Complaint Review: BB&T - Fairmont West Virginia

I've banked at BB&T for at least the last 10 years, when they first came to West Virginia. For the most part, I was happy with them. The folks in my local branch were always very friendly with me and seemed eager to help anytime I had a problem. Except for this final problem - the one that ruined my relationship with this bank forever.

On Monday, my wife and I were balancing our checkbook like we often do and double checking our math against what was showing on BBT.com. We then noticed a bizarre pending transaction for $217 that was identified simply as "other debits". We both tried to figure out what that could possibly be, and came up with nothing. So, I called the BB&T phone 24 number to speak with a customer service agent. When I questioned the agent about the charge, he told me (after putting me on hold for some time) that it was a deduction for an old checking account, but he couldn't tell me anything about it. He told me that I would have to contact the loss department, and (of course) they were closed. So I went to bed that night worried about this mysterious deduction.

The following morning, I logged in to online banking and noticed that not only had the original $217 posted to my account with a description of "phone payment", but there was ANOTHER $217 listed under pending transactions. All together, these crooks had locked up $434 of our hard earned money without any prior warning.

Naturally, I was angered beyond all rational thought. So I called the toll free number to this recovery/loss department to be put on hold until they could locate the woman that was handling this situation. She finally comes to the phone and informs me that she withdrew the $217 because I had an old overdrawn account from 2002 that I never paid. The account she referenced may have had a balance left on it, although I was certain that I had paid it back then. Of course, 6 years later I don't have any way of proving that. I then asked her about the second charge, and she tells me that it is holding the $217 again because she took the money after two and it would drop off "in a day or two".

I was very angry for many different reasons. First of all, I have been a continuous customer of this bank since 1998. They have ALWAYS had my contact information including my address and phone number. I've opened several accounts since 2002 and they have never mentioned anything to me about owing them any money, nor have they bothered to call me or send me mail indicating an old balance. Instead, this bank chose to randomly seize over $400 in funds from my account without even bothering to consider any items that may be waiting to post. Luckily, we hadn't paid any bills yet so we didn't have anything outstanding which would have generated a wave of NSF's which would have made BB&T very happy I'm sure. Eventually, the other hold went away.

My next course of action was to withdraw all of my remaining money and close the three accounts I had with BB&T. I'm leaving this bank with a very bad taste in my mouth. This is not about the money. If I owed them money, I would have been more than happy to pay it. All they had to do was call or write to me so I could have planned for it. To simply seize it whenever they want is unacceptable and shows that they don't give a rats a$$ about my wife and I.

I believe that this bank is a predator, and a perfect example of why we need more regulation in the banking industry. Banks are permitted to do whatever they want without any fear of retribution - anyone that reads these complaints on here knows that. I sincerely hope that during this time of financial turmoil, BB&T gets whats coming to it. You can't treat people this way and not pay for it in the end.

Craig

Fairmont, West Virginia

U.S.A.

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