Serious This is some kind of bullshit, right?

[Channizard]

So I'm in town with my friend, at Wal-Mart trying to buy some shit. Suddenly, my credit card is declined. Huh. I checked earlier that morning and I had 250$ available to me. I remove half the items, try again. Still nothing. Lucky I have some cash on me and pay with that, but by this time I'm thoroughly embarassed.

Next I try Tim Hortons just to get a drink. Declined. Is there NO money in my account? So I start to head home, and go to the bank.

There, I find that a check has bounced and because it's such a severe amount, it has frozen my account. So they remove the transaction, and clear the funds. However now, I only have 140$ available to me. Funny, I had more this morning.

Because it was a US cheque, there's going on about exchange rates and what have you. For a $3900 US check, I received an extra $86.69 because of the exchange rate. Cool.

Now because it's a large US check, they place a hold on it for 90 days. I have no access to it. That's fine, I don't need it now anyway.

However today the check had bounced, and with it, took the exchange rate back. Now it was 11 days ago I deposited this so the exchange fluctuates, right? Well, apparently it had fluctuated to create a $100 difference. How you may ask? Well I'm quite stumped myself.

I'm looking at the bank details online right now.. $3900 US somehow equals to $4,094.22 CAD, so at extra exchange rate charges show that I'm being discredited -$194.22

But herein lies the problem... I'm looking right at xe.com right now, online currency converter... and $3900 US equals to $4008.27... So where is this extra $90 going that's coming from out of my own money?

Frankly I'm pissed and calling them angrily tomorrow.. printing out said exchange rates as well as my transaction details to find out where my own 100$ is going...

...any tips? Enlightments? Anyone smart with money to tell me before I go making an ass of myself?

 

[GalaxyFlare]

Well being in the same hemisphere you cant be affected by Time delays between the markets, I have noticed my self the disrcepancy between some currency converters myself.
Like when I buy shit of ebay from the states it says US$20 = $AU21.90 on ebay.

It may also have something to do with bank handling the conversion, yknow international banks and such?

But the Converter I use says its more like $20.90.....so you never know what to believe?

Tim Hortons is that a bottle shop? or a coffee shop?

 

[Channizard]

It's a coffee/donut shop. Only in Canada/US I believe.

I think it is morelike the bank trying to eff me over.. because there's no reason I should be out around $100 like that...

 

[GalaxyFlare]

I could do with a donut......

Sure there is Channi are you aware of of all your bank hidden fees?
the difference in the amount can vary daily and it only takes 1 day off bad trading to change a small amount to a larger amount.

I cant speak to the annual difference of the US=Canadian $ exchange rate but the Aussie dollar has been at around the US90c to AU$1 for ,ost of this year........ballooning out to a massive 1.1 at its highest.

Thats +10% on the dollar in terms of amounts like $5 its only an extra 50c.......but when you get in to the amounts like $200 $300 its an extra 20-30 dollars, and you say you cashed a checked for US$3900 if the US dollar is trading down on that day you could be out of pocket quite a bit..........more than you actually are?

You may be luck it werent more lol

 

[Channizard]

My bank has fees, sure, but they're always laid out whenever a charge is made. If I'm in my overdraft and I get charged $5 fees, it says right there...

However when I was at the bank today, they said it was just because of the exchange. So I go home, do my own exchange and find that it's significantly south of what 'their' exchange is...

 

[GalaxyFlare]

Yes because they have fees for that to duh?
but you not involved in that part of there organization your just a customer, they only have to tell you so much by law, there trade practices are not in the public domain.

most banks have such things, so dont go changing because it could be worse!

 

[blakstang98]

More of a personal issue, so I moved it.

*Thread Moved to The Sleeping Forest, Temple of the Ancients*

Well, I don't know much about bouncing checks and bank errors, as I've always been very on-top of my account. The basic answer, just go the bank and ask for some answers. They can pull up all your transactions, and it's possible that they did make an error. They will reimburse you if it was their fault. Problem solved if the case. You should also go through your own transactions and make sure you didn't make a boo-boo and overspend (which happens more than you'd realize).

 

[Channizard]

Yeah, as it turns out it was an error on their part. I don't know what was going on with the women I was talking to at the time, two of them both saying 'exchange rate, exchange rate..'

Someone called this morning, just letting me know that the check bounced. I said I knew, but had an issue with the overcharge that came out of my own money. Barely had to explain anything to her, she was very understanding and just said she'd take care of it. 20 minutes later she calls back and says they reimbursed me for the money that was overcharged.