Discover Card got sneaky and pulled $$ from our checking

[sheilaE]

Up until Feb we had an automatic payment coming out of our checking account at Wells Fargo to pay our Discover bill. In Feb we stopped the automatic payment from pulling out, being we were planning to file chapter 13. Of course the calls started right away, but once we told them we would be filing BK and gave them our atty's contact info everything quieted down. Last night Discover pulled $250.00 out of our checking account leaving us in the negative $250.00. We haven't kept any funds in the WFB account because we have a credit card with Wells Fargo that will be included in the BK. I guess I should have closed that account, but what happens now? We only have enough money in our other account to pay gas and groceries to get us through the month, so I can't even go make a deposit to bring my checking out of the negative.
Has anyone dealt with this? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[CreditCretin]

I would be interesting in hearing this too, as we have Discover calling us now, and missed a payment back in March, on accident, and agreed to let them pull funds out of my account in March and April to catch up and refund the 39.00 late fee. This was when I was still hoping we could avoid the BK.

Now I have skipped the May payment after instruction from the attorney. I have never had an automatic payment set up, but did allow them to pull funds that one time (stupidly), but they had me record my voice at that point, that I approved them to pull funds on two specific days. I hope I didn't screw myself with that. I have like 2000K in my checking account now because I have to pay my property taxes and my mortgage payment. Can a CC company do that, pull money out of your account if they have the information on file, even if you didn't OK it?

[albacore44]

ok similar situation with Wells, here's what i did, and it's all about advance planning. i opened up a new checking account with a Credit Union 2 months prior to stopping payments on the Wells credit card. i had already stopped paying on all other cards. stopped automactic deposites to Wells switched them to the credit union account. kept enough in to let everything else clear. even transfered cash over from my Wells credit line, and paid the last 2 credit card payments to them with their own money, Then i just let the checking account die, and they closed it. Out of all my cards, Wells was the most persistant calling 4 times a day from offices in 2 states. never talked to them once. after 6 monthes they charged it off and sent it to viking collections. water under the bridge now, and i coulden't be happier with this Credit union.

[sheilaE]

CreditCretin,
I would definitely cover yourself and close that account. That is the same way I was set up with the auto payments. They called and offered to waive the late fee if we'd agree to auto pay. Open another checking somewhere else. I thought we were safe by stopping the auto payments and keeping this checking account with a 0 balance. The auto payments were stopped months ago and we talked to Discover and even gave them the atty info. I feel like I was too naive

This is a completely different scenario, but with this happening it has really got me thinking...my name is on my 18 yr old daughters account-she just got a job and is saving every penny to pay for her college books and supplies, being we will no longer be able to afford it, anyway, I'm going in on Monday and removing my name from her account. It would just kill me if they took HER money because my name is on the account.
Sheila

[sheilaE]

Albacore
You were smart! What do u think I should do-am I just out of luck or should I say out of $226.00 + OD fees of $35.00?
I REALLY don't have the funds to cover this. We've been keeping that account at 0 balance, but a few things that we forgot about came through...netflix, our life insurance payment...and once we found out I made the deposits to cover the funds BUT in the meantime WFB charged us a OD fee of $35.00 and every 3 days that the account stay negative they hook on another $5.00. If I don't get a deposit in I'm going to have changes galore

[catleg]

Believe me WFC isn't paying Discover that 250 dollars. After a day or two a reversal will post to your WFC account, and they will charge you the overdraft fee, and Discover will post a reversal and charge you a penalty too. As long as you're filing BK eventually, it just doesn't matter. You can list the WFC bank account separately as another creditor, or not, either way they'll go away eventually.

However, unless I miss my guess, the phantom "payment" will reset the 180 day past due chargeoff timer, since they'll use any excuse or pretense to keep an account in "paying" status as long as possible.

[CreditCretin]

Do you really think I would need to close my account? Can Discover do this, legally, take money out of an account from a different bank that was not expressly approved? We just opened this account last year because it is a bank that is local, and is not a bank we've ever held a credit card with. It was a hassle and took a few weeks to change my direct deposit, set up the online bill pay, etc. That doesn't seem legal. I mean technically all my creditors have my checking account information, routing number and account number from the payments I have been making to them. Can any bank (creditor) go in, legally, and do this?

