I banked with Fifth Third for about 5 years. I had so many issues with the charges they had. I was once accused of "floating money". I'm still not sure what that meant.
It was bad when the bank turned into Fifth Third. Every month, there was some kind of over draft fee. I could not understand how they explained it to me. However, in 2006 and 2007, I was working as a teacher for children with disabilities. I am a retired veteran a cancer survivor and I was a big fighter, but in that year, the problems with the bank started to get worse and worse. Checks would bounce and my power was turned off. My very first rent check after 8 years had bounced. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I thought it was me, but I have always said that when I buy a cup of coffee with my debit card for $3.00 and after overdrafts and other fees, it becomes $73.00. Why would I do that over and over again? For a cup of coffee.
I would ask them to explain to me when the charges take place, and they said I made the mistake, not once, maybe twice, but all the time to the point where I would see a charge that I didn't understand, and then purchases going through or not going through. I would write everything down but the way they explained it, they put my biggest purchases through first because it could be rent and then the little ones. I would ask what a specific charge was for, and they would say it was a fee, but that fee would make the purchase go overdraft, and if I knew about the fee or if I knew they would run it through, I wouldn't buy that cup of coffee.
I am not going make that mistake more than once, but they insisted I was making it a lot, but it seemed that I was making it a lot. Before Ii lost my job, I was paying my school loans. My degree is psychology but I had to go to school full time for my education and I had to pay for the tuition. Unfortunately, my finances were getting out of hand, and even though I'm a retired military, making almost $30k a year and a new teacher, making now $30k a year, I was not understanding why I was not reaping some of the rewards of that check. I started having difficulties with my job, and so, in the end, my identity was stolen (that is what the bank said) and I lost two full paychecks to an overdrawn account twice.
I changed my school pay to hard check, and the direct deposit from the military went into a frozen account. I was also reporting the theft and I received maybe about $1,500 in and out because they would give it and take it back. All in all, over $5,000 was stolen during that time, but that was not all. It was just starting to go downhill. I could not pay my tuition; I lost my tricarenhealth insurance; I was getting sick from the worry and from people thinking, "She makes money. How could she be doing so bad?" My car was falling apart and I couldn't pay to fix it. I was losing everything, the financial aspect was so hopeless, and I looked like a mess after losing my job. I tried to get my funds in order but it just did not work.
Once, I remember just being scared and totally broke and I had just tailed to the call center (which is the worst because the call center, the internet, the banks and ATM's never have the same balance). I had expected to be reimbursed with the funds that were stolen. I went to an ATM and bank. They said it was not available until Monday. I remember having a breakdown right there at the bank. I had ran out of gas. I had no money for food. I couldn't even pick my son up from where he was and I had no food for him. I was hysterical the manager did not know what to do, but I didn't know what to do either. It was my money, my money and I wanted to know where it was, why it was being taken out of my account, and why they were letting people take money out of a frozen account?
I tried to explain to the man that I was to be reimbursed for some of the money that was stolen out of my account in February. They said I was getting $100 back, but they failed to tell me it would not show up until that Monday. Fifth Third seems to think that the "wait until Monday" claim is a fix to it all. Maybe they need that time to find a way to give back what they take. The manager gave me $20. I was so humbled so grateful, and he said he was embarrassed for me, and after, he would not even talk to me. This was my branch. Nice huh? I was in fear of being evicted. My power was turned out and the fees for the bounced checks for FPL were crazy. I was struggling and I was so lost and so sad.
In October and November of 2007, after I paid the September Comcast cable bill with my debit card from my checking account (not the frozen one), Comcast claims that I must have checked the box "please take out of my account every month". I can't blame everyone for my mistakes, so I could have done that. I just don't see how I would agree for them to take money out of an account that I was never going to be sure what the balance would be. I just would not set myself up to fail. Not that they said I did, and so I guess they had my account number from when I did pay by check when things were okay, and they hit my frozen account, over and over and the fees were racking up and racking up. Hundreds of dollars that I did not have to give to Fifth Third - gone. Overdraft fees overdrawn on my overdraft, and now, I didn't notice it in October because that account had a certain amount of money, no more no less and I didn't check that week.
Then, November came and I went to transfer over only my rent and my car. I didn't look at the balance and that was my fault because they hit me in November too, but I realized right away when I tried to withdraw money for food and I had none. I looked at my account and it was all gone, hundreds and hundreds of dollars. I should have checked, but in September, I actually received my whole check that Comcast was still trying to hit my account, so I called and called and said, "Stop, drop, and roll." That is when they said I asked them to take out the funds, but I said, "If there is no money, why are you hitting the account over and over?" They did not claim responsibility and I had fees to pay to them and I had to pay in cash. The same goes with FPL and my rent -all paid in cash; it's difficult.
