Bank Overdraft fees and other various customer penalties have quickly become the banking industry’s most profitable source. Your personal bank makes more money on fees and penalties than it does financing personal and business loans.
For example, Bank of America charges $35 for overdraft fees unless you have the coveted Overdraft Protection, which I highly recommend signing up for. Whether your bank has overdraft fee protection or not, here’s a step by step tutorial on how to reverse your banking overdraft fees.
The Overdraft Fee Reversal Process
You just made a purchase with your checking or savings account, but quickly realize you do not have the funds to cover the charge. Suddenly your teeth cringe, and simultaneously the dreaded overdraft fee notice starts heading to your mailbox. Should you panic? Of course not, you’ve been trained in these situations. That frivolous banking fee can be reversed in less than 3 minutes.
All you have to do is call up your bank and ask to speak to a manager.
Most of us have called our bank and inquired about the charge; Few are lucky enough to receive the credit after their first inquiry. The representative may deny your request initially, but you should now ask to speak to a manager. The #1 mistake people make when calling their bank is only speaking to a representative. These employees have zero authority and are no more than mere automatons. Here’s what you have to do.
5 Steps to Reversing Your Overdraft Fees
- Contact your bank and ask to speak to a representative.
- Explain in a kind manner that the overdraft was a mistake and request its removal.
- Ask to speak to a manager who maintains higher authority if the representative will not reverse the charge.
- Request a fee removal once connected to the manager.
- Unless your overdraft is highly conspicuous, your fee should be removed in no time.
Tried this Method and Still No Success?
Watch the video below that explains how to file a small claims against your bank.
Sick of Overdraft fees? We Recommend ING Direct Orange Savings/Checking
ING Direct is the one bank that is highly lenient with overdraft fees. You can setup an online savings account and earn up to 4% annually, plus link up a checking account to transfer money in and out of your accounts. Best of all, their customer service reverses fees all the time, and they are very compassionate towards people who experiencing financial difficulties. Simply call them up, explain the situation, and you will get help from a real human. Not some automated telephone message like other banks do. They lack all the glitter and extra features from bigger banks, but you will earn a solid interest rate, avoid fees, and have 24/7 access to your money/
Click Here to Open a ING Direct Orange Account and Avoid Overdraft Fees
Great post. But I talk to a human first. That way I can still call the service center later on.
just a quick comment to your website, you made the indication that if someone gets a $35 dollar OD fee and if they want the money back they should go to a manager and instantly the OD fees will be refunded. I must regrettably disagree because as much as anyone would want that fee to removed, just because the call is escalated to a manager does not necessarily mean the fee is going to be removed. I found that out so you may want to redo that info you want to or not that is purely up to you but I wanted to let you know, thanks for taking time in showing your opinion on how a OD fee could be refunded.
If you maintain a good history with bank and are an asset to their company, then they will most likely refund the amount. The only time I’ve encountered difficulties is when I either dealt with mediocre firms or missed a few payments in the past, which hurt my integrity.
It really depends on who you bank with? Bank of America always refunds my request. Who do you bank with?
This article is grossly untrue. I work for one of the largest banks in America, and we do not follow the principles listed above. The representatives actually have more lee-way in deciding to refund fees. Managers are held to the policy of the bank, and rarely refund just because you request to speak to them. OD fees are our main income, and we are surely not eager to give our income back. Customers are notified in writing ahead of time that overspending their account may result in fees, plus we have a responsibility to our shareholders to return a good dividend to them. Point blank, don’t believe this story… you will only be disappointed!
In my personal experiences, I receive overdraft refunds if I call in and ask enough. Sometimes it takes 4 or 5 separate calls to get the refund; The key here is persistence. While I agree that Banks need the overdrafts for revenue, no corporate banking giant can withstand a persistent customer who asks for a break now and then.
If you can’t even get $35 back from a multi-billion bank, you need to find a new bank!
