I have become a victim of FIfth Third's predatory banking practices. I have now been charged for fees that I never knew existed and probably don't exist anywhere else but in the minds of the greedy corporate execs at Fifth Third. I have been raped with overdraft fees from "pending" credit card purchases, I have fallen prey to the fact that my money is not really my money for several days after it falls into the hands of Fifth Third and I have seen that your account transaction will go through in the manner most convient to Fifth Third to assess a fee.
Over the summer, I was in the airport in Iowa and I went to the rental car station to retrrieve my car. I had deposited $700 into my account the day before and knew I had over $1000 in my account. I had also given deposit slips to my mom and had here put in any checks I got in the mail from my business. She deposited over $800 on the day I was in the airport. I went to pay and the card was handed back to me and I was told it had been declined.
I knew there must be some mistake, so I contacted Fifth Third and was told that due to the fact that a deposit had been made the day before and that one had been made that day, that counted against my available balance until the checks cleared. My balance was over $1700 in the negative because of those deposits. I was stuck in the airport, several states from home and what do I do? I had to call my husband who had to withdraw $2000 cash from his account and put it into my account to offset the pending checks.
How was I to know my money really wasn't my money? And now I have been charged overdraft fees on my account for a debit that I forgot it automatically deducted every three months. Each day, more money is "stolen" from my account and I have to keep putting money in there only to have it eaten up by more and more charges. I can not believe that this practice is not illegal. I, like many others who have posted on this site, never recall getting a notice of it in the mail. And I do open my statements. I can't believe that so many people just didn't notice this.
I did find some relief in knowing that I am not alone. And there is strength in numbers and I want to know what we all can do if we stand up together and cry "FOUL!" There should be some class action suit filed or something because I think we are entitles to getting our money back.
Over the last week, FIfth Third has "stolen" $300 from my account with more to come because overdraft breeds overdraft. At the beginning of the month, I had them charge me $66 for an overdraft and because I had not expected that charge, I did in fact, truly go into the negative by $7 and I was assessed another $33. Maybe I should open my own bank and think of new and elaborate ways to rip people off, then maybe I could afford to bank with Fifth Third.
If anyone out there knows anything we can do about this, please contact me, I would love to join in. I just opened a new bank account this afternoon, but I have things automatically deposited into my account and until I get my new checks, I will have to wait to change everything over. And from what I understand, it is quite a hassle getting the account closed so I can't wait for that!
I urge anyone out there looking for a good bank to run far far away from Fifth Third and never look back. If you value your hard earned dollar, deposit it where you know it will in fact be there and where you can then go and use it!!
0 comments