Complaint Review: Fifth Third Bank - La Grange Illinois

I'm a customer of Fifth Third. I find them very difficult to work with, and their corporate ego is astonishing. Here's what they like to do - when your checks come in, they check your balance, then they pay the checks - largest amount first, down to the smallest. If at any point, you reach a negative balance, they immediately levee an overdraft charge, and continue until all checks are processed. What really gauls me is that they allow people to take money out of a savings account, regardless of the balance. They allow you to overdraft a savings account, simply so they can charge you fees. On two separate occasions, I was given the same song and dance - "we allow you to take money from savings in the event that you might be stranded out of town, and need cash to get home"

Christina- Who said anything about "matrix"??? You seem to be very educated about 5/3 policies, procedures and lingo...Are you either a 5/3 employee or maybe ex-employee??? Again, I explained what the Funds Availability Policy is...What "float" is...And, things that happen once you deposit your check...Is that really so secret??? Educated customers are a GREAT thing for the banks and for their own benefit...I hope you understand, Christina, I am NOT giving away "secret" information...Only information that has been passed to me and I think is valuable to others out there...I am sure you know how small mistakes either on the banks part or the customers part can s****.???

Then you're an employee period. Regular average customers are not told about "matrix" and the regular average customer does not need to know about matrix or even that the word exists within the bank. And besides... your dialogue was more bank jargon than layman's terms. I suppose you're going to announce that J. Scott Nagle doesn't REALLY exist either... but I digress.

Then you're an employee period. Regular average customers are not told about "matrix" and the regular average customer does not need to know about matrix or even that the word exists within the bank. And besides... your dialogue was more bank jargon than layman's terms. I suppose you're going to announce that J. Scott Nagle doesn't REALLY exist either... but I digress.

Then you're an employee period. Regular average customers are not told about "matrix" and the regular average customer does not need to know about matrix or even that the word exists within the bank. And besides... your dialogue was more bank jargon than layman's terms. I suppose you're going to announce that J. Scott Nagle doesn't REALLY exist either... but I digress.

No, I am not and employee of the 5/3 call center. Any information that I gave in my response before was information that any Fifth Third customer can be told by a representative of their banking center or the 1-800-972-3030 call center. I just took time explaining it in laymans terms so that people can have a clearer understanding of it all. 5/3 Bank is not the only bank that delays the availability of funds. Check 21 has been written about in the newspapers and info is available on the web. Check around. The Funds Availability Policy is for your protection, as well as the banks. And, yes, banks are businesses, too.

You are obviously an employee of the 1-800 # call center. I would be careful about putting information on this website that is "internal" only... By the way, if you call the 1-800# for a fee waiver, the helpful (?) call center rep can connect to your banking center that you opened your account at to discuss fee waivers. In fact, you can go to any banking center and they will be able to help you... Please don't let incidences like these reflect negitively upon Fifth Third Bank... and also don't forget that banks are businesses too!

First of all, if you made a deposit on Thursday and your funds were AVAILABLE on Tuesday that is only a TWO day hold on your funds. Your funds were held Friday and Monday. Saturday and Sunday are not processing days. But, that will all change October 28, 2004 when the new FEDERALLY mandated Check 21 processing takes place. Most items will be "cleared" via ACH (Automated Clearing House-electronically)which should then eliminate long check "float" and make for faster availability to everyone. If your check was on a local bank the funds would not have been "held" they would have been available the next day so, my guess is that your check was on a bank not in their local area. When you give your check to a bank to deposit that paper actually has to be presented to the other bank for collection, it's not always an immediate transaction. As far as available balances go, the balance you receive is simply a "snapshot" in time. You may have items that are pending your account the same day (checks, debit card transactions and automatic withdrawals)that do not show yet. If you checked your balance and it gave $2.33 what other items cleared? If you deposited after 2pm at an ATM the ATM is on the next business day. There should be a notice somewhere on or near the ATM that states that. When you make a deposit and the funds are "held" the bank will pay items against your ledger balance (the balance when your deposit has cleared.)If you go over what the ledger balance is, yes you are now overdrawn and will be charged for NSF since the money is not there and is not showing in the ledger balance as pending collection. My suggestion would be to apply for overdraft protection since it looks like you might maintain a close balance in between payroll deposits. Everyone makes mistakes in adding and subtracting that can "catch-up" when running so close. It would allow you peace of mind and would certainly save you time and money in the future. You can use the 1-800-972-3030 number for questions regarding your account but, if you are requesting fees be reversed you DO need to contact the banking center you opened the account at as the people manning the 1-800 number have NO authority to reverse fees.

Also when you call their Customer Service # at 1-800-972-3030 or you E-mail them from their web site at www.53.com they tell you that they can't help you and you need to contact the local branch that you do business with. Well what kind of Customer Service is this?