If you have a business with a large amount of cash with them, hold that over there head: if they don’t credit your personal account, you’ll move your business account.
I just contacted Bank of America regarding an overdraft I had, used your method and it worked! Thank you very much for the advice!
As the old saying goes, “you can get more flies with honey than with vinegar.” I was able to reverse over 100 dollars worth of odf using the steps above, with a touch of honey-sweet politeness. Of course, I don’t actually like bofa, or the people they pay to gouge us, but I was polite and courteous, and that made all the difference in the world. Remember that the person on the other end of the phone did not personally take your 35 dollars! They are probably being screwed by bofa just as bad as you were, an wold love to help, but you need to help them by being nice, even if you don’t mean it. Honey may help, but honest to God bulls**t will really get the most flies.
I used to work in bookkeeping at a bank and I learned that they will reverse charges more often then people think. It will vary based on if you overdraft all the time or just a once in a GREAT while. Yes, its also true to be polite, explain what happened, and ask very very nicely and most of the time they may refund all of it, or at least a portion of the charge.
@ Jackson
Good point. Make them work for your money.
@ Mr. Grateful
I’m glad the method worked for you! Congrats
@ Raoul
Politeness will always open a few doors. Most employees understand that BofA is out to make your money theirs. With a little honesty, politeness, and persistance, you can get things done.
@ Shana
Usually the banks will refund 100% unless of course, like you said, it’s a recurring problem. One time, Bank of America only refunded 75% of the fees, even though I’ve been a customer since I was born! That really ticked me off, so I switched accounts!….And I asked so nicely!
I agree with Big Bank Employee. The fact of the matter is that it always depends who you talk to. When I received customers with problems of this sort, I would refund depending on the situation. After refunding more than enough to some customers, they still don’t keep track of their personals so I would not refund to them again. Other employees will just say no and keep with it if you are any bit rude. It always depends on the representative so try to become friends with them. That should guarantee overdraft refunding.
We were just told by phone that we were over drafted in our checking account. My notices came today,
on the same day we were phoned. I went to the bank and talked to their customer service rep an she could not help us because she didn’t have the authority to do so but she would tell the manager of our situation.
The situation: deposited $140.00 on 2/13 at 3:00pm, monday the 16 was a holiday so the money didn’t hit the account until Tuesday afternoon. Paypal hit my account Tuesday morning, which caused the overdraft and the fee that occured caused the additional 4 overdrafts.
I just got off the phone with the manager and she said it was not the banks fault and would not reverse any ot the fees (total $136.00).
I am not giving up. I will be calling the 800 number for the bank to speak to another upper manager.
That sounds ridiculous. There are some class action lawsuits currently pending for these exact same practices. I would stay persistent, and try to get the local banking manager on the phone.
I just got off the phone with a branch manager of the local bank. She told us she would not reverse any of the $136.00 in fees due to the fact the bank was not at fault for any of the fees that were levied against our account even though a holiday was envolved and money that was deposited on a Friday afternoon did not post to the account until Tuesday afternoon.
I’m wondering if your bank has a written clause to protect them from any liability. There’s a lot of fine print on your monthly banking statements that removes any legal responsibility from most regional banks. Hope this helps!
Unbelievable! HAHA. I freaked out this morning when I thought that I had enough funds for the weekend and saw that there were 3 overdrafts that happened to occur over the weekend.. So I google’d for how to get a refund of reverse on the overdraft and ended up here. Like someone said, always keep in mind “you can get more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Honest I just got off the phone with wells fargo and they said they could do a partial reversal which I will take over none at all! They gave me back 2 out of the 3 overdraft charges phew. Thanks for this article!
Oh and BTW I didn’t ask for the manager it was the first person I came on the phone with. If he refused to give me any kind of sensitivity or reversal I would have taken it to the manager but he was mature enough to handle my problem.
