Need serious financial help.

[BeastRodeo]

Well I've had this problem for a while now. Somehow somewhere someone is using my card. I keep getting charged for LOADS of money, I have negative $391 with 12 Non-Sufficient Funds Charges for $34. I've had this happen to me before but I was only about $50 in negative and they took off the charges, canceled my account, and sent me a new one. Now once again I'm having this happen. I called and they said they cannot do anything about it and they can't take off the charges because they already took them off before. After I saw the first charge I decided not to use my card for a whole week and use my other account with Bank of America just in case I was the one wasting all the money. But that wasn't the case because after that I had 11 more charges. So my question is, is there anything I can do about this other then just pay it off and close my account? It won't be easy for me paying this off because I work 24 hours a week at $10/hr. but if that's all I can do then I guess I'll have to so please help me if you have any helpful advice. Thank you.

[BeastRodeo]

So no one has any advice what-so-ever? I know some of you on here work at banks or something along those lines and know exactly what my options are. Please help

[HyPer50]

How'd you see the initial charges and not know if it was you doing the charges or not?

[BeastRodeo]

How'd you see the initial charges and not know if it was you doing the charges or not?

I checked the account online. I knew it wasn't me (well I was 99.99%) sure it wasn't me which is why I stopped using my card to make sure I wasn't the one.

[quickdodge®]

So no one has any advice what-so-ever? I know some of you on here work at banks or something along those lines and know exactly what my options are. Please help

Not everyone works at a bank, dude.

But you've been charged for 11 overages it seems like. Are you sure you haven't made a couple of purchases that through you under and then these other ones came through after the fact? Like gas purchases don't always go through instantly. You might have $40 in the bank and you use $20 to get gas leaving you with $20. You check your account later and it shows $40, still. You spend $30 of that and then the initial $20 comes out and you're $10 in the hole.

To me, that's what it sounds like. You made a bunch of small purchases using debit and then one bigger one that threw you in the hole and the smaller ones came in later. Later, QD.

[Princess12]

Next time, overdraft protection might be a good idea.

Did you check the locations where your card was used?

Good luck!

[BeastRodeo]

Not everyone works at a bank, dude.

But you've been charged for 11 overages it seems like. Are you sure you haven't made a couple of purchases that through you under and then these other ones came through after the fact? Like gas purchases don't always go through instantly. You might have $40 in the bank and you use $20 to get gas leaving you with $20. You check your account later and it shows $40, still. You spend $30 of that and then the initial $20 comes out and you're $10 in the hole.

To me, that's what it sounds like. You made a bunch of small purchases using debit and then one bigger one that threw you in the hole and the smaller ones came in later. Later, QD.

I know I said some lol.

I keep up with the money I spend because of that very reason. I write down the amount that I spend every single time. I keep it in my car. The reason I stopped using my card was because maybe I somehow forgot to write something down but that wasn't the case.

[quickdodge®]

I know I said some lol.

Yeah, but you make this post and 20 minutes later, you're wondering why no bankers have come to your rescue.

I keep up with the money I spend because of that very reason. I write down the amount that I spend every single time. I keep it in my car. The reason I stopped using my card was because maybe I somehow forgot to write something down but that wasn't the case.

If your card is being used then there is a record of it somewhere. If you have online banking, then you'll have record of all transactions. This isn't something you need to discuss with IA about. You need to be spending time with your bank hashing this out. There's no advice anyone here can tell you about your account. Later, QD.

[soul]

Not everyone works at a bank, dude.

But you've been charged for 11 overages it seems like. Are you sure you haven't made a couple of purchases that through you under and then these other ones came through after the fact? Like gas purchases don't always go through instantly. You might have $40 in the bank and you use $20 to get gas leaving you with $20. You check your account later and it shows $40, still. You spend $30 of that and then the initial $20 comes out and you're $10 in the hole.

To me, that's what it sounds like. You made a bunch of small purchases using debit and then one bigger one that threw you in the hole and the smaller ones came in later. Later, QD.

exactly what i was thinking, happens alot to young people till they finnaly learn. Just cause your account says you have $40 doesnt mean that there are not pending charges, so say you go make **11** small purchases here and there thinking you have *40* in the account by the time you rang up the first, an old pending charge of say $50 went threw, putting you -10 with a $34 charge, then BAM you use it **11** times thinking you had 40 still so, now you get hit with 11x$34 overcharge plus the cost of each one of those charges.... get it? got it? good

[BeastRodeo]

Next time, overdraft protection might be a good idea.

Did you check the locations where your card was used?

Good luck!

How do I get that?

[Princess12]

How do I get that?

Talk to your bank about it. Basically, it protects you from the overdraft fees by extending a line of credit to your account once you hit a designated amount whether it be $100.00 or $0.00. You are responsible for paying that money back to them, and it will accrue interest over time if you fail to repay the loan amount.

