BofA Customers, Watch Out For Overdraft Protection Auto-Enrolling

Will was meticulous about avoiding the succubus that is overdraft protection in his Bank of America checking account. So you can imagine what happened to him: The bank automatically stuck him with the so-called protection thanks to an automatic function that stuck him with a $100 credit card cash advance, along with the accompanying finance charges.

He writes:

I have always been careful not enrolling in overdraft protection. Last week, i was switching between two BoA checking accounts because the new one I opened online includes no minimum balance fees. One of my bill pay orders attempted to remove the money from my BoA checking account–which had zero balance–and BoA “helpfully” protected me from the overdraft by using my CC for a cash advance of $100. I called up customer service and requested they waive it and tell me when I enrolled. They waive it but could not tell me when I enrolled.

At least in my case, BoA isn’t just ignoring the new federal law about optin overdraft protection, they are now making the protection come as cash advances from CCs.

If you’ve encountered a bank’s sneaky overdraft protection conscription methods, let us know about them in the comments.

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