I made a Banking Screwup.

[mountainsoft]

A few days ago I tried to transfer $7000 from our savings account to our brokerage account on Vanguard. I recorded everything that way on my end, but somehow I accidentally selected our checking account instead of savings. Of course, we don't have $7000 in checking, and I ended up overdrawing. It was my (costly) mistake, but I thought the difference in the way each end handled it was interesting.

My bank (US Bank) immediately charged me a $36 overdraft fee and rejected the transfer with Vanguard. They sent me an email (with no hint what this was about), telling me I had a letter online, which I had to log on, track down, and try to decipher. It wasn't clear whether they were waiting for me to deposit enough to cover the mistake or not. Poorly worded. I tried to contact customer service, but of course the link to their support email is inoperable.

Vanguard, on the other hand, sent me a polite email letting me know the transfer failed but they had already purchased trades for me. "No problem, you probably just selected the wrong account" (true). Transfer money in to cover the mistake and we're all good.

Considering I've never overdrawn a checking account in my life you would think the bank would contact me and say "did you mean to do this"? But no, they charged me another fee before I even knew I had messed up. They love their fees...

 

[aja8888]

Yes, banks love fees. And if you don't fix it quick, they will try to send the funds again, and again, and again......and charge a fee each time.

 

[N02L84ER]

Do try calling your bank again to try to get the overdraft reversed. Sometimes when you have been a long time customer and haven't made any mistakes like this in a couple of years, they will reverse the charges.

 

[bolt]

I'd suspect contacting said bank* via Phone contact citing a history of your circumstance would rescind any fees.
Patrons w/a CR800+ for 30yrs whip those w/a CR800+ for 2yrs in extranous considerations.
At least thats what I was told & how its worked for me.

If you do nothing they'll gladly keep the $36.

Good luck & Best wishes.....

 

[Dtail]

Being a preferred platinum customer at BOA, I have "persuaded" them to reverse a couple of fees over the years.
Sometimes it can come down to how hard one is willing to negotiate with them. Not all the time, but most of the time.

 

[jollystomper]

... I tried to contact customer service, but of course the link to their support email is inoperable...

Call them. Your best shot to get the charge rescinded is a direct conversation with a human. Do not depend on sending emails or filling out web forms unless there is no other option.

 

[mountainsoft]

Ironically we had overdraft protection for many years (and never used it) until we moved our savings account to an online bank.

Honestly, if I didn't need the safe deposit box and a checking account for my home based business, I would have left them years ago.

 

[rk911]

Do try calling your bank again to try to get the overdraft reversed. Sometimes when you have been a long time customer and haven't made any mistakes like this in a couple of years, they will reverse the charges.

+1

 

[SecondCor521]

Call them. Your best shot to get the charge rescinded is a direct conversation with a human. Do not depend on sending emails or filling out web forms unless there is no other option.

Correct. And in the case of US Bank in particular, calling ASAP (preferably the same day as the overdraft fee) and talking to the branch manager at the branch where you opened the account is the way to do it. That branch manager is the one who has the discretion to reverse the fee.

 

[LOL!]

Yes, banks love fees. And if you don't fix it quick, they will try to send the funds again, and again, and again......and charge a fee each time.

FWIW, my son overdrew on his checking account this week at one of those banks that people love to hate whose initials are WellsFargo. No overdraft fee at all.

 

[BADGERWIN]

It looks like you didn’t have overdraft protection. I’m not sure if there’s an expense to it or not for the future but it probably won’t be as much is the $36 charge. I would try to call the local bank where you do your business and talk to the manager there and ask if he or she can help you out because this is the first time anything like this is happened to you. I might also be prompted to find out if there are other banks in your area that function differently than the large US Bank. Show me the brokerage companies such as Schwab and TD Ameritrade have very fine functioning money accounts. You might want to look into those. Vanguard has that feature as well. If you were to elect to do that you might consider keeping the account only for cash and not carry a large brokerage account. Good luck in the future. Thank youFor sharing the topic.

 

[38Chevy454]

Agree with the rest of the comments, call and ask for a fee removal. If you never ask then you know what the answer is.

 

[racy]

Do try calling your bank again to try to get the overdraft reversed. Sometimes when you have been a long time customer and haven't made any mistakes like this in a couple of years, they will reverse the charges.

+1 We bank with USBank and we've had fees reversed for dumb stuff we did.

 

[Aerides]

I have an online bank for most of my stuff. But a B&M bank as well as a holdover for legacy auto-payments.

I did something similar a while back, and simply called the online bank (it was the same day as the OD but no fee charged yet). I only had the one account at the online bank, but they let me do a check deposit via my phone from my B&M to count as a same day deposit to cover the OD and no fees.

If your existing B&M bank holds tight, now is the time to move.

 

[Gumby]

Can't hurt to ask your bank. But if they say no, just consider it another tuition payment to the school of hard knocks. That's what I did the one and only time I paid interest on a credit card, well over 30 years ago. The monthly bill was something like $2023.71 When I wrote the check, I spaced out and wrote Two Thousand Twenty-Three and NO/100. Since I didn't pay the bill in full (being 71 cents short), I had to pay one month's interest on $2k. Back then, that was something like $20-25. The credit card company wouldn't budge. I learned to be more careful after that.

