Complaint Review: BankAtlantic - Miami Lakes Florida

For some reason, my prior rebuttal was heavily edited and virtually all of my responses were removed. I will attempt to post again: 'Checks (even payroll) are held back from being deposited for two or three days (longer if deposited on a Friday). If you get cash back from that check it will work against you.' My response: Banks often do place holds on checks. Two or three business days is well within regulations and hardly qualifies as fraud. 'Transactions not posted in the order they take place (both debit or credit purchases). They are pending until the bank seems fit, and usually from greatest to smallest, thus decreasing the account balance faster to their advantage.' Virtually every major bank that I can think of processes from largest to smallest. To be able to process transactions in the order they come in would depend on when the merchants submit their charges. ' Web pages do not disclose to the customer the true account activity taking place at the time of inquiry.' Are you talking about the online balance feature? How is it possible for that to be accurate? If I buy $23 worth of gasoline at my local station, they place a hold of $1 against my account. if I relied upon online banking to learn my balance, I'd be lead to believe that I had $22 more in my account than I actually did. That's not the bank's fault. 'Weekends and holidays transactions (except for debit or credit purchases) not posted until the following working day. e.g. a cash deposit made on Saturday will have the deposit date of the following Monday.' Of course! The Federal Reserve isn't open on weekends or holidays, so obviously transactions on those days are worked on the following business day. How on Earth is that a ripoff on the part of the bank? 'Overdraft fees are hidden from consumer until the account is low enough to charge, thus showing a false available balance.' Can you explain this? This report comes across as a case of a poorly managed account. There is no fraud here, at least not on the part of the bank.

I have an account in Washington Mutual and have deposited my wife's payroll check less some cash out. The bank will deposit the difference in my account and the available balance will show the funds are readily available. I don't think you know what you are talking about. The problem is that Bankatlantic will hold that check and will not consider it as a deposit until a couple of days later. Washington mutual does not do that when it comes to payroll checks.

Okay, trying to make some sense of this. There are no fraudulent activities by the bank at work here. >>Checks (even payroll) are held back from being deposited for two or three days (longer if deposited on a Friday). If you get cash back from that check it will work against you.>Transactions not posted in the order they take place (both debit or credit purchases). They are pending until the bank seems fit, and usually from greatest to smallest, thus decreasing the account balance faster to their advantage.>Web pages do not disclose to the customer the true account activity taking place at the time of inquiry.> Weekends and holidays transactions (except for debit or credit purchases) not posted until the following working day. e.g. a cash deposit made on Saturday will have the deposit date of the following Monday.>Overdraft fees are hidden from consumer until the account is low enough to charge, thus showing a false available balance.>There should be a law that protects the consumer against the malpractices from big companies such as this one.>And if there is I hope that a qualified lawyer will take this case and make this bank pay for its abuse of trust.<< From the vague details, this seems more like a case of a poorly managed account. A lawyer may be happy to take your money but don't expect a victory in court. No ripoff here.

Okay, trying to make some sense of this. There are no fraudulent activities by the bank at work here. >>Checks (even payroll) are held back from being deposited for two or three days (longer if deposited on a Friday). If you get cash back from that check it will work against you.>Transactions not posted in the order they take place (both debit or credit purchases). They are pending until the bank seems fit, and usually from greatest to smallest, thus decreasing the account balance faster to their advantage.>Web pages do not disclose to the customer the true account activity taking place at the time of inquiry.> Weekends and holidays transactions (except for debit or credit purchases) not posted until the following working day. e.g. a cash deposit made on Saturday will have the deposit date of the following Monday.>Overdraft fees are hidden from consumer until the account is low enough to charge, thus showing a false available balance.>There should be a law that protects the consumer against the malpractices from big companies such as this one.>And if there is I hope that a qualified lawyer will take this case and make this bank pay for its abuse of trust.<< From the vague details, this seems more like a case of a poorly managed account. A lawyer may be happy to take your money but don't expect a victory in court. No ripoff here.

Okay, trying to make some sense of this. There are no fraudulent activities by the bank at work here. >>Checks (even payroll) are held back from being deposited for two or three days (longer if deposited on a Friday). If you get cash back from that check it will work against you.>Transactions not posted in the order they take place (both debit or credit purchases). They are pending until the bank seems fit, and usually from greatest to smallest, thus decreasing the account balance faster to their advantage.>Web pages do not disclose to the customer the true account activity taking place at the time of inquiry.> Weekends and holidays transactions (except for debit or credit purchases) not posted until the following working day. e.g. a cash deposit made on Saturday will have the deposit date of the following Monday.>Overdraft fees are hidden from consumer until the account is low enough to charge, thus showing a false available balance.>There should be a law that protects the consumer against the malpractices from big companies such as this one.>And if there is I hope that a qualified lawyer will take this case and make this bank pay for its abuse of trust.<< From the vague details, this seems more like a case of a poorly managed account. A lawyer may be happy to take your money but don't expect a victory in court. No ripoff here.

Okay, trying to make some sense of this. There are no fraudulent activities by the bank at work here. >>Checks (even payroll) are held back from being deposited for two or three days (longer if deposited on a Friday). If you get cash back from that check it will work against you.>Transactions not posted in the order they take place (both debit or credit purchases). They are pending until the bank seems fit, and usually from greatest to smallest, thus decreasing the account balance faster to their advantage.>Web pages do not disclose to the customer the true account activity taking place at the time of inquiry.> Weekends and holidays transactions (except for debit or credit purchases) not posted until the following working day. e.g. a cash deposit made on Saturday will have the deposit date of the following Monday.>Overdraft fees are hidden from consumer until the account is low enough to charge, thus showing a false available balance.>There should be a law that protects the consumer against the malpractices from big companies such as this one.>And if there is I hope that a qualified lawyer will take this case and make this bank pay for its abuse of trust.<< From the vague details, this seems more like a case of a poorly managed account. A lawyer may be happy to take your money but don't expect a victory in court. No ripoff here.

"...If you get cash back from that check it will work against you..." - Well of course it does, it takes away from your available balance because you took it out of your account. "Transactions not posted in the order they take place (both debit or credit purchases). They are pending until the bank seems fit, and usually from greatest to smallest, thus decreasing the account balance faster to their advantage." - They are not "usually" greatest to smallest, they are ALWAYS greatest to smallest. They are only pending until the merchant sees fit to submit the charge. The bank can not control this. But guess what. Posting order means nothing if you don't overdraw your account. If you have no idea what overdraw means that means spending more than you have. How do you know when this could happen? It is real simple..you keep a register of all of your transactions. "...Weekends and holidays transactions (except for debit or credit purchases) not posted until the following working day." - Show me one bank that posts transactions on Weekends or Holidays. "Overdraft fees are hidden from consumer until the account is low enough to charge, thus showing a false available balance." - I really have no idea where you are going with this. But I have a feeling you are relying on something like On-Line banking. The only TRUE available balance is what YOUR register says. That is right, keep track of your own purchases when you make them..what a concept. "..And the list can go on and on..." -Please do, I am dying to hear what else is on this list. "There should be a law that protects the consumer against the malpractices from big companies such as this one..." - I really wish there was a law that would force people to take responsibility for their own accounts. But I guess the good side is that all of those OD Fees you pay make it possible for me to get my free checking.