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Huntington National Bank Absymal Customer Service, Beware your DEBIT CARD! Working for Huntington NOT their Customers, Be warned Ripoff Columbus Ohio
I was a Huntington customer for three years. In all that time, I thought I was treated fairly and that the bank was working for it's customers.
I was also perfect on my balance and never had a problem with a returned check.
I made the mistake of writing down a deposit twice in my register, making me think I had 500.00 more than what I really had. After my actual money ran out, I began getting charges for insufficient funds at $29.50 a pop.
In two weeks, I got seven of these charges. Five of the seven were on DEBIT card purchases that should have, but did not, decline. They went through, the bank approved them, paid them, and then sat back and collected their fees.
They refused to make anything right or even satisfactorily explain why a debit transaction would be approved when there's no money there. They were also very unconcerned and rude to me.
After three years of business with them in which I had been a problem free customer, they didn't even bother to notify me of activity on my account that was out of character for me.
What if someone had stolen my card and made all those purchases? The bank just kept approving my debit card and then when my direct deposit from work came in, took the money and the fees out of my paycheck.
BEWARE! Huntington is out for themselves. They did teach me a powerful lesson about banks though. Not to trust one.
And beware with your debit card!!! Though you would think if you use it as a debit and not a credit that it would decline when your balance is too low to cover the purchase, in reality, that is not the case. Anything to make money!
The fees they made off me are just a drop in the bucket for their income, but for me, it means my husband and I can't make bills this month. Huntington and their practices are sickening.
Previous Customer
Woodbridge, Virginia
U.S.A.
12 Updates & Rebuttals
Gina
Streetsboro,Ohio,
U.S.A.
there is a fine line to the bottom line
#13Consumer Comment
Mon, December 31, 2007
Since this last episode happen, there have been more. once again ripped off by my bank. well not my bank anymore. had to change. had a fradulant charge that resluted in 384.00 in fees, i brought my acct back in pos state and the bank and the company that overdrew my acct refused to reverse OF fees, noone wanted to take responsibility for this but they all wanted to make a deal. i have since filled numerious complaints with BBB, FDIC, OCC and a few others in the works. it is insane and i am tired of being taken advantage of.
banks have been busted by the feds not maintaining there own books and being chaged millions in fees and penitilies along with all this being said the banks are not starting to take there lost millions from the consumer.
i am going to start sticking it under my matress. it really bites and i am very discouraged. however, i will tell anyone who wants to hear the story how it went down.
oh yea, instead of the original 384.00 it has grown to over 1300.00. what a crock
Steve
Bradenton,Florida,
U.S.A.
Gina, it still comes right back to the obvious here
#13Consumer Suggestion
Sun, May 06, 2007
Gina,
The fact is, you wrote several checks against funds that were not yet posted and available.
Think about it, if you had made the deposit and waited until it cleared and was available, then wrote the checks you would not have had any problem.
And, what they have done in the past is irrelevant. It just means someone at the bank was extending to a courtesy, and then someone else came along and decided not to. It all comes back to what is written in your account terms and conditions.
FYI..It is standard banking procedure to only accept checks made out to the named account holder. If you have a personal checking account and try to deposit a check that is made out to your business, in your personal account, that is an obvious problem. It should never be done.
The bank was correct. You DO need to open a BUSINESS checking account.
Gina
Streetsboro,Ohio,
U.S.A.
Bottom line is.....
#13Consumer Comment
Sat, May 05, 2007
Bottom line, banks such as this are out to make money. I own a business and it is a new business so i have that company i work for w rite my check out to both me and my company in "quotes" for about 9 mos HUNT Bank has been cashing them. all the sudden out of the blue the stopped cashing it. and what do you think happen. I made the dep paid my bills. was contacted 3 days later that the dep was no good. i was so mad, i had 8 NSF fees, on top of that ihad to wait to get another check cut in "CO NAME ONLY" to open business check. that took almost 2 weeks from that day on i tried to play catch up alll month. i ended up getting the 8 NSF fees reversed.
However, the rest of the month i was behind because of that check and i ended up paying out over 900.00 in fees that month alone. finally got into positive bal next month for the bank to turn around and put a larger check through before all the others and eneded up starting the month off with 6 NSF fees when there would have only been 1. i am thinking seriously about small claims court. Oh and the kicker, one of my NSF fees was them making and O/D withdrawl from my savings that didnt cover the overdraft. not only was i charged 5.00 but i was also charged 36.00 for there 5.00 fee. a 5.00 they charged me to transfer 1.04, that right 1 dolllar and 4 cents. the more i think about it the more i want to sue. can you spell class action!!!
