In May I decided to start using my Suntrust checking account. I started a new job in May and on my way home from the east side of town, I was going to make a drivethru deposit at the Suntrust at the corner of SR 434 and SR 436. When I pulled up it was clear that the drive through was being worked on. There was a scaffold and yellow tape all around. The drive thru looked deserted. It was late now and I had no time to go anywhere else.
This was the start of losing over $500 in NSF fees. I am a creature of habit and came the following day. The ATM outside was closed so I made deposit in the overnight depository. That was a bad idea. Suntrust doesn't credit your account the next day which they should! This doesn't sound ethical to me. If you deposit money why can't it be credited the next day, especially if it is cash! There is no reason for this other than greed and the bottom line.
During this time I had lost my mail key and wasn't able to retrieve my mail from my box. I kept making cash deposits thinking I was okay, but I wasn't. When I got into my mailbox they had charged me over $500. And this was all because this bank doesn't credit your account in a timely manner. I talked to a rep and she credited me $70 and said that was a one time credit because of the drive thru. I later talked to the local bank manager who did the same.
If they notice a trend on a person's account where there is a lot of deposits yet a lot of NSF fees, can't they notify you? I guess not because banks make a lot of money off poor class people that can't afford it. But that's the way of the world, isn't it? The rich get great interest rates on loans and make money off their bank accounts. They can afford problems like this. But the poor, who can't afford it all, are the ones who continually get charged high interest rates, and NSF fees of $30 per occurrence. This cycle is never ending. You need a car, your credit is poor, you have to pay a higher interest rate. You struggle to make ends meet and pay your high car payment, then you don't pay a credit card monthly bill or don't get your deposit in on time and you are charged $30 late credit card payment and a $30 NSF fee. The poor can never dig themselves out from under a mountain of debt.
To sum it up, the bank would not help me further. I was on the phone every night talking to a rep named Tony to try to get some help on all the charges. I read someone else saying talking to the Suntrust reps was like talking to a robot. I totally agree with this. Every time I called regarding this matter I always hit a brick wall. One time when I called to talk to Tony about this matter one rep asked me twice for my personal information. Was this necessary? Also it seems like every rep has a different knowledge base. Sometimes when you call you reach someone who knows where. One time when this happened, I asked to be transferred to the Orlando call center. They could not do it! Why couldn't they?
I know that there is legislation going through now about high interest rates on credit cards. Why can't they do something about the high NSF fees that the banks charge? Why so much, it doesn't cost that much to them. If your check bounces you not only get a bank charge but the person you made the check out to will charge you another $25-$30 as well. Someone has to do something about these NSF charges. The people that get charged these fees are the very people who can't afford them.
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