Beestie, the time sequence was from March 17 through March 31. I got the e-mail notification on the 17th that the sum had been deposited. I gave it 24 hours and then got that $20 from my ATM. I knew that my account had been overdrawn the $97.00 because I had gotten notice from my bank that it was when the utility bill went thru. If the check hadn't been deposited to my account, from the information the bank gave me, the withdrawal should not have gone thru. I should have got a transaction denied screen and my card spit back at me.
Paying a $20.00 overdraft fee for a $1.98 purchase is NOT my normal way of doing things. I had been told that the debit card would cease to function at the magic -100 line. Instead, purchases and withdrawals kept going through on it, even at -200 and -300. I found out yesterday when the bank sent me that overdraft notice.
I am really upset with them that they would tell me one thing and do another. I don't see how this is legal on their part. If I am going to get $300 overdawn. At the very least, it would be better to go down and withdraw the entire $300 all at once from the ATM and have the entire $300 to spend with a single $20 overdraft fee, rather than what actually happened. I got to use $100 of that, the other $200 is overdraft charges.
And yeah, since I'm leaving here, anyhow, the other thing I'm going to do Monday is to tell the utilities company that they no longer have my authorization to make automatic withdrawals from my account. They can send my final bill in the mail. In my new place, utilities will be included with the rent. Hopefully, I can find a bank in my new town that has somewhat more reasonable policies. My current bank lied to me and is trying to rake in the profit from its lie re the amount the debit card would let me go into the red.