David
Columbus,Ohio,
U.S.A.
a bit of an explanation... maybe...
#13UPDATE Employee
Sun, May 28, 2006
Debit and credit transactions are usually processed, even if you don't have enough money in your account to cover the transaction. This is mainly due to the fact that the bank assumes that customers monitor their accounts close enough to know when they could potentially overspend, and figure that if they do overdraw, they know it and do it anyway. It's the banks way of saying we're going to let this transaction go through because apparently you want it too, but yes, there will be a fee assessed for us paying for your purchase.? Yes, there is a certain cut-off point, but it is determined electronically.
A lot of people see it as a scam by the bank, and while it is a large source of income, on the flip side, if for some reason you were to not pay the bank back and your negative balance kept growing, eventually the account would get charged off and the bank would take the loss, and we all know that financial institutions are not all about taking losses. So at any point that someone overdraws their account, there is a possibility that the bank could end up footing the bill in the long run, and there are a lot more cases like that than you might think.
You said what if someone had stolen my card and made all those purchases?? If that were the case, it is your responsibility as the customer to notify the bank so that we can follow the proper investigation procedures to figure out the who, what, when, where, and why. There is a whole department that does just that. If it turns out that your card was stolen or used fraudulently, you will be reimbursed 100%, not to mention any fees that were caused would of course be reversed. Not only does the bank provide you with paper statements in the mail (or online, whichever you are enrolled to receive), but there are conveniences like the automated telephone system, and online banking where you can check your account 24-hours a day. Not to mention the notice letters that go out in the mail when your account is overdrawn. There is really no excuse not to know if your account is being violated.
It was an unfortunate mistake that you added a deposit twice. Most bank representatives will take that into consideration and refund some of your fees if you just ask. I'm very generous in that respect. I know what it's like to be NSF; the college days are rough.
It's unfortunate that you were treated with such disrespect. I don't know if you were talking to someone on the phone, or if you were actually at a banking office, but if something like that happens, ask to speak to a supervisor and file a complaint with the bank.
Rebecca
N. Olmsted,Ohio,
U.S.A.
Debit card terms of agreement
#13Consumer Suggestion
Thu, May 18, 2006
Unfortuantely, all banks in my experience have this practice of treating Debit cards like checks. They are not checks, nor are they credit cards, unless you direct the cashier to use it as such.
Debit cards are direct sources for debiting positive cash flow. You must speak with your bank representative in person and make sure you request they not process debit transactions if there is not enough funds in the account AND get this agreement in writing. Don't ever take a phone reps word for it. I speak from experience. They can provide this service for you request it. If they cannot, switch banks or don't use debit. Additionally, get some check bouncing insurance. Your bank can authorize your account up to two hundred dollars for NSF checks or debits so you won't get charged an NSF fee.
Unfortunately, the HNB response was incorrect. They did you no favors in saving you money. They charged you as if you had written actual paper checks and approved a debit card charge as if you had written one. There were no funds in your account as you stated and the item should not have been approved. Sometimes, banks will say they did you a favor or say we approved it because you could have been buying gas and it was your last dime and we didn't want you to be stranded. Humans don't process debit transactions, computers do. Have your bank set up your account so the computers won't approved NSF transactions.
Do yourself a favor and Get it in writing and ALWAYS read the terms and conditions of your account and debit card account before you use it! You will save yourself hundreds of dollars!
Ken
Randolph,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
Electronic Transactions
#13Consumer Comment
Wed, October 05, 2005
It is an unfortunate lack on the bank's part, in not educating their depositors that debit cards only look like credit cards, in reality they are very different.
When you use your debit card the merchant may obtain a pre-authorization. Sometimes they don't. The amount they authorize is not always the amount of the purchase. For instances, gas stations commonly authorize only a dollar, which is their way of ensuring that there really is an account. A restaurant may authorize the amount of the check, but you then add a tip, and that doesnt show. There are other examples.
At the time of the authorization, you may well have the funds present, but then an incoming check lowers your balance before the electronic debit hits (sometimes 3 days later).
The point is that you just cannot count on the bank declining a transaction the way they do with credit cards. An analogy is that they can't prevent you from writing a check that will not clear when it comes in 3 days later because your balance has changed.