[catleg]

Well, technically no, because you can then file a Reg. E complaint with the bank and get your money back. Same as any fraudulent or disputed transaction involving your debit card or any kind of ACH transaction.
But from a practical standpoint, it happens, and becomes a he said-she said kind of thing, in which case you fallback to Reg. E. Many people don't realize this and let the money go.
Unless the bank itself is your creditor, then it's bye bye money.

[albacore44]

CreditCretin,
I would definitely cover yourself and close that account. That is the same way I was set up with the auto payments. They called and offered to waive the late fee if we'd agree to auto pay. Open another checking somewhere else. I thought we were safe by stopping the auto payments and keeping this checking account with a 0 balance. The auto payments were stopped months ago and we talked to Discover and even gave them the atty info. I feel like I was too naive

This is a completely different scenario, but with this happening it has really got me thinking...my name is on my 18 yr old daughters account-she just got a job and is saving every penny to pay for her college books and supplies, being we will no longer be able to afford it, anyway, I'm going in on Monday and removing my name from her account. It would just kill me if they took HER money because my name is on the account.
Sheila

Well if it was me, i would have her draw down that account to a couple of bucks, and open a new one at a bank you dont do business with. Removing your name should work, but me thinks you really want to be sure, at least thats what i did with my daughters, and it was Wells fargo.

[LoadedGuns]

Albacore44, you're one sexy tuna.

[sheilaE]

CreditCretin-I misread your post. I thought you had the auto payments set up each month, but still-after what happened to us I'm going to be very careful.I keep hearing about Walmart money cards. I may need to look further into those.

Catleg-should I call the bank on Monday and tell them what happened? For every 2 or 3 days that our account stays in the negative-they will charge us $5.00 until we bring it current. We owe them money for a cc as well.

Albacore44-that's exactly what we'll be doing come monday.

[HOMEBODY]

Yep...Discover is very sneaky. I also had an automatic payment, I called them and told them that I needed to cancel it and the lady on the other end was so nice and told me not to worry that they would be cancelled and that I could send the payment myself..2 weeks later the amount is coming out of yet another checking account that I had given them permission before...so I called the bank and they would not reverse it. I paid $32 to the bank to block any automatic payments on my account and went and got their payment..So I called the bank and raised hell and the guy on the other side said that IF I OWED THE MONEY, THAT DISCOVER IS ENTITLED TO THIS PAYMENT. I told him that I was filing BK and that unless they reversed this, they would be stuck with the overdraft from paying DISCOVER for $319 since I no longer used that account or made any deposits. The next day, the payment to Discover was reversed. I guess Chase didnt want to be left holding the bag.

[sheilaE]

HOMEBODY: Thanks for letting me know this. I guess if WFB doesn't reverse it then I'm going to have to be strong and demand that they reverse it. I didn't even have any funds for them to pull out, that's what's frustrating-and then I checked the account this morning and sure enough, not only is WFB charging me $35.00 OD fee, I'm also getting another $5.00 charge on top of that for what's called level 2 OD charge. This one ($5.00) will get posting to the account every couple of days that the account is in the negative. I didn't plan on it becoming negative-the automatic pymts to Discover had been canceled months ago. Grrrr. Now the battle with WFB begins.

[helpmeout]

HOMEBODY: Thanks for letting me know this. I guess if WFB doesn't reverse it then I'm going to have to be strong and demand that they reverse it. I didn't even have any funds for them to pull out, that's what's frustrating-and then I checked the account this morning and sure enough, not only is WFB charging me $35.00 OD fee, I'm also getting another $5.00 charge on top of that for what's called level 2 OD charge. This one ($5.00) will get posting to the account every couple of days that the account is in the negative. I didn't plan on it becoming negative-the automatic pymts to Discover had been canceled months ago. Grrrr. Now the battle with WFB begins.

My mortgage is at the bank I used to use and is an auto pay every two weeks. When I switched and missed the first payment, they took it out automatically. I would have closed it, but they wouldn't have refused unless I gave them my new banking info. I didn't argue with them. I simply ignored them until I had my case number. They then reversed everything. But they did charge me $5 a day for the longest time.

Just put the overdraft on your bankruptcy petition. You didn't write a check so it shouldn't be an issue. It wasn't for me.

[HOMEBODY]

Sheila....I think it would be best if you tell them that you are filing BK and they should reverse this otherwise they will get stuck with it. You dont want to put them on BK because they will report you to Chexsystem even thought it was a BK.