DILYSI Dave wrote: I've never over-drafted an account, so bear with my ignorance of the subject, but can't you opt out of overdrafts? ie, "Don't let me spend money I don't have."
I believe that legally, the banks have to give you that option these days. I know Chase has been going through a big thing relating to that.
HalfTrac, Lord of the FWD deathbox wrote:DILYSI Dave wrote: I've never over-drafted an account, so bear with my ignorance of the subject, but can't you opt out of overdrafts? ie, "Don't let me spend money I don't have."I believe that legally, the banks have to give you that option these days. I know Chase has been going through a big thing relating to that.
You can also sign up for the bank overdraft "protection" where you have a cash reserve the bank uses to cover the overdraft and give you time to make a deposit.
But if you can opt out of overdrafts, I ask this question: if you can, how does the bank know where your money ends out of multiple posted transactions?? Clearly, there has to be an order to the transactions to determine where to stop giving your money out.
Ranger50 wrote:HalfTrac, Lord of the FWD deathbox wrote:You can also sign up for the bank overdraft "protection" where you have a cash reserve the bank uses to cover the overdraft and give you time to make a deposit. But if you can opt out of overdrafts, I ask this question: if you can, how does the bank know where your money ends out of multiple posted transactions?? Clearly, there has to be an order to the transactions to determine where to stop giving your money out.DILYSI Dave wrote: I've never over-drafted an account, so bear with my ignorance of the subject, but can't you opt out of overdrafts? ie, "Don't let me spend money I don't have."I believe that legally, the banks have to give you that option these days. I know Chase has been going through a big thing relating to that.
The conspiracist in me says that they know the order. I have a sad feeling that i'm right.
92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:Ranger50 wrote:The conspiracist in me says that they know the order. I have a sad feeling that i'm right.HalfTrac, Lord of the FWD deathbox wrote:This^ They know...but if they hit you up for the big ones first, then youre on the hook for the ODF for all the nickel and dime stuff. They do this specifically to charge more fees, and veil it as some computer setting. You can also sign up for the bank overdraft "protection" where you have a cash reserve the bank uses to cover the overdraft and give you time to make a deposit. But if you can opt out of overdrafts, I ask this question: if you can, how does the bank know where your money ends out of multiple posted transactions?? Clearly, there has to be an order to the transactions to determine where to stop giving your money out.DILYSI Dave wrote: I've never over-drafted an account, so bear with my ignorance of the subject, but can't you opt out of overdrafts? ie, "Don't let me spend money I don't have."I believe that legally, the banks have to give you that option these days. I know Chase has been going through a big thing relating to that.
The bank "knows" by the order in which they are presented to the bank for collection. Those presented fastest get paid first until the money dries up. Then the overdraft fees kick in, and if the merchant presents a check or transaction again, most banks charge another overdraft charge. At $35 a crack, that adds up quickly.
Yes, you can go to your bank and they'll prevent an electronic transaction--debit card--from going through at the register if there are insufficient funds to cover that transaction. OR you can tell you bank to let it go through, and pay the transaction, insufficient funds transaction fee, AND the overdraft fee.
Some banks now have a sliding scale for overdrafts--not so high the first time, $35, but after the third one, it can be as high as $130!
The credit card paying will work up until you exceed your credit limit, then ALL those fees kick in, as does a giant jump in your interest rate. And that jump may not be limited to just that account, but to other card accounts too. For now you have become a high credit risk.
It "pays" to read all that "junk" mail that comes from your bank, and all the small type.
In reply to triumph5:
Then that asks the question, say 5 debits occur within 5 minutes of each other and the middle debit is a big one like a car payment. The last three debits result in OD fees, by your records, but when you check your statement, you get four OD fees.
You then check with the brick and mortar building housing your bank and you get nothing but the runaround of "I dunno, has to be the way they were presented.", but you can't ever get that timestamp to prove or disprove the order of debits and therefore the additional fees.
This is why I ask the question, how do they know when your money is dried up and won't let you debit more money? Especially when they won't tell you the specific order of debits.
I mean and this is probably stretching it, how would you feel if I fixed your car's brakes one time and as soon as you picked it up, the rearend goes out from an obviously leaking seal. Shouldn't have I seen the leaking seal? I was just there fixing the brakes. One lead to the other which lead to something else. Same thing is being asked of the bank, which debit came first to result in OD fees?
triumph5 wrote: The credit card paying will work up until you exceed your credit limit, then ALL those fees kick in, as does a giant jump in your interest rate. And that jump may not be limited to just that account, but to other card accounts too. For now you have become a high credit risk.
If someone can't manage to spend off of their debit card without going under zero, and ALSO can't manage to spend off of a credit card without going over $XX,XXX, then they are pretty much asking for whatever nutkick they get.
If that's the case, you aren't mature enough for modern banking. Go to the check cashing place with all of the illegals and put your cash under a matress.
In reply to Ranger50: You demand to talk to the bank manager, and see the records of when the transactions took place. They have records of what was presented when, for, that's how they protect themselves when identity theft occurs, and transactions are tracked/trased.
I'm not 100% sure of this, but I'm pretty sure, with the newer banking laws, they HAVE to make this available to you upon demand.
I went through a similar scenerio when my ID was stolen, and I had used a credit card within the same hour "someone else" used it. I was nice, patient, but firm. Should work for you. too.
