Complaint Review: Fifth Third Bank - Columbus Ohio

On Friday 3/17 @ about 0600 before going to work, I checked the online balance, then wrote checks. Having recently overdrawn my account, on the morning of Friday, March 17, 2006, when I went to direct 5th3rd Bank to pay my bills via on-line banking.

When I logged on to pay bills before going to work at 6:00 AM, I paid close attention to my balances. 5th3rd refects the deposit of my Friday paycheck in my on-line balance, but does not show the actual deposit amount as a tranaction until Saturday.

As I started to pay bills the Account Summary screen showed a balance of $1,216.85, and a check for $350.00.

I proceeded to write a check for $580.00 for rent, leaving a balance of $636.85,

Next check for $26.29, leaving a balance of $610.16,

Next check for $50.00, leaving a balance of $560.16,

Next check for $25.00, leaving a balance of $535.16,

Next check for $219.66, leaving a balance of $315.90,

Next check for $43.93, leaving a balance of $271.97.

When I checked my balance after work on Friday the on-line balance showed (-$78.03)!

Saturday (3/18), I called Customer Service, spoke with Lisa D., explained the above situation. At first I was told there was nothing she could do. I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was placed on hold for about 15 minutes. When she returned to the telephone, Lisa told me that if I deposited $78.03 before 2PM on Monday (3/20), I would not be charged a fee.

Monday, after I borrowed $80.00, as I was standing in line at the bank to make my deposit, I received a courtesy call from 5th3rd informing me that I was over drawn $78.03, and I was going to receive a fee. When I informed the caller about Lisa's promise. I was told I needed to talk to Lisa.

On Monday (3/20), I called and spoke to another customer representative (I misplaced her name) and related the above. I was told that Tuesday, after the charges had posted, she would reverse the charge.

On Wednesday (3/22/2006), I checked the balance. The charges were not reversed! A call to customer service referred me my branch.

On Wednesday (3/22/2006), I called my bank branch. I spoke to Anne Eckerman. After I related the whole sequence of events, Ms. Eckerman offered to reverse one $33 charge. When I objected that the bank balance on line was $271.97 when I finished entering on line payments, Ms. Eckerman responded, "You should have looked at the total and realized that the $350 was not included in the on-line balance."

When I checked my savings account a hour later, my meager savings had been seized and my savings account closed.

On Friday (3/24/2006), Fifth Third Bank seized my entire direct deposited pay check. I no longer have access to my checking account.

I have been daily receiving harassing phone calls ever since.

This experience has caused me to realize how predatory Fifth Third Bank's fee structure is. If several items come into the bank on the same day the largest items are paid first. A Fifth Third Bank representative explained that the larger items were more likely to be the rent/mortgage or car payments, therefore would cause the customer more problems if those items were returned.

This makes sense if it were the habit of Fifth Third Bank to return over draft items. At least with me, it was the predatory habit of Fifth Third Bank to pay those items and charge multiple over draft fees. Since the Fifth Third Bank was covering the over draft, the customer friendly practice would be to cover the smaller items first, thus causing fewer over draft fees. It is the poor, not the well off who pay these fees.

However such a customer friendly policy would not help the rich get richer while causing the poor to get poorer.

Erik

Columbus, Ohio
U.S.A.

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