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Where can you get a 'second chance' bank account?

Would an I have a good case against a bank for over-drafting my account without telling me?

  • I have an account at a bank in CA. The account I had I owed some money on. For over a year I hadn't paid it off because I didn't have any money to pay it off. I had just recently got my tax return which was deposited into another account that I have with the bank. I didn't pay off the first account with the money because unfortunately I have to use the money for other more important things right now. I was down to my last couple hundred dollars when I looked at my statement. I was surprised to find that I have 400 dollars taken out of and the statement didn't say where the money went. When they took the money, any purchases I made BEFORE they took my money now was now taken from my account after they took my money, so now my purchases come with overdraft fees. These are over 30 dollars a piece!. Why would they wait till now to take my money? How can they just take without giving you fair warning? what can I do to reverse the situation. I feel I don't need to pay the overdraft fees because I didn't over draft. If I was to get a lawyer, would I have a good chance of either getting my money back or taking off the fees?

  • Answer:

    Unfortunately there is nothing you can do. You agreed to these terms when you opened the checking/savings accounts - it is covered in the fine print. If you owe money on an account, the longer it sits unpaid, the more interest accrued, thus the higher balance you owe, most likely with penalties added on top. You made it even easier for them to collect the unpaid amount by using a checking/savings account with that same banking institution - it alerted them when you deposited money. They have the right to do this even without a judgment being entered. The longer you allow these newly received penalties (the $30 over draft charges), the more interest and penalties you will accrue as well. You cannot close an account until the balance reaches zero or greater. Your best bet will be to go into the branch, sit down with an advisor and provide your pay check statements (you must be receiving some income if you received a tax return) along with rent statements, utility statements and any other living expense bills (cell phones, cable and internet do not count as living expenses). From there, the banker should be able to work out a reasonable payment plan with you and try to hold off on extra penalities as long as you make your monthly payment as agreed. Good luck.

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sorry, you probably don't have a case these fees were most likely mentioned in your account fee agreement that you signed when you opened the account. Most banks do this..it is their evil way of making money. I suggest that you clear up your account at the bank and open an account at a credit union as they tend to have credit lines that will cover any accidental over drafts. The fees that you accrued over the past year were probably 5 dollar per day overdraft charges.

They waited until now, because you didn't have any money that was worth taking from that account..or, could be they, sued you and have a lien against your bank accounts or tax return money. You will lose if you try to sue them. You owed the money and they want to be paid. But, go ahead, get a lawyer to just reiterate what I told you.

Nothing can be done. If you have an account with them, and money gets put into that account, and you owe them for another account, the have first right to the money. Never bank with a bank you owe money too. They have the 'right of writ' which basically means they can get what is owed to them from you. They enact this right by taking your money from your bank account with them to pay off the other account. Believe it or not, it is with your consent, you continued to bank with them, you gave them consent.

read your contract. Most have a clause allowing them to use a cross collateral method. If you have an another account with them directly or a bank they own then they can use the funds from one to pay a delinquency on the other. You may be able to convince them to reverse some of the overdraft fees if you walk in and ask politely. It will be up to them though. As far as a legal case, you have no leg to stand on. In fact it may push them to go ahead and file suit against you for the outstanding balances on the accounts.

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