I had no idea they were doing this, and that they even could do this. I never let my account get that low, so this should never adversely affect me. But I do know a lot of people who could be seriously affect by this. Thanks for this article - I am going to pass it around work!

I bank with WAMU. Unfortunately I do at times let my account get that low. This usually happens right before I get my direct deposit in. What gets me is my bank will hold debit/credit transactions and checks until my account is low. Then ALL these transactions will come in at once. If I forget a large check I wrote 2 weeks ago, I'm screwed. Checking my "available" balance does not help neither. As I've come to find out that is not truly my "available" balance because there may be transactions not yet posted. But their is a problem with this too. I check my account on Monday until midnight and onto Tuesday morning, no transaction. Then later Tuesday I see the transaction but it is posted for Monday! I've paid close to a $1000 couple years ago on overdraft fees. I'm doing better now but they still get me time to time. Anything legal I can do?

Consumers Union does not provide legal advice.

We do recommend that you submit your complaint with an agency to inform them of your problem with your bank. We have provided a link to our "complain about your bank" webpage: http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_financial_services/001370.html

This is not right. If other companies can know what someone purchases why can't the gas company? I don't mind them saying I can't pump over 75 but once I do, the actual price should show up. This can't be too complicated as other companies are doing it. My daughter is attending school and doesn't have a lot of money and for the gas company to put a 75 hold and she only wants 15 is rediculous. This made another check bounce even though the money didn't even come out. She got gas on a Thursday and they held it until the following Monday. Also what makes other companies not want to do the same? Everyone should be garanteed there money if this is the case? Right? Not just gas companies.

The latest of bank schemes is the debit/credit transaction "holds." Wachovia Bank continues to do the same. The "funds" are put on "hold" where the total amount is "electronicly" taken from the account balance. However when the banks receive the "paper transaction" they are taking the same amount out a second time. Then they create hundreds of dollars in NSF/OD fees. Approximately one hour ago I caught Wachovia double processing small debit transaction amounts. One debit transaction amount was taken from my account for the third time! OCC Customer Assistance will help! I faxed a complaint a few months ago and I received a letter dated for the day of my fax! And I received a call from Wachovia Office of the President. It returned $210 to my account half of what it owed me. Now I have to refile!

I had double debits to my card happen to me traveling this April, the various hotels I stayed at showed up twice on my account...I was told by the hotel managers that it was an agreement between the banks and the hotels. I did not have a problem with being overdrawn fortunately. The same thing happened last evening when I purchased something online. My account was debited twice. I called the company and they assured me that I only submitted one purchase..advised me to call my bank. I did, after much arguing and my final threat that I did not authorize anyone to debit my account twice, that it in fact was steeling from me or any other customer and that doing that could not possibly be legal, I would find a consumer advocate or someone to help me remedy this, they finally gave me a supervisor that eventually agreed to credit my account for that amount. My account still shows the two pending debits and now a pending credit. I'm furious because I know it will happen again. There must be something that can be done to stop the banks from doing this...is there anyone out there with any ideas?

We need to give up on banks and join credit unions. I suppose some credit unions are using these same unscrupulous business practices, but I would venture to guess most are not. My credit union is absolutely fabulous! However, I just closed an M & T Bank account for these same practices, charging NSF fees on Holds, at no point did my actual balance go below $0 and yet I was charged $173 in NSF fees, plus some of the charges were $18 while others were $37. Even worse is the fact that several items had been clear for a few days and they later went back and added the NSF charges to those items, when an earlier charge came through. We made the mistake of thinking something had cleared when it hadn't and when we realized the mistake we deposited money before the charge came through, so at no point did we actually overdraw the account and yet they came back and added all these fees. I was able to get all but one $37 charge removed, but I refuse to do business with a bank that wants to charge me on HOLDS. I can put a HOLD on my account by myself with a credit card and that doesn't mean the charge is ever going to come through, they can't charge me an NSF fee when funds aren't even being withdrawn. It is absolutely criminal, it may not be against banking laws, but it is against contract law. I am taking my business elsewhere and I will be sure when I refinance my home, want a car, a credit card, or anything else that I will not deal with M & T again!