I called the bank, and they said I should close the account, but if I told them to take the money out, it was not their responsibility. I said, "But the account is frozen, I can't take money out without talking to a manager." I asked who will repay me, and they said I shouldn't have agreed to pay a bill when I didn't have the money in the account. I called Comcast and said, "Stop, drop, and roll. Why are you doing that?" They said I asked them too. So, I replied, "If I did, why didn't you stop when you realized there was no money?" I told them I didn't remember but the account they had from years before was not the one I had paid the bill with in September. They had information from the frozen account, but it was frozen - no access. They should not have allowed Comcast to even try to hit it to get the funds out, and if they were why didn't I get a call? Why didn't they stop it? There was or should have been an alert on that account.
They said it was not their fault. The bank said that the only way to stop Comcast would be to close the account, but I explained to them that my identity had been stolen and that specific account could not be changed because I was under the belief that changing my direct deposit would take months and I didn't have a month extra to wait for my money. Then again, I was treated like I was stupid, like trash - "Oh, she can't manage her money. Where is her money going?" etc. etc. I was surprised the bank allowed this to happen. The frozen account became overdrawn by hundreds and hundreds of dollars - all overdraft overdrawn fees.
Because of that, I lost my vehicle. My father was a co-signer on my Suzuki and he took it because I couldn't pay for it. I was also evicted. The only good part in that Christmas month was that I did work the following year, so I was getting my income tax and the money from my November paycheck was pretty much gone, so making it to December, only $1,000 or so, overdrawn (yes I know it sounds ridiculous but this was my life). I knew I was being evicted and the manager allowed me to stay for a few weeks in December because it was a holiday, and the electric went into the complex's name. I was lucky too because I could rent a car for the December car payment.
So, I withdrew all of my money. I was not going give anyone a chance to take any one (and still on January, I was overdrafted because of a charge). I paid cash to rent a car and I had my income taxes coming in, so I had to go to a pay here place to get a car and they allowed me to get it based on my income tax. I found a place to live I was going go. In January, we were homeless but my son didn't really know because we were moving the first of February, and so with the January's check, I withdrew everything that was there and held onto it.
While I had the rental I became very sick,. but I lost my health insurance, and I was not really knowledgeable on my va benefit. When I got out of the army, I was supposed to die and I didn't, so I put all of my stuff away. I almost put myself through college, although I'm default on my college loans now. I was very sick and could not return the car so they picked it up, and the month of January was not too bad, but I made the mistake of not looking at my account. Why should I? I know how much money is in there, I know how much I withdrew, and I know exactly how much I spend on my debit card. But the day I moved, I saw that my account was charged over eight hundred dollars for the rental car. I almost went crazy because of course I had like $1,000 dollars in the account, and it covered that loss but I had bought coffee and some other things, and the sad part is that it would have been covered but the way they did it, I had overdraft fees collecting overdraft fees. I called immediately and I was so mad. I had to prove that I paid cash for the car and that it was not a deposit. Because my account had so many overdrafts, they thought I was a liar.
When they sent the paperwork, it got lost in the mail, and so, after returning the money and the overdraft fees, they took it. Why? Because my mail was outta whack and I didn't get a piece of paper notarized and have it returned by a certain time. I was so upset. I tried to explain that I had moved. They said that they don't send stuff like that to new address. I said I could go to a local branch and have it faxed but it was the weekend and the department was closed. I was out of luck and of course I had to buy food and stuff, etc. with the money they returned, so once again, I had no money, and by then, I was so sad, so disappointed, so sick, so depressed that I just wanted to die.
I did find out I could apply for unemployment so on February, I did; however, there was an issue and I had to wait for an appeal. When the appeal went through, I asked for direct deposit. They owed me $2,200 back money and it would take longer than two days for the first direct deposit. So, I waited and then called, unemployment said the money was released and Fifth Third said it was processing. I should have asked for some proof but I was desperate again, I had to pay rent I was spending quarters to buy food. I was hurting. So, I paid my rent and I bought groceries and some other stuff.
That Monday, I checked my account, and all of the purchases went through but no deposit. They processed the purchases before the deposit it was still holding, and with two checks for 100 dollars coming in to bounce, I was in trouble. I was so freaked out, the charges were just unbelievable. If you recall, I had already some overdraft fees from the $800 and prior fees that they took from my account because I didn't get some paperwork notarized. I knew that my paycheck would cover the overdrafts from that so I knew I had an overdraft but it was like the third of the month and after I paid my bills with what was left with my paycheck. I was making purchases on the $2,200 that should have hit that day. The bank said it was there and they could see it. So, I called and called. I was hysterical.
I called everyone. I called and called. I found the investors, I found numbers of people who worked for Fifth Third, and finally, got some secretary to a big boss who was at a pool party. I explained to her that I had a deposit "pending" and it would be okay to write a check and use my debit card. However, those transactions I did were processed before the pending deposit, and if the deposit goes in, it will leave me with no money because the account was overdrawn by over $1,000.00. I am not that stupid. I explained that with the money for the rental car place, I didn't receive paperwork to be notarized so they took the money (they stole my money) from my account, and they did not process my direct deposit when they said they would. Now, I was going to be in debt again, and I just had gotten paid. I was so sick of that.
