Consumer complaint received 2025-11-08 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low — Overdrafts and overdraft fees
Company: AMERIS BANCORP
State: GA

Complaint narrative:
Primary Consumer Financial Issue - Summary Ameris Bank delays ATM Cash Deposits after XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX XXXX from posting for 1-Business Day and allows transfers and purchases against the Pending Deposited Funds, then charges excessive Overdraft Fees Additonally, Ameris Bank Deposit Slips fail to report accurate, real time Bank Balances with transparent Deposit notices for any Pending Deposit Portions of the Balance and this practice causes questionable overdraft charges that push customer accounts into overdraft and has failed to inform clients prior to new overdraft policies when they change. 

I recently went to my local Ameris Bank ATM on Thursday XX/XX/XXXX and made a {$100.00} Cash Deposit at XXXX and received a Deposit Slip stating my new Balance of {$120.00} including the Cash Deposit Summary of {$20.00} bills x XXXX = {$100.00}. 

Immediately after making the Cash Deposit I processed 2 account transfers to my other Ameris Bank Accounts : one totaling {$80.00} to another Business Bank Account and the second totaling {$20.00} to my Personal Bank Account. The following day XX/XX/XXXX, I logged into my Banking Portal to discover that XXXX x {$35.00} Overdraft Fees were Pending on my Account for the Account Balance Transfers and my account was - {$48.00}. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called Ameris Bank Customer Service phone line to dispute the Overdraft Fees and explain the situation that in the past 10 years with Ameris Bank that my Cash Deposits always posted immediately to my Bank Account regardless of the time of day the deposit was made and I was never charged overdraft fees for any transactions that the Online Portal allowed me to transfer against those Cash Deposit Funds to my other bank accounts before. 

I stated to the Agent that in the past I also had these same issues with XXXX and XXXX XXXX also requiring an additional business day to post. During the Call, I discussed with the agent that I didn't understand when or why Ameris Bank began instituting these Deposit Posting Policy Delays nor did the bank provide any proper, transparent notice for those Deposits from established, trusted banking institutions like XXXX and XXXX that have the most stringent, rigorous policies for accurate payment processing and deposits in the banking industry? 

The XXXX could not explain when the bank started these deposit policies, if Ameris Bank had ever provided formal notices on this policies to customers. All she could do was explain the banks ATM Cutoff time of XXXX for Deposits to post the same day and that she has noticed that XXXX and XXXX XXXX also now require XXXX Business Day to post to the bank account. 

The Agent offered as a resolution that she could only issue XXXX Overdraft Waiver Credit to my account and that I am responsible for the other additional one, because she could not Waive the Second Overdraft Fee per Ameris Bank policies and that I would be responsible for paying it. Additionally, she stated that because both the Overdraft Fees were still PENDING on my account and that I would have to wait an additional business day after both Overdraft Fees posted to call back and request the Waiver again.

She stated that she would make note of my request on the account. 

As I feel that I have no other recourse but to pay the additional Overdraft Fee, I am formally reporting these issues to the Consumer Financial Protections Bureau, in order to prevent future excessive Overdraft Fees from Ameris Bank because I am tired of Ameris Bank 's continuing deceptive Deposit practices that are costing me time, money, inconvenience and undue distress from excessive Overdraft Fees that I believe are Unjust, Unfair, and Deceptive to me as a consumer and a business owner. 

I also believe that the Overdraft Dispute Process is deliberately cumbersome and frustrating to navigate by making customers wait an additional business day, when the overdraft fees should have been reflected on the same business day they occurred, instead of 2 days later. These overdrafts occurred on XX/XX/XXXX, but I couldn't get XXXX of them waived until calling back 2 days later on XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  Attached Documents - XXXX ) ATM Deposit Slip- All Account identifying information removed I also removed the Bank XXXX XXXX because it is the only branch in my city and the time of the deposit can used to locate my account information. 
If you wish to see the actual Deposit slip, please email me for the un-redacted copy.

2 ) Ameris Bank Online Banking Portal - Account Balance Screen Shows Overdraft Fees processed due to a {$80.00} Transfer and a {$20.00} Transfer to other Bank Accounts. 

If you notice on the Bank Transaction Screenshot, you will see that the {$100.00} Cash Deposit Posting date states XX/XX/XXXX ( Balance - {$48.00} ), instead of the actual date XX/XX/XXXX ( Balance + {$120.00} ) posted on the Deposit Slip and it has been moved above the top of the Transaction List and the Overdraft Fees are listed below the {$100.00} Deposit, which presents the deceptive illusion that the Overdrafts happened before the Deposit occurred, instead of posting after the deposit. 
* * * Blue Arrow indicates {$100.00} Cash Deposit * * * Red Arrows indicates {$35.00} Overdraft Fees * * * XXXX XXXX indicates Balance Transfers to other accounts The actual Order of the Transactions was the {$100.00} Deposit XX/XX/XXXX, then XXXX Bank Account Transfers XX/XX/XXXX, and then the Overdraft Fees XX/XX/XXXX, but the Ameris Bank XXXX re-organizes the Transactions Balance List to show the $ XXXX {$20.00} Bank XXXX XXXX first, then the Overdraft Fees, then the Cash Deposit Posts last. 

I wished that I could have gotten a screenshot earlier yesterday to show that the XXXX XXXX had re-organized these transactions and displayed them differently and then changed it at the close of the business day at XXXX. As I check my Bank Account Balances daily around noon, these Overdraft Fees were not there initially and appeared around XXXX, when I usually make Vendor Purchases for the day. 

These Transaction Display Practices demonstrates an algorithm being used by the bank to deliberately deceive customers about their bank balances from deposits to generate excessive Overdraft Fees, then reorganizes them to convince the customer that they overdrafted their accounts by delaying them from posting another business day before spending the money.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation