END NSF & OVERDRAFT FEES NOW!

Did you know that the 10 largest banks last year (2007) - including Bank of America - made over 17.5 billion dollars from consumers in the form of overdraft fees? Were you one of them? Only the upper middle class and the wealthy can afford to keep a nice cushion to fall back on in their bank accounts; the rest of us (i.e. lower and middle class) find ourselves living paycheck to paycheck more often than we'd like. I thought there was nothing I could do; that is, until Bank of America charged me almost $2000.00 in NSF overdraft fees! Want to know why? It was a simple reason - I had thousands of dollars in one checking account and no money in another. When I opened the account I was told not to worry; if money was short in one account and debits caused it to go negative, money from the other account would be transferred over to save me from incurring overdraft fees. So I didn't worry until early August when I checked my accounts online. It was then I discovered that I had been charged over $1100.00 in overdraft fees...all because money was not transferred from one account into the other. The next day I called Customer Service to close the account; they would not comply. So I took matters into my own hands, did some research, and watched as they quickly charged me almost $2000.00 (as of today, August 29, 2008) due to ACH debits that were too late to cancel. I tried to resolve the matter over the phone, but the supervisor with Customer Service refused to help. She told me that overdraft protection applied to only a linked checking and savings account, not too two linked checking accounts, which was not at all what I had been told in the bank when I opened the second checking account.* This most unhelpful Customer Service supervisor went on to tell me that their systems were not set up to link two checking accounts; they were set up only to link a checking and a savings account. I doubt that. She even went so far as to tell me that if I pursued this to the next level (this meaning trying to get my fees refunded), it would be fraud on my part, because Bank of America believed all of the fees to be completely legal. I beg to differ. It was MY money that was sitting in Bank of America, whom I trusted to handle that money with care and treat my patronage both morally and ethically. I am petitioning here today because Bank of America refused to budge; in so doing; they lost another customer; one who has now joined the (large) ranks of those who have been treated unjustly (i.e. ripped off) and will not ever recommend Bank of America or their services to anyone.** In fact, I will speak negatively about Bank of America to anyone who inquires of their reputation. Does any of this sound familiar to you? If it does, than please join us in our ethically (and politically, as we do not discriminate) correct fight by signing this petition. By signing this petition, you will be supporting four (4) items, listed below:

1. We the people  petition to ban banks and other financial institutions) from charging an overdraft fee unless the customer has the chance to opt out.

2. We the people petition to ban banks and other financial institutions from collecting overdraft fees if the overdraft was caused by a hold placed by the bank on the customers funds.***

3. We the people petition to require banks and other financial institutions to link all accounts (i.e. all checking and savings accounts) held by the customer so they will not inccur overdraft fees if one account is debited into a negative balance while the other accounts remain positive.

4. We the people petition to require banks and other financial institutions to allow debits, including ACH debits****, to be submitted a maximum of two (2) times so as not to incur overdraft fees due to NSF. As of today, there is no law as to how many times a debit can be resubmitted to your account in order for the debitor to receive payment. In many cases, ACH payments may only be canceled five (5) or more business days in advance; consumers often find themselves not able to pay these ACH debits only a day or two in advance. The amount of debits on a single account continues to go unregulated; this is how banks and other financial institutions receive the majority of their NSF fees, as these debits can be resubmitted an infinite amount of times (if the financial institution allows it).

This petition is necessary for us, the consumers, due to the fact that the Federal Reserve Board has not updated or changed many of the laws that regulate banks and other financial institutions in more than a decade. Times have changed drastically in the last ten (10) years: gas prices are as high as they have ever been, the economy has taken a downturn, and unemployment levels are at an all - time high.****** If you are sick and tired of big corporations taking advantage of the average U.S. citizen (including yourself), sign this petition today! Every signature makes a difference, and these above four (4) items will be proposed again next year by the Federal Reserve Board when it meets with the top banking associations. Remember, the Federal Reserve Board is on your, the consumers, side. The banks and financial institutions that are making 17.5 billion dollars in overdraft fees (from consumers such as you and I), are not.

Thank you for your time.


* I obviously would not have opened two checking accounts had I not been benefited in some way. I make on;y about $26,000 a year; where would the extra money for my second chcking account come from? Not from my job, so unless I won the lottery, why would I open one?


** To see for yourself how many consumers have had problems with Bank of America, go to http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/bofa.html.

*** This also occurred in my case. I deposited a $10,000.00 check from a reputable company on a friday afternoon, and was told the check would be held for a few days. It was actually held for 7 full days (unnessecarily, according to the company who wrote the check), and during that time, bank of America charged me $455.00 in NSF fees, unbeknowst to me, while there was obviously over $9,000.00 in one of my checking accounts! I suppose they have to make their money somehow!

**** The acronym ACH within this document refers to the Automated Clearing House. It is the name of an electronic network for financial institutions in the U.S. iF you have any automatic payments that are debited from your checking account every month, there is a good chance that it is an ACH payment. It is convienient for those who wish to pay their bills on time but are forgetful of due dates. It is more than inconvienient when an unexpected financial emergency leaves your bank account balance too small to satisfy these debits without going negative. Even more inconvienient,in order to cancel these debits, companies that use ACH usually require advance notice of at least 5 business days.

***** To be exact, unemployment rates are up 5.7 %, the highest they have been since 2004.