Nobody likes overdrawing their account. While you might feel embarrassed about spending money you didn’t have, or using the wrong account for an expense, the worst part is the overdraft fee, which can be as high as $30 for some banks. This is money that can be better spent on literally anything else, especially if money is tight.
However, you don’t have to meekly accept the overdraft fee. You can always try to get the overdraft fee reversed. Granted, it won’t always work, but it’s at least worth making the effort.
Having said that, the best strategy is to visit your financial institution and talk with a member service advisor. This will give you a personal connection while trying to get the overdraft fee waived that a phone call or email just can’t match.
Once you’re able to talk with a member experience advisor, now is the time to explain what happened. Your best bet is to be upfront and provide some details surrounding the transaction. Maybe you sent an electronic payment from the wrong account, or maybe you had to spend more than you were planning due to a financial emergency.
No matter what your reason is, be upfront with the member experience advisor and make sure to own any mistakes you made. Honesty is by far and away the best policy in this case.
Once you’ve explained why you overdrew your account, explain how you’ll make your account balance positive. You might just need to put five dollars in your account, for instance, or you might have to shift money from your emergency fund to make up the difference. No matter what your plan is, let the member experience advisor know about it.
While you’re at it, you may also want to bring up your banking history, especially if you’ve never overdrawn your account before—or if it’s at least been several years since you last overdrew your account. The better your history is, the more likely the member experience advisor will be understanding.
When you're asking to get an overdraft fee reversed, you're basically apologizing for a mistake you made and asking the member experience advisor as a representative of your bank or credit union to forgive you. You also need to keep in mind that while the advisor might not be able to help you, even if they're sympathetic. Regardless of the outcome, being polite shows the advisor that you're a reasonable person, and even if you can't get the charges reversed you'll still leave a good impression on the advisor.
Banks are for-profit institutions. As such, they want to make the most money possible, whether that’s from interest rates or overdraft fees, and overdraft fees are a big source of income for almost every bank. While many banks say they are starting to talk about waiving their overdraft fees, it’s important to know that banks made over $8 billion in revenue from overdraft fees, and many banks are reluctant to get rid of such a lucrative revenue stream.
Credit unions, on the other hand, are not-for-profit organizations owned by their members. As such, overdraft fees are often a lot lower at a credit union than they are at a bank. Even more importantly, member experience advisors at credit unions may be more willing to waive overdraft fees, if the members are experiencing financial hardship and don’t have a history of overdrawing their account.
Getting hit with an overdraft fee is irritating and stressful, but you might be able to get the charges reversed. Meet with a member experience advisor in person and plead your case to them. Be honest about what happened, explain how you’ll get your account balance positive, and above all be polite. While the member experience advisor might not be able to reverse the charges even if they're sympathetic, it's at least worth trying.
You can also avoid paying overdraft fees when you take advantage of the services First Alliance Credit Union offers. You can check your account balances and transfer money between accounts when you use our online banking platform and mobile app, or you could do it at one of our Advisor Supported Kiosks. You can even use the Advisor Supported Kiosks to make a deposit to bring your account positive at any time of the day.