Do not use fifth third bank for any reason! Fifth Third Bank is a joke and a complete waste as a so-called bank.
After purchasing a new car, it took two weeks to complete my loan and have it show up in their system. There are no branches in my area, so according to their policy, I cannot open any type of savings or checking account because I must be able to go into a branch to do so. My only options to pay my car note was to set up an automatic withdrawal online bill pay service, mail in a payment, or pay over the phone with their collections department and pay a $17.95 convenience fee.
My dealership needed to mail in a payment on my behalf due to a refund of a maintenance plan, but Fifth Third took three business weeks to process it, which by that time, I had already asked my dealership to stop payment on that check and issue a new one. Upon resending a new check, Fifth Third claimed they never received it, and a second stop payment had to be issued on that one as well, although the address was confirmed by multiple representatives and the account number, name, and address was clearly imprinted on the envelope and check.
Since mailing a payment did not work and the dealership is unable to set up automatic withdrawals on my behalf, the only other option was to make a payment over the phone. However, we were informed by multiple representatives, that a payment over the phone could only be made for the amount owed and not any more than that, which is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. What company would not want to receive more money than what is owed by an individual? The only way to pay more was to wait until I was in my 7day grace period after the car note due date and then I could pay the prior month and the current month, but never any more than that until the following month.
Due to this idiotic policy, this meant that I would have to call the dealership every other month for the next 6 months until they paid up to the amount that was owed to me by my dealership since Fifth Third was making it impossible for them to pay it all at once. During the third month that a payment needed to be made, I contacted Fifth Third Bank to verify that I could make a payment for two months at this time before I called my dealership to conference the call and have them make a payment with me over the phone. The representative I spoke with told me that I could make a payment for however much I wanted over the phone, and that everything that multiple representatives told me before about not being able to do so was inaccurate. So I called my dealership, set up a call conference to have her pay the remaining amount they owed me onto my car loan, but the new representative that answered, told me once again, that the other representative was not correct and that I could only pay what shows in their system, and since I was not yet in my 7day grace period, I could only pay the current car note amount and not anything more.
Fifth Third Bank is inconsistent in their information, is not up to date in their online services, have representatives that do not know the company policies, have rules that do not make sense, has customer service that is incompetent, and is an overall no good bank. As soon as my dealership pays the rest of the money owed on my car loan, I am refinancing so quick, Fifth Third wont even know what hit them. They are the worst bank I have ever dealt with and my dealership has already taken action to strike them from their financial partnerships. Do not ever deal with fifth third bank.
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