Banks updating their records

[ssongs]

Ok so tonight I just got my paycheck direct deposited into my account at Navy Federal Credit Union. I'm excited to have some money so I go online to their website to check my balance. But I can't login because "Account Access is temporarily unavailable." But I know the money is in there. I get paid at 12:00 am EST which would be 9 pm here in Arizona. I know this works because I've seen this happen many time before.

So I go to Wal-Mart to get some shit and just to double check, I go to the ATM to check my balance. It says, "Sorry, but your institution cannot be reached." What the hell does that mean? I give my bank a call and before the teller even says hello she says something along he lines of "Our system is temporarily down because we are updating our records. They should be back within an hour."

"So I can't even use my debit card to buy something?" I ask.

"Sorry, sir, we are updating our system for all of the transactions that happened over the weekend," the teller explains.

"Why do you guys do this? None of my other banks have this problem."

"Well all banks have to do this."

"Well at least when they do it, I don't notice it. I can still use my card. So if I'm in an emergency I'm just out of luck, huh?" I'm really trying to keep my cool at this point. I wasn't in an emergency, I just wanted to by some toilet paper. Which might count as an emergency though.

She says the same thing she's already said twice and I say goodbye. Why? Why do these banks have to do this? Isn't it all computers anyway? Why do my transactions from the weekend not get posted until Tuesday? Why do they have to shut down the whole bank just to update? It's ran by computers! Do they take the weekend off?

I don't see how I can download 100 MB of porn in 5 minutes, but it takes them this long to do this! Can someone please explain to me this process?

Thanks,
B

 

[B_Monster]

Ive never heard of this and its never happen to me, good luck though, maybe in an hour you'll be able to access your account.

 

[D_Bob_Crotchitch]

If you have to go, go back to walmart and use theirs.

 

[ssongs]

Well I'm able to access my account now. And I transfered some money to my car loan and line of credit but then I go to the store an my card is declined! It said "See Bank." What the hell?

 

[ballsaplenty2156]

I had that happen to me at Christmas time, while I was shopping for gifts. I had purchased a cart load of gifts at Best Buy, get to the register and after the girl rings up my purchases, she tells me, there's no account access. I told her there is plenty of money in my account and please try again. Same thing. I call my bank on my cell phone and I am told they are updating records. I asked the imbecile on the phone, is it normal procedure to update records at 2:00 p.m.? I am told they do it during the day whenever feasible and it could take as long as an hour. I was astonished.
Fortunately, I was able to use my credit card instead of my debit card to pay for the items. I did not want to do that initially, but I had little choice at the time. It cost me a few bucks in interest.

 

[B_Lightkeeper]

I recently had a simular experience. For years I've been a member of a shopping survey group where you scan UPCs from products purchased at last once a week.
The information is automatically transmitted to them and when you have enough points, you get credit on a debit card (provided by another firm.)

I had requested transfer over a month ago of qualifying points so I could use the card again which should have given me $10 credit to add to my balance of $3.02. Several times a week I'd check my accounts and no new credit had been applied. Last night I noticed that $3 of my balance had been subtracted for a "maintenance fee." I called and was told that if I don't use that card at least once in 6 months, they charge me for non-usage.

I told them I had requested the minimum number of qualifing points be issued over a month ago but I had not used my card until I had more available money in this account.

I kept getting the run-around so I told them to just cancel my account and participation and issue a pickup for the little scanning machine I've been using for over 7 years.

 

[Mem]

Cash is king. Always have some kind of backup. Even a credit card that you can send in the full payment amount and not have to pay interest on.

 

[Deno]

here I can use my debit card as a credit card but its applied to my checking account. My account has a pending status and sometimes a transaction sits in the pending status for a day. I have never ever had an issue at anytime during the day. Its a visa debit card. maybe thats why I don't have any issue like this.

SSongs, I'd go to a different bank if you not satisfied.

 

[ssongs]

Thanks a lot guys! I got really angry when this happened last night. And it's not necessarily this particular bank that bugs me. They do give good interest rates on loans and their overdraft fees are only $20 rather than $32 with my other bank.

But Mem is right. Ive had so many frustrating experiences with debit and credit cards that I'm just going to use cash a lot more often now. Especially at restaurants! My roommate and I go out every Friday for dinner and drinks and I always use my debit card. But I won't even see that transaction posted to my account until Wednesday or Thursday of the next week! And usually I'll forget about it or miscalculate something and I'll end up over drafting and going $-80 in the hole. Poppycock!

Thanks again.