💡Thought Shares

c/banking-and-payments-community

14

fiona_west21•3d ago

That moment my card got declined at a gas station in Phoenix at 11pm

I was on my way home from a delivery run and my debit card got declined for a $32 fill-up, turned out the bank flagged it as fraud because I had bought gas 3 hours earlier in a different zip code, and it took 45 minutes on hold to get it sorted - has anyone else had a bank's fraud alert cause more problems than it solved?

21

patricia_gonzalez•3d ago

Swapped my opinion on mobile check deposits after a scare last month

I used to think mobile check deposits were just a convenience thing and didn't really matter. Then my branch in Austin closed for a surprise renovation and I had a $1,200 freelance payment sitting in my hand. I snapped a photo through my credit union's app and the money showed up in 4 hours, not 2 days like I expected. Now I see people still driving 20 minutes to the bank just to hand over a paper check and I don't get why. Has anyone else had a mobile deposit actually clear faster than your bank promised?

6

kelly385•3d ago

Tried chip readers back in 2015 vs swiping. Chip still feels slower.

I remember when my bank first sent me a chip card in 2015. I was at a Target in Austin and the terminal took like 10 seconds to process. Swiping was maybe 2 seconds max. Fast forward to now and chip readers are still slower at some gas stations here. I get the security upgrade but the speed trade off is hard to swallow. Has anyone else noticed certain stores where the chip reader just drags?

23

jade517•4d ago

Finally got my bank fee reversed after 3 months of fighting

Tbh I've been with my credit union in Austin for like 6 years now, and last month they hit me with a $35 overdraft fee on a $2 mistake. I was so annoyed because I've never had a late payment or anything. So I called them last Tuesday and the first rep just said no. Then I called again Thursday and got someone different, explained the whole thing about how their app glitched and didn't show my pending deposit. She put me on hold for 10 minutes and came back saying they'd refund it as a one-time courtesy. Honestly that small win felt huge for me, like finally someone listened. Has anyone else had luck getting fees reversed by just being polite and persistent?

13

william_garcia•6d ago

The paper ledger method I dropped for digital batch payments

I used to write every single vendor payment into a paper ledger by hand on Friday nights (which took me about 2 hours). Last month I switched to my credit union's batch pay feature and knocked it down to 15 minutes with way fewer errors. Has anyone else found a specific digital tool that cut their payment processing time in half?

4

lilyp37•7d ago

Vent: That banker from Omaha made me rethink my whole fee schedule

Had a coffee with a credit union VP last month who said charging $35 overdraft fees is just punishing poor people for being poor, and it hit different because she showed me their numbers - they cut fees by 60% and actually gained customers. Has anyone else seen fee changes backfire or work out in unexpected ways?

6

oscarc12•21d ago

Plunked down $300 for a card reader and it died after 6 months

I run a small booth at the farmer's market here in Tucson and bought a Square reader through their site because I wanted something compact. Worked fine for 5 months, then one rainy saturday it just stopped reading chips. Support said it was out of warranty. Now I'm using a $40 used one from a friend and it's actually holding up better. Anyone else have a Square reader fall apart that quick or did I just get a lemon?

19

corablack•22d ago

Teller at my local credit union talked me out of a $35 fee last Tuesday

She just clicked two buttons and said 'don't worry about it' without me even asking, has anyone else had a bank employee actually save them money on the spot like that?

16

avery_flores17•25d ago

Just figured out why my bank kept hitting me with that $35 overdraft fee every month

I was totally skeptical that switching to a credit union would make any difference, but after Wells Fargo charged me three fees in one week last March and my buddy at Local First Credit Union in Phoenix showed me their real-time balance alerts, I finally saw how those big banks profit off keeping you in the dark.

22

rubyk26•26d ago

Customer told me my payment system was 'too 2010' so I swapped everything over the weekend

Had this lady come in Friday, paid with her phone, and she said 'you really should upgrade, this terminal looks like it belongs in a museum.' I was using this old clunky Verifone since 2018 and yeah it worked fine but she had a point. Spent Saturday morning grabbing a Clover Go from the bank down the street. Took like 2 hours to set up. First transaction Monday morning felt so smooth. Anybody else get a comment that pushed you to finally update your setup?

23

nancyj11•27d ago

TIL that credit unions actually can return overdraft fees...

After 12 years with a big national bank, I switched to a local credit union in Portland about 6 months ago. Was running low last week and accidentally overdrafted by like $14. Called expecting to eat a $35 fee, but the teller said they had a one-time courtesy refund policy. They actually put the whole fee back in my account within an hour. Never would have believed that before. Anyone else find smaller banks more forgiving with stuff like this?

31

nancyj11•27d ago

Appreciation post: The bank teller who saved me $40 in fees last Thursday

I was about to transfer money from my savings account to cover a car repair, and the teller at my local Wells Fargo branch stopped me and said I'd get hit with a $10 excess withdrawal fee each time. Instead she showed me how to link my checking account for free transfers, saving me $40 total. Has anyone else had a teller give them a heads up on fees like that?

6

victor779•1mo ago

Got hit with a $35 overdraft fee for a $3 coffee purchase last month in Portland

I bought a coffee at a shop near my office for $3.50 last Tuesday and forgot I had $2 in my checking account. The bank charged me a $35 overdraft fee (which is wild, honestly) and then another one when the charge settled the next day. I called them up and asked if they could reverse just one of them since it was my first time in like two years. They said no because it was a 'standard policy' and wouldn't budge at all. Has anyone else had luck getting a bank to waive these fees when it's such a tiny amount?