[ruah_23]

Thats why i stop using debit. Savings accnt and cash! That overdraft fees are the best way for banks to make money

[quickdodge®]

Talk to your bank about it. Basically, it protects you from the overdraft fees by extending a line of credit to your account once you hit a designated amount whether it be $100.00 or $0.00. You are responsible for paying that money back to them, and it will accrue interest over time if you fail to repay the loan amount.

That doesn't stop the overdrafts from coming in, though. I have $500 overdraft. If I drain my account and I'm short $10 and it takes that $10 from my OD, then I still get the $34 fee, plus I have to pay back the $10 on top. The overdraft just makes it so when you do go purchase something and you don't have enough money for it, the OD kicks in and covers the rest. For that $34 fee. Later, QD.

[Princess12]

That doesn't stop the overdrafts from coming in, though. I have $500 overdraft. If I drain my account and I'm short $10 and it takes that $10 from my OD, then I still get the $34 fee, plus I have to pay back the $10 on top. The overdraft just makes it so when you do go purchase something and you don't have enough money for it, the OD kicks in and covers the rest. For that $34 fee. Later, QD.

This is true...

[Atlblkz06]

Cancel and close the account. Thats the safest way.

Then use a freakin credit card.

[BeastRodeo]

Thanks to everyone that helped, reps to all.

P.S. Atlblkz06, I'm closing the account but I still have to pay for the charges which really sucks. Is there any way I don't have to pay for those?

[Atlblkz06]

This is gonna sound lame, but call customer services and speak to a few different people and kinda plead your case. Someone might feel nice and help you out.

It happened to me once - got hit with 3 overdrafts and they took off the fees.

Just make sure this stuff is fraudulent - or you will be in deep shit if they ever find out that it was you after all.

[HyPer50]

I've had the problem QD was referring to, where you have several small charges build up, and then they all hit when you get below zero and boom, each one has a 30+ dollar overdraft fee... it's a pain in the ass when mcdonalds turns into a $40 meal... Not sure who you are with, but I'm with Wachovia, and now we have it setup so that it will text message me when my account gets below $75 (can set to any amount) and since then (1 1/2 years ago) never even got close to overdrafting. Might not help you this time, but it'll help you in the future.

[BeastRodeo]

This is gonna sound lame, but call customer services and speak to a few different people and kinda plead your case. Someone might feel nice and help you out.

It happened to me once - got hit with 3 overdrafts and they took off the fees.

Just make sure this stuff is fraudulent - or you will be in deep shit if they ever find out that it was you after all.

I called once and they said they can't do anything about it since they already did it once.

Lol I know I'm not dumb enough to actually do that. I'm just gonna pay for the charges and close my account. Can I close my account and then pay for the charges or do I have to pay for the charges before I close it?

[HyPer50]

P.S. Atlblkz06, I'm closing the account but I still have to pay for the charges which really sucks. Is there any way I don't have to pay for those?

Make sure that you are certain, when you find a way you dont have to pay... Banks don't joke around with non-payment. Collections is a pain in the ass... plus it kills your credit.. better to just pay up if they aren't going to cooperate with you at all.

[BeastRodeo]

I've had the problem QD was referring to, where you have several small charges build up, and then they all hit when you get below zero and boom, each one has a 30+ dollar overdraft fee... it's a pain in the ass when mcdonalds turns into a $40 meal... Not sure who you are with, but I'm with Wachovia, and now we have it setup so that it will text message me when my account gets below $75 (can set to any amount) and since then (1 1/2 years ago) never even got close to overdrafting. Might not help you this time, but it'll help you in the future.

I'm with Washington Mutual hence the WAMU in the thread title lol. But yeah that's not the problem with me, I always write down every dollar I spend for shit like this.

[uproot]

Dude, if you know for a fact that it wasnt you spending the money then you need to be on the phone with them right now getting that shit resolved. Why give up so easily when that is your own hard earned money being spent by someone else?

[BeastRodeo]

Make sure that you are certain, when you find a way you dont have to pay... Banks don't joke around with non-payment. Collections is a pain in the ass... plus it kills your credit.. better to just pay up if they aren't going to cooperate with you at all.

Yeah they weren't cooperating, they kept saying the same shit over and over again so I'm just not even gonna bother anymore. I'm just gonna pay the fees and close the account.

[BeastRodeo]

Dude, if you know for a fact that it wasnt you spending the money then you need to be on the phone with them right now getting that shit resolved. Why give up so easily when that is your own hard earned money being spent by someone else?

Because I already called and they keep telling me the same thing. I called once being really nice and polite and then I just called a couple minutes ago bitching and neither one of those worked