Issues with my bank . . has anyone else had this experience?

vikesfanmb · February 2012

So my daughter and I traveled over Christmas to see family out of town. We stayed in several hotels all over the state of MN and ND during the course of our journey. I don't have a major credit card, so I used my debit card and I made sure I had plenty of $$ in there to back us up in case of any emergencies. We used the card everywhere we went, for hotels, eating out, etc.

I keep track of my bank accounts/balance online . . I no longer keep a paper register and I used to do Quicken but I found an online tool at the bank that basically allowed me to keep "track" of my deposits and wthdrawals. All good, right? WRONG

Let me just say, I am in the process of closing this checking account because I am unhappy with the customer service and inconvenient hours at this small bank where I've been doing business for several years. I have NEVER had an overdraft nor have I had (really) any troubles on this account.

So since I was closing the account (I was going to today actually!) I had whittled it down to about $5 and change. And lo and behold, a charge came thru from one of the hotels where we stayed, JUST NOW after almost 7 weeks or so. Of course, it has now caused the account to overdraw and fees are going to be leveled by my bank. Yes - this is partially my fault and I admit it because I didn't notice that the charges never came thru from this hotel back in December. However, what business waits until February to collect $$ on a stay in December?? I have talked to the hotel and they blame it on their "slow" credit card processor and they did actually apologize . . but it's just really problematic because I do not have the money in there now and no way to deposit anything until I get paid next week. UGH My bank is unwilling to work with me even though I have been a good customer all these years.

Anyways, long story short . . has anyone else had this happen? I checked with a couple friends of mine and they said they'd never heard of a business waiting 7 weeks (or even a couple weeks!) to charge someone's card, debit or otherwise. And I've personally never had this happen, but it really SUCKS since now my bank is charging me thru the nose for all these fees!!!!!
(And I have talked to a supervisor at the bank too.) UGH

n003k · February 2012

One important thing to remember about online banking is that it ONLY shows what the bank knows about...I haven't had any issues personally, however it isn't unusual to see things take a week or more to process. My first weeks gym dues took 2 weeks extra to process, and my car insurance just took 3 extra days to show up as having been taken out.

You should NEVER, EVER, EVER rely on the online banking honestly. I suggest a simple Microsoft Excel or equivalent spreadsheet. I personally do a date range from payday-day before payday (Example you get paid on monday? Do 2/6-2/12, 2/13-2/19) A brief description of the charge you know is going to go through (Hotel for example) The amount of the charge, and then the 4th column is a formula that looks like this: =D2+C3 What that does is if C3 is the hotel charge (Say -100) and the previous balance was $500 (Which should be in D2 Cell) it will automatically calculate that D3 is 400.

All that said, the reason the bank probably isn't working with you is because they probably can tell you're switching banks. They already lost you as a customer, they probably don't feel a need to give you any more leeway than they're required.

bethdris · February 2012

I used to work in a bank...Sorry to say,but the bank isn't in the wrong. If you saw the charge not come through for a few weeks, I would have called the hotel and asked why. If you had the funds to cover everything, the money should have stil been in there when it did finally come through. Yes, banks charge a lot for OD fees! They all do,

mamashatzie · February 2012

I do credit card processing at my work. We have a slow processor--and it takes 2-3 days for charges to go through. 7 weeks? No. What happened is, the hotel for whatever reason neglected to run your card. Now, after their end-of-year audit, they probably found that they didn't charge your card, and sent it on through.

If I were you, I would call the hotel and take it up with them.

The bank? All banks treat their customers like s**t when something bad happens, in my experience. Try a local credit union instead--they are far more flexible, friendly, and helpful.

Mustangsally1000 · February 2012

Really not wanting to get yelled at here..as I work at a bank. Can say that if the error is not the fault of the bank, the likelyhood
of getting a refund is slim to none. It just isn't done anymore. I've been with the bank for a very long time and I can tell you
that banking today is very very different from what it was just 10 years ago. It is now a sales atmosphere and fee income is
just a huge thing with them.

Personally, I would be going after the hotel to reimburse you for the overdrafts. Still..it isn't their fault either. Monies spent need to be deducted from your balance at the time they are spent...so you aren't surprised 7 weeks later when they finally post. So sorry this happend to you~

RAFValentina · February 2012

Simpler than a computer spread sheet, make a table on a piece of paper. 3 columns. Item description, OUT and IN as the titles.
List every transaction both in and out and write the appropriate amount in the IN or OUT column.

I do this ahead of the month and tick off each thing as it comes out and double check my account to see what has ACTUALLY come out and base my finances on a worst case scenario as some authorisations take a while to clear. Sometimes up to a week. When I've been abroad, even later than that. Anyway, since I've started doing this, I've always been able to know how much I have in my account / accounts at any one time and even if I have no money left for spending, I've covered for all my bills etc with a small amount of contingency funds. Often its not the banks fault. Hotels do weird authorisations of payments so they can add on any extra charges after you leave for example, for the mini bar... and so these transactions go through properly later.

inetgirl · February 2012

I've had that happen when my hubby and I traveled to New Orleans the week of Mardi Gras. It took about 2 months for the hotel charges to hit our account and also some of the restaurants we ate at.

vikesfanmb · February 2012

Thanks, everyone. Like I say, I fully admit to being at fault. I think the fact that we stayed in several different hotels along our trip and used the card multiple times a day for 5 days or so to eat out, shop, purchase gas, etc. I think I just lost track - which is not a good thing and not consistent with my normal practices. But I was on vacation, celebrating with my family and so forth . . the whole thing just got away from me. Unfortunately. : (

vikesfanmb · February 2012

Really not wanting to get yelled at here..as I work at a bank. Can say that if the error is not the fault of the bank, the likelyhood
of getting a refund is slim to none. It just isn't done anymore. I've been with the bank for a very long time and I can tell you
that banking today is very very different from what it was just 10 years ago. It is now a sales atmosphere and fee income is
just a huge thing with them.

Personally, I would be going after the hotel to reimburse you for the overdrafts. Still..it isn't their fault either. Monies spent need to be deducted from your balance at the time they are spent...so you aren't surprised 7 weeks later when they finally post. So sorry this happend to you~

Thanks for the post. Believe it or not, I used to work for a bank (and a large one at that) about 15 years ago. I was a rep at a branch location and if someone came in who had never overdrawn or didn't make a habit of overdrawing their account, it was at our discretion to refund any/all fees. How times have changed, huh?! Oh, well . . I am sucking it up and moving on.

Issues with my bank . . has anyone else had this experience?

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