I have read about and seen the fine print from SunTrust Bank that says they can post transactions in any order, not necessarily the order in which they occur. OK, I understand, and I have taken a hit from time to time, even though I feel the $32 fee, multiplied by 10 or however many charges, is ridiculous. Especially if they had posted the transactions in the order they occurred, I may have overdrafted by only a few dollars and been charged one NSF fee. But again, I have seen the fine print and just deal with the charges as costly mistakes.
However, I was charged approximately $200 this month in NSF fees and have thoroughly disputed them. This is the situation.
I noticed my checking account was low and would overdraft when my mortgage check came through in the next couple of days. I used SunTrust's internet banking service to transfer $1000 from my savings account to my checking account. The website says that any transfer conducted before 10pm would post the same day. I noticed it was after 10pm, so I realized it would post the next day. That was Aug 8. I still thought I would be ok.
Days later, when I checked my account, I noticed that it had overdrafted. I checked, and the transfer did not post until Aug 10th, after all of the other debits from my account had posted. Stupid me, I did not print out the transfer confirmation page and had no proof that the transfer should have gone through on the 9th. I thought surely this could be fixed. Not by the bank branch. They talked to me like I was dumb and referred me to their 1800 number. When I called, they did some checking and told me that I had made the transaction at 12:05 am on the 10th.
I could not believe what I was hearing. There was no way I could argue, however I did have proof that I had visited their website only at 11:00pm on the 8th (Internet Explorer history). They told me there was nothing they could do. Basically, their computer log was calling me a liar. I am a police officer and not the type to lie to a bank to get money from them.
What can I do? Nothing. I did, however, show up in uniform at the bank branch and tell them how very dissatisfied I was with them. I told them I had been a customer since I was 12 years old, almost 20 years, but would be closing all of my accounts with them. I also told them that they had created a dissatisfied customer who would actively tell anyone I could about their dishonest practices.
I don't expect to ever get my money back, but I do feel satisfied telling my story, and I hope that other people will avoid SunTrust and not fall victim to their computers that hold the financial fate of the working man.
But then again, their computer log does show me to be a liar. Thank goodness my computer log doesn't think I'm a liar.
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