As a general rule I'm not a fan of banks, as good as I am at math they always find a way to cost you money. Free checking accounts are hardly free when you go over by a penny and get a $35.00 NSF fee.
Today though, I'm pissed. I'm so pissed I'm going to talk to a lawyer today about starting a class action against Bank of America for their standards and practices being geared towards ripping people off.
Now you don't just get an NSF when you overdraw your account, you also get one if you have a pending charge that MAY overdraw it. So say you have 10.00 in your account, buy some munchies at Taco Bell for 10.01 and realize, "oh crap!, I better go deposit some money!". So you drive covered in taco remains like mario andretti to the bank. You arrive a mere 5 minutes after the purchase to put your penny in the account. Wiping the sweat from your brow (not sure if that was the volcano taco or almost sliding into a semi) you take a deep breath and feel a penny's worth of relief that you have escaped the fee and can have another day of Taco Bell in safety.
So much for relying on what would seem to be common cents. NO SOUP FOR YOU! you have already been assessed your NSF fee before you were even out of the drive through. Now you might be saying, well you shouldn't have cut it so close, or, you should've put a taco back ! WEll my friends that is only one of the many ways they have devised to take what you worked all week for. They will also assess it if the transaction is just pending, like if you rent a video game at Blockbuster and they put a hold on the money in your account but don't actually charge it if they get the game back on time. Well while that money is on hold you're getting hit with NSF's for anything else you did in the meantime plus the game rental even though that money will never be taken out of the account.
oh and one more thing, when you write a check out of your bill pay, they go ahead and take that too even though the check hasn't been cashed yet. Yeah, just because it's the standard practice doesn't make it right or legal, just sounds like corporate stealing to me. Who's coming with me?!?!?
UPDATE: I have a consultation with a lawyer to file a class action, anyone who wants in let me know :)
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Hi! Found you on Pirate Caucus blog. I am having the exact same issue with BOA. My husband and I have been roobed of over $1500 in the last 6 months!!
ReplyDeleteHi, I am very interested in joining a class action suit. I have been hit with thousands of dollars in unavailable, nsf, overdraft charges and whatever else they want to take money for. I know that Bank of America just paid out 35,000,000.00 and also another 9,000,000 on another settlement but it is not affecting their practices at all. Maybe if they keep getting hit over and over with these suits they might decide to change. I think that besides lawsuits, a grass roots movement aimed at the goverment to address these issues, might help. If you think of a way that we can unite all the people affected by these immoral, unethical business practices, they would probably number in the millions. Wachovia (Wells Fargo) Chase, US Bank, Compass Bank and many more all follow these same practices. In addition, the people most affected by these charges are the ones least able to afford it. When pay checks are decimated by these exorbitant fees, necessities of life are affected, like electric bills, doctor visits, medicine and groceries. Our goverment made a huge stimulus bill and gave everyone 600.00 to jump start the economy. If they could only understand that the banks take this much away, sometimes on a monthly basis in overdraft fees, they could have stopped this practice. In effect, the banks received a bailout from the goverments and then took our stimulus money in fees. We as taxpayers are paying with both hands. There would be a lot more discretinary spending money if our paychecks weren't being ripped off by these Banks. My email is jveitch1@gmail.com. My name is Jody. Please contact me if you are able to start a class action suit. Also, I have a 111 page report by the FDIC about Banking Overdraft Practices and their profitibilty for banks, if you are interested. Jody
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog through Pirate Caucus as well, and would like in on this lawsuit as well if it is going forward. I am closing my account tomorrow, but have been robeed blindly over the past 4 years by Bank of America, and am tired of it. My email is mdnitesky@gmail.com. And thank you for taking this initiative.
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