How did you do it? I received 4 overdraft charges after I made a deposit to my account and they would not reverse. I was very nice and I spoke to a representative and a manager. Neither one would help me.
What bank do you use?
The banks are frauds, they take your money, your soul, then your bail-outs–USA is a FRAUD. corrupt to the brim.
The banks made some bad investments. Nobody is perfect all the time. We need USA banks. We need recovery. We need faith in the US economy.
Key Bank has received over 3 million dollars in tax credit for low income groups – however, they not only assess overdraft charges to my account, but then extended charges for every 5 days my account stays negative. Being an underpaid teacher, as well as a single mother and sole supporter of two children, it doesn’t appear as though they are putting these credits to the proper use. I as well have little faith in our banks and in the US economy.
This is a good start, but you have to also say the right things and act the right way in front of the manager, otherwise they can just as easily say “well, we already helped you out with 10% of your fees when you called, we can’t do anything else”. Here is what you need to do: Bring in the cash to pay your fees, and let them know that you have it. If they tell you that they cannot help you out anymore, this is your cue to ask “Would I be able to set up some kind of overdraft protection, or open another account so that it will automatically cover this if the mistake happens again?” The bank manager will see $$$ because they get bonuses for signing people up for new accounts or bank credit cards, which is what they will offer to do. It is very likely that they will offer to “see what they can do” after you do this and take off some more of the fees. They did for me anyway…. freakin’ bastards.
This procedure will not work with us bank. They will not return a dime they will tell you to manage your account better when they are the ones making it impossible Lets say you have $50 in your account and on monday you by two items for 15 dollars and wed you you deposit 100 dollars and buy something for $45…. They will hold the deposit and deduct the $45 dollar item right away then deduct the two $15 dollar items after resulting in TWO $37.50 fees and deduct it from your deposit when it comes in.
I had a similiar experience with us bank and a deposit, which they conveniently held, resulting in over drafts. I have a new bank and would suggest for others to do the same immediately.
I made my call to Capital One after reading this article to have 3 OD charges removed. The service rep did deny me the refund because a OD in my past but when I asked to speak to the manager (as suggested) I was transferred and informed him of my situation while maintaining a courteous attitude and he refunded all my fees. If I hadn’t followed this post I probably would have stopped at the reps response.
Thanks for the advice, saved me $105.00
Ryan
Haha! I just got 2 overdraft fees (my fault) and I simply can’t afford to pay $55 for a silly mistake, so I called up Wells Fargo and the representative told me there’s nothing he could do. I asked to speak to a supervisor (I was EXTREMELY polite and apologetic, and recognized that it was my fault for overdrafting) and the supervisor was kind enough to remove the more expensive of the 2 overdraft fees. I’m super relieved right now. Just be nice and ask politely… it’s no guarantee that they’ll reverse it for you (especially when it’s your fault), but it’s worth a shot.
Seriously… it’s true! You DO get more bees with honey!
Key bank is the worst bank.. unmerciful nothing works.. telling them your unemployeed used to make great money. . and banked with them and your family banked with them for years. and u had no choice but pay bills they could care less and refused to reverse anything.. I CANT WAIT TILL THEY GO OUT IT WILL HAPPEN
Amen!! Single mom of two and underpaid teacher (no raise in two years due to economic crisis) – is currently having the same experience. Imagine, five days until Christmas and negative $125.00 in the bank, plus looking at their STUPID “Recurrent Overdraft Service Charge” – don’t get paid until the 31st, so that will result in close to $100 further chages. THEY SUCK!
I have an overdraft fee that is ridiculous. and i have had some in the past and am wondering if they can still reverse them even though they have done so in the past.
I work at a local bank. I know some people do call and request this. They speak to my manager and if the customer isn’t a repeat overdrafter, is in good standing, and POLITE, she will reverse the fees. The managers are only allowed a certain amount of refunds on these year (a certain percent) so a little care on your part and some politeness can go a long way. But most of the time this method does work.