The secretary called someone, and then a different branch, where the manager there allowed me to take out the rest of the money being processed. Out of $2,200.00, I received only $1,000.00 and I had not paid my rent or car payment yet. I talked with the branch manager and told him that this was not new. I call all the time, asking why this got charged when I used my card a week ago, and then I would use it that day and it was just wrong. I could never balance my account. The phone banking was different from the internet which was different from the banks and ATM. I told him about my identity theft and that one time after my account had been frozen, This branch manager I spoke to said these things happened but not at his branch. He would fight them and would make sure I was never charged fees that could not be explained.
That day, even though I only walked away with less than half of what I was owed (the actual expenditure after talking to unemployment and the bank was maybe $200.00 little buys with my card as I said before, coffee, a treat of McDonald's for my son, gas, separate paper, ATM and two checks one to sweetbay and to publix), I felt kind of happy because maybe this guy would help me fight back, and I needed to fight back. No one listened to me when I was having difficulties in life. I was having financial difficulties. I mean serious financial difficulties make a person look almost dishonest, especially when I should have all of this money, and so after my identity theft, I was so frazzled. After having my son sleep at a friend's house to eat and have electric, I looked like a horrible mom, trying to blame my money problems on a bank.
Even before the unemployment, when I lost my job, I was geared to make about $60k a year, and I worked hard for it. But with that bank, I was never able to enjoy it. I don't blame Fifth Third for my problems in life, but it caused major problems. I don't blame Fifth Third bank for my problems, I should have checked the accounts, but even then, what could I have done? It was stupid I know to leave my money in there, stupid to listen to the lady that it would take months to get my money back, but I blame myself for my failure, and although I faced some horrible, horrible things, things that I should have fought, things I tried to fight, I can tell you that when a person had ongoing financial problems, they lose credibility. I do believe at times I was so overwhelmed with what was going on that I made banking errors, but I believe it was because I would not understand the way they processed my spending. I would not spend unless I wrote it down and then some random charge for 10 dollars would send my down the rabbit hole. In the end, there was no room for error for me, and people were believing that even if I lost my job, I still had retirement. How could I lose my home? Oh, it must be drugs.
So yes, I dealt with some horrible things and horrible people, but when I asked for help, my financial difficulties made me look so poor in character that my church would not help. No one wanted to contribute to my downfall. I even lost my tricare insurance and lost the ability to check up on my cancer, and in the last year before finally changing banks, I was sick and afraid. I felt my funds were being held hostage and as a result my son and I as well. But after losing that $2200, I did feel like if I changed branches, it would be okay, but I was not allowed to.
After that, I took a deep breath. At first, I cancelled my direct deposit and decided to just get in in check version. It's what I had to do the last months that I worked as a teacher. Then, I finally found a bank that I felt would be okay. Now, I have been sent papers of threats of going to jail and that threat my friends put me over the edge. You see I had been assaulted by a police officer the month after my identity theft, and I was terrified am terrified of the police, so when I was threatened with that I paid almost $700 to two different companies on checks that had bounced. Checks that should not have bounced, but I was terrified of going to jail.
Now ,I don't even go to the mail box. I don't go outside, nothing. I pretty much lost everything because well, people need money to survive and if you put it in the bank, you trust that bank, and that bank because they know you will get this amount every month and because they know I can't seem to fight them on it, then I don't want to say steal, but my funds were easy access, and it was because I was too pitiful to fight back. Anyway, these are a few examples of what the bank did. I did receive a letter in the mail that Fifth Third was going to be sued and I thought, "Thank God". One thing that I can say is see this happened, I am not lying.
I don't think I'll see anything nor do I hope I do because that is what life is, but I just want justice vindication. I know it says lawyers will read this and lawyers don't want drama, they want specific details. I hope it was not confusing. I had a flood last October, and we lost everything to black mold. I kept the identity theft paperwork for so long, even when I thought I couldn't stand it anymore but a lot of it was ruined by mold. Sadly, that 2200 dollars was supposed to go to rent and because I didn't have the money until later, the landlord would not even pay me what he owed me the first last and security. He believed I was disorganized and dishonest because I would tell him the bank said that I'll get my money next week and it would never happen. And even though I paid him and his late fee, he believed that I was a bad renter and when the house flooded, his attitude towards me was so bad that he did not want to pay me what he owed me, and just like I've been doing for the last three years I said nothing. I sat in my house and that's it. I actually have been diagnosed with PTSD, and it even concerns my banking issues. It's almost embarrassing.
Well, Thank you for allowing me to at least write this down. If I repeat myself or go on about something, I really apologize. I know that rambling does not help. I know lawyers just want info hold the drama, but I have never really told anyone because people would not believe it and because I was embarrassed. But I was so afraid that check that came for 10 years, even though most times I would not see the whole thing was all I had. I do want to say that in my new bank, I made a few banking errors, but I rarely am overdrawn. I live paycheck to paycheck. Ii won't go to the mail box because it terrifies me but my banking problems in so far as it not being touched seems good. I hope you were able to get to the point.