Limits on NSF Fees?

[VeVe]

I had a BOA checking account that is now closed and apparently in collections.

I NEVER wrote checks on it, only used the debit card, and somehow BOA would always allow purchases to go over the available balance, and I never figured out how.

There was a point where I was getting five NSF fees (their daily max) of $35/each per day. The account was often negative by $500, all in fees. In one year, I probably incurred over $3,000 in fees on this account.

At the time I was full time at Penn State and working full time, so didn't really think much of it at the time, but when I had time to clear things up I switched banks and haven't experienced anything similar since.

Anyway, I received a collection letter for the negative balance yesterday. It's $600 - all fees.

Are there any type of limitations on something like this? They could never explain how debit card purchases could be authorized when there weren't even funds to cover the transaction.

[willingtocope]

No laws I'm aware of. There may be something specifc to your state...WI, for example has some interesting consumer protection laws.

(Actually, this is all covered in the fine print they gave you when you opened the account. As a "service" to you, they will allow ou yto write bad checks and /or charge more on your debit card than the balance in your checking account. In return, they'll charge you $35 per day. Most will not, however, allow you to over charge more than once in a given period...but...they will continue to assess fees each day. Can you say "usuary"?)

[VaSwtness]

Could you only do a debit transaction? Most bank cards are debit/credit. So, a retailer may do a credit transaction on your card which doesn't come out of the balance right away. Then you run to an ATM machine and pull cash. Credit transaction bounces. While the charges are paid you still are nailed with the overdraft fees.

Yes, I've played that deadly game before!

[ribbit1072]

and some places will do a "pre-authorization" where they just run 1.00 through right then and it's approved and then the full amount is taken out later. A LOT of gas stations do it this way.

[bigjohnstud4200]

and some places will do a "pre-authorization" where they just run 1.00 through right then and it's approved and then the full amount is taken out later. A LOT of gas stations do it this way.

this is right, if you use "credit" at most all gas stations, they will pull $1.00 then in a few days the full amount. I usually use "debt" to avoid this. At one time, I overdrew my account by hundreds also.