I too am a victim of BB&T. When I describe myself as a victim in this particular situation, I do not mean that I am projecting an image of a hopelessly naive and easily preyed-upon person who craves attention, but the true meaning of the word: one who has been ridden hard and left out to dry. My livelihood, my self-image, my emotional state and my health, literally, have been stolen from me by a bank.
Do not believe me? Read some of the reports; just a few will start the process of your understanding. If I had read consumer complaints BEFORE opening a checking account there, I would not be in this desperate and nearly destroyed place I am in now.
Like others, I too would check my available balance and see that I had money. When I did (which has been a long time ago, even though all of my money goes in, it disappears before your eyes), I would use my money for things like medicine, food, bill paying, gas, etc. However, even though my check card would be approved, days later I would be charged, for example, on a $6.00 gas charge, keeping in mind I had hundreds of dollars in the account. (My check cashing privileges have long since been suspended. I am mortified, as I have never bounced a check except for once by accident, and these are at places which have affected my good reputation.)
I would see online that there had been a decline on the $6.00 charge (???), a $128.00 overdraft fee, plus a $32.00 and a $64.00 NSF charge each, in addition to multiples of these for consequent purchases that day. They have literally taken away more of my money than I have ever purchased. I can never get to par. My entire paychecks are taken and eaten by these mysterious overdraft and NSF fees. One hundred twenty-eight dollars plus sixty-four dollars plus thirty-two dollars equals $214.00, plus the six dollars in gas times two, in addition to this over and over again until you do not know what to do.
Do not call them; they charge you $2.00 for a balance inquiry or a question. Do not email them either; you only get two times a month before they charge you the $2.00 for an account question, and then, because you are in the negative, that sets up another $214.00 being charged to your account. It does not matter if you deposit cash. It takes 3-4 days for cash to clear, which was a question I asked when making my first call to customer service. I said, "I deposited $720.00 cash in the ATM on Friday night, but now I am negative hundreds of dollars on Tuesday."
I was told that it takes two business days for the cash to be entered into the system and verified. Why was I able to use my check card without it being verified??? Since when can't a bank verify your ATM deposit on a Monday? Or all day Tuesday? I put the money in my account so that I could live on it, like the rest of us do. I am so in debt now that I am severely depressed. I have always been so cautious with my checking account.
I can't get an explanation, and I can't get them to return money that is clearly not theirs to just take.
I want to explain just one more of the many unexplainable situations (I wish I could cut and paste my online accounting). I made a $31.29 purchase at Garden Ridge, but quickly had it recredited and returned (within one hour) because I was afraid and thought I had better make sure with this bank that I actually had the money, even though I knew I did and my check card was approved. When I went online after having it returned, no transaction had been made, literally, since it was returned immediately.
I had already been charged the $31.29 twice, credited once for it, and charged a $128.00 overdraft fee, a $32.00 NSF fee (it was not even a check) and multiple $64.00, $32.00 and $128.00 fees on previous purchases, days and days earlier, when I clearly and plainly had money in my account. The overdraft fees then ate up the transactions retroactively and, I believe, illegally.
I am a paralegal and I urge you to phone the attorney I work with, who specializes in this sort of lawsuit. I think I have a case, and I know that if more of you would, we could have a class action suit. A contract that cannot be located is good enough for me, because I never signed one but was sent their brochure. Their lawyers seemingly have covered all of the bases, but the ambiguous language leaves a smart attorney room enough to find a cause of action. Even I have highlighted areas of the "contract" that, if I were licensed, I would use as the basis to file suit. You do not have to be in Louisville, just in whatever state has a BB and T.
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