Complaint Review: Suntrust Bank Florida

For the record, I am not a consumer of Suntrust Bank. When I post about things such as online balances and overdrafts, I am writing from a general perspective since many (if not most) banks operate along similar lines.

It's not a good idea to use online banking to learn your account balance and that isn't what the system is for. I don't know of any bank that has an online banking system that can be completely up to date and I'll explain why.

When I leave for work, I'm going to have to stop and fill up my car's gas tank and I estimate that I'll be spending about $30. When I stop at Chevron and pay at the pump, the station will put a $1 hold against my account and will submit the full charge later. That charge will go from the station manager to the owner to the owner's bank to the ACH and then finally to my bank when they process the transaction.

If I were to check my balance at any time before that transaction is processed and hard posted, I'd think that I had $29 more in my account than I actually did because the station only put a $1 hold against my account while I had actually spent $30.

Or how about this - I often do my spending on my Paypal debit card for that little bit of cash back. When I do this, the amount that I spent does not show up on my bank's online banking system until the amount is finally transferred (which can take a few days). Let's say that I spend $65 at the grocery store, I'd have no clue that money was gone until several business days had gone by if I used online banking.

That's only two scenarios but that should give you an idea as to why you shouldn't depend upon online banking for an account balance. There are plenty of other scenarios regarding restaurants, hotels, automatic bill payments, merchants who do not bill your card until an item ships, etc. The bottom line is that maintaining your own ledger is the only way to keep a truly accurate record.

Your other point was that if you should only be charged one fee if you have a $500 balance, $490 in debits and a $500 check out there. Is this based on the terms and conditions that you signed and agreed to? If those terms say that you will only be charged one fee in that situation, then yes, that's all you should be charged.

However... if those terms and conditions that you agreed to say something else, such as they can process transactions from highest amount to lowest or that they can process transactions in any order and you STILL overdraft your account, you have essentially given them your money in the form of overdraft fees. It's your money and you can do with it as you please, but I should think that in this economy you would want to hang on to it.

Best of luck to you.

including Edgeman. READ the advice. You may not like what the bank did. But the bank is within its right under the account agreement you signed. Processing largest debits first is a universal practice; whether you go to BofA, US Bank, Chase, Citibank, small local bank, large regional banks - they're all the same. They all operate the same way; processing debits before credits and largest to smallest transactions. The only thing different about the banks are the names.

This is not a rip off. It is unfortunate, it's legal, and whether you stay at this bank or decide to bank elsewhere, you'll find the banking practices are pretty much the same wherever you go.

THIS REBUTTAL SHOULD HAVE BEEN TO EDGEMAN, WHO IS A CONSUMER NOT AN EMPLOYEE. HOWEVER, SAME COMMENTS APPLY. THANK YOU GAIL

If I were in fact the employee you think I am, I owuld proudly say so. Alas, I have never been an employee of any bank in the past, present, or future. As the others you've posted here know - I am just a consumer.....

Here are some undeniable facts:
1. ALL banks work the same way. In other words, they all order transactions highest to lowest, process debits before credits, and their account agreements are all the same.

2. Online balances are not to be used to tell you what your account balance is, nor should they be a substitute for your check register. Why do the banks provide them? They do it so that you can reconcile your account at any point in time during the month for such things as (a) correcting errors you may have made in your register, (b) online payments posting to your account, (c) bank charges you may not have accounted for.

3. Online balances don't take into consideration the checks you've written either - so you'll never have an accurate picture of your account by looking online for it.

4. You victimized yourself in this process - this wasn't anything the bank did.


If you live so tightly from paycheck to paycheck, then using a debit card is not in your best interest. Stick to checks and cash only. If you do manage to overdraft your account, sticking to cash and checks will minimize the number of overdrafts. Keep an accurate check register to insure you don't overdraft.

If you decide not to do these things, I promise you this problem you have will follow you to the next bank, and the next one, and the next one. This isn't a problem you have with the bank. This is a problem you have is in tracking your own money and properly managing it.

YOU AS AN EMPLOYEE PROBABLY SEE AND HEAR MANY EXCUSES. I UNDERSTAND THAT. AND FOR THE MOST PART YOU ARE CORRECT IN YOUR COMMENTS. I DO NOT PROFESS TO BE THE BEST CONTROLLER OF MY BANK ACCOUNT. HOWEVER, I DO THE BEST I CAN WITH WHAT I HAVE. MY CONCERN, IS THIS. IF IN FACT I PUT A $500 CHECK THROUGH AND ONLY HAVE $490, OF WHICH I HAVE $490 WORTH OF TRANSACTIONS AGAINST IT, THEN THE ONLY CHECK THAT SHOULD BOUNCE WOULD BE THE $500 CHECK CREATING A NSF AMOUNT CHARGED TO MY ACCOUNT. BUT, THE POLICY OF THE BANK, WHICH IS PUTTING THROUGH THE LARGEST AMOUNT FIRST IMMEDIATELY CREATES AN OVERDRAFT FOR ALL THE OTHER CHECKS I HAVE WAITING TO BE PROCESSED AGAINST THE ORIGINAL $490. IF BY EXAMPLE, I HAD 3 TRANSACTIONS WAITING TO PROCESSED, THAT WOULD BE $108.00 AS OPPOSED TO $36.00. THE ORDER IN WHICH MY TRANSACTIONS ARE PROCESSED SHOULD BE MY CHOICE. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHETHER OR NOT I WAS TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DATES OR THE MONEY THAT IS IN MY ACCOUNT. MY DEPOSIT, TO COVER THE AMOUNT IN QUESTION PROCESSED, ACCORDING TO THE BANK AT 12:30AM THE NEXT BANKING MORNING. MORE THAN ENOUGH TO COVER EVERYTHING. HOW DO I KNOW THAT TO BE TRUE? THE BANK DOES NOT SHOW TIMES, PLUS THEY CHANGE THE DATES OF WHAT WAS PENDING AND WHEN IT HAS OFFICALLY CLEARED.

