HELP! Starbucks overcharged me yesterday and now I am negative in my account!!!

[ilovediznee]

Went to Starbucks yesterday to get a drink for DD - should have been about $4.50. My husband was driving and we ordered and he handed them my card for me. i asked for a receipt and didn't get one and then this morning I looked at my account and I was charged $11.88, which has now made my account overdrawn for .03 cents! The banks are closed today and I called Starbucks and the manager said that once it posts, she will refund me the money, but what happens to my other pending transactions due to this 3 cents???????

My SIL is the branch manager so I plan to call her this morning at home since they are closed but I am worried because what will happen to my other pending transactions that will post tonight???

Please advise.

Thanks- Diane

 

[Aaeolien]

Sounds like you need to call you bank first thing tomorrow and hope they take a pity on you and reverse the overdraft charges you are likely to accrue since the account is negative. Most banks will do this without a problem assuming this is something that is an extremely rare occurrence.

Or you need to transfer money from another account using online banking to make your balance positive and then call the bank to see if they will take pity on you and reverse the overdraft charges you are likely to accrue

Either way call your bank.

 

[tiff211]

if you put the money into your account by open of bank business you shouldn't get an overdraft fee. Then you can deal with starbucks refunding the money afterwards.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

If you can't get the overdraft fee reversed I would bill the fee to Starbucks.

 

[Fathawkeye]

Is this really a serious post? If I knew that I had $11 to my name I probably wouldn't spend 50% of it on a drink at Starbucks. Jmo

 

[millerjmls]

I keep a reserve in my checking account that is always there and never touched just in case of a subtraction error or a forgotten entry. Just pretend it isn't there! Then, you never have to worry about a negative balance. Hope it works out and you don't get a penalty fee.

 

[mrodgers]

Is this really a serious post? If I knew that I had $11 to my name I probably wouldn't spend 50% of it on a drink at Starbucks. Jmo

Having $11 in a single account is not the same as having $11 to one's name....

 

[kamik86]

Is this really a serious post? If I knew that I had $11 to my name I probably wouldn't spend 50% of it on a drink at Starbucks. Jmo

Along the same lines you mentioned "Other transactions" well if 8 bucks of a mischarge was what made you go negative how many other transcactions can there possibly be to worry about?



When I was in college was broke and used to manage my money extremely closely and even with bringing the account this low on occasion never had overdraft issues. When I started working full time and had money I stopped watching everything with so much detail. I ended up with a few overdrafts before I learned that now if I'm not going to watch everything so close I need to make sure I keep about $100 of cushion in there. So when I forget about something or a transaction accidentally posts twice etc its not a big deal.

 

[Marionnette]

Went to Starbucks yesterday to get a drink for DD - should have been about $4.50. My husband was driving and we ordered and he handed them my card for me. i asked for a receipt and didn't get one and then this morning I looked at my account and I was charged $11.88, which has now made my account overdrawn for .03 cents! The banks are closed today and I called Starbucks and the manager said that once it posts, she will refund me the money, but what happens to my other pending transactions due to this 3 cents???????

My SIL is the branch manager so I plan to call her this morning at home since they are closed but I am worried because what will happen to my other pending transactions that will post tonight???

Please advise.

Thanks- Diane

Is this really a serious post? If I knew that I had $11 to my name I probably wouldn't spend 50% of it on a drink at Starbucks. Jmo

MTE, Fathawkeye! How do you have so little in your account and then spend half of it on Starbucks when you know that you have other transactions pending?

OP, like others have pointed out, if you deposit money today before the close of business hours, the bank has to credit that to your account before they debit any transactions that are submitted for the day. Some banks have overdraft protection that customers pay for and others will offer it for free if you maintain a savings account with them (they withdraw the overdraft from your savings).

 

[JanaDee]

Went to Starbucks yesterday to get a drink for DD - should have been about $4.50. My husband was driving and we ordered and he handed them my card for me. i asked for a receipt and didn't get one and then this morning I looked at my account and I was charged $11.88, which has now made my account overdrawn for .03 cents! The banks are closed today and I called Starbucks and the manager said that once it posts, she will refund me the money, but what happens to my other pending transactions due to this 3 cents???????

My SIL is the branch manager so I plan to call her this morning at home since they are closed but I am worried because what will happen to my other pending transactions that will post tonight???

Please advise.

Thanks- Diane

Just to get this straight, you knew you only had a little over $11 in your account, yet you spent almost half of that on a drink at Starbucks, knowing full well other transactions were pending?

Oy vey.

