Complaint Review: Suntrust Bank - Richmond Virginia

I'm sure that you are saying this to get people who have been wronged by wells fargo!  Any person who still does business with a bank like wells fargo whoget what they deserve. Our neighbor who worked with them used their position to falsely accuse us of harassing them and she paid off the judge and the police to get my family member found guilty of harassing her!

Wells fargo is true SNAKES IN THE GRASS! Its hard to believe people still even go to them. When you really want a person/business to pay for the wrong they have done to you they seem to prosper more. It seems when you hate a company or person people will still go to them just to cause you more pain and suffering.

She has tarnished our good name all across wells fargo. But wells fargo defends her and her criminal things that they did to us. Well wells fargo has surely paid the price for siding with this false accuser mob criminal! 

 They may have gotten into hot water because of opening dummy accounts for people without their knowledge, but they’ve never given me an issue. I’m also moving any and all payment type debits to go on my credit card, and pay the balance in full at the end of the month. My father has been doing this for years and never had an issue. He finally convinced me after hearing of this issue.

No, it's not about perspective. It's about truth. When there's clouds in the sky, your perspective may be that it's partly cloudy or partly sunny. When a bank account gets overdraft fees, it's about the owner(s) not taking proper management of their money. And if you think Wells is so great, you might want to search their name on this site. I promise that you'll find lots of posts saying they've done the same thing that Suntrust did.

 I’m switching banks this Thursday actually. Direct deposit, bill pay the whole nine. Husband’s stuff too. I wasn’t asking for sympathy, pity or validation. Just needed a forum to vent. I can see now it was a mistake, since people on this website like to go out of their way to criticize someone else’s bad experience. I don’t do that to anyone on this site or elsewhere, because it wasn’t my experience. Who am I to tell you that your bad experience wasn’t actually bad? Or that you’re to blame? It’s all about perspective.

What I just don't get is that if I thought a bank was actually "stealing" my money, or they were charging me invalid fees that were not deserved.  I wouldn't stay with that bank.  I would be looking for another bank ASAP.  Instead people seem much happier complaining and pushing responsibility than doing anything that could actually help them.  It is even harder to have any sort of sympathy for someone who only wants to complain and doesn't even seem want to help themselves when that person wants to come off as someone "in the know" of how everything works.

But it seems as if you finally may be taking SOME action.  You said you are "going to" this next bank. When? This week, next month, the next time they charge you a fee? According to your post you have had these issues for well over a year.  Why would anyone believe that you are now actually going to do something?

I realized several posts ago that nothing said here was going to take you off the "I'm Right..Bank Bad" thought.  This has been more for people who come here with an open mind and in reading these posts may realize that there are t hings that THEY can do to avoid the fees.  

So I will just leave you with this ending thought. When you do finally move banks, if everything works out and you never have another OD fee again, congratulations. But if after a few months you start to have the same issues, what are you going to do? Are you going to now blame that bank, or are you going to think back at the people who told you the very simple steps you need to do to avoid OD fees?   

I didn't attack anyone. If anyone is being torn a new one on this post it is me LOL. Apparently to you and the others "public forum" means arguing with a total stranger over the internet. It's been entertaining, but it's getting old.

And I used to work to Wachovia (then Wells Fargo) as well. That's the bank I'm going to actually. I never got screwed over by them, so I'm going back. Never should have left! Lesson learned.

It's really funny when someone who should know better, because they worked for the bank< doesn't know how the bank works. When you were an employee they may have given you access to the top notch account without regard to the regular balance amount but I'm sure they didn't exempt you from paying for overdrafts you caused yourself.  Then when someone posts without supporting your victimhood, you attack, accuse them of working for the bank and not being allowed to post their opinion on a public forum.

I know you don't want to hear it but Robert gave great advice on avoiding overdrafts. Account register, subtract all debits as soon as you authorize them, add deposits only after they're available in your account, keep your balance positive and amazingly no overdraft fees.  Works this way at every bank so if you have/get an account somewhere else and treat your money the same way, we'll be seeing your next report on your new bank.

