More than 7 years ago I opened a Suntrust checking account and transferred my IRA to be managed by Suntrust and opened a Suntrust visa. I was recently divorced from a financial advisor and was looking for a company and customer service I could trust. I then financed a home mortgage of more than $350,000 and after that a car loan of $30,000 with Suntrust.
My problems first started when they began depositing my car payment, for 3 consecutive months, into the account of JC Penney's. A ridiculous mistake that Suntrust was making. I was writing the checks with all of the account information clearly visible and with a payment coupon.
After Suntrust reported my 90 day delinquent account to all of the credit agencies I was finally, after hours on the phone able to get someone to admit this was a Suntrust error - the money for the payment was clearly removed, on time, from my checking account and not credited to my Suntrust car payment.
Months after damaging my credit rating they finally straightened out their error and sent me an apology letter. They refused to do anything for my damaged credit. I had to contact the credit agencies and file reports and then Suntrust denied to the credit agencies that it was their error and said the delinquency was accurate! Unbelievable! It took me 6 years, many phone calls and letters to finally have this taken off my credit report. 100% SUNTRUST ERROR!!!
000% suntrust customer service!!!
000% suntrust accountability!!!
I paid off my mortgage and car loan before I even had my credit cleared and I should have left then - but I had bill pay set up and my IRA was still jammed in a very expensive fund that I would be penalized for moving.
Suntrust has no customer service demonstration number two: I called my financial advisor, Sabina Lien, at Suntrust to ask how much longer I had to stay in a low performing fund before I could transfer my money without penalty.in the 7 years she has managed my IRA she has called me TWICE!!! Her assistants answer was that it was another year.
A couple of weeks later I'm closing on a land deal and need to deposit a $50,000 check and wire the money for closing. I go to the new branch in Baldwin Park near my home in Baldwin Park that I have been banking in since it opened 3 years ago to make the transaction. The man who works at a desk at that bank says he cannot allow me to make a deposit and wire the money out before the money clears, which takes several days. He says he doesn't know me and I could be perpetrating a fraud. I ask him to look at my account where I have been making deposits on a yearly basis into the checking account in excess of $150,000 without ever a problem. Not good enough, he doesn't "know" me. I say look at my banking address it is million dollar home 1/2 a mile from this bank, "sorry" you could be moving tomorrow. I then say I have much more than this check in my investment account, he calls Sabina Lien and she tells him I'm thinking of transferring my account - so don't allow the transaction!!! I actually have to go to another bank - that I don't even bank at - to complete the transaction by the end of the day so my deal doesn't fall apart.
Meanwhile, I receive a letter about my Suntrust credit card, which I had used for overdraft protection and was carrying a $18,000 balance with a very low interest rate of 1.9%. A letter from the credit card company saying that after reviewing my credit rating - THE ONLY NEGATIVE ITEM WAS THE SUNTRUST ERROR - they were changing my interest rate to 16.9%. I had NEVER gone over the limit or made a late payment, it was 100% because of my credit rating.
If I didn't want to pay that I could "opt out" in writing and never put another charge on the card again. If ever there was a charge the entire balance would immediately go to 16.9%. So I took it off my checking account overdraft protection and was left without a safety net.
Of course you know what comes next... I had checks pass through my bill pay account the night before my automatic payroll deposit = hundreds of dollars in NSF fees. I explain to the customer service rep that this entire situation was created through a Suntrust error from the beginning - she says "I understand your frustration, but there is nothing I can do" I then talk to a supervisor named Scott Hillburn who gives me the same pathetic line - which I'm sure is written down on a sheet of paper that he reads his replies from. "It is not Suntrust fault." I then ask - if this is worth losing a customer over and he replies yes! Suntrust does not care about their customers!!! SUNTRUST DOES NOT KNOW THE MEANING OF CUSTOMER SERVICE!
Suntrust is an arrogant, self righteous banking institution that doesn't no the meaning of customer service. No one should ever trust Suntrust for any banking needs.
0 comments