My daughter deposited her paycheck after banking hours, using the ATM machine. Her prior balance before this deposit was $10. Immediately following this transaction, she obtained the balance of her account. The "available balance" stated was $110. She completed a $50 cash withdrawal from the same ATM, and received another receipt stating that her current "available balance" was $60. Three days after this transaction, she received an overdraft notice on the account for the withdrawal of the $60.
My question is, if a bank states that your "available balance" is $110, that is the funds that are immediately available to withdraw, and not the same as your "posted balance" which may be more or less than the "available balance" due to pending transactions. She has done this same type of transactions time and time again, at the same time, with the same low balances initially without overdraft fees. I called the bank, but basically they told me that "available" only means available sometimes. I have read the banking guidelines for the ATM deposits online, but it never states the bank's responsibility if it states that the funds are noted as available but can still cause an overdraft fee.
When a policy or process is too complicated for a bank employee to reasonably explain, it's too complicated for customers to understand, and simply should not be accepted by those customers. Either the $100 of your daughter's paycheck is available or it is not, and if it's only available by overdrawing the available balance, and incurring an overdraft fee, that fact should be disclosed. Allowing an ATM withdrawal that triggers an overdraft fee isn't forbidden, just for the record.
Now that your daughter has learned that she might trigger an overdraft fee by handling her account and paycheck the way she has, she should find another way to manage the account or take the account to another bank where the rules are clearer. It is not wise to immediately withdraw from an amount just deposited into by check.
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When a policy or process is too complicated for a bank employee to reasonably explain, it's too complicated for customers to understand, and simply should not be accepted by those customers. Either the $100 of your daughter's paycheck is available or it is not, and if it's only available by overdrawing the available balance, and incurring an overdraft fee, that fact should be disclosed. Allowing an ATM withdrawal that triggers an overdraft fee isn't forbidden, just for the record.
Now that your daughter has learned that she might trigger an overdraft fee by handling her account and paycheck the way she has, she should find another way to manage the account or take the account to another bank where the rules are clearer. It is not wise to immediately withdraw from an amount just deposited into by check.
