I have had a bank account with National City for almost 14 years, which unfortunately became PNC this last year. A few weeks ago I noticed that both my and my son's savings accounts were slowly being drained of money. Apparently we had both fallen under the required minimum balance. I am not sure when the minimum-balance requirement became attached to the accounts —whether it was in the fine print when I opened them long ago, or whether it was added to the new fine print when the bank switched over.in any case, I have never had trouble with this before.
When I went in to talk to them, they refused to refund more than one month's $10 fee and said if they did, I would have to keep the account open for now. As I have moved to Oregon, where the bank does not exist, and have been banking online, I felt it was too risky to leave it open after I leave town again next week. Who knows how difficult it is to close an account long distance, or what other fees they might attach in the meantime? I forewent the $10 and closed both accounts.
It was clear that they were more interested in keeping the short-term fees than in keeping me as a long-term customer.
I am very upset about this. Every time I have an overdraft, they send me a letter, but this, he explained, was a "service fee" and therefore they wouldn't notify either of us. What service? Apparently the definition of "service fee" is "fees we charged for violations of fine-print regulations, triggered without warning perhaps years after the account has been opened, which we continue to charge until a) the customer notices or b) the account is depleted, whichever comes first."
My son and I have now paid at least $60 in fees over the last three months to the bank simply for the privilege of keeping our money with them. If they had offered to refund at least half the fees, I would have filled up the accounts and they could have continued to have my business. But my business obviously doesn't matter to them. As soon as I am able, I am moving all my money and will never bank with them again. Nor will my son or significant other.
I just don't understand this kind of greedy, non-cooperative business practice. I've been paying interest to them for years on a small home equity line of credit, legitimate fees that they will now lose because they cannot treat me in a way that is fair or decent. It may not be a lot of money, but those fees are at least $60 (I'm not sure of the total, as I haven't combed through all the statements yet) that I will NOT have to spend this Christmas. They also get from me a lifetime of advice to everyone I know NEVER to trust their—or their children's—money to PNC.
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