My advice would be don't spend money on Starbucks when you only have $11 in your account. It may be an expensive lesson to learn, since banks aren't open today.

 

[Marionnette]

Just to get this straight, you knew you only had a little over $11 in your account, yet you spent almost half of that on a drink at Starbucks, knowing full well other transactions were pending?

Oy vey.

My advice would be don't spend money on Starbucks when you only have $11 in your account. It may be an expensive lesson to learn, since banks aren't open today.

My bank is! Columbus Day isn't the big holiday it used to be. Very few businesses are closed today.
http://www.tdbank.com/bank/holiday_schedule.html

 

[LauraLea]

Thus the reason I refuse to use debit cards.

Mistakes by merchants happen all the time that end up tying up all your funds in a checking account. Does not matter if you have $11 or $1100 in the account. With debit cards an incorrect entry causes issues for future and pending charges immediately. At least with credit cards you have the time to get issues resolved without holding all your money hostage.

Laura

 

[JanaDee]

My bank is! Columbus Day isn't the big holiday it used to be. Very few businesses are closed today.
http://www.tdbank.com/bank/holiday_schedule.html

Banks and the PO were the only places ever closed here. One of our banks is closed today, the other isn't. PO is still closed.

We've never had school off, so that isn't a consideration.

 

[tiff211]

Some bank branches are open but its still a banking holiday....nothing posts today.

I have a "fun" account that I use for just my treats, that sometimes I use to the penny in between pay periods. Right now, I have about $6 bucks in it because I get paid on the 15th and I treated myself a little extra on Friday night, lol. The OP never stated that were her primary account or the only money to her name.

 

[tvguy]

You certainly need to look into getting over draft protection on that account.
Wells Fargo will cover up to $5,000 in overdrafts on my debit/checking account. If I pay back the money within 30 days there is no charge. Just a $25 annual fee.

 

[JanaDee]

Some bank branches are open but its still a banking holiday....nothing posts today.

I have a "fun" account that I use for just my treats, that sometimes I use to the penny in between pay periods. Right now, I have about $6 bucks in it because I get paid on the 15th and I treated myself a little extra on Friday night, lol. The OP never stated that were her primary account or the only money to her name.

Even if you have other accounts, you should know you don't continue to spend on that account when you have outstanding transactions with only $11 in the account.

 

[tiff211]

Doesn't pending mean the money is already holding in the account. Her question I believe was what happens when they post. I didn't take it to mean she kept spending past the amount she had. I took it to mean if she had not been charged $11.88 she would still have $7.38 in her account and all pending transactions would clear with no problem. If she puts .3 in, that will still happen and she would have a zero balance.

 

[julieanddanny]

Before things get posted tomorrow, make a transfer or deposit to your account. Deposits should be posted first. You can even deposit through most ATMs.

 

[LJSquishy]

Once the transactions actually post to your account and you have a negative balance, you will also be charged an overdraft fee (usually anywhere from $14-$30, and it may be a charge per overdrafted transaction but I'm not sure) which will make your negative balance even larger.

Some folks have special debit accounts for "play" money such as eating out, coffee, fun shopping, etc so if your situation is due to having a special account for extras, consider allowing yourself a larger buffer in the future such as not allowing yourself to spend literally all of the money in there...maybe keep $100 unused, or at least $50.

If your situation is with your typical checking account, you may want to read about better managing your budget and balancing wants vs needs. As the others have said, spending almost half of your remaining account balance on coffee was not smart. I understand it was their error, but it still wasn't smart. You will probably need to print out your statement (once the transaction officially posts, not just while it's pending) and speak with a manager at Starbucks. I have had a few transactions show an incorrect pending amount and then when it posts it's the correct amount...although I would bet this was an error on Starbucks' part.

We have our checking account set up so if we overdraft, it pulls the money from our savings account automatically. It doesn't cost us anything to do it that way and it avoids an overdraft fee if it were to happen.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

If it's still a pending transaction it's possible the amount will only post for the correct amount. This happened to me at Costco once. ($40 purchase was pending for $80). I have no idea how it happened but only $40 ended up being charged.

If it does go through for the higher amount then try asking the bank to waive the OD fees and get the refund from Starbucks. If OD fees aren't waived by bank then call Starbucks corporate to request refund for the fees. You will likely need to print documents from the bank showing the transactions and OD fees. Usually Starbucks will also send you a complimentary drink coupon for your troubles. They charged me twice on my gift card once in the store and noticed it right away. They gave me 3 drink coupons for the mistake.