And no, didn't work for Suntrust bit did work for Wachovia in Customer Service so I do know how banks work. And if I'm "defending the bank" why am I telling you how to avoid the fees? It's your money and your account, you're responsible for what happens in it.

 I had no idea that Walmart sells calculators, so thank you for clearly that up. Please go away! You’ve put your two cents in, and by now you’re probably over a dollar. Let someone else comment! Again, please go away!

For some reason you evaded my response after I disproved your claim, “None of these issues happened before this month…”

There are several free online lessons on how to properly reconcile and maintain a check register. Calculators are available for as low as $6 at Walmart on Lawrenceville Highway and another Walmart on Tucker Norcross Road. Pay with cash until you get that account reconciled.

 Have a good weekend! You can stop trolling my post now :)

Not only do they always blame the bank, they waste 10 times as much effort trying to convince people(and possibly themselves) that they are right, than they would if they just managed their account.

The sad part here is that this person is someone who you would expect to know the basics of account management. Yet they apparently took advantage of their employment and basically flaunted every logical rule about managing their money they should be doing, because they claim the bank let them do it.  But now they are now upset that they are treated just like they expected they would be as a "regular" customer, and they saw "regular" customers treated this way every day.

But let's go all the way and lose the rest of the reality and say that they are as bad as you say.  Why are you giving them the opportunity to charge you fee instead of beating them at their own game?

Don't rely on the bank to tell you when you are out of money. Keep a Written Register of every transaction you make...INCLUDING auto debits(see below), and subtract it from the available balance.

Do NOT even ATTEMPT to spend the money, until the money is available in your account.  That is don't think you are safe by putting a debit through on Thursday because you have a deposit on Friday. Because if the merchant decides to put it through on Thursday...you will overdraft.

Get rid of ALL recurring auto debits. If you can't then you have to account for those 3-5 days BEFORE the debit was supposed to come out.

Reconcile your account every month to make sure you don't have any unknown purchases coming through. This is even an area that online banking can help as you can see fraudlent charges almost immediatly and you don't have to wait until the end of the month statement.

But if all else fails and this bank is still so bad why are you still with them? Find another bank. You are no longer an employee and there is no logical reason you should be staying with a bank that you say is "stealing" your money.  As it appears based on your comments you have had well over a year to move, yet no indication of actually moving.   As in doing a quick search on the Internet I found several banks and a few Credit Unions right in Tucker GA where you state you are from. So it can't be a lack of choices.

Good Luck

Have a good weekend! You can stop trolling my post now :)

“These charges that were allowed through were not purchases but yet online debits, like payments.”

That is a goofy statement because online debits and payments are considered to be purchases.

“allow charges to go through early without speaking to me first”

It is not the fault [or knowledge] of the bank if a merchant processes a transaction prior to the agreed date. It’s absurd to expect the bank to call every customer to request his or her permission to process transactions. You gave your permission when you authorized the transactions.

“None of these issues happened before this month”

That contradicts your previous statement, “They charge $36 for EACH time you go over. So in the middle of last year, we opted OUT of this service”

 This person isn't saying they expect to have the same benefits as when they were employed. They are saying the banks manipulated the deposit dates and forced one time debit transactions through to create an overdraft situation. You suntrust bot.

As an employee of the bank, you’re given a high-rolller account with all the perks and benefits without abiding by any of the terms, conditions or balance requirements. As an employee the bank would have been much more willing to work with me to get any issue resolved. As a customer, they offered no solution of any kind. These charges that were allowed through were not purchases but yet online debits, like payments. These payments were not recurring, and were actually processed earlier than their scheduled billing date. None of these issues happened before this month, and our payments have always been cleared at the correct time according to the agreement with each merchant. What suntrust essentially did was go over my head, allow charges to go through early without speaking to me first, knowing the money wasn’t in there (it was to be there when the charge was actually supposed to go through) and then charge a fee. I didn’t file this complaint to argue my point with anyone. This is my experience and it is absolutely valid.

We’ve established you’re not stupid or crazy. So why would a former teller not expect to be penalized for overdrafts? You claim innocence but you admit to violating the terms that are common to all checking accounts.

Is it your claim that you were exempt from overdraft penalties when you were a SunTrust employee? Why would you expect to continue to receive that benefit as a former employee?

