Ok, I am so ticked off at my credit union! I found out the hard way this morning that my credit union, the one I thought was avoiding the "corporate America" way of dealing with customers, is worse than the "corporate America" banks. Now, perhaps I'm the dumby who doesnt' know if ALL banks pull this nasty little trick, but it's the first time I've had to deal with the fallout! Here's what happened...
I lost my debit card for our joint account over at "corporate America". I had to cancel both mine and Isaac's, since they have the exact same number. So, I deposited money into my credit union account, since I have a debit card for that, just until our new cards come in the mail in 7-10 days. Seems reasonable, right? One would think so. So, as of the 21st, (yes, two days ago) I had $73 in my account. Watching to be sure I know how much is left in there (as the rest of our money is in the "corporate America" account), I get gas. Only $10.05. Okay, so I do some other little things, $11.95, $7.56, $2.00 and then $9.05 in gas again. So I should have roughly $32 in there, right? Yeah, I thought so. This morning I wake up at about 5:45 thinking I should go check my account. Just a feeling. I go online and find that I am in the negative $107.56!! WHAT???? I must've forgotten to put something into Quicken, I think to myself. Oh no, no, it wasn't my mistake, it was "corporate America" at work in my credit union. Long story short, I double check everything and discover what must surely be an error. When I got $10 in gas with the $73 balance, somehow I got a $28.00 overdraft fee. Huh? For $10? Then, another one after the next $2.00 thing. How is that possible when right there in black and white my balance is $43.05 at this point?? Needless to say, all the little things also got fees. Yeah, so I should have a positive balance in my account, but instead I have 5 overdraft fees of $28 each, and a negative balance of $107. So I call. I talk to the first "customer care" lady, she explains to me that the gas station pre-authorized my card for $100.00. Okay, fine, but only $10.05 came through. "Oh, but that doesn't matter, the pre-authorization put you over your available balance". Huh, again?? I say, "So even though you see that it was only $10 I spent, you are going to overdraft me for a pre-auth amount"? We go round and round. I go round and round with 4 people total. All of them tell me it's all done automatically by computer, and no they cannot reverse the charges because it's been their policy since January to overdraft customers if the pre-auth is over the amount available. NICE!! Does this make any sense to anyone?? I just don't get it! The one guy told me I need to have a buffer of at least $100.00 at all times in case I get a pre-auth! Okay, I don't even mind the pre-auth...it doesn't effect my balance. The credit union kept saying "it's the gas stations that are pre-authorizing such high amounts". I said, "Yeah, but it's you guys who are charging me for something I did not use". Anyway, I kept telling them that clearly I was not trying to use money I did not have...it was $10.00. After I called higher and higher up the authority chain, the 5th person I spoke with reversed my charges, but DEFENDED THE POLICY to the death!
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