Complain about a product or service

Fifth Third Bank

Kenneth of downers grove, IL October 7, 2009

I can only echo the experiences from the other folks who've had problems with Fifth Thirds deposit policies. We made a deposit early on a Monday and were told Thursday that it hadn't been posted yet. When I visited the bank on Friday and complained, the deposit suddenly was there! A miracle maybe?

Tab of Freeland, MI September 17, 2009

Just like many others here, I agree that 5/3 bank does everything they can to screw their customers. Our business got lured to 5/3 because of they had better credit card processing than we currently had and if it is deposited into a 5/3 account, its available the next day (vs the 3 days were were currently waiting). Well, first we were denied overdraft protections, after the rep said she could get it for us. We should have ran away then.

Since then, they have repeatedly send through the highest check before the smaller items and we've been hit with overdraft fees in excess of 300 per day. The lady at the bank said they pay the highest first because thats what they view as the most important.

Well then why, if there are 5 items going through and all 5 are going to be paid by the bank, and the account is going to go negative regardless, WHY do you do the highest one first when it was the last charge i did. Oh wait, i know the answer... to screw over the customers that are the only reason you are in business. So rather than getting one overdraft charge (which would have been legitimate, i admit) I got 5! Absolutely absurd.

The other problem I've been having on a regular basis is my card being declined when there is money in the account. The bank says it's user error, but I'm confident that the people who are running my card are doing it right. Anyway, it's happed WAY to much to be user error.

Thirdly, our cc processing is supposed to have the funds available the next day. Well imagine my humiliation when i was buying diapers & formula with a line behind me and my card was declined at 7pm when we had processed and batched a payment for over 1000 the day before. I came home and checked the account and it wasn't in there yet, but I guess sometime between then and the next morning it hit the account. I'm sorry, but that hardly qualifies as "available the next business day". It can't be considered available if i cant use it.

garnett of richmond, IN September 2, 2009

A few weeks ago i got my car repossed by 53 rd bank it was taken without any type of advance notice,even though i was told that they had called and had written to me concerning this matter. it was taken from where i work at in the middle of the night along with my personal things. after finding out what happened, i called the bank and they said that i was 6 months behind which only turned out to be a few days behind this was found out at a local branch in eaton ohio after paying 400.00 to them i got the car back unharmed. the following week i recieved another notice that they were going to take another 200.00 from my checking account when i called about it they weasanother order to take the car ,and i was threatened that if i got behind again i would never see the car again

Elvinita of Chicago, IL August 10, 2009

I received a letter in the mail from 5/3 stating that I had an overdraft on my account. It says" your account was charged #198 in overdraft fees today". As I read further it shows that I began this particular day with 421 in my account. There were 7 transactions that day, 6 of which cleared my account for an amount of 209. The last transaction was for 286. The 286 was returned, but I was charged 33 for every transaction that cleared my account. When I contacted 5/3 about it, I was told that they would pay the largest check first. This did not happen!! The largest check of the day was the 286, which they did not pay. Technically, If I had 421 and they paid 209, I should have 212 left. When the 286 came up for payment, they bounced it. So I should have had 212.19 minus the overdraft/returned check fee of 37.00 (being generous), which would bring my account to 175. How can 5/3 charge me their 33 overdraft/returned check fee on transactions that cleared my account???

Katie of Grand Rapids, MI July 31, 2009

I went to cash my check on friday the 24th. The teller asked me if I wanted to put any in my account so i said sure. I used my debit card that night and over the weekend only to find out my account was negative on tuesday. I called the bank and asked how come you can cash my check right away and now tell me the part that was deposited was on hold till the next business day, and then still let my transactions go through? What is supposed to have been a positive balance in my account is now negative and going up from there. I didn't spend money i didn't have.

These places are crooks and scams and should be called on it. Since i need every penny i make now I'm negative 300 and then some. Can't get the things i needed with the 50 i thought was in there, and its very stressfull knowing people are scams stealing your money you worked hard for.

Ruth of Nashville, TN July 24, 2009

April 8,2009 I overdrew my account by 56.00 this was on a Thursday, Each day after I was charged 6.00-8.00 a day daily overdraft charge this went for a week until my next payday. Within a two week period my account was in the negative of 218.00. I paid was owed and ask that my account to closed as of 04/25/2009. Walmart erroneously sent a check through again on this account after I had taken care of it with another account. I contacted 53rd to inform them of the error, The check was sent back with a charge of 37.00 to me. I disagree with the charge due to the fact the account was closed.

Mark of Grand Rapids, OH July 10, 2009

I have had an auto loan with 5/3 since Feb 2005, I called them in 6/10/09 to get the payoff amount (just to make my life easier - I only had 6 more payments to go). I was told the payoff was 3105.38. I thought this was too high and questioned it. I was told it was due to difference in daily interest rates and specific dates my monthly payments had been received. I questioned this again at the local branch and was told the same thing. I specifically asked if there were any other fees and was told no. So, I paid it off.

On 6/29/09, I had not received any info from 5/3 re: getting the title, so I called to check on status. I was informed by the automated information that the balance on the account was no 40.44, and that my payment of 2955.38 had been received on 6/17/09. But my payment had been 3105.28 - what was the 150.00 difference???? At that time, I was told it was an early payment penalty. I told them that was unacceptable and asked that my payment minus the regular June payment be refunded and I would just continue making the rest of the regular monthly payments - I wasn't paying 150.00 prepayment penalty when I only had 5 payments left.

I was told by a supervisor that a refund of 2732.87 would be sent to me withing 10 business days. On 7/7/09, my regular July payment was due, I called to question if there would be a problem paying it at the local branch since I had not received my refund yet and 5/3's records still showed I only owed 40.44. I wss told it wouldn't be a problem, they'd just apply it as an overpayment and my refund was in process. (Of course, there was a problem at the local branch, they said they couldn't apply the regular payment of 372.51, when there was only 40.44 due - but they finally went ahead anyway.)

On 7/20/09 (the 10th business day after my original call for a refund) I contacted 5/3 at 800-972-3030 asking about the status. I was told the account was paid off and I'd be getting a refund of 300.00 something dollars. I was told it was too bad for me about the prepayment penalty, my previous request for a refund had been denied and that was the end of it. "Mary", the supervisor I spoke with was very argumentative and abrupt with me. I explained that my contract merely said "there may be a prepayment penalty", but I had questioned it and was told no. May be can also mean may be not.

Kenneth of downers grove, IL June 9, 2009

Merchants beware! Fifth Third Bank's voice approval of charge card entries is bogus. They will happily voice-approve any and all transactions and then later "lie and deny." Since 5/3 is trying to sell a majority stake in their processing division to TransFirst, we believe that they will approve all transactions regardless of the risk just to elevate short term processing fees. This gives them more leverage in their negotiations with TransFirst.

Fifth Third gave us multiple approvals for three overseas sales and then "lied and denied" that approval was given! They then took