ManWithANewPlan Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 Last year I made some charges via Paypal knowing that they would roll over to backup funding and, after having checked Paypal online for the total balance, deposited funds in my bank account to cover the charges. Paypal, however, was not showing all the charges on the first page of the account and as a result I deposited too little. Naturally, that resulted in in an NSF charge. To add insult to injury, however, Paypal charged a $0.30 fee for each transaction (6 in total). Because of how banks order the drafts to maximize their fees, that meant I was hit with an NSF fee of $35 for each $0.30 transaction, or a total of $210 in fees for $1.80.After some research, it appears to me that the maximum NSF fee allowable in the state of Tennessee is $30 (Tenn. Code Ann. 47-29-102). Specifically, When any check, draft, or order is not paid by the drawee because the maker or drawer did not have an account with or sufficient funds on deposit with the financial institution, or the draft, check, or order has an incorrect or insufficient signature thereon, the payee of such check, draft, or order is authorized to assess a handling charge against such maker or drawer in an amount not to exceed thirty dollars ($30.00).My questions are these: first, is my understanding correct that the $35.00 fees I was charged are illegal in the state of Tennessee based on the quoted statute, and second, what recourse do I have with the bank if it is true? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadynRed Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Have you asked the bank ??? I'd also be willing to bet that the $30 fee is PER TRANSACTION. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManWithANewPlan Posted January 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 I sent a letter to the bank about it; I'm awaiting the response. I agree, I think the $30 limit is per transaction, which they exceeded by charging $35. I've also contacted the TN Department of Financial Institutions, but no response yet there either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwoodystyl Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 ...payee of such check, draft, or order is authorized to assess a handling charge against such maker... The payee [PayPal] cannot charge more than $30 against the maker [you]. The bank can charge whatever is in the agreement. And, your use of the account constitutes the acceptance of the agreement. So does your depository signature card for that matter. If you weren't OK with these fees, you should have reviewed the pricing schedule and declined opening the account. Somewhere along the way, personal accountability has to set in, or you'll never get out of the corner. (What you should be thinking right now is thank goodness Paypal only charged $0.30 and not $30.00!! )I'm sorry Manwithanewplan, I doubt a letter quoting a misapplied statue is going to gir 'r done... I don't know anything about Tennessee, but there are generally different laws for paper checks [drafts, orders, etc.] than there are for electronic items. Not only are you reading the statute incorrectly, you're probably also applying it in a situation where it makes no sense even had you read it correctly...Being that is is electronic and more than 90 days old, all of your Federal Bank Regulation E dispute rights have long since expired. I'm not a legal expert, but I think you're better off paying $200 and moving on, than you are in fighting this battle with a bank. If it's a CA, you can probably get the bank to recall the collection if you're willing to pay. First, you need to know if your primary goal is to recover a favorable credit rating by living up to your obligation, or if you are looking to eliminate the debt by settling for less (I doubt both are possible). It sounds like your goal is neither, though, and that you're looking to get something for nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManWithANewPlan Posted January 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 No, that explanation makes sense. I've paid the fees, that's a done deal. I am still irritated about the amount of fees compared to the amount of the transactions (the .30 is not an insufficient funds fee charged by Paypal, it is a processing fee they charged). If, for example, Paypal had simply added their processing fee to the amount of the original transaction instead of processing it separately, I would have only had one insufficient funds fee applied. Or if my bank had processed in a different order instead of one designed to maximize their fees it would have been one insufficient funds fee rather than seven.Either way I've already taken it as a lesson learned and switched banks. Thank you for pointing out the language regarding drawee/payee; I'd missed that entirely, as you surmised. I'd stumbled across something recently that stated the maximum fee allowable was $30 and went looking for the source in Tennessee's code. I'm afraid I'm not very experienced in reading the law and have trouble knowing where to look and parsing through the legalese. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwoodystyl Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 I've paid the fees, that's a done deal. I've already taken it as a lesson learned and switched banks.You're halfway there. The next step is not to blame the bank, but to blame yourself. The mere fact that you were in a situation where your account was low enough that this could have happened is reason enough for concern. Cascading overdraft fees is the sign of impending financial ruin and/or financial illiteracy. not very experienced in reading the law and have trouble knowing where to look and parsing through the legalese. I think most have this difficulty. Legalese is written in an obfuscating way by convention, and further it's that way by design. Those who write it have a vested interest in being in the minority who can easily understand it.FWIW, I'm not picking on you. I'm just trying to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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