need to get dh a new bank acct... (vent/whine)

anneg

wow... i was just checking out dh's "free" checking account w/ US Bank.  this is the account that his spending money is deposited into.  he's been charged $60 in overdraft protection fees, and interest on those fees, since february on $200 worth of overdraft protection.  yep, that's right... thirty percent.  when he gets up from his nap we're going to walk down to the bank, settle up that account and close it.  then we'll need to open a new spending money account for him that doesn't have overdraft protection.  you know, the old-fashioned if there's not enough money the charge doesn't go through kind.  he just doesn't pay enough attention.  i'm sure he doesn't even realize this has been happening... he just thinks he has $ in the account because hey, the charges are going through.  sigh.  the sad thing is, i'm going to have to go with him when he gets a new account for his spending money, like a parent would go with a kid, because if i don't he might open an account with overdraft protection.  

i'm all for personal responsibility and i know this is on him because he doesn't pay enough attention.  but what i really hate is that banks use that to screw people, on top of the fees they're already paying for the accounts.  they're making billions that way and it's just sleazy.  

sm23

I totally agree. I wish all banks would just deny the charge instead of letting the account holder think they have money in there. I'm usually pretty good about tracking my spending and how much money I have in the bank, but it's happened a couple of times and then I get hit with the overdraft fees, when I already don't have any money in there! Stupid.

rachie17

Yeah this is so stupid that banks do this. DH and I have wells fargo and they just recently changed it where you had to sign something to say you wanted over draft protection or they will just deny the transaction if there is no money. I worked with them for 2 months (when I didn't think I had a shot at getting a teaching position) and when somebody would come in the teller always said "you should sign it or your card will be declined." What they fail to mention is that "sure we won't deny it but instead we will charge you an arm and a leg." So frustrating. Of course neither myself or DH have signed this paper.

LuckyCAGal

rachie17:

they just recently changed it where you had to sign something to say you wanted over draft protection or they will just deny the transaction if there is no money.

This is a government regulation. All banks (not sure about credit unions) did this. Everyone was supposed to make a decision by August 15th (I believe was the date). The government is trying to make it where banks can't do all the overdraft fees, by having the cards decline when the money is not there. Im thinking if you already had an overdraft protection setup, via a credit card or savings account, yours didn't default to decline, since you had already previously authorized overdraft. We had alot of people come in and they were upset that their cards were declined due to the default. All because they didn't read the mail that was sent out to them

Hope you got everything all straightened out!

anneg

LuckyCAGal:

rachie17:

they just recently changed it where you had to sign something to say you wanted over draft protection or they will just deny the transaction if there is no money.

This is a government regulation. All banks (not sure about credit unions) did this. Everyone was supposed to make a decision by August 15th (I believe was the date). The government is trying to make it where banks can't do all the overdraft fees, by having the cards decline when the money is not there. Im thinking if you already had an overdraft protection setup, via a credit card or savings account, yours didn't default to decline, since you had already previously authorized overdraft. We had alot of people come in and they were upset that their cards were declined due to the default. All because they didn't read the mail that was sent out to them

that is exactly what happened.  when he had this problem before he was supposed to go in and change his acct to decline overdraft "protection" but did he?  nooooooooooooooooo... not that i'm bitter or anything. 

Hope you got everything all straightened out!

mandy0505

Have you tried doing an allowance? My dh and I each have our monthly allowances (in cash) to pay for things. We both get paid on the first of the month so I pay the bills at the first of the month and then take cash out for our family weekly budget (gas, groceries, dry cleaning), money for the month for the housecleaners and money for allowances. It works out great for us and over the past year we've been able to pay all of our bills off except our new truck and mortgage.

Gannon

There are banks that have overdraft protection without charges. There are also accounts that move money from a linked savings account to a checking account should there be any overdrafts.

I'm pretty certain Bank of the West doesn't have overdraft fees and I know I Heritage Bank has the linked accounts etc. There are also accounts you can get that don't charge any fees, they don't pay any interest either but for a spending account, who cares.  I bank at about 6 banks for work, can ya tell 

Basically, shop around. Good luck!