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  • Report:  #450403

Complaint Review: BB&T Bank

BB&T Bank BB&T ripping off over $180 in fradulent charges Lawrenceville Georgia

  • Reported By:
    Lawrenceville Georgia
  • Submitted:
    Sun, May 10, 2009
  • Updated:
    Sat, August 08, 2009
  • BB&T Bank
    Sugarloaf Parkway
    Lawrenceville, Georgia
    U.S.A.
  • Phone:
    800-226-5228
  • Category:

This is just one more of the endless round of never ending charges BB&T finds to steal money from my checking account. They don't care that my sole income is Social Security Disability and a set amount.
On 05/04/09 I see a pending transaction that *I* did not authorize. It was one of those Federal Grant websites with the FREE CD and you only pay shipping. Okay. I'm fine with shipping. What they DIDN'T say was they were going to charge my account $39.95 a month afterwards. For what? I have no idea.
So I contact BB&T to STOP this unauthorized charge from coming out of my account. I'm told they CAN'T stop it. Although I DO know that once notified of a fradulent charge, the bank can and is suppose to stop the action and investigate. They say they can't DO anything until it posts to the account. Not even tell me where it's from so I can contact them.
I had 3 on-line bill payments going out that same day. They had NOT been received by the various utilities yet, however the bank stated they had "ear-marked" that money for the on-line payments and that basically if ALL the charges cleared that day, the account would be overdrawn. So they charged me $35.00 for the unauthorized charge, and then $35.00 for all of the authorized charges also pending, even though the actual money in the account was never below $0, since the money for the on-line payments was actually STILL in the account.
It's hard to have payments clear the same day when they haven't even been received yet. So the money for them, although "ear-marked", was still there.
The bank also knew that my little Social Security Stimulus check was being deposited in 24-48 hours. *I* didn't know it,but they did and told me so.
So the same date the Stimulus check is deposited, the on-line bill payments hit. The money for them has been previously "ear-marked", set aside... knowing they would be presented to be cashed. But for some unknown reason (the account is NOT overdrawn), each and every one of the 3 checks is charged a $35.00 NSF fee and paid. So we're up to about $180.00 stolen out of my account now.
*I* finally get in touch with the internet crooks that stated this (the people at www.federalgrants.com) and demand a refund, get a confirmation number,and call the bank back. They don't care. They refuse to do ANYTHING until: 1) I allow them to cancel my debit card and then they will 'investigate' the fraudelent charge, or 2) the refund clears the account, and *I* call them back to reverse all the charges, which from the call will take ANOTHER 48 hours. (and they can be eating $35.00 at a whack constantly).
Now at no time, have they shown me an overdrawn balance... not on-line at their own website, not at the ATM when I had to get a spot of cash, and none of the amounts I've spent have added up on the calculator to be more than they have stated is in my account at any given time, even WITH their theft of so much of MY money.
I have several questions I'm demanding from them and would love to know elsewhere. How do you charge NSF fees for pending transactions that haven't posted? How do you NOT investigate when you've been alerted the transaction is fraudulent? If you've "ear-marked" money for payments you know are coming, how can you charge NSF fees for them with the money sitting RIGHT THERE? WHO is the regulatory agent of the US over Banks that I can file a complaint with?
BB&T, like so many banks out there WILL steal your money, try to double-talk their way out of it, and IF they offer you a correction, they WILL take their own sweet time about doing so.
A sock under your mattress might be safer than a bank.

Gilliansl
Lawrenceville, Georgia
U.S.A.

1 Updates & Rebuttals


Luqicharmz

Elliston,
Virginia,
U.S.A.

Insight about Checkcard Disputes

#2Consumer Suggestion

Sat, August 08, 2009

I am a former employee of a different bank and worked in the checkcard disputes department. I've seen your situation many times. It's not a fraud transaction since you've done business with the merchant and gave them your checkcard information. This transaction is considered unauthorized. Visa doesn't allow disputes on these "subscription merchants". When you signed up for the free CD, it included a "free" trial of a subscription (it's the same with all "pay for shipping" samples). There are a lot of companies doing this and I hate it. It's sneaky and deceptive. In Visa's eyes, you authorized the charge by not cancelling the subscription (that you didn't even know you were signed up for). The procedures that you've discussed are the same with all banks. With a subscription merchant, you first have to call the merchant to cancel and request a refund. The bank will cancel your debit card to make sure that merchant doesn't charge you again. Once the refund posts to your account, they can go back to waive the NSF fees.

The fees that you were asking about when you had a positive balance are called "unavailable funds fees". It means that you had transactions pending that didn't have enough funds to clear the account. I don't agree with this process because you can then get charged an overdraft fee when the transaction posts.

For future reference, you should never pay for shipping of a free sample or free product. Even when you follow the cancellation instructions perfectly, it's difficult cancel before the trial ends (which is calculated from the date you ordered it, not the date you received it). In a lot of cases, you will also get charged from other companies as well because the fine print states they can share your card information with their partners and sign you up for more subscriptions.

A note to everyone though. If you have a charge on your account, first call the phone number listed with it. If the merchant has no record of you or if the phone number is disconnected, call your bank immediately and file a dispute for unauthorized transactions.

I would recommend completing a complaint with Visa in hopes that their process will change or they can take steps to prevent these companies from preying on unsuspecting consumers.

I hope this helps. Best of luck!

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