20

charlescraig•1mo ago

Hit $12,000 in unnoticed overdraft fees across my accounts last year

I was so focused on my monthly payments I ignored the little $35 charges stacking up until my bank statement showed over twelve grand in fees that could've been avoided with a simple alert setup - has anyone else gotten blindsided by their own bank's auto-debit system?

16

the_thea•1mo ago

That cashier at the grocery store called me out on my tap to pay habit

So I'm at the checkout at a Food Lion in Richmond last month, buying a pack of gum and a soda. The total was like $3.47, and I just automatically tapped my card without even looking. The cashier, this older lady maybe 60s, stopped me and said 'you just paid 50 cents extra for that gum because your bank charges per tap.' She showed me on her screen that my credit card had a $0.50 foreign transaction fee even though it was a US bank, just for using tap. Has anyone else caught hidden fees like that on small purchases?

13

the_simon•1mo ago

Can we talk about phone scammers pretending to be bank fraud departments...

I overheard a lady at the coffee shop yesterday talking about how someone called her saying they were from Chase and got her to read back a code from her phone... she lost $400 before she realized it was fake. Her bank told her they never ask for codes over the phone, but it got me thinking... are banks doing enough to warn people about this stuff? On one hand, they send generic emails nobody reads, on the other hand maybe they need to push real-time alerts right when the call happens. Has anyone else dealt with a relative nearly getting caught by one of these scams?

0

the_jana•1mo ago

Shoutout to the teller who warned me about cashier's check scams

Last month I was selling a used truck for $8,500 on Craigslist and a buyer insisted on sending a cashier's check. My local bank teller at Wells Fargo in Phoenix pulled me aside and said that fake cashier's checks are super common and she sees people lose money on them all the time. She told me to wait until the check fully cleared, not just showed as pending, before handing over the keys. Good thing I listened because it took 8 business days for the bank to flag it as counterfeit. Anyone else had a bank employee save you from a bad deal like that?

4

hannah400•1mo ago

Found out my "free" checking account actually charged me $12 a month for 8 months straight

I was looking through old bank statements from my Chase account in Atlanta and noticed a monthly service fee I somehow missed since February. What do you use to track those hidden bank fees that slip through the cracks?

13

tarabell•1mo ago

Vent: That week when EVERY single ATM fee hit me at once

Last month I was driving a load through Ohio and had to stop for cash at three different ATMs in two days. Each one hit me with a $3.50 fee on top of my bank's $2.50 charge, so I lost like $18 just to pull out $200. What made it stick out was finding out my credit union doesn't even charge those fees if I use their app to find free machines. Has anyone else had a run of bad luck with ATM fees like that?

14

mark_carr7•1mo ago

Warning: that 'free' debit card from your credit union cost me $47

I signed up for a new checking account at a local credit union thinking I was saving on fees. They offered a free debit card with no monthly charges. After three months I noticed my balance was short by $47. Turns out they hit me with a $3.50 fee every time I used an out-of-network ATM, plus a $2 fee for getting paper statements mailed to me. Nobody told me about these charges upfront. I only caught it because I finally checked my account statement last week. Has anyone else gotten burned by hidden fees on a so called free account?

15

angela_harris•1mo ago

Spent 45 minutes chasing a bounced check fee because the bank app showed the deposit as available

The teller told me it was my fault for not reading the fine print, but why show a balance you can't actually touch without some hidden 3 day hold that wasn't listed anywhere in the transaction history?

9

the_jennifer•1mo ago

The day my wire transfer got stuck in limbo for 11 days

I needed to send $2,400 to a contractor in Austin for a kitchen remodel, and my bank said it would take 2 business days. Somehow it got flagged for a random review and nobody could tell me why, not even the manager at my local branch. Day 11 rolls around and it finally goes through after I threatened to file a CFPB complaint. Has anyone else had a simple transfer turn into a two-week nightmare for no reason?

14

victor_robinson•1mo ago

That time I forgot my debit card was expired at a gas pump in Ohio

I was driving through Ohio last month and stopped at a Shell station outside Columbus around 2 AM. Went to pay at the pump, card got declined twice. Figured it was the machine, so I went inside. Teller swiped it and said it expired in March. I had been using that card for online payments all month without noticing. Had to download the bank app right there, transfer cash to my PayPal, and use that to pay inside. Anyone else ever miss an expiration date and get caught off guard like that?

2

seth_singh20•1mo ago

I saw a sign at my local credit union about a 'skip a payment' fee

I was in line at the Mountain View Community Credit Union yesterday, just zoning out, when I read a small poster behind the counter. It said the fee to skip a single auto loan payment was $75. I always thought that was a free service they offered as a courtesy, but it's actually a revenue thing for them. It made me wonder how many other small fees I've never noticed. Has anyone else been surprised by a fee they didn't know existed?

16

angela_harris•1mo ago

Heard a customer at my shop say they never check their bank statements

They claimed their bank would 'catch anything weird' automatically. I think that's a huge risk, because a small, repeated error or fraud can slip through for months. Has anyone else had to fix a problem that regular checking would have caught?