YOUR QUESTION: DO I USE THE ONLINE BANKING FOR MY BALANCE? WHY WOULDN'T I? YOU ADVERTISE THE CONVENIENCE OF ONLINE BANKING. I FEEL THAT I SHOULD BE ABLE TO TRUST THE BALANCES SHOWN. AND IF MY AVAILABLE BALANCE INCLUDES THE AMOUNTS PENDING AS BEING DEDUCTED, THAT'S THE AMOUNT I SHOULD HAVE. THAT AMOUNT SHOULD BE THE AMOUNT I SHOW IN MY LEDGER.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, YOU ARE ENTIRELY CORRECT. IF I DO NOT AGREE WITH THE RULES OF THE INSTITUTION, IT'S TIME TO MOVE ON. YOUR LOYALITY TO YOUR BANK IS ADMIRABLE. THANK YOU GAIL

What did you Check Register state your balance was??
OHH you do not keep one - that is the reason you cannot keep a positive balance
I have been with my bank for over 20 years and have had very few overdrafts - these were caused by ME
Never rely on online banking balances nor ATM balances period
Stop blaming the bank for YOUR mistakes
Grow and balance your checkbook - use your monthly statement and balance that too

What did you Check Register state your balance was??
OHH you do not keep one - that is the reason you cannot keep a positive balance
I have been with my bank for over 20 years and have had very few overdrafts - these were caused by ME
Never rely on online banking balances nor ATM balances period
Stop blaming the bank for YOUR mistakes
Grow and balance your checkbook - use your monthly statement and balance that too

What did you Check Register state your balance was??
OHH you do not keep one - that is the reason you cannot keep a positive balance
I have been with my bank for over 20 years and have had very few overdrafts - these were caused by ME
Never rely on online banking balances nor ATM balances period
Stop blaming the bank for YOUR mistakes
Grow and balance your checkbook - use your monthly statement and balance that too

What did you Check Register state your balance was??
OHH you do not keep one - that is the reason you cannot keep a positive balance
I have been with my bank for over 20 years and have had very few overdrafts - these were caused by ME
Never rely on online banking balances nor ATM balances period
Stop blaming the bank for YOUR mistakes
Grow and balance your checkbook - use your monthly statement and balance that too

I had this same exact thing happen to me today. I made a purchase on my Debit card.... Which I should have put on a credit card.. they look exactly the same, however I know it was my error and I can deal with that. But what happened next was appauling.

Friday I took money out of the ATM, and I had a large balance remaining in the account, I had several other smaller purchases made on Saturday and Sunday. My large purchase wasn't made until after all of these smaller purchases. I noticed what I had done, so I made a deposit. I check my banking, and they posted the large transaction first, which was the last one I made. Every other transaction was then an overdraft. I accumulated $320.00 in overdraft fees. So I call the 800# and get a very nasty customer service representative and she basically tells me, oh well your problem not ours. So I call the local branch, and they are nicer, but explain this is general practice. Now I will tell you, that this is general practice only in Florida. See they just tried this is Georgia, and quickly there was class action lawsuit filed. So my recommendation for anyone who needs to do any banking, is 1. DO NOT USE SUNTRUST BANK 2. We Floridians need to start writing our local City, County, and State government with our complaints. I will be taking that deposit I just made out of SUNTRUST, and will find another bank. My emloyer is a Multi-Billion dollar corporation, and they wised up a few months ago and closed all of their Suntrust accounts. I hope many consumers follow suit, and put these clowns out of business.

The unfortunate thing here is that the account agreement you signed gives the right to the bank to determine in what order the debits/checks are processed. It's not a matter of being right or wrong - it's in black and white. Once you made the mistake, the fees begin cascading.

One more thing - it doesn't matter what order transactions are processed if you have enough money in the bank. It only matters when you don't.

Hi Gail,

You wrote -

"my account showed an amount available, of which, i had checks against that amount."

Response: This makes me wonder... By any chance are you using online banking to determine your account balance? If so, you should stop. Those systems aren't intended to be used that way and aren't accurate enough for record keeping.


"all the transactions showed as being processed. i made a mistake of putting through a payment on the wrong date, which should have been 1 day later. that night a check was being deposited to cover the delayed amount."

Response: So you made a payment before the funds were available to cover it. I don't doubt that it was a mistake, but you overdrafted nonetheless.


"i told them, i thought it was wrong for them to make that decision. they should not pay it. they said that it was the policy of the bank to pay the largest amount first. we as a consumer have no choice."

Response: Of course consumers have a choice. If the terms and conditions are not to your liking, reject them and walk out.

Processing from largest to smallest doesn't generate overdrafts. If you have $500 in available funds and $490 in checks and debits, there is now way that you can rearrange those transactions to generate overdrafts. It's up to the account holder to overdraft.

"it seems to me to be a no brainer. if the available amount is such, and all items pending have been processed, that should be my balance."

Response: I'll ask again... are you using online banking for your balance? If you want to know what your balance is, use your own ledger. If you properly use it, it will be the most accurate method to determine your account balance.

Best of luck to you.