<story>So recently, my bf's bank decided to cancel our rent payment for NSF and we got charged about $145 in fees between the bank and our apartment management. I don't understand WHY the bank did this, because there have been a few times where he has not looked at his account and seriously gone -$500 because his paycheck wasn't there yet when it's been payed, and it has not been returned. (Believe me I've been checking his bank account EVERY DAY to make sure this kind of thing never happens again. We can't afford it.) With the charges, we didn't have enough for the new rent amount (with late fees and all) so we had a plan with management to pay base rent that day, and then this Friday pay the rest with his next check. So we were left with about $10 in his account until this Friday. Well LO AND BEHOLD I check his account today (sometimes he has debits go through almost a week later) and the apartments charged us a $25 fee. FOR NOTHING. And my bf was overdrafted and charged another fee. Now we've had an extra almost $200 charged from this fiasco with the apartments.</story>
Questions:
1. If the bank charged an NSF fee, will that be reported to Chexsystems? He's never been charged that before, just overdraft fees.
2. Can management even do that? Our agreement over paying rent had base rent paid with money order that day, then the rest of the rent paid by money order this Friday. There was no mention of this fee by this amount, and I cannot think of what it could be.
3. I'm going to ask management to refund this "fee" or whatever it is as well as the overdraft fee, since there is nothing in our contract (that I can see) allowing this misc. charge; Good idea?
Anyone who has insight with this? We're in the process of rebuilding, and I don't want him to be reported to Chexsystems, or have management possibly report some kind of stupid crap to his credit report from all this craziness and mis-communication on their part. I'm so angry. I have a red-hot poker ready for management when I talk to them...
Thanks for the reply, Whitney. I'm assuming that would be unpaid too, but I don't know how Chexsystems works, really. I only recently found out about Chexsystems last month with my CO to IQCU. 
I don't even know if you can GW them or anything to remove paid entries.
We talked to the bank earlier, after finding a note on the door stating we owe $89 by the 19th (Not any amount we recognized, and a day before our designated date to pay the rest.) Turns out after the first talk with the apartment management over the NSF issue they decided to recall the $75 late fee (THANK GOD) so that is what we are left to pay by the 19th. Apparently they close their books on the 20th, so they changed the date we have to pay. Wish they would have told us, and I'm glad we went to talk to them today.
Turns out that random charge is not regulated by the management, but done by a separate billing department. The manager told me she didn't even know what it was for, and she was going to send a support ticket to HQ tonight, and should receive something in the morning, (They are central time, we're PST) and that they should be able to refund at least the overdraft fee, but not sure about the 25 dollar charge until she knows where the money even went.... So now it's the waiting game again....
Why do these kind of things happen all at once?
@user5387 wrote:
@xaiduz114 wrote:<story>So recently, my bf's bank decided to cancel our rent payment for NSF and we got charged about $145 in fees between the bank and our apartment management. I don't understand WHY the bank did this, because there have been a few times where he has not looked at his account and seriously gone -$500 because his paycheck wasn't there yet when it's been payed, and it has not been returned. (Believe me I've been checking his bank account EVERY DAY to make sure this kind of thing never happens again. We can't afford it.) With the charges, we didn't have enough for the new rent amount (with late fees and all) so we had a plan with management to pay base rent that day, and then this Friday pay the rest with his next check. So we were left with about $10 in his account until this Friday. Well LO AND BEHOLD I check his account today (sometimes he has debits go through almost a week later) and the apartments charged us a $25 fee. FOR NOTHING. And my bf was overdrafted and charged another fee. Now we've had an extra almost $200 charged from this fiasco with the apartments.</story>
Questions:
1. If the bank charged an NSF fee, will that be reported to Chexsystems? He's never been charged that before, just overdraft fees.
2. Can management even do that? Our agreement over paying rent had base rent paid with money order that day, then the rest of the rent paid by money order this Friday. There was no mention of this fee by this amount, and I cannot think of what it could be.
3. I'm going to ask management to refund this "fee" or whatever it is as well as the overdraft fee, since there is nothing in our contract (that I can see) allowing this misc. charge; Good idea?
Anyone who has insight with this? We're in the process of rebuilding, and I don't want him to be reported to Chexsystems, or have management possibly report some kind of stupid crap to his credit report from all this craziness and mis-communication on their part. I'm so angry. I have a red-hot poker ready for management when I talk to them...
If I was in this situation, and I was the ultimate source of the issue (NSF), then I think I'd try to settle with the bank and apartment people as quickly and as graciously as I possibly could.
I'd apologize for my mistake, and make sure that it never happens again.
I imagine that banks have some discretion about reporting to Chexsystems.
A few things....
The overdraft fee is the per item fee that the bank charges for the transactions they covered. They can charge up to 5 of these fees each day. Also, you may be charged an additional fee if your account is negative for each it is showing a negative balance.
One thing you didn't mention was if your boyfriend's paycheck is deposited as a live check or as a direct deposit. You need to understand the hold time on each method of deposit and funds will be made available, often times it is not immediate.