Okay what I still don’t understand is why people are complaining about getting the fees in the first place. Banks only charge these fees to people who spend more then they have and uses the bank’s money to do so. They have every right to charge you a fee if you over spend your account. I use to work for a bank in customer service and you know 95% of the time the people who called in for a fee refund are the people who had overdrawn their accounts many times in the past but for some reason feel that they are entitled to a refund for their continuous mistake as if it is not their fault. Why is that people can not take responsibility for their own finances and learn to balance a check book or just even check their balance before going out! I mean these are really simple things to do but for some reason no wants to. Well you know what if these people don’t want to make the effort then why should any other bank refund the fees? I mean if you screw up then you screw up you deal with the consequences and learn from your mistake. That is what adults are suppose to do or do I have it all wrong?
I have no problem if they charge an overdraft fee on an item that overdrafts the account – what I DO object to is arranging the debits in a manner (paying the largest item first) so that they can maximize the number of fees to be charged. Legal theft, pure and simple. When will somebody tell you people that making your living simply by handling and stealing other people’s money is not a REAL job?
Not only this, but then they continue to assess fees as long as your account stays negative – at this rate, I won’t have a pay check left in order to ever get back to positive (let alone pay rent, utilities, and groceries)! (Key Bank is heartless!!)
I have an overdraft fee for a purchase that I did not make. I don’t know who would have my information to make a purchase, but I would figure my chances of getting it removed would be pretty high. I have had 2 overdraft fees in the past that were my fault though. I’m going to call tomorrow and give it a shot. Do you guys think they will remove it?
IT JUST WORKED I GOT 72 DOLLARS TAKEN OFF!!!!!!
I had $1200 of overdrfat fees from Chase. They only returned $75 and were chargin gme overdraft fees on top of overdraft fees. They were charging me $35 on numerous $1.45 cups of coffee and then not turning off my debit card to let me know I was overdrawn. Arg. Any ideas? I talked to their corporate action team in Tx and they said no, it was my fault and they would not give any more money back. They also said they can only refund $75 every two years.
Same happened to me Matt. Chase charged us eight $35 OD fees for things like milk at a grocery store, blah, blah. It just so happened my husband mistakenly was using the wrong account’s debit card. Our fault obviously, but I ended up paying $280 extra for about $30 worth of items. I asked the customer service rep why in the world the card wasn’t just denied? This would have clued my husband off and we would have been able to rectify the situation quickly. She told me I probably needed to open a Chase credit card for overdraft protection. Yeah, that’s just what I need -a credit card. Anyway, they did reverse $70 worth – better than nothing I guess.
US Bank left 7 items unposted for a total amount of $22.00, my apartment manager ran my debit card 1 day early for $1062.00, at the time I had about $8.00 available.. Us Bank posted the $1062 within 2 hours, then immediately posted the other 7 that had been unposted for 3 days, hitting me with 8 overdraft fees of $37.50. This is not the first time they have done this to me but I promise it will be the last!
I woke up this morning and checked my account online and noticed that it was -$4.53, today was also the day I get payed, so I went to work, after work I deposited my check for $91 and some change, and saw my account had a balance of $23.34, I knew I was charge some overdraft fees and It was a total of $70 with Wells Fargo, I simply called the number on the back of my debit card and explained to the lady on the other side of the phone that it was a mistake, and I told her that I usually keep my account in good standings, it was just this time and I also told her that all I have is $23.34 until my next paycheck. She told me she was unable to make any changes unless it was a bank error, which it wasn’t, so she told me that she would put me on hold and ask a manager if they would approve the reversal and they did, I should get the $70 in a matter of hours. I guess as long as this does not happen frequently they will work with you. Good luck to u guys.
I just called bank of america, and had 3 over draft fees as I was sick in the hospital, and explained the situation, the lady was very nice and reversed them all of them, B of A seems to be changing or I just got lucky.