Limit on the NUMBER of Debit Card transactions per day?

• The cash is in the account. (Free and clear, not waiting on holds to drop or checks to clear.)The Debit MasterCard is declined.I call Customer Service.The rep tells me that the account has exceeded the daily transaction limit.It’s 4pm on Monday.Special Snowflake details inside.The cash is in the account.The Debit MasterCard is declined. LOCATION: Northeast Ohio, USA My wife was picking up food at our local http://www.aldi.us/index_ENU_HTML.htm. This is a grocery store that does not take credit cards at all, but will accepthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debit_card cards. She called me before going to make sure there is enough in this checking account, so she is not burned at the register. I had checked earlier, but I double checked. I let her know that unless she is buying enough groceries to feed a horde of hungry Mongols, she should be fine. She called about 30 minutes later. The card was declined. I log in to our account, and there is plenty of money to cover her purchase. (The money is in the account free and clear – we are not waiting for any deposits to clear, nor are we waiting on a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedited_Funds_Availability_Act. ) I call the bank to find out what’s going on. They explain to me that we have exceeded the NUMBER of debit card transactions allowed on our checking account. I ask the rep to tell me what the ALLOWED number is. She puts me on hold for a long time. She comes back and tells me that we are allowed 25 transactions per day. I quickly count the number of transactions on line. There are 8. One is from buying coffee this morning, and the rest are transactions from the weekend that have cleared. I ask how she got to twenty-five transactions. She explains that the transaction limits are per BUSINESS day. Monday is the end of a single, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118615/, http://www.bankersonline.com/compliance/guru2009/gurus_comp071309d.html. It started at 3:45 AM on Friday and will end at 3:45 am on Tuesday. Sure enough, we are at 25 transactions if we use that method to count. I ask the rep if she is able to adjust the transaction number for us. It’s been fine for regular daily use, but we use that account for EVERYTHING – I’d hate to be stranded somewhere if I was counting on being able to use the card. I am put on hold a long time, and she comes back. No. There is no way to raise, or adjust the daily transaction limit. I ask to speak to a supervisor. Extended hold times ensue. A supervisor comes on. http://www.trabaris.com/info/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/not-my-job.jpg. She explained that this is a Mastercard rule, and that BANK can not adjust or change it. I ask if this daily transaction limit was disclosed in the account agreement, and if so, can she please tell me where. On hold for a long time, and then she came back to tell me that “it is in one of our disclosures, but we can’t find it right now.” She assures me that she will find it and send me a copy in the mail. 20 minutes of googling later – I found the disclosure. (I’d normally link directly to it, but I have no idea what the rules on that sort of thing are. I scanned it, whited out the bank name, and reposted it to Scribd. You can see it here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/163309053/Disclosure-EFTS-from-BANK ) The relevant bits seem to be these, under the heading “Types of Available Transfers and Limits on Those Transfers” >There are limits on the frequency and dollar amounts of transfers within any period using your card, as follows: >(c) There may be limits on the number of POS (point-of-sale) transactions you can have each day. >(d) For security reasons, there may be other limits on the transfers you can make using our terminals or POS terminals. I found similar limits at other institutions: https://www.peoplefirstcu.org/Faq_ATMDebit.shtml “The aggregate daily limit for the number of transactions permitted with a Visa® Debit Card is 20 and 10 for the Standard ATM card.”. The things that make me angry are: 1.) No where on their material does my bank disclose the actual daily transaction limit. Am I supposed to guess? 2.) Other banks DO disclose the limit. Even if it is in the fine print, they GIVE A NUMBER. 3.) My bank seems to be playing a little loose with the definition of a “business day” This link:http://www.bankersonline.com/compliance/guru2009/gurus_comp071309d.html seems to show that while the weekend should count for Monday, that Friday’s business show be a separate day. Am I reading that right? I am closing out this account as soon as I am able. Do any Me-Fiers know of a bank in Northeast Ohio that: 1.) Offers online banking with free billpay 2.) Free checking, or easy ways to have the fee waived (direct deposit, debit card usage, etc.) 3.) Has 24 customer service by phone (This bank has VERY limited phone hours). 4.) NO STUPID DAILY LIMITS ON DEBIT CARD USE? Thanks in advance.

• Answer:

  I use USAA checking. 1) Free online banking (it's 100% online, in fact) with free billpay. 2) Free checking. 3) Insanely great 24-hour customer service. When I say "Insanely great," I mean this: I have never before had bank employees eagerly and unprompted offer to waive 4) I don't know if there are daily limits on number-of-times for credit card use; you could call and ask. There's a $3000/day limit for debit/credit transactions and a $600 ATM withdrawl fee - but, see #3. If you need to raise a limit, or make a larger purchase, just call up and talk to 'em and the friendly folks on the other side will make it happen. (And before you ask, with 100% online banking, where are their ATMs? The answer is they have no ATMs, but you get the first $15 of ATM fees refunded. I use any random ATM I see sitting around to do my withdrawals, whether at a bank or a bar, and the $2.50 fee or whatever it is gets refunded at the end of the month.) I'm a huge fan and a very happy customer.