Still ponying up for ATM fees at other bank ATMs? Let me introduce the Keep the Change® Keep the ATM fee™ program by E*Trade Financial (not officially called that...but I think it sticks). If you can believe it, all E*Trade account holders with checking accounts enjoy unlimited ATM fee refunds at every ATM nationwide (over 383,000 of them). Before I lose your attention, please save some money by opening a modern account with E*Trade just to take advantage of this feature. If you're like me, you'll frequently find yourself in situations where you have to make a withdrawal from another bank ATM. And if you're like me, I'm sure you hate paying extra for the convenience. That's why I joined E*Trade about two years ago. Before I forget to mention, their trading platform rocks bunkers. And you can transfer money between accounts in different banks thru E*Trade online banking. I know this is not the stone age but Wachovia doesn't offer bank-to-bank transfers via online banking (I think). They are still in the stone age. Just a little history before I get to the substance of my current beef with Wachovia.
Disclaimer: I don't work for E*Trade and they have not approved this message. I just love 'em. E*Trade, if you're listening, maybe you can sweep my ATM fee savings into my savings account. That's money I never had. Big ups to Bank of America for matching Keep the Change® transfer up to $250.
Ironically, when I started writing this blog entry, I didn't plan on endorsing E*Trade. I was going to bash Wachovia for their borderline scam operations regarding their ATM deposit $100 credit. On a positive note, it's very thoughtful to give a $100 instant credit to your account when you make a deposit over ...I'm guessing $100. If you're a Wachovia customer and you make frequent deposits to their ATMs, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. An example for those that don't know what I'm talking about:
Let's say you have $200 in the bank already when you make a deposit for $700 through the ATM. Your available balance is immediately increased to $300.
So what's the catch? If you're like me, you're like "Cool, maybe I can do some shopping over $200". Let me say that nowhere on the ATM machine balance request notification screen did it say that even though your current balance is $300, you can only spend the $200 in the account till the check has cleared. And even if it did say that, why credit $100 that's not really available? That, totally defeats the whole credit concept. It's like giving with your left hand and stealing with your right when I'm not looking. Long story short, I made 2 transactions over my current balance but still within the stated available balance but I got hit with overdraft fees.
I called Wachovia to dispute the charges and the nice lady (she was just doing her job when I chewed her out --politely with no profanity) gave me a courtesy credit for one of the overdraft fee charges. But still, this can't be legal. If the funds are not really available for use, why give me a false sense of security then pull a "bait and switch type thing" according to Rich from Willow Springs, North Carolina in his February 2, 2008 post on RipOffReport.com. He had the same complaints. Who knows how many Americans have been baited by this false convenience? I'm thinking about starting an online petition or something to maybe get them to inform consumers better. I'm not really sure how to approach this.
If you're reading this, please let me know what your ideas are. And get an E*Trade account and Keep the ATM Fees™ people.