Complaint Review: BB&T - Internet

I had a similar situation that all started with an address change. 

I was planning to move in December or early January, and my debit card with BB&T that I had all my bills on auto draft on was expiring in January.  Halfway through December I called to find out when my new debit card would be mailed and they said it would be mailed halfway through December.

I found a house and moved in on the first of January.  I was settled in on the 3rd and sent an address change request online to them.  I had already forwarded my mail with the post office.  I found a home too late to terminate my apartment lease so i was paid up for another month there and could continue checking my mail and never saw the debit card.

Halfway through January I still don't have a card so I call the local branch.  They tell me they are busy and I can hold or they can give me the 800 number.  I said I'd hold and after a few minutes they hung up on me.  I called back and they hung up again.  I went online to get the 800 number and called.

They went through many security questions before they got to the part about my address which had not been updated.  So I had to ask which address they want to verify who I am and had to give them both.  They said they updated it in their system right then and that the debit card would be on the way anytime that week. 

Debit card never came.  Instead I get a snail mail from them saying they were unable to deliver because they sent it to my old address and the post office has a forwarding order and for security reasons they do not forward debit cards.

So I call them again.  At this point, bill payments are getting declined, my debit card is getting declined when I need to go to the store or make an online purchase.  They say that their records now actually show my new address and they don't know why the card got sent to the old one and the new one is on its way in 5 business days.  Meanwhile I have more bills that auto-draft on my debit card in less than 5 days.

My only saving grace was that I had a $300 secured credit card with bank of america for the sole purpose of building credit rating.  They were able to update my address instantly online, and bumped my credit limit up to 1k online within a day and I could :O actually pay my bills.

The kicker which makes this story related to the original post I'm replying to is I just logged into BB&T and saw i have charges called "PHONE24 CHARGE".  I googled to find out what that is all about and found this post.  They are charging me money to waste hours of my time sitting on a phone on hold and talking to these clowns because of their own incompetence.

I am assuming you paid via online? If so, the energy company will have quickly sent you an email notifying you have submitted payment. As well..when you initially submitted payment, there should have been a page come up with a confirmation and date etc. stating that you have submitted payment.

Now this does nothing if at the time that you paid, the account had insufficient funds...but if it did, the bill is covered and even if the bank made an error, you are not in any trouble or legally subject to any fees since you should have the documentation to prove you paid, and hopefully had sufficient finds at the time.

Your bank actually has a policy for this...

As long as the conditions are met for the Online Bill Payment Guarantee, BB&T will reimburse you for any late fees or interest penalties. For payments not received, BB&T will stop the payment and refund your account until posting information has been received and verified. You will also receive provisional credit until posting information has been received and verified.

Now as far as the bank charging you $2.00 for speaking to customer service, I have never heard of this charge..and my bank "Chase" would have me rolling on the floor laughing if they tried to charge ME for calling THEM. However, I looked up what I could find regarding your banks policies..and if your report is accurate..you "may" be okay. As according to their terms, as long as the overdraft is less then $5.00, any overdraft fees will be waived. And although I am no mathematician, I certainly can figure out that $2.00 is less then $5.00.

The following is copied and pasted from BB&T website regarding overdraft fees..

Yes, BB&T limits overdraft charges for debit card transactions and ATM withdrawals to a maximum of four overdraft fees per day. In addition, if the overdrawn amount in your account is less than $5 at the end of processing, BB&T will waive any overdraft fees you would have incurred from debit card transactions and ATM withdrawals.

This is regardless of whether you opted into OD coverage on the debit card or not. This is only general information found under "checking". However, I could not find specific information as to if this overdraft amount max policy applies to anything other then point of sale or ATM transactions with the debit card. This payment to the energy company most likely is an electronic payment which is guided by ACH regulations..so there may be different policies that won't allow you to go over by even a penny without being subjected to a fee...But then again..we would need to determine the way they charge this customer service phone call fee if this is the only charge that has brought the account into the negative...I could only find this...

Will my overdraft protection work with this service? (online banking)..

Yes. There will be no change to the account features you currently enjoy, if you access your account information through BB&T OnLine.