A Guide to Bank of America Overdraft Fees, How Does it Work, and How to Avoid it? An overdraft happens when you don’t have enough balance in your account for the transaction you have made or transfer Amazon Gift Card balance . If you are a member of the Bank of America, then you should be aware of how its Overdraft policy works and how you can avoid paying the Overdraft fees.
We have prepared this guide for you and mentioned everything you need to know about how to Overdraft Bank of America.
With our main focus being towards answering “why can’t I overdraft my Bank of America account’ the information below will guide you towards handling your bank account better than before.
How Does Bank Of America Overdraft Fees Work? An Overdraft fee is generated when a user makes a payment that exceeds their current balance. If this happens to you, then you have been charged BofA overdraft fees.
While this may not look like something that you need to be concerned about, Overdraft fees can become a big problem if you are not careful. The Bank of America Overdraft department issues most of the fines during the end and start of each month when its users are waiting for their paychecks.
The BofA overdraft fees apply to every account type, so you need to be careful about how you run all of your accounts.
What Triggers A Bank of America Overdraft Fees? As BofA overdraft fees can greatly affect you financially, you need to understand how it works to be safe from it. One of the first things you should understand is what triggers a Bank of America Overdraft Fee.
Any overdraft violation you have made is handled by the Bank of America Overdraft Department. You are only charged a fee if the transaction exceeds your account balance by $1, which means the Bank of America will cover any overdrafts below $1 without any fee.
When something like this happens, the Bank of America overdraft department will either pay the amount on your behalf or cancel the transaction because of insufficient funds in your account.
In return, you will be charged overdraft fees. This means if you have $50 in your bank account and you make a transaction of $55, then the bank will pay the $5, and you will be charged a $10 fine plus the $5, which you have to pay back to the bank.
While before, the overdraft fee was $35; it is now reduced to $10, so you’ll be fined $10 every time you make a payment that exceeds your bank balance, regardless of how big the overdraft amount is.
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Does Bank of America Still Charge NSF (Non-Sufficient Funds) Fee? Something which you should be glad about is that BofA has eliminated NSF fees. Also known as a non-sufficient funds fee, this would be imposed when the bank rejects any overdraft transactions.
This means instead of allowing the transaction, the bank rejects your transaction and fines you $10 for non-sufficient funds.
You should remember that the Bank of America wouldn’t always pay your overdraft transactions, it is completely up to the bank, & it is very likely that your transactions will get rejected if it exceeds your account balance.
How to Get an Overdraft Refund? If you have been charged with Bank of America overdraft fees and want a refund then you should know that it is very much possible to get a refund on the BofA overdraft fee which you have been charged with.
The only thing you need to do is contact your bank and let them know about this. Most banks will understand your situation and will gladly cancel the overdraft fees. Although you should know that the Bank of America has no obligation to help you in case of an overdraft violation, letting them know can help you.
There is a very high chance that the Bank of America overdraft department will understand your situation, as many people go through delayed payments or times of financial crisis.
Whether your overdraft fees will get refunded or not is highly dependent on what type of customer you are to the bank. If you have a history of overdraft fees or anything else that makes you look bad, then the bank will not help you, but if you have been a loyal customer, then you can surely count on the Bank of America to help you.
Though it is possible to get a refund on your overdraft fees, you should still try to avoid making any overdrafts. Below we have provided methods following which you can make sure that you’re never charged with an overdraft violation.
How Can You Avoid Bank of America Overdraft Fees? Now that you know how big of a deal a Bank of America credit card overdraft is, you should know how to avoid the Bank of America overdraft fees.
Below you can find all the methods you need to be safe from BofA overdraft fees:
Check your Account Balance One of the safest & smartest things you can do is check your account balance before making any payments or writing a check. Building this habit will save you from any fines that will be coming your way.
You can be more aware of your account balance by either downloading the BofA mobile app, which grants you easy access to your account details, or by activating low balance notifications, which will alert you when your balance gets low.
Create a Buffer Balance in your Checking Account If you can create a buffer balance of $50 or $100 and not spend that money then you won’t have to worry about any overdraft fees.
