So I transfered over 3/4 of the money in my checking account to an online bank so it could earn interest... and somehow managed to do that twice... I have never had an overdraft before and I am disgusted that the bank would even allow me to go this much into the negative. Has anyone had any success fighting overdraft charges ? At $35 a pop, this relatively significant to me and since I transfered it to an online bank I really don't have access to it for 3 days or so.

Any advice?

Never hurts to ask. Some banks won't reverse them unless it's a bank error, others will occasionally do a goodwill reversal regardless of who is at fault.

Do you think I am better off trying a branch office, calling, or email?

Go in and talk to a person.

For the account from which your transferred (the account subject to overdraft): do not put any more charges or bill payments on it until the balance is back up. To reverse the negative balance, depending on how much of an OD has occurred, schedule an inbound ACH transfer, make a branch deposit or an ATM deposit if there are no branches in your area.

You could ask for a courtesy waive of the OD fee. Some banks will do so. Wamu used to have one courtesy OD/NSF waiver IIRC. If no branches in your area, call 1-800 number.

Well, I went in the branch office and got it all sorted out and they will reverse the O/D charges... The banker filled out a form which had five or so categories, including average balance, number of accounts with the bank, number of prior fee reversals, and a few other ones. Since I scored favorably on the form they did it with no hassle. Thanks for your help!

Just out of curiosity, which bank was it?


Joe

I'd rather not say but they are one of the "big four"

Who are the big four?

I would guess Bank of America, Chase, Citi and Wells Fargo/Wachovia?