Very insecure bank, I amongst others have been victim to identity theft due to this banks poor security network. However, I have my mortgage through them and I regret it. Having been laid off in December I now claim unemployment and money is tight. Generally my wifes Bi Weekly wages cover the mortgage but we were short on the due date so i contacted Billpayer and extended the due date prefering a late fee rather than and overdraft fee. The due date to pay was 01/20/09 (a Tuesday as this is only one of 3 days in a week one can expect to get an updated online statement) On 01/17/09 and 01/20/09 i deposited checks via teller for the amounts of $512.00 and $150.00. On 01/20/09 I phoned Fifth Third customer care and was told I had a balance of $945.00, my mortgage payment is $720.00. Due to misinformation about 24 hour banking I only check for a true balance on Tuesday through to Thursday On 01/15/09 my balance was $696.83. Now here's the cruncher, on 01/21/09 my actual balance was -$125.70 after Fifth Third had charged me $333 in overraft fees. On enquiry, I was informed the Bank was closed due to Martin Luther King Day on the 19th and that my checks had not cleared, therefore when the card was used over the weekend every transaction was classed as insufficient funds and overdraft fees applied. So much for 24 hour Banking, it's a big lie! My account now stands at -$337.39. What Fifth Third does is immoral, all the transactions were dated 01/20/09 regardless of when they actually took place. Basically they will debit your account before crediting it and when funds go into the account they pilfer them. I contacted my branch manager, Larry Sweet of Middletown Branch and he told me "We're a bank and we don't reverse charges!" If I had arranged for my mortgage payment to come out on 01/21/09 I would have none of these problems. So all in all, both of my unemployment checks will be going of Bank overdraft fees. This bank is utterly despicable and immoral and the fees applied are not justifiable as it is all computerised and does not cost 10% of what they charge, it is purely GREED! A class action suit may be one way of changing this banks ways, it is being done in Europe after findings of Banks overcharging customers and banks are soon going to be made to repay every fee they stole. Let's stand up for ourselves and teach this bank a lesson!
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