amount they are allowed to give each customer in credits over a certain time frame (or so they say). So if this is your first overdraft, most likely they will meet you halfway on the fees. But just keep in mind, if you overdraft again in the near future, you most likely won't get shit back.

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 10:44 AM. Reason : a]

9/25/2008 10:42:52 AM

Quote :

"I have overdraft protection"

Does that not make sense to anyone else? If you have it, then why are you getting hit with the big fees? When you have the protection there can still be a fee to transfer money from the other account to cover the overdraft, but that would be less than $1 per transaction ... so do you not actually have overdraft protection?

9/25/2008 10:47:07 AM

I'm assuming the OP is horribly confused as to just what 'overdraft proctection' is.

9/25/2008 10:48:26 AM

you're paying for the privelige of spending money you don't have

9/25/2008 10:50:55 AM

Quote :

"2nd on has plenty of money"

Quote :

"I overdrafted the 2nd one"

does not compute

if the second one had plenty of money then how did you overdraft it?

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 10:55 AM. Reason : a]

9/25/2008 10:51:02 AM

Overdraft protection.

9/25/2008 10:54:37 AM

using a credit card as a check card ftw. Don't have to worry about overdraft fees.

9/25/2008 10:56:37 AM

^ nah, just 20% interest rates

9/25/2008 10:57:31 AM

why the fuck would you have 20% interest rates

9/25/2008 10:57:49 AM

I'm not black if that's what you're referring to.

9/25/2008 10:58:24 AM

you can get like 4 turned over a year, even more is you ask nicely.

just call the 1800 #

9/25/2008 10:59:47 AM

I closed my Wachovia account yesterday. SECU ftw.

9/25/2008 11:00:50 AM

I <3 SECU

9/25/2008 11:01:02 AM

im migrating now away from having an rbc and a wachovia checking account to a schwab high yield investor class checking account.

it's pretty baller

9/25/2008 11:02:20 AM

Uncle Pussyshoes, just be my sugar daddy. You know you wanna.

9/25/2008 11:03:25 AM

mebbah

9/25/2008 11:03:51 AM

you wouldn't get charged with the 20 percent interest rate if you pay your credit card off every month.

9/25/2008 11:06:39 AM

Psh, this is America.

9/25/2008 11:09:03 AM

yeah the only irritating part about linking a wachovia cc to the checking account for overdraft protection is that it goes against the card as a cash advance.

which, makes sense and all, and is in the user agreements.

just like your overdraft fee structures.

9/25/2008 11:10:00 AM

i have

but my aunt worked there so she'd hook it up

9/25/2008 12:24:05 PM

overdrafting

lol

9/25/2008 1:42:14 PM

Go talk about it at a branch. I got out of one once as they screwd up the datings.

Now also <3 SECU!

But ya Wachovia sucks period.

9/25/2008 2:08:21 PM

The biggest piece of bullshit of all is the way the order in which banks process transactions...always largest to smallest, supposedly to keep the customer from bouncing an important check (even though check bounce fee < overdraft fee

Say you have $200 and 8 misc purchases over the weekend in this order

$15 purchase
$30 purchase
$20 purchase
$15 purchase
$25 purchase
$40 purchase
$you get the picture purchase
$150 bill pmt

Even though you had the money to cover the first 7 purchases at the time of sale, the $150 will post first, followed by the $40, followed by 5 overdraft fees for the purchases that were made prior to the larger payments. These banks have fine tuned the art of sucking the most of their customers, much like Thai hookers....they'll leave you broke and with a bad taste in your mouth

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 2:48 PM. Reason : sp]

9/25/2008 2:47:47 PM

why dont banks give me free money?

9/25/2008 2:50:10 PM

you agree to the terms and conditions when you sign up.

if you dont, dont choose that institution?

9/25/2008 2:50:31 PM

i know it's the typical asshole response, but it's really not that difficult to keep up with how much money you have in the bank. if you're hovering around $5.00, just close the fucking account and use cash.

9/25/2008 2:53:14 PM