 

[Time2]

Can't hurt to ask your bank. But if they say no, just consider it another tuition payment to the school of hard knocks. That's what I did the one and only time I paid interest on a credit card, well over 30 years ago. The monthly bill was something like $2023.71 When I wrote the check, I spaced out and wrote Two Thousand Twenty-Three and NO/100. Since I didn't pay the bill in full (being 71 cents short), I had to pay one month's interest on $2k. Back then, that was something like $20-25. The credit card company wouldn't budge. I learned to be more careful after that.

That's when I would have stopped using that card. And I would have did a lot of free advertising for the company, all negative. It's ridiculous to charge you over $20 for a $.71 carry on their part.

My wife has got all our 'mistakes' reduced to no charge. (not that many, but over 37 years...)

 

[youbet]

That's when I would have stopped using that card. And I would have did a lot of free advertising for the company, all negative. It's ridiculous to charge you over $20 for a $.71 carry on their part.

My wife has got all our 'mistakes' reduced to no charge. (not that many, but over 37 years...)

Soooooo, what amount would you pick?

 

[rothlev]

A few days ago I tried to transfer $7000 from our savings account to our brokerage account on Vanguard. I recorded everything that way on my end, but somehow I accidentally selected our checking account instead of savings. Of course, we don't have $7000 in checking, and I ended up overdrawing. It was my (costly) mistake, but I thought the difference in the way each end handled it was interesting.

My bank (US Bank) immediately charged me a $36 overdraft fee and rejected the transfer with Vanguard. They sent me an email (with no hint what this was about), telling me I had a letter online, which I had to log on, track down, and try to decipher. It wasn't clear whether they were waiting for me to deposit enough to cover the mistake or not. Poorly worded. I tried to contact customer service, but of course the link to their support email is inoperable.

Vanguard, on the other hand, sent me a polite email letting me know the transfer failed but they had already purchased trades for me. "No problem, you probably just selected the wrong account" (true). Transfer money in to cover the mistake and we're all good.

Considering I've never overdrawn a checking account in my life you would think the bank would contact me and say "did you mean to do this"? But no, they charged me another fee before I even knew I had messed up. They love their fees...

I

I would be reaching out to the bank to complain and get the fee waived. This is not acceptable customer service and I would not let it go.

 

[MichaelB]

Can't hurt to ask your bank. But if they say no, just consider it another tuition payment to the school of hard knocks.

And not such a hard knock, all things considered. It could have been worse.

We all want fee free banking services, and the banks will compensate by charging heavy fees elsewhere.

 

[youbet]

And not such a hard knock, all things considered. It could have been worse.

We all want fee free banking services, and the banks will compensate by charging heavy fees elsewhere.

+1

While members of this forum, of course, are totally responsible and generally mistake-free, banks and similar have to deal with a bunch of consistent airheads and misguided folks that really need a poke in order to get the message that they need to "go along with the program." Some folks just have trouble understanding that your checking account should have adequate funds to cover the check you're writing, etc. Really, it's true.

You really can't expect some automated institution trying to run at low cost to have a human personally dig into each situation such as OP's and fix it on an "up close and personal" level. They issue the penalty to everyone who does the crime and let those off the hook who appeal and deserve to be an exception.

It's silly to think that, for example, your long relationship with Megabank X without making a booboo vs the rules will get you special attention without asking. They have to treat all the same up front and make any exceptions quietly behind the scenes.

Don't take these things so personally. It's the world today.

 

[mountainsoft]

It looks like you didn’t have overdraft protection.

We had overdraft protection for years (and never used it), but I moved our savings accounts to online banks a couple years ago, so we don't have another account to set up overdraft with them.

I would try to call the local bank where you do your business and talk to the manager there and ask if he or she can help you out because this is the first time anything like this is happened to you.

I already contacted the bank online and am waiting to hear back (weekend so probably won't hear back till next week).

Our local branch is closed during COVID, but I will call the national number next week if I don't hear back from my online request. With my wife working from home and using the phone all day, making calls is kind of awkward right now.

It would obviously be nice to have the fee removed, but I did overdraw the account. It's not huge expense, I'll consider it a learning lesson to pay more attention next time.

 

[Gumby]

That's when I would have stopped using that card. And I would have did a lot of free advertising for the company, all negative. It's ridiculous to charge you over $20 for a $.71 carry on their part.

It would have been nice for them to accommodate me, but I couldn't really hold it against them. It was in the contract that if I didn't pay in full before the end of the grace period, I agreed to pay the interest on the full amount. And it was my mistake, not theirs.

 

[mountainsoft]

I finally got through to the bank today and explained my screw up. She said "these things happen" and immediately refunded the $36 overdraft fee. I felt really stupid for making the mistake in the first place and it was embarrassing to have to call and ask forgiveness, but the lady I spoke with was very nice and understanding. Ironically, she was calling from Idaho, but said her son lives in the same town I live in here in Washington. Small world.

Anyway, my screw up has been remedied on both ends. I will certainly be paying more attention the next time I need to transfer money between accounts.

 

[BADGERWIN]

Glad you got back to zero.

 

[Time2]

Soooooo, what amount would you pick?

We generally have a pretty high balance in our accounts, so I don't have to pick, I sick my wife on them and get the fees waved. ;-)
They should charge all those other people that don't follow the rules as much as they can get! /s/