Debit cards are wonderful, but they actually require a bit more effort on your part in tracking your balance then when you just wrote checks.
Ken
Randolph,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
Electronic Transactions
#13Consumer Comment
Wed, October 05, 2005
It is an unfortunate lack on the bank's part, in not educating their depositors that debit cards only look like credit cards, in reality they are very different.
When you use your debit card the merchant may obtain a pre-authorization. Sometimes they don't. The amount they authorize is not always the amount of the purchase. For instances, gas stations commonly authorize only a dollar, which is their way of ensuring that there really is an account. A restaurant may authorize the amount of the check, but you then add a tip, and that doesnt show. There are other examples.
At the time of the authorization, you may well have the funds present, but then an incoming check lowers your balance before the electronic debit hits (sometimes 3 days later).
The point is that you just cannot count on the bank declining a transaction the way they do with credit cards. An analogy is that they can't prevent you from writing a check that will not clear when it comes in 3 days later because your balance has changed.
Debit cards are wonderful, but they actually require a bit more effort on your part in tracking your balance then when you just wrote checks.
Ken
Randolph,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
Electronic Transactions
#13Consumer Comment
Wed, October 05, 2005
It is an unfortunate lack on the bank's part, in not educating their depositors that debit cards only look like credit cards, in reality they are very different.
When you use your debit card the merchant may obtain a pre-authorization. Sometimes they don't. The amount they authorize is not always the amount of the purchase. For instances, gas stations commonly authorize only a dollar, which is their way of ensuring that there really is an account. A restaurant may authorize the amount of the check, but you then add a tip, and that doesnt show. There are other examples.
At the time of the authorization, you may well have the funds present, but then an incoming check lowers your balance before the electronic debit hits (sometimes 3 days later).
The point is that you just cannot count on the bank declining a transaction the way they do with credit cards. An analogy is that they can't prevent you from writing a check that will not clear when it comes in 3 days later because your balance has changed.
Debit cards are wonderful, but they actually require a bit more effort on your part in tracking your balance then when you just wrote checks.
Pete
Valley View,Michigan,
U.S.A.
Overdraft Fees--
#13Consumer Comment
Tue, October 04, 2005
'in this age of electronic commerce there's absolutely no excuse for this type of rip off to occur..'
Righto! And in this age of electronic commerce, there's absolutely no excuse for individuals not to know to the penny what they have in their bank accounts. By mistake wrote down a single deposit twice? Whose error was that? Certainly not Huntington Bank's.
Harry
Dublin,Ohio,
U.S.A.
It happened to me too
#13Consumer Suggestion
Tue, October 04, 2005
I was on vacation and didn't realize I'd written a large check on my Huntington checking account that I'd meant to write on my Huntington PCL. The exact same thing happened to me where the Huntington didn't decline the overdraft transactions while I unwittingly used my debit card for nearly everything I purchased while on vacation and then charged me overdraft fees for every transaction. To their credit, they did refund half of the fees, but in this age of electronic commerce there's absolutely no excuse for this type of rip off to occur...and the defense that "Gee, all the other banks are doing it," doesn't quite cut it. Here's my constructive solution: The Huntington should implement an electronic system that declines overdraft transactions on a debit card.
Former
Detroit,Michigan,
U.S.A.
Hometown Bank my a*s! Huntington screwed their customers in Southeast Michigan!
#13UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, October 25, 2004
Huntington may be big in Ohio, but it's small beans in Michigan. I'm sure eventually, all the Huntington Branches will be sold off to Bank One/Chase anyway.
Timothy
Columbus,Ohio,
U.S.A.
About your service charges...
#13UPDATE Employee
Mon, October 25, 2004
I understand that you're upset about the service charge, but for a bank it is normal. Now let's look at the other side. In many cases a check with insufficient funds can be run and kicked back twice Huntington does charge a fee for overdraft...but PAYS the other customer, saving you money in the long run.
Also if it isn't a chronic problem, they may refund a charge
So they aren't after you.
It was unfortunate that you didn't catch the 500 dollar overdeposit. But think of the 50 dollar fee you could have had from each company that wasn't paid.
Huntington may have charged a service fee for your mistake, but they saved you more than half of what you might have paid with other banks who charge a fee, and leave you to pay the other companies service charge as well.
Huntington is a hometown bank that services both big people and small, and I'm no biggie in the dept. but I'm a customer who believes in the bank. Good luck and God bless.