Bank Overdrafting?

Question

Hey,

I have an account with Washington Mutual, and recently, I have overdrafted, but cause of my carelessness, but because when I logged in, it showed I had certain amount of funds, and later, onceI had spent what I thought it had, they tell me I didn't have that money after all. I'm pretty tired of that (Second time they do it) and I'm just going to open another account somewhere else, I'll have to pay them, but I can't lose my upcoming check. What are some things I can do to get out of this problem without it affecting my credit?

Many thanks!

Answer 1

Well one thing to remember is online banking is a tool and it is not meant to replace you keeping a register.

Now the reason I say that is: there may be some items still out standing that hasnt reflected in your balance yet. Such as checks, or gas station purchases.

The bank has no control over when a merchant requests payment for your purchase or when a check is cashed.

With a debit card purchase even if the money is on hold or "pending" it has not been paid and will not actually leave your account or "post" till the merchant request it. In the mean time if something comes in ready for payment that item will post using the money that is actually in your acct.

So for example if you are showing 50.00 and you have 45.00 on hold leaving you with anavailable balance of 5.00, and a check for 50.00 comes in and is ready to be paid today were the debit card purchase isnt , well the check will post tonight leaving your balance at 0.00 and tomorrow night if the debit card purchase request payment you will be over drawn by 45.00.

Remember when you swipe your debit card, the bank is approving that transaction based upon what it show at the very sec, so if there is an outstanding check that hasnt come in the bank doesnt know it is a factor to your balance at this point so they dont know to say no to the debit card purchase.

This is why we need to take ownership of our accounts and how we spend our money.

Only we know what we spending our money on as we do it, the banks only know as the items come in, so if a compnay is slow to collect the bank is not at fault for allow other things in or approving them.

Banking really isnt a hard concept to grasp. If you only have 50.00 you can not spend 51.00 or 75.00 you can only spend 50.00 and if you spend more you will have a fee.

So if you dont want to pay fees dont spend more than you have. And how do you ensure you dont go over?

Well keep a register or ledger with you, and every debit card purchase, atm with draw, automatic payment,check you write or deposit you make write it down as you do it and either add it or subtract it from the previous balance, and before you do the next check the register to see if you have enough, if not then dont do it.

Please see I am not trying to mean but trying to provide you with the knowledge I have learned by work at 2 large banks over the last 10 yrs.

In regards to not loosing your up and coming check well if its direct deposited, contact your payroll department to see if they cancel the direct deposit and mail you a check or have it switched to your new account.

However if you dont pay the outstanding balnce owed to WM it will get reported as bad debt and it will effect your credit rating and be reported on your credit report as well as chex systems (which other banks use to see your history with other banks)

If payroll department cant stop the direct deposit then unfortunetly you will be out the amount you owe the bank when it hits your account. Because it will automaticly satisfy the outstanding balance.

Sorry to hear you are going thru this. It is always hard enought to have to overdraw your account, and yes the fees add to it and make it worse.

Just in the future remember the info I prodived to you above and you should be able to avoid overdraft fee.

GOOD LUCK

Answer 2

You should probably stay where you are and address the problem that caused this problem....you!

Just because a check has been deposited into your account does NOT mean the check has cleared and the funds are available! You seem upset the bank show you all deposited funds when you look at your balance, but I'm sure you'd be even madder if the balances did not show up until they had cleared!

You need to work on your budgeting so that your checking account has a "cushion" in it larger than your largest monthly bill, that way you can keep paying as little attention to your "real" balance and still avoid overdrafts.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

you need to be responsible with the money that you do have. do you have a log at home where you write all of your receipts and deposits in? if not, it sounds to me like you need to start. it is the only real way to keep track of your funds; by writing everything in. banks do not automatically credit to your account. sometimes they wait a few days or more before actually posting it. you can't rely on what the bank says. trust me on this one. i know from experience.
do they send you a monthly statement? most banks do. these are so you can reconcile your book in comparison to what they are saying and you will notice on a page that they have a spot where you write in receipts that they have not credited to your account. that is how you balance your account and you must do this every month to keep up. you can also look for fraudulance.

i have suffered like you with many overdrafts. i have lost a lot of money and it was due to irresponsibility on my part. i did not pay attention to my own account activity. they only way you can get out of this problem is to start proving you're responsible enough to manage your own money. switching to another bank will not solve it for you

Answer 4

It sometimes takes a day or two for electronic transactions to show up on your account so the on-line balance will usually not be the true amount you have after all transactions are processed. No matter which bank you use, this will not change.

Keep a written ledger to track your account transactions so that you will know the actual balance. Every time you make a deposit, withdrawal, check, e-check, or debit, write it down and update the balance.

Answer 5

You could learn to balance your account and keep track of what you spend instead of relying on the web site to tell you. The web site only updates at midnight each day, and some transactions can take 2 to 5 days to show up. So keeping track on your own is better. A new bank will give you the same problem as most banks update their web accounts that way.

Answer 6

It would not affect your credit if it happen only once.

Now to prevent this from happening .... "if you do not keep good records of your account" open a second account lets called "B" and link the two account together, first account "A"

Keep the second account with funds always!!! FORGET ABOUT THE SECOND ACCOUNT "B", make believe that this account does not exist. is like is not there.

This second account "B" is your life-saver, for situations like this one, when you run short on your primary account is short of funds "automatically" it will transfers funds to your first account via the "link" that you created A & B.

Remember the second account B you never touch, once you transfer funds for these emergency situations you HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU PUT IT BACK AGAIN "B".

It always have to have IT MUST be keep "sacred, not to be touche "B"" just for emergencies in between these two accounts A & B.

You will never EVER will have this situation again. This is like having your "own" overdraft protection.

Good luck.

:-)

Answer 7

if you don't pay it it will end up on your credit down the road as an unpaid collection item.
pay it..
next get yourself a check book register because obviously your brain doesn't work well.
3rd get yourself an overdraft protection line of credit... instead of having to pay a ridiculouos amount of fees it is like a mini loan that is only used when you need to or accidentally overdraft your account. you just pay an interest rate, like a credit card and you can pay it back over time.
4th find a bank you like. if you don't like WAMU for WaMu then leave, if you don't like WaMu because you can't keep track of your account then that's just stupid....
do what I said above and you will be fine..

if this won't work, find a credit union... there fees are lower and they can get you a overdraft protection

Answer 8

Your best bet is to apply for a line of credit. A line of credit is basically a loan that is linked to your checking account and what happens is that when you use up all the money in your checking account it takes from the line of credit. Therefore your always covered in case of an emergency.

I also agree with the other posters, it is not the banks fault. When you use your card as credit it usually takes about 3-5 business days to appear on your account (that means when you slide your card and not put your pin in). When you use your card as debit it is automatically taken out of your account (when you put your pin in).

Answer 9

The best thing to do is to go to your branch and talk to one of those people who sit at the desks. (I don't know what you call them) Tell them your situation, most likely since you are going to be mentioning that you are going to leave their bank, they should reverse your overdraft fees to keep you as a customer. But it is YOUR responsibility to keep track of YOUR money. Other than trying to talk them out of your overdraft fee, you might want to see if you can open a line of credit with the bank and that will act as an overdraft protection.

Answer 10

First thing is to remember it is not up to the bank or the banks website to keep track of your balance. It is your responsibility.

You could try to open another account before WM sends this account to cheksystems that would prevent you from opening another account, but the new bank may check cheksystems a month after you open it.

As far as it not going on your credit, no need to worry, it has nothing to do with credit.