Complaint Review: SouthTrust Bank - Mobile Alabama

What is so very hard to understand....for me anyway...is......ONCE you KNOW how your banks posts things.....and how they post your deposits/checks...how they attach ODF/NSF fees...WHY and .HOW do YOU, the account holder continue to PAY them these fees? It should only take ONCE....then you cannot claim you didnt know. It makes NO sense whatsoever to keep continually paying NSF fees. You're throwing money away......YOUR money. I cant even begin to tell you when my direct deposit is credited/posted other than I know WED is pay day and my "pay check" is IN the bank late Tuesday. I have no clue when or how things post nor do I care. WHY? Because I dont spend what I dont have and I know what I Have and what I have to spend EVERY. SINGLE. DAY of every single month allllll thru the year. Ive yet to encounter an ODF/NSF......Ive never had a check returned...much less unpaid. I dont get it. Im not saying Im any better than anyone else but yet I must be doing something right. I dont make a lot of money.....yet I dont live paycheck to paycheck. I support myself and my bills are always paid...and paid on time. Maybe because I dont throw money at my bank/cu, I dont throw it away unnecessarily on over draft fees. Like I said.....you should only have to experience ONE over draft or NSF fee before you LEARN........any more than that and it's stupidity.

I just read your complaint and I just want to tell you my opinion... and you are WRONG. I've worked in banking for many years, and have worked for different banks, I started as a teller, moved to being an account specialist, banking center manager... you get the picture. You are complaining and stating that you have been ripped off because your payroll check didn't go in right away... Well... If you were not aware of how this works, let me explain it for you and for others who might think they are also being ripped off... A CHECK is just a PIECE OF PAPER until the bank it was drawn off of pays it. So, whenever you deposit a check, that check can not be made available to you until the funds are collected. Typically, if the check is drawn on a local bank (usually an bank in the same state that you live in) the clearing period (amount of time needed to collect the funds) can be as low as 2 BUSINESS days, not CALENDAR days. If the check is drawn on an out-of-state bank, then it can take up to 11 BUSINESS days for the funds to be collected. I have seen payroll checks that were returned due to non-sufficient funds, I have seen payroll checks being returned due to stop payments... If the bank makes this check available to you the moment you are making the deposit, that bank is taking a huge risk especially if you don't have sufficient funds in your account to cover the check. Another thing that many people seem unable to understand is that even if you deposit cash at 11 am (for example), that cash IS NOT going to cover any DEBIT card purchases that have been made let's say at 10.30 am... Also, that deposit might NOT cover a check that was written two days before the deposit was made. You might want to know why? Well, it is easy... BECAUSE THE DEBITS HAVE TAKEN PLACE BEFORE THE CREDIT (the purchase has been made before the deposit, the check has been written before the deposit was made). I am unable to understand why people complain that the banks are ripping them off... All it takes it a REGISTER!!! Don't write checks unless the money IS in your account. And Mike, Southtrust IS NOT doing anything unethical, although you seem to think so... They just can't give you what is not there, as I said, your payroll check is just a simple piece of paper until the funds are collected. The bank DOES NOT HAVE YOUR MONEY JUST BECAUSE THEY HAVE YOUR CHECK. The check is worthless until paid. The only time that the funds are made available immediately is if your check is drawn on the bank that you are depositing into (example: your checking account is at Southtrust, your payroll check is drawn off of Southtrust). Another way to avoid fees and delays in posting your deposits is direct deposit or ACH. Those are available usually on the same business day that they are made. I am yet to see a BANK that makes checks available immediately, as I stated before I have worked for different banks in different states and I also worked as a Banker in Europe and South America. However, you are right, some CREDIT UNIONS will make the check available immediately, BUT... CREDIT UNIONS are NOT BANKS. Credit Unions are NOT FOR PROFIT organizations, while banks are in the business to make money. I have to quote what you said... "Once my paychecks go into the clerk's hands that money is THERE, and charging NSF fees for checks coming in after a deposit is blatant, white collar thievery." Again, that money IS NOT THERE, whether you want to believe or not. Money is not there until is collected. My advice to you and everybody else would be to keep a check register and try to do your research BEFORE you bad-mouth financial institutions. And just to make this clear... I am NOT a Wachovia/Southtrust employee, I have NEVER worked for any of those institutions and am NOT in any way affiliated with them. People need to do their research and understand HOW the banking system works and WHY. When opening an account, ask questions, ask the account specialist to explain to you the posting order, ask them to be clear and even write it down for you, ask them to explain to you the HOLD policy, ask them to explain to you REG CC (length of holds placed on deposits). Banks should only take responsibility and refund fees if it is a BANK ERROR (which happens quite frequently), otherwise, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE, it is YOUR job to keep track of your money, not the bank's. Good luck!

Sorry to hear that this has happened to you Mike. Unfortunately, most banks place holds on deposited checks for the first month, some for the first 6 months. The reason they do this is because new account fraud is running rampant in this country. People will open accounts with different banks and deposit bad checks, take the funds from the bad checks, and run. Unfortunately, when you give a bank a check, you are not giving them cash. It can take anywhere from a day to 2 weeks for the bank to be paid for that item. Whenever you open an account with a new bank they will give you a packet of disclosures. It is very important that you read the disclosures so that you know what policies that bank has. I'd also recommend checking with the bank the day after making a deposit to see if the funds from the deposit are available. If you spend the funds before then, you are risking overdrafting your account. Anyway, if you decide to close your SouthTrust account, just make sure you ask your next bank how long they treat your account as a "new" account. If you want more information on deposit holds, do a google search on Regulation CC, its called "Availability of Funds and Collection of Checks." This will tell you what your legal rights are regarding deposit holds. Or you can follow this link for more information on Regulation CC: http://www.federalreserve.gov/regulations/default.htm#cc