First off, I want to say that over the years I have been with quite a few banks (7 to be exact). Some have been bad and some good, but none compare to BB&T.
I opened this account 6 months ago because their new branch was close to home, and with gas prices, I figured I would save money by banking closer to home. I opened the account online, which I thought was excellent because it was a real time saver, and a representative called me the next day to let me know my account was funded and official.
The next week I made my first deposit, which was my paycheck from xxxxx. They are not a huge company, but they are big enough that their checks are accepted everywhere without a question. The deposit was accepted, however it was after 2 so it would not be available until Tuesday (Monday night processing). This caught my attention, because I thought everyone was doing all-day banking now; at least my last two banks had.
From that point, over the next couple of months, I made regular deposits with my checks (payroll and commission) from TM Co. Some checks were for a rather large amount, but no questions were asked; they were accepted and deposited. Now, like everyone, I had a family emergency and my funds ran tight, so I was glad I had linked my savings account to my checking for overdraft protection, or so I thought. BB&T let a charge of 8.00 go through, which was a meal bought at McDonalds. For that 8.00, they charged me a 35.00 overdraft charge and another 10.00 "processing fee" for moving the money to cover the charge from my savings. So I was charged 45.00 for an 8.00 charge.
I called BB&T customer service and didn't wait on hold for long, and explained my problem to the rep and that I felt that since I was charged 35.00 for the paid item, the 10.00 was excessive. I was told that this was their normal operating procedure and that it was in the fine print in the agreement I electronically signed when setting up the account. So I asked them to remove overdraft protection. That way, if I tried to charge something and there wasn't enough money, I would be told the charge was declined; a little embarrassed, but I wouldn't have to pay 45.00. I was shocked to hear that I couldn't un-enroll in overdraft protection.
I shook this bad experience off, which I regret now, but soon incurred four more similar charges for small transactions that BB&T let through. I later found out their policy is to deduct your charges before crediting your account with a deposit, so that they get to collect all their fees.
The final straw was when I went to the Newton Grove branch. Up to this point, I had always used the Smithfield branch. I went in to make my normal deposit from TM Co., and the teller told me she was going to put a 5 day hold on the deposit because I was a NEW ACCOUNT. At this point, I had been with them 5.5 months and had made numerous deposits. I explained this to her, but she refused to let up. I asked for the manager, but she wasn't available at the moment. So I walked out of there with a 5 business day hold on my paycheck.
I closed my account, which was an ordeal in itself, and went back to my previous bank, KS Bank, which is awesome, especially since they have built a closer branch also.
On a side note, their internet banking is a joke. Every bank I have had until this point used a 3 column reporting feature: Debit, Credit and Balance. That way you know exactly how much money you have. BB&T only has Debit and Credit, so you can't keep track of it as easily, and they are able to charge more fees.
Don't use BB&T.
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