I'd hazard a guess that the apartment complex charged you $25 for a returned check fee as when they deposited it with their bank, it came back as dishonored. It may also be a late fee. Either way, ask them. They may waive it as a courtesy this time.
Chexsystems generally comes into play for closed accounts that have negative balances. However, banks can and do report users that are habitually negative on their accounts which may make it difficult for you to change institutions down the road.
You have to figure out how to best manage the checking account that works with your guys' spending style. Personally, I have two checking accounts. I have a debit card for my primary account that I use for daily purchases, I have checks for the second account which is what I pay bills from. Since the funds are separated from one another, there's a very low risk of an NSF on checks and I know that I can spend what's in the primary account without fear of being late on rent and bills.
Hope this helps.
Current Score: TU: 674 | EQ: 722 | EX: 717 | Last Inq. 2/16/15...Locked Up in The Garden
@kjel wrote:
@user5387 wrote:
@xaiduz114 wrote:<story>So recently, my bf's bank decided to cancel our rent payment for NSF and we got charged about $145 in fees between the bank and our apartment management. I don't understand WHY the bank did this, because there have been a few times where he has not looked at his account and seriously gone -$500 because his paycheck wasn't there yet when it's been payed, and it has not been returned. (Believe me I've been checking his bank account EVERY DAY to make sure this kind of thing never happens again. We can't afford it.) With the charges, we didn't have enough for the new rent amount (with late fees and all) so we had a plan with management to pay base rent that day, and then this Friday pay the rest with his next check. So we were left with about $10 in his account until this Friday. Well LO AND BEHOLD I check his account today (sometimes he has debits go through almost a week later) and the apartments charged us a $25 fee. FOR NOTHING. And my bf was overdrafted and charged another fee. Now we've had an extra almost $200 charged from this fiasco with the apartments.</story>
Questions:
1. If the bank charged an NSF fee, will that be reported to Chexsystems? He's never been charged that before, just overdraft fees.
2. Can management even do that? Our agreement over paying rent had base rent paid with money order that day, then the rest of the rent paid by money order this Friday. There was no mention of this fee by this amount, and I cannot think of what it could be.
3. I'm going to ask management to refund this "fee" or whatever it is as well as the overdraft fee, since there is nothing in our contract (that I can see) allowing this misc. charge; Good idea?
Anyone who has insight with this? We're in the process of rebuilding, and I don't want him to be reported to Chexsystems, or have management possibly report some kind of stupid crap to his credit report from all this craziness and mis-communication on their part. I'm so angry. I have a red-hot poker ready for management when I talk to them...
If I was in this situation, and I was the ultimate source of the issue (NSF), then I think I'd try to settle with the bank and apartment people as quickly and as graciously as I possibly could.
I'd apologize for my mistake, and make sure that it never happens again.
I imagine that banks have some discretion about reporting to Chexsystems.
A few things....
The overdraft fee is the per item fee that the bank charges for the transactions they covered. They can charge up to 5 of these fees each day. Also, you may be charged an additional fee if your account is negative for each it is showing a negative balance.
One thing you didn't mention was if your boyfriend's paycheck is deposited as a live check or as a direct deposit. You need to understand the hold time on each method of deposit and funds will be made available, often times it is not immediate.
I'd hazard a guess that the apartment complex charged you $25 for a returned check fee as when they deposited it with their bank, it came back as dishonored. It may also be a late fee. Either way, ask them. They may waive it as a courtesy this time.
Chexsystems generally comes into play for closed accounts that have negative balances. However, banks can and do report users that are habitually negative on their accounts which may make it difficult for you to change institutions down the road.
You have to figure out how to best manage the checking account that works with your guys' spending style. Personally, I have two checking accounts. I have a debit card for my primary account that I use for daily purchases, I have checks for the second account which is what I pay bills from. Since the funds are separated from one another, there's a very low risk of an NSF on checks and I know that I can spend what's in the primary account without fear of being late on rent and bills.
Hope this helps.
Yes, it does! Thank you. We spoke with one of the managers yesterday evening about everything. Here's the basic rundown:
- $730 base rent, paid on the 11th via money order. (done)
- $164.87 (utilities + $35 NSF fee + %75 late fee) to be paid by 6/20. (Which is now only $89.97 as they chose to remove the $75 late fee this time.)
- The $25 fee that went through randomly? The manager didn't even know what it was. She put in a support ticket to HQ that she is supposed to hear from today, hopefully. She is willing to refund the the charge and the overdraft fee, but she doesn't know where the money went from the charge, yet. We'll find that out today if all goes according to plan.
His check is direct-deposited, and yes, originally this was our bad. Rent was due two days before his check was due, and usually he'd rather just overdraft and get the overdraft fee than save the rent money from the previous check. It's been really hard to work this out, since before I stopped working I was getting paid just before rent was due and it was easy to make payments. And he goes through BofA btw... Trying to get him to open a CU account with me this weekend and close the BofA accounts. Hopeing to save us money there. Plus, when it comes to banking, BofA sucks.
At any rate, I am much less stressed out than when I originally posted. I was honestly freaking out because there was no way we'd pull $200 dollars out of our butts. Things are much more manageable now.