Consumer complaint received 2015-08-01
Product: Bank account or service — Checking account
Issue: Problems caused by my funds being low — 
Company: REGIONS FINANCIAL CORPORATION (TN)

My husband and I have been banking with Regions Bank for well over a year and have had very few issues with the service until we " opted in '' for overdraft protection on our account in XXXX 2015. Since we have done this, we have incurred ridiculous overdraft fees for amounts that are already taken from available balance and held pending for up to a week at a time. We do not keep a register but have never kept a register, always checking available balance through Regions app or their XXXX phone service before and after each transaction. After each transaction the amount is deducted from available balance showing new available balance. The problem is since we signed up for O/D protection items are not being paid without O/D fees. Transactions that used to show pending for XXXX days are now pending for a week or longer. At the time of these purchases the funds are available, the amounts are subtracted but when they post the money has disappeared and we are being charged fees for moneys already made unavailable due to these purchases. I admit that there are times we have used the O/D feature for unexpected expenses or for gas or such things on short pay weeks, but we do not abuse this it is only used for emergency purposes. For instance, my husband 's paycheck is deposited every Wednesday night at XXXX. Any fees that are incurred are automatically deducted from these amounts and then we know our available balance. XXXX XXXX, 2015 we had a positive balance of {$9.00} and had to have our air conditioning unit repaired so I went to our branch ATM and withdrew {$200.00} knowing that left us with a negative balance of $ XXXX+a {$15.00} fee. On XXXX XXXX, 2015, our vehicle payment was drafted for the amount of $ XXXX+a {$36.00} fee. These amounts should have left our account at a negative {$420.00}. We do not dispute these XXXX charges, but we are now sitting at a negative balance of {$550.00} as of XXXX XXXX, 2015, due to items pending since Monday XXXX XXXX, 2015 which these amounts were already removed from available balance at time of purchases. By the time all items are paid that should have already been paid we will be at a negative balance of {$1100.00}. We do not have a problem paying the {$420.00} that we should owe but we do have a problem with {$680.00} worth of fees and items that should have already cleared because the amounts were not available after each purchase was made. If the funds were available at time of purchase and subtracted from account balance information, why are we getting charged fees and the amounts again? Where did that money go because it was not spent when we knew it was no longer available? Sounds like our bank has a worse method of handling than we do. I spoke with the branch manager and with corporate office and they said there are no mistakes and nothing can be done to fix this. This is the second time XX/XX/XXXX this has been an issue, the first time they actually refunded {$210.00} worth of O/D charges that were incurred for the same reason. Perhaps that is how they stay in business, ripping people off of their hard earned money, telling them there is nothing they can do about it, and they just eat it. Well, I do n't want to eat it anymore, and like many others stories I have read I 'm not the only one they have done this to. We have " opted out '' of O/D program and will most likely be " opting out '' of their services as well.