No satisfaction at the branch, go up the ladder. A good state attorney general's phone call goes a long way. Just has to be his secretary making the call to the bank.
DILYSI Dave wrote: If someone can't manage to spend off of their debit card without going under zero, and ALSO can't manage to spend off of a credit card without going over $XX,XXX, then they are pretty much asking for whatever nutkick they get. If that's the case, you aren't mature enough for modern banking. Go to the check cashing place with all of the illegals and put your cash under a matress.
Some people spend waaaay too much on credit cards. I've known folks who earned $100k+ a year and still owed something like $90k on credit cards. Just living past their means. In those cases I feel your anger.
But then you have someone who's hit with a medical bill for themselves, their kid, whatever. They're working 40+ hrs a week at Wal-mart or some crap. They're in a bind so they use their good credit to zap the bill in the hopes they'll pay it of over the next...oh...say....10 - 15 years as credit cards are wont to do. This could easily hit your $XX,XXX figure you used as an example.
Then they lose their job.
That or their spouse loses their job.
Or even their other kid gets sick.
(To make this car centric) Maybe they get hit in their high mileage, yet reliable, car that's paid off and to get to work they have to go further into debt to buy something, anything, to keep working that Jay O Bee.
Does that guy deserve a "nutkick"? Does his family that relies on him deserve a "nutkick"?
They're hard working Americans paying taxes and doing all they can to get by. YEAH BABY! NUTKICK! USA! USA! 
Not everyone who hits hard financial times deserves you looking down your nose at them or your judgement. A little empathy is due in some cases. Some people are really not in absolute control of their finances and suffer accordingly even though they work their fingers to the bone and sacrifice as needed.
I'm not asking you to pay their bills but maybe some kindness instead of judgement would go some way towards making things easier on folks who have it hard already.
That wasn't supposed to be judgemental. The OP and others stated that they had incurred overdraft fees numerous times. I suggested using credit cards as it is impossible to overdraft a credit card. Then someone brought up spending over the limit. That's the background to my statement.
The nutkick language was a bit harsh, but seriously - if someone can't handle a debit card and can't handle a credit card, the only alternative left is cash. And since it sounded like most of the problems with the fees had to do with timing, which means it's a cashflow issue, then spending cash solves that.
4cylndrfury, TRoglodyte > Thanks for the warm welcome. I appreciate the kind words. 
HalfTrac, Lord of the FWD deathbox > It's funny you say that. Back in the day, my best friend and I tried to buy a Miata body kit and fit it to his '86 Fiero. The results were ... uh, less than spectacular.
Everyone > The best place to find out about OD fees and debits are at your your local branch. I'm not passing the buck, but I want you to get your answers quickly. And no tinfoil necessary.
Besides the branch, the other best places to get help with your Fifth Third account are in my 12/22 post:
-- Michael E. Rubin | Social Media Strategist, Fifth Third Bank
p.s. I'm not the Stig.
Thanks for your input Michael, but it sounds a little corporaterunaround-ish. Your post didnt really provide any info other than what I could get off your website. Im not asking you to describe MY institutions policies, just yours. Why does 5/3 pull the largest debits first on a day, and hit the customer with the most fees possible.
Example... available balance: $100, 4 transactions post today; for$3,$102, $4, $10, . Im not a 5/3 customer, but from what other 5/3 customers post (and similar to my institution), you would remove the amounts in descending order, removing $102, then $10, then $4, then $3. Hitting the customer with 4 OD fees on top of their already negative balance.
In my mind, if the bank had the customers best interest at heart, they would pay all transactions out of the available cash, then hit them for ONLY the largest of the transactions, only one if that were the policy in the scenario above. Less fees, to me, equals our-bank-wants-to-do-whats-best-for-our-customers. Or even just paying the transactions as they are presented...at least thats totally fair and non-biased toward either the customer of the bank. The current process seems to be whats best for the bank, screw the customer.
4cylndrfury > Corporaterunaround-ish? Huh? (is there an emoticon for "confused"?)
michaelat53 wrote: I'm not passing the buck, but I want you to get your answers quickly. And no tinfoil necessary.
I could have given you an answer full of cliche and poppycock, amigo, but I didn't. I told you where you could find the best answers quickly, and was up front in admitting that's not me. That's not trying to sound corporaterunaround-ish at all. That's just being honest.
-- Michael E. Rubin | Social Media Strategist, Fifth Third Bank
michaelat53,How should Rustspecs13 find out who is nutkicking him and get them to stop? His deposits aren't showing up when they are supposed to, is this the employers payroll dept. or his local bank? Some folks don't have the luxury of a phone or internet access where they work and time off work is out of the question. Somebody has to work the coal mine, know what I mean?
ok Im done with you in this capacity. Wanna talk engine swaps and suspension mods, Im game, we can have that conversation cordially all day long. But you couldve given me a concise, cliffs notes explanation of YOUR institutions standard operating procedure, free of cliche and poppycock. Instead you redirected me. Im not certain what a Social Media Strategist does, but youre not convincing me, via social media, that your establishment is interested in earning my business.
If someone says
hey 4CF, why should I give my business to the place you work at?
I would say:
Here is a short list of why my place is best.....
not
Please see my corporate website kthanksbai
guess thats why Im not a social strategist
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