I have had an online checking account with Ally Bank since XX/XX/XXXX. I never opted in to overdraft protection with them, nor did I agree in writing or verbally to allow the bank to pay overdrafts on my account. At the time I opened my account with Ally the bank 's overdraft fee was {$9.00}. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, a merchant erroneously charged my checking account {$84.00} via an Internet transaction. I had {$23.00} in my account at the time. Despite my never authorizing it to do so, Ally paid the debit and charged me a {$25.00} overdraft fee, nearly triple the amount to which I had agreed when I opened the account. I called the bank and the representative told me payment of the item was at the " bank 's discretion. '' According to my understanding of the law, that is not the case because I never authorized it to pay transactions that overdraw my account. I also asked why the fee was {$25.00} versus {$9.00}. The woman stated that the bank increased the fee in XX/XX/XXXX and had sent a letter notifying me. Despite the fact that I have received every single statement the bank has ever sent me, that letter mysteriously did not arrive. Nor did I receive anything via electronic mail. 

I have resolved the issue with the merchant in this case, who was completely at fault. However, the issue of why Ally paid this amount and charged me a fee is not resolved. I do not want the bank to accept transactions that overdraw my account and then charge me a fee, nor did I authorize it to do so. I was illegally charged hundreds of dollars in fees by XXXX and received a {$3.00} check after it settled its class action suit for what amounted to chump change. I vowed at that time never to be victimized in the same way again. Yet here we are. 

In addition to the fact that Ally should not have allowed this transaction, I was also not notified that it had gone through. The bank is required by law to tell me about all overdrafts and fees so I can take appropriate action if need be. Had I not on a whim checked my account this transaction would have stayed there until my next statement, at which time the account would have been overdrawn for & gt ; 10 days. According the the bank 's representative, allowing the account to be overdrawn for that amount of time -- even though it never notified me and it was the merchants fault, could have resulted in the overdraft activity being reported to XXXX and also negatively impacted my ability to conduct certain types of business with the bank. 
