Class Wars at Bank of America: The Overdraft Fee

Me and Mr. Overdraft are very well acquainted after two rounds fraudulent activity within six months that left my bank account off by $800. And try to make a customer phone specialist or automated telling mechanism understand how hard it is to manage your bank account (let alone look for a job) when you're out of work and your bank account is saddled with late fees that aren't your fault.

For what its worth, two months and five hundred dollars in the red later, the charges were reversed and idea that I was right after all did not leave me feeling good about my outburst at the local Branch Manager who robotically repeated to me policies and tools bank of America implements to help me make sure these situations do not arise in the future. Fortunately the idignity this schmuck felt when I threw the forty billion dollar bailout package in his face gave put my bank account in the red that day and didn't quite render my direct deposit obselete.

These are policies implemented by distinguished men like Chair-CEO-Pres Ken Lewis for whom $800 is a lunch. To his failed executive buddies at Merril Lynch, however, Ken is the reluctant philanthropist who helps his friends in their hour of "need," because some people need food and some people need filet, some people need shelter, and others need penthouses, and still some need shoes But don't tell them that the 4 billion dollars that that 4 billion dollar parachute was Ken's to give.

After my old boss passed in November, I struggled with some depression and failed to get the afidivit back to Bank of America by the deadline. So when I snapped out of it and found the source of my fraudulent activity, I acted quickly to make it right, but it was hard.

All I wanted was a provisional $171 credit added back to my account while the investigator conducted his investigation into my claim of fraudulent activity. While some told me parts of the process, nobody knew the process and nobody bothered to ask aroudn.And for all their posturing that they understand my situation... for all the action they told me to take that I took... it took months for them to pay attnention. My account would never have gone below $224 if not for the fraudulant activity.

I may share some blame with the supershoppers whose sprees caused my account to go over the limit. And Bank of America may have my best interest when they prioritize debits from my account biggest to smallest so that those mortgage payments that I won't be thinking about anytime soon have a better chance of clearing.

What I don't get is why the fee doesn't account for the size of the overdraft. So many of my overdrafts were like $2 or $3, and each was hit with a $35. In some cases it was merely a combination of timing and overdrafts that caused my account to go into the red instead of linger dangerously close to it.

And why does the bank charge not account for the size of the overdraft? Shouldn't the bank charge percentage ovedraft fees to make the punishment fit the crime?

There are some people who naturally don't have to worry about such things. But some do; in fact, more do every day. For some, like Ken Lewis, these battles concern amounts that wouldn't cover lunch. For some, these battles concern amounts that save their home.

But the embarrasment of being poor has lead to people everywhere being held unfairly accountable for small mistakes. Simultaneously, those at the top of the financial ladder fell no need to apologize for the failures that effect those toward the bottom. You might think that that with so many invaluable men who make millions of dollars individually each year to make lending decisions would be accountable for lending bad lending decisions.

And as for those who overdraw: I agree that consequences should follow actions; I just think that the consequences should mirror those actions.