Item paid on behalf of you

Title: FNB charged me an unfair “Item Paid – No Funds” fee even though there was enough money before their account fees

I am extremely unhappy with how FNB handled my account and the unfair R200 “Item Paid – No Funds” fee charged to me.

I made a purchase from PrintXspresso that was still pending/processing on my card. At the time of the purchase, there was enough money available in my account for the transaction to go through.

After that, FNB deducted their monthly account fee (around R120). Because FNB took their fees first, there was suddenly not enough available when the merchant processed the transaction later.

Instead of declining the transaction like most banks would do, FNB processed the payment anyway and then charged me an additional “#Item Paid No Funds” fee of R200, plus other bank charges.

This makes absolutely no sense to me:

If FNB truly “paid the item on my behalf,” then my account should only have reflected the shortage amount caused by the monthly fee.

Instead, my balance went far beyond that because of the extra R200 penalty fee.

The transaction should simply have declined if there were insufficient funds at the time of processing.

Other banks do not handle this the same way.

Customers should not be penalised because the bank prioritises deducting account fees before pending card transactions settle.

I feel this fee is unfair and misleading, especially because there was enough money in the account when the card purchase was originally made.

I would like:

A refund of the R200 “Item Paid No Funds” fee

A proper explanation of why FNB processed the transaction instead of declining it

Clarification on why customers are effectively charged extra for the bank’s decision to “cover” transaction automatically. If there isn't enough money then decline the purchase. No nonsense like there was enough on the balance and no there isn't anymore because of monthly fees and now you need to pay the monthly fees with an extra R200 item paid on your behalf.

I hope FNB can resolve this fairly because this feels extremely exploitative toward customers already struggling financially.

This has happened so many times before. And i am not the only customer complaining. This was the last time.