After saving that money, all you need to do is not spend that money, & forget about that. This will help you in difficult times when this amount will cover the transaction, which would have resulted in an overdraft fee.
Pay with a Different Account or Method If you know that you have a negative balance in your account then it is a better option to pay from another account, doing this is way better than paying an overdraft fee.
For this, always have some cash in your wallet or a separate bank account. Another thing you can do is count on your friends if it is possible, as it is way better than being charged overdraft fees.
Create a SafeBalance Account If you are a student below the age of 25 or you have signed up for a reward program, then you are eligible for creating a SafeBalance account.
In a SafeBalance account, there are no overdraft fees & many benefits which you should take advantage of if you can.
Sign up for Balance Connect With balance connect you can connect up to 5 of your accounts and this will greatly help you by transferring the amount to different accounts and preventing any overdraft violations.
Balance Connect also offers easy access and management of your multiple accounts.
Opt-out of Bank of America Overdraft Fees If you don’t want to pay the BofA overdraft fees then you can simply opt out of it. The Bank of America will only charge you an overdraft fee if you have agreed to the policy.
By doing so, any excess transactions will get rejected by the Bank of America overdraft department & you won’t be charged with anything.
Sign up for Bank of America Overdraft Protection
You can sign up with the Bank of America overdraft protection program which will ensure that you won’t ever be charged with an overdraft violation and also handle any excess transactions.
What is Bank of America Overdraft Protection? Availing of Overdraft Protection will cover any excess transactions you have made with your account.
If your account is eligible then you can activate overdraft protection on it. With this, you can link multiple accounts and even your credit card with your account. After doing this the bank will withdraw any excess amount from your multiple accounts and you won’t be charged with a violation.
The best thing about overdraft protection is that you can connect your credit card with your checking account & there will be no charges to transfer money from Apple Pay to Cash app between your amounts. Also, freeze your credit card to keep it safe from unauthorized users to apply for fake card with fake identity.
How to Avail Bank of America Overdraft Protection? Overdraft protection is possible through BalanceConnect, as this feature allows you to link your checking account with up to 5 other accounts
To activate Overdraft protection or Balance Connect you need to visit your nearest branch of BofA and let them know about it. You can also call customer service at 315-724-4022.
If you’re more comfortable with online banking then you should follow the process below.
Sign up on the BofA account on which you want overdraft protection Swipe up & click on Overdraft Protection Choose The Account which you want to link to your account Click Yes on the terms & conditions Select Update Protection to avail of overdraft protection Click Done to finish the process
After applying these steps, your account will be protected, and you won’t be charged any BofA overdraft fees. The only thing you need to make sure of is not to have any negative balance in your linked accounts.
FAQs Ans: Reducing the Overdraft fees to $10 from $23, the Bank of America overdraft department allows up to two overdraft violations per day so you can incur $20 fines every day if you are not careful.
Lucky for you, the BofA overdraft fees are now reduced to $10 otherwise you would be getting a $35 fine every time your expenses surpass your account balance.
Ans: If you are going through any issues, then you should always contact the Bank of America customer care and let them know about your situation, or you can visit your branch and talk to the manager.
The Bank of America mobile app also offers assistance that will help you.
If you believe that you’re being mistreated by the bank, then you should be ready to change your bank.
Ans: Yes, if you want then you can link up only one account to your main account in overdraft protection. 5 is only the limit of how many accounts you can link up in overdraft protection
Ans: Though the Bank of America will simply reject your transaction, you can still get fined if your check is rejected because of non-sufficient funds.
Ans: No, there is no charge for setting up a SafeBalance account as this feature is designed for students.
Ans: The Bank of America handles overdraft cases simply based on the profile of their account holders so if you want them to pay for your overdraft transaction then you can try to be better in the eyes of the bank.
Ans: No, if the transaction is equal to your balance then the bank will have no problem allowing the transaction as it will only reduce your account balance to zero. Although the Bank of America may not be so eager to do anything for you after that.
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