Yesterday was a really bad day. We had Gavin to the hospital and had to move him home. While in the middle of dealing with that crisis, I get an email notification that my account is overdrawn.
It happens to the best of us.
However, when I read further down the email I almost puked. This particular account had only $2.43 available and yet PNC allowed a check for $1,200.00 to clear the account.
I’ll leave you to do the math. It’s not pretty at all.
Let me give you some background.
11 months ago, our van was stolen and subsequently totaled out. We had put the better part of $6,000 worth of repairs into into it that year. We had just put almost $2,000 worth of repairs into it about 2 weeks before it was stolen, and it still wasn’t running right. I needed to take it back in because the repairs hadn’t fixed the problem.
However, as I said, the van was stolen before it could get fixed. That said, I was still stuck with the bill.
The shop was great and worked out payment arrangements with us.
We had to pay $100/month and than a balloon payment at the end, in the amount of $1,200.
With everything going on, I just made sure the money was in the bank so the post dated checks could clear. I was supposed to meet with them when we arrived at the balloon payment because we were going to rip that check up and spread it out over another 10 or 12 months.
I swear that I updated my phone number with them this past summer but for some reason, they didn’t have it on file and so had no way to get ahold of me.
They went ahead and deposited the last check and it cleared my account yesterday.
Not only was the checked supposed to be voided after 90 days but there was only $2.43 in the account. PNC let the check clear. They let a check clear my account for over $1,100 more than what I had in my account.
I don’t even have overdraft protection either. How does that happen?
I promise you, if I was going to the grocery store to pick up a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread, and wrote a check out for $10, while only having $2.43 in my account, the check would bounce.
How could PNC allow $1,200 to clear with only $2.43 present?
Needless to say, this is crippling, frustrating and very demoralizing. Although, this is my fault for not staying on top of things, this is still a very bad situation…..
Dag gone, that sucks. Sadly I am very familiar with overdraft fees, moreso lately than ever before. I encourage you to call the bank and discuss your situation. I cant promise they will fix things but sometimes, you find a real human being on the other end of the phone with some sense and they do thier best to try and work things out.for you. It helps if you have been a long standing customer, with very few overdrafts.Again sadly Im beyond that standing and I think my bank, (not PNC) sees me as valuable overdraft fee repeat offender. But I tell you this because I have been on the reieving end of a real human being with some sense who helped me and worked to return the fees in the past..
Regardless, i urge you to call, you have nothing to lose.Please keep us updated.
I don’t know about other families, but I do know that we live pretty much paycheck to paycheck. I understand exactly what you are going through. There aren’t words to describe this. Why would the bank allow that? Words can not comprehend. What has the response of the bank been? or haven’t they?
@Carlyoung hey Carl. The bank said that because I actually wrote the check, there may not be anything I can do. Even though the 90 day void had come and gone and even though I canceled overdraft protection. I’m pretty ticked off at the moment.
@lostandtired @Carlyoung That’s just…. >:( If the check is obviously past the valid date, then they would be in the wrong. How the hells is that legal to go through? Such bs. I hope that you can find some way to fight them on it.
@lostandtired surely they have some kind of alarm or trigger that lets them know when there is the possibility of an overdraft. that is crazy.
As a computer guy, it wouldn’t be hard to right a simple routine into their software that checks the balance before it runs the check. And wrote it or not, it was over 90 days. Seems like poor personnel management on their part.