DECLINED

I have been using an automatic bill pay feature through Wells Fargo for a dozen years. Admittedly, I occasionally overdraft because I overpay my mortgage -- leaving me with too much month at the end of the money. Overdraft fees are steep, but I've noticed how Wells Fargo maximizes their ability to assess them. If I have several bills that I pay on the same day, they post the largest bill first, in succession from largest to smallest. In this way, if I do overdraft, they can hit me with fees on a larger quantity of smaller charges instead of a single fee on the largest bill.

Clever fuckers, they are.

But my day of overdraft reckoning is coming. My mortgage is almost paid off. The cause of my overdrafting is trying to pay down debt. I suppose I am too overzealous to pay off my mortgage, but I accept the overdraft fee(s) for my own stupidity. I'm not whining that the government step in to fix this. I'm whining that we have an America whose citizens consumers couldn't accept the social stigma of being DECLINED while consuming consumables. Consequently, I have no way to turn this shit off on my own debit account.

The American Consumer got what it wanted with this. The worst, most despicable, and horrific form of public humiliation imaginable is to have a credit card or debit card be DECLINED while trying to consume consumables with several other Consumers present, waiting behind you, giving you the "stare" for being such an unfit American. Socially, we accepted overdraft fees (it's a short term loan, isn't it?) to avoid such awful, degrading, public humiliation. To be declined in public? Gawd. You'd feel lower than a snake's ballbag.

So we passively accepted these overdraft fees. Wells Fargo calls this a fee instead of what it really is, a short term loan, to avoid the truth in lending requirements that apply to loans but not fees. If I use their debit card, I have no ability to request that they turn this feature off and simply deny the purchase if I don't have the money...but this isn't an option. I don't want the fucking loan but they give it to me anyway, saying that I passively wanted it by overdrafting. A $4 latte at 'Lil Willys would cost $35 more upon overdrafting. What is that, a few thousand percent interest?

The thing to do, if you do use automatic bill pay, is to never send more than one payment each day. Stagger them over successive days and pay the smallest bill first, defeating Wells Fargo's ability to post the largest transaction first. If you do overdraft, yes, you'll pay for being a dolt...but at least you will [likely] only overdraft the one large transaction instead of several smaller ones.