This person is not "crazy", banks do rearrange withdrawl/deposit dates to make their clients go overdraft. Then they charge heavy penalty fees. Recently these fees were raised due to the bank losing a major lawsuit about this same thing. Look at what happend to Wells-Fargo? They lost a class action lawsuit because they were found guilty of criminal activities, manipulation of customer account to force withdrawls and charge fees. (extortion) Suntrust was on the list of banks found guilty of manipulating withdrawl/deposit dates. Look it up if you don't believe me. Richard, you sound like you 1. Need a girl friend. 2. Are a bot (most likely). In that case, ALT, SHIFT, DELETE yourself. 

 Wow, you must scour this site on a regular basis and look for posts like mine so you can pick fights with strangers on the internet. My post was not meant to get your attention, so you can sit down now. Have a good weekend! :)

Sorry but you didn't need any help making yourself look crazy, you did that quite well on your own.

If you’ve never worked in banking you really don’t know what you’re taking about, sorry. 

- Actually you don't need to work in a bank to know how to manage a bank account. Millions of people do it every day without overdrafting their account.  It isn't rocket science.  It is common sense followed up by 4th grade math.  Keep track of your spending by writing down your transactions and don't attempt to spend more than you have available.

Perhaps you should actually listen to that same old "recycled hash" and follow it, instead of trying to push off your responsibility over your money. Not only would you have a lot more time on your hands you would have a lot more money in your account.

 If you’ve never worked in banking you really don’t know what you’re taking about, sorry. What you’ve just told me is the same recycled hash that banks tell customers like yourself so they can steal from you and make you believe it’s your fault. I worked in banking for four years and saw a LOT of this crap going on with people’s accounts. But once I was no longer an employee I was no longer exempt from these tactics. So keep defending them if it helps you sleep at night. Toodles! :) Oh and nice use of the whole conspiracy theory. Good try making an innocent person look crazy :)

 Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid. I was a teller for almost four years, two of which with suntrust. I saw firsthand what they did to customer accounts. I was stupid to keep my account there, knowing that once I was no longer an employee I was no longer safe from their shady behavior. But yes, by all means attack me and defend them. Give yourself a pat on the back :)

As a "former Suntrust Employee" you don't even seem to understand banking 101. That says more against this bank and the quality of people they hire than anything you posted here could say.  Unless of course they actually let you go for this reason.  As nothing you have posted here even comes close to admitting you made a mistake.

As a "former" employee you should know that there are still situations that even if you did "opt out" of the Standard "overdraft protection" you can overdraft. Per FEDERAL law(that every bank follows) what you opted out of was being declined at a POS(that is Point of Sale) or ATM transaction, if the amount you were attempting to spend or withdraw was more than you currently had available. It did NOT affect Checks, ACH, or certain other pre-authorized transactions. For those the bank could, just like always, decide to either accept or reject the payment. However, if they returned the payment you would still be subject to an NSF fee.

Your conspiracy theory of them "holding" or "forcing" things through only when you have a low balance again also fails. As by that logic if you never had a low balance or attempted to spend more than you had available then some of your checks would never get put through as they would be holding them hoping you would. They also can't force something through if they don't have it, so the only way it would be "forced" through is if you actually wrote a check, or did an Electronic Transaction, that was compound by you using your Debit Card. Of course that really isn't forcing it through that is processing it as through their standard posting guidelines.

As a "former" employee of any bank you should know the value of the Written Register, that is that you should be taking responsibility and writing down every single transaction you make and subtracting it from your av available balance. You should know that the online banking was never meant to replace this register, that it doesn't know what you have spent, only what has been received by the bank. So it is a good tool, but only one tool.  Then, and this is the big key, DO NOT attempt to spend more than you have available. These few items alone would probably have stopped all of your Overdraft fees. It is YOUR money and YOUR responsibility.

 Oh and no, unlike you I am not an employee (former or otherwise) of this or any bank.  I will also tell you that unless you change your ways regardless of the bank you go to, you will run into the same issues again.

Unless you were a window washer at SunTrust you already know the solution is for you to maintain a check register and get your spending habits under control.