People can't sleep on a TiVo. IJS.

Nor can they record The Office on a couch.

Though it's a good place to sit while you watch the recording.

What you can do is catch your bank manager at a non-prime time. You almost certainly will be able to negotiate a reduction in overdraft fees, just because you went to the trouble of asking.

Thanks for all the info. Wow! That's...really shitty. Are they trying to increase revenue from feeds? Increase the amount of time they have access to funds? Why would anyone in their right minds living paycheck to paycheck open a checking account?

Also, what is non-prime time?

Are they trying to increase revenue from feeds? Increase the amount of time they have access to funds?

Yes and yes. Also, there's that nifty little thing where when you write a check - as soon as it is scanned in, the funds are taken from your account, even if the check won't actually post for a few days. I forget what it's called, but I was working at WF when that kicked in.

Mind, if you deposit a check, you don't get the funds for a few days (unless it's drawn on the same bank). But the funds are taken out of the paying account immediately.

Why would anyone in their right minds living paycheck to paycheck open a checking account?

Because it's increasingly harder to do anything without a checking account.

Also non-prime time: when the bank's not busy. Prime times usually are lunches, around 5 (if the bank stays open until 6), and paydays (Fridays, the first & last day of the month, the 15th).

We have two rabbits living in our backyard that Owen have named Fern and Thomas. And a chipmunk in our woodpile that he calls Paprika.

I might just die of the cute.

Erin, I'm going to end up filking White Wedding for you

Hey little Cyster what have you done?
Hey little Cyster who's the toothy one?

Because it's increasingly harder to do anything without a checking account.

Agreed, but if you're paying upward of $100 for the privelage? I don't see how it's possible.

Ah, you say, put what if I have pending deposits to cover it. You are out of luck: The bank will post your withdrawals before your deposits. Further the amount of time you were overdrawn will not be the one day posting date. It will be the whole time your withdrawals were pending.

The bank my family used while I was growing up, and continued to use throughout college, did this all the way back in the mid-'80s. Even worse, since they were only open for a half-day on Wednesdays, their deposits processing department didn't even work that day, but their checks/withdrawals processing department did. So, when I called my mom from college to ask her to deposit a check to cover a check I had written earlier in the week, and she deposited it on her way into work on Wednesday, I still got hit with an overdraft fee.

Mom called to find out what happened, found out about the discrepancy in departments working schedules, and bitched the manager out something fierce! She got the fee completely erased and a promise from him to consider changing the deposit departments hours. I think that they actually did change it the following year.

People can't sleep on a TiVo. IJS.

if I thought there was a chance in hell that you would come visit, then I'd listen to you :) besides, I have a futon that is currently serving as the couch.

Is there a link, Vortex?

It was an email giving me the special deal since I've been a long time Tivo subscriber.

Nor can they record The Office on a couch.

and know that it will record the right channel, which is my issue with the current tivo.

Agreed, but if you're paying upward of $100 for the privelage? I don't see how it's possible.

If there were a viable alternative I'd be all over it. Chez Zmayhem has paid close to $200 a month in overdraft fees for almost the last year, money we need much more desperately than the bank ever will. Particularly galling and infuriating is that probably 90% of these fees have resulted from getting hit with a $65 fee for going two dollars in the hole at 6 p.m. the night before my $1600 direct deposit check hit the joint account. We were living paycheck to paycheck before WF implemented its new debit first, credit whenever we get around to it policy, and the new policy has made things infinitely worse.

eta: But, what's the alternative? Sounds like this is now near-universal, even with credit unions.

In non-money-bitching news, I am vibing hard for Aims and her sister, and for the first time in my life I wish I lived in Kansas City so I could go over to Erin's place and bring her soup and trashy novels and do kittycat care and such.