If you have a Circuit City refund check not deposited before 11/10, it’s going to bounce.
checking
Watch Out For Illegal "MB Image World" Charges On Your Bank Account
By 11.11.08
Watch out for a charge on your checking account for a charge from “MB Image World.” People are complaining that the porn site, that they’ve never done business with or gave their account information to, is fraudulently issuing electronic check charges for $39.99. If they hit you, report the item to your bank as fraud and reverse the charges.
Stop Payment Orders On Checks Only Last Six Months
By 10.8.08
Jennifer says National City Bank has contacted her fiance to inform him that the stop payment order he placed on a check is about to expire, and he’ll have to pay another $32 fee to renew it for six more months. She writes, “Have you heard of stop payment now only being ‘suspend payment for six months’? This seems to me to be extortion.” We’re going to come down on the side of the banks in this case—but because of the recurring nature of the fee, it might just be cheaper to close the account.
Watch Out For These 5 Overdraft Traps
By 8.20.08
Banks need your money. They’re not doing too well on their own, and you’re not screwing up enough to generate the fees they need to make their shareholders happy. That’s why they’ve set up sneaky ways to maximize your every mistake—or in some cases, ways to change the rules so that you make new mistakes where you didn’t before—in order to penalize you. Here are five things SmartMoney says to watch out for.
Overdraft Fees Are Trapping Consumers On Social Security In A Cycle Of Debt
By 6.24.08
The Center For Responsible Lending has put together a report that examines the disastrous effect of overdraft fees on Americans who depend on Social Security for all or part of their income. Despite the fact that they’ve had checking accounts all their lives (and presumably know what they’re doing), each year older Americans pay 4.5 billion dollars in overdraft fees– and on average they actually pay more in fees than they receive in credit when the overdraft is triggered by a debit card transaction.
United To Require Minimum Stays Starting In October
By 6.21.08
Sorry travelers, as expected, United Airlines will require minimum stays on all flights starting in October. Gone are the halcyon days of jetting away for a business meeting after breakfast with time to spare before returning for dinner. Most United fares will now require a three-night or weekend stay, but it “will depend on the destinations involved, the price of the ticket and the length of the flight.” And, yes, you will still be charged $15 to check your first bag.
WaMu Banker Confessions, Part Two
By 6.11.08
Another Washington Mutual insider has stepped forward with a slew of tips to help save your ass from overdraft fees, check deposit holds, and talking to Filipino bankers. Details, inside…
Bank of America Suddenly Charges You $146 In Fees For Using Your Checking Account Too Much
By 5.19.08
Reader Ophelia has a problem. It seems that after 10 years of perfect customer service from Bank of America, they suddenly decided to treat her checking account like a savings account and are charging her hundreds of dollars in “over use” fees. Her apoplectic letter is inside.
Polite Letter Gets Bank Of America To Refund Overdraft Fees
By 5.15.08
Jenn’s checking account with Bank of America recently had a policy change designed to increase overdraft fees, and it worked: sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning she was hit with 6 NSF charges going back the previous 48 hours, because she was about 15 minutes late transferring funds into her account the day before. Technically she had broken the new policy, but Jenn hadn’t realized or remembered that there was a policy change and she was taken by surprise. She decided to try to reason with BoA’s corporate office about the fees, and explain why she thought they were unfair.
WaMu Backs Down, Returns The $1500 To Bill's Bank Account
By 5.13.08
Bill, whose small business checking account had been inappropriately drafted $1500, sent us the following email late last night:
Commerce Bank Can't Decide Whether Funds Are Available Or Not
By 5.5.08
Meg in New Jersey wants to know what’s up with her Commerce Bank account. They say if you deposit a check before 6pm, the funds are made available that day—but when she did just that and then transferred the funds to another account, she was hit with a $35 “uncollected funds fee.” She never got a straight answer out of the Commerce CSR, and although they refunded the fee, they told her she “could only get that refund once ever,” as if to say it was her fault the fee was assessed.
Bank Of America Refunds $325 In Overdraft Fees To Customer Who Was On Cruise
By 3.12.08
Don’t say we never printed anything nice about you, BoA. One of your customers just had an experience with you that—despite still having an overdraft fee of $20 to pay—has left her feeling pretty good about you.
"I Lost My Deposit Slip, And PNC Says There's No Record Of My Deposit"
By 3.8.08
Nicholas wrote in with a scary problem: his paycheck, which he deposited at his local branch of PNC on Saturday, never showed up in his bank account. The teller seemed to have difficulty processing the deposit, but the slip he gave to Nicholas showed the check had been processed.
You'd Better Know Your Balance, Because WaMu Certainly Doesn't
By 3.7.08
“Keep track of your bank balances!”—pretty much every week on Consumerist either we or our readers say something like this.
36 Confessions Of A WaMu Banker
By 2.18.08
– About the WaMu Free Checking, yes it is a different “free” checking account. We just came out with the “WaMu” part about a couple of years ago, so if you have any “free” checking account older than that I suggest you change it to the newer one.
Say Goodbye To Your Free Student Checking Account
By 1.20.08
Banks love graduation almost as much as parents. You’re finally on your own, able to afford food, rent, and beer, so why shouldn’t the banks—the kind, selfless banks that let you save while you slaved for knowledge—now sink their teeth into your anorexic accounts for a hearty bite of their own? FiLife compiled an excellent list of bank policies so students know how their institution plans to celebrate their impending graduation.
US Bank Courtesy Overdraft Protection Demystified
By 10.18.07
The insider who tipped us off about US Bank allowing customers to opt-out of courtesy overdraft protection wrote in again. He further describe how overdrafts and courtesy overdraft protection works, and why he thinks you should avoid them both and their stupid fees too…
