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It's actually called fraud, at least in the US, and will be investigated by the Secret Service. If you experience such a windfall in your account, seek written
by jdavis703 10y ago
It's actually called fraud, at least in the US, and will be investigated by the Secret Service. If you experience such a windfall in your account, seek written permission from the bank before spending any of the money.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- verbify 10y agoHe didn't find the windfall - they just gave him a large line of credit. You could claim it was fraudulent because he didn't plan on paying them back, but it's not the same as suddenly finding money in your account.
- Bartweiss 10y agoYep, significant difference. I've seen several stories of people prosecuted for spending improper deposits, but presumably a loan - where risk is implied and defaulting is an understood practice - is a different beast.
- jjeaff 10y agoHe seems to be trying to justify his actions by calling it a loan, but I've never heard of a loan where the bank tells you that you can just start over drafting your account and let it go negative, then pay us back later.
- poslathian 10y agoOverdraft lines of credit are definitely a thing and can be arbitrarily large depending on the account holder. My bank keeps trying to sell me this, I don't see why this would be a good idea. Does anyone here use this? Also, one time our old bank erroneously withdrew a 6 figure sum from our operating account which put the balance far in the negative. I was stunned that they covered it and bemused to see a 35$ overdraft fee as the next line item on the statement. The charges were reversed within 48 hours. I scratch my head sometimes at how its at all possible for large banks to make these kinds of mistakes.
- Decade 10y agoI used an overdraft line of credit once, accidentally. Then I turned it off. The bank salesman had sold it to me as “overdraft protection,” and at the time I didn’t know what “overdraft protection” meant, so sure, protection is good, right? I guess what they’re “protecting” you against is the embarrassment of having a rejected transaction. And then they charge the overdraft fee, and a fee for using credit, and more fees until you notice and fix it. And if you’re overdrawing on a debit card, then you’re probably poor and those fees are a substantial burden. It’s one of the reasons I decided to close my Chase account.
- gerbilly 10y ago>And if you’re overdrawing on a debit card, then you’re probably poor and those fees are a substantial burden. It's even worse than that. Banks have been caught reordering transactions to maximize overdraft fees.[1] For example, say you have a $100 in you account and you use your debit card to pay the following amounts (in time order): $4, $15, $60, $41. the first 3 will go through, then the last one $41 will put you over the limit and you'll pay one overdraft fee. But if you reorder the transactions and submit them like this: $60, $41, $15, $4, then you go over the limit by the second transaction and pay 3 overdraft fees instead. Nice huh? [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/29/business/dealbook/overdraft-practices-continue-to-gut-bank-accounts-and-haunt-customers.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/29/business/dealbook/overdraf...
- jjeaff 10y agoI believe this practice is no longer allowed. But of course is still happening.
- captn3m0 10y agoThe article mentions a bank that now notifies customers in fine print about this practice on the basis that "it is good as long as the customers are notified". So definitely still happening. (article from 2016)
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- mywittyname 10y agoOverdraft protection is an explicit line of credit (read: loan) that you agree to open along with your bank account.
- ascorbic 10y agoI don't know about Australia, but in the U.K. that's pretty much standard. Most current accounts come with an authorised overdraft limit, even if it's just a few hundred pounds. I've had to specifically state that I don't want one when opening an account.
- jjeaff 10y agoHe says that, but the way he explains it, it sounds like they just didn't have an overdraft limit on his account. To me, there isn't much difference in doing what he did and grabbing a handful of money out of an open cash register because no one is watching it. Now if he got a letter in the mail saying they had extended him a huge loan, that would be different. Sounds to me like this guy never really took responsibility for his actions.
- TheArcane 10y agoIsn't the Secret Service supposed to protect the president?
- geoffpado 10y agoThey actually do both! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secret_Service#Dual_mission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secret_Service#D... The original mission of the Secret Service was investigating financial crimes; protecting people was only added later. They even used to be a branch of the Department of Treasury.
- elcct 10y agoYes, getting suddenly rich and not giving president a cut or at least inviting him for a dinner is a huge insult. Excuse my poor humour :D
- pc86 10y agoThey were a part of the Treasury Department until 2003 (now DHS) and deal with counterfeiting and other financial crimes. I don't know for sure that fraud like this would land in the Secret Service queue and not the FBI but it's certainly plausible. It mostly depends on which specific statute(s) you're being investigated for as to which agency(ies) do the investigating.
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- dragonwriter 10y ago> They are a part of the Treasury Department officially Used to be; but now they are part of Homeland Security.
- pc86 10y agoYou are correct, thank you. Edited to fix.
- jdavis703 10y agoHere's an example of criminal charges resulting from using money where the bank made a mistake: http://kdvr.com/2015/03/10/teenager-convicted-after-spending-30000-mistakenly-deposited-into-his-account/ http://kdvr.com/2015/03/10/teenager-convicted-after-spending....