Complaint Review: BB&T - Bowling Green Kentucky

Cynthia, I will try to answer all of your concerns. A lot of what you were told seems to be incorrect. I am not at work but at home so I can't check to see who the manager is in Smiths Grove Kentucky... but are you sure you talked to is the branch manager? It is usually customer service that opens accounts. I HOPE and it sounds like Brandon is new to BB&T and is not well informed yet. I would recommend calling another branch nearby to verify. You should never have been placed in Senior Checking without direct deposit. Unfortunately, it generally does takes 7 to 10 business days to receive checks and debit card. If it took longer than that there was probably some sort of error when the agent tried to route it to the branch (there are 2 extra steps when you have it routed to the branch). I am sorry for any inconvenience. Now to correct the misinformation: 1)I opened an account with BB&T only because they refused to cash my paycheck, which is written on their bank, without my having an account with them. You can cash checks written on BB&T as a non- client but there is a service fee of $5 in order to do so.Most banks are charging this fee because A) a lot of workers (think construction, landscaping, etc) will all come in together and flood the teller line causing bank CLIENTS to wait an inordinate amount of time to get their business taken care of. *Causing CLIENTS to get upset* B) the more people the bank must service the more people they have to HIRE ($$$ a cost to the bank) to provide that service. C) the more people that come in to cash checks the more CASH the bank needs to keep on hand. YES it does cost $$$ to ship and keep CASH at the bank never mind the security risk that goes along with keeping larger amounts of cash at a bank. Soooooo banks are looking to A) keep costs down by having less staff and less cash on hand B) get more clients C) keep the clients they do have (who get angry about getting charged fees and waiting in line) while actually being PROFITABLE HMMMMM what to do?... CHARGE THE NON- CLIENT WHO IS USING OUR SERVICE A FEE!! what will this do?... A) encourage the non client to deposit or cash the check at their own bank B) encourage the non client to BECOME a client C) enables to bank to get non- interest income for the expense incurred 2) I told the branch manager, Brandon Bragg, that I am disabled, on a very limited income, and could not afford any bank fees. He assured me that the senior checking account had no fees whatsoever We do have free checking. The name of this account type is BB&T Free checking (not senior checking) Senior Checking DOES have a minimum balance requirement if you do not have monthly direct deposit. GENERALLY most seniors placed in this account type get social security deposited into the account getting the minimum balance requirement waived. There are a lot of free perks with this account that you generally do not get with BB&T Free checking (like free of discounted checks and travelers checks). That being said, Brandon wouldn't gain anything in placing you in this account vs. the BB&T Free. I assume the he placed you there because you are a Senior and did not realize that you would need direct deposit in order for the account to be free. * I would ask to talk to his superior about an $8 refund for placing you in the incorrect account type.* 3) he tried to talk me into signing up for a 'plus package' which costs $4.95 per month, but which was free at the time. I agreed to the free trial of the plus package, and cancelled it (I have the email from him acknowledging he had cancelled it before the deadline), so I should have no fees associated with my account. Unless promotions are totally different in Kentucky vs. Virginia any NEW checking account opened during the promotional period (which I think lasts until September) gets the PLUS package free for the life of the account. Meaning you should NEVER be charged for the service. The plus package is generally 4.95 per month, so this is a really good offer! With the PLUS package you get rebate rewards, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, identity theft insurance, free or discounted checks (no matter the account type), free travelers checks, discounts on prescription drugs, travel, hotels, movie tickets and MUCH more. Why are they offering this? A) I personally think it is because they want customer service agents comfortable enough with the product (the plus package) to sell it when the promotion is over. I really didn't try to sell the product before because I didn't see the use in it, but now that I have talked to clients about it (while it is free) and use it myself. I REALLY can see the benefits even if it isn't free. B) They want to bring in more Demand (checking) accounts because generally they do get a lot of non-interest income from checking accounts (think overdraft fees or even whenever you swipe your debit card)! I hope this was helpful!