BB&T Complaint - BB&T is RIDICULOUS with overdraft FEES!! - Charging You To Use Your Money!

Posted by Prince-Caesar on 2011-02-15:

Did you opt out of overdraft protection some time last year? You should have recieved a paper stating if you want to OPT IN or OPT OUT of OD protection. Them majority of people opted out because these services offer nothing but headaches to customers. Do yourself a favor, go to your branch and tell them you want to opt out of it.

Posted by azRider on 2011-02-15:

here is a novel idea. don't spend any money with your debt card until you have posted funds in your account. why try to spend it like its a race? deposit the money, wait till it posts, then spend it. simple. if this is to hard to do, then take the cash out when you deposit it, pay for things in cash. I am sure any place you use a debit card will take cash, trust me.

Posted by trmn8r on 2011-02-15:

Most all bank overdraft fees are absurd. What you need to do is figure out what YOU need to change to avoid them. I have been whacked only few times, and it stung badly. I now keep a "cushion" of $200 in my checking account, to accommodate items I forgot about and times when I need to write a check but can't get a deposit in a couple of days ahead of time. Many people will need a larger cushion. For the foreseeable future, you aren't losing much interest by doing this. $500 for a year at 1% is a whopping $5 - great insurance.

Thing is, you'll probably have trouble at your new bank if you have an account with overdraft fees. It would be great to lower the fees that banks charge, but you can save yourself money in the interim by altering your own behavior.

Posted by PepperElf on 2011-02-15:

if you don't like them charging fees to use "your money" then don't give any bank your money.

use cash and money orders only.

granted you'll have to keep track of what you spend since, once you're out you can't overdraft but...

it'll solve the issues, no?

Posted by Lord Rothschild on 2011-02-15:

Or a much better solultion PepperElf is not to do business with these national banks.

I use a community bank. On any given posting day my deposits always post first before anything else.

That would sovle the OP's issues, no?

Posted by madconsumer on 2011-02-15:

i have been with bank of america since 1986. i do not pay any fees, nor do i pay overdraft fees. it is not the banks fault.

Posted by throwback on 2011-02-15:

Keep a check register. Don't use more money than you have in your account. Problem solved.

When you try to beat the bank you will lose. Don't even try.

Posted by justcuz on 2011-02-15:

There are a lot of banks out there that have some very shady practices, like reordering transactions to maximize on fees....but if you have pending transactions that are going to cause you to overdraft, putting in a deposit is not going to fix that problem. You already spent the money, hence the term pending...so putting money in to cover it after the fact, doesn't make it go away. As you have found out.