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Home >> Accounts >> Business Accounts
About Credit Card Presentments and NSFs
As a retailer in today's economy, I generate a fair amount of NSFcharges, because if I do not pay my vendors, I cannot stay operational. Approximately 75% of my business is credit card related. Sales from MC/Visa on Monday will post to my account on Wednesday, and AMEX will post on Thursday. Although my credit card sales are shown in online banking, the presentments, according to the bank manager, are recorded first and therefore the NSFs happen. The automatic deposits are no different than check deposits made the same day, yet the bank says it is timing. The banks do not indicate the time of day the presentments hit their system, but my automatic and regular deposits do; therefore, should we not see presentments time on our online statements?
This past Monday I made a $600 deposit at 11am and prior to that, Merchant Services deposited my weekend credit card sales of $2300, giving me a balance of less than $2900. The next day I was charged for four NSFs and when I asked why, I was told that the presentments came in first, although on the first of June, I never saw them. Does this sound like someone robbing me? Where on the web would I find regulations on how a bank charges for NSFs?
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 There are no regulations regarding the order in which entries are posted to your account. In fact, in most states, the Uniform Commercial Code specifically allows for posting in any order at all. Unless your bank has undertaken by contract or otherwise to adhere to a specific posting sequence, it could theoretically post a day's items in random order.
Some banks have set their posting sequence to post debits before credits on a given posting date. Within debits, their sequences might call for larger items to post first. In some cases, the changes have been made to create additional income. We don't offer an opinion on such practices, but it can be said that they are legal nonetheless.
One thing you can do is to see if you can get whoever is handling your credit card processing to speed up delivery of funds to your account. If you can pick up one day in that process, many of your timing problems might disappear.
You should be able to ask your bank for a description of its posting sequence. If you aren't happy with the response, and if you aren't able to maintain enough money in your account to avoid the bank's fees, you may want to consider looking for a different banking relationship.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 6/16/09
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