Consumer complaint received 2016-10-05
Product: Bank account or service — Checking account
Issue: Problems caused by my funds being low — 
Company: U.S. BANCORP (CA)

On Saturday, XXXX XXXX, 2016, I logged into my account at U.S. Bank and saw that my available balance was negative by about {$17.00}. I had been told previously by employees that if you deposit cash on the same day your account becomes negative, you can avoid overdraft fees. I made a deposit at the ATM of {$40.00} in cash. My receipt states that the deposit occurred XXXX/XXXX/2016 at XXXX. and that my available balance was {$5.00}. However, by Tuesday morning, I had received XXXX overdraft fees for a total of {$140.00}. 

From what I can tell from my statement online, my cash deposit did not clear my account until XXXX/XXXX/2016 ( essentially late last night ). I have been told in the past that cash deposits are available immediately, but it took 2 days for the cash to post to my account. Also on XXXX/XXXX/2016, I was charged an overdraft fee of {$36.00}. The deposit posted to my account first, followed by that overdraft fee, which I was not anticipating. Following those, also on XXXX/XXXX/2016, a slew of charges that had been pending on my account since the previous week cleared my account. I would like to note that none of these charges were made by me after I made my deposit at XXXX on XXXX/XXXX/2016. At that time, I was under the impression my available balance was {$5.00}, as my receipt stated, and made no more purchases. 

One of these overdraft charges was reasonable. After all, I did cause my available balance to go negative by purchases I made leading up to Saturday afternoon. However, XXXX of those charges are only due to the fact that the first overdraft charge put my balance back into the negative, and because of the order in which everything posted, XXXX of those charges posted against a negative account balance. Again, a balance that was only negative because of the overdraft charge. 

Here 's the other thing : those XXXX charges were already counted against me when they were factored into my available balance. I was charged an overdraft because my available balance went negative. If those charges had n't been pending, then I would never have overdrafted at all. Essentially, I 'm being penalized twice. Once when the pending charge is affecting my available balance, and again when the charge finally clears and posts against a negative account balance. This is inappropriate and unethical. 

I called U.S. Bank 's XXXX line to ask about this at XXXX. XXXX/XXXX/2016. The employee who took my call said that the first overdraft posted to my account on XXXX/XXXX/2016. If this is true, then the internal system at U.S. Bank apparently has different information than what my online account shows. This employee made no effort to explain the discrepancy, despite the fact that I have a physical receipt showing an available balance that did not include an overdraft fee as of XXXX/XXXX/2016 XXXX I made a sincere effort to bring my account positive, but apparently I did not have all the information that I needed to remedy my mistake. XXXX of those overdraft fees are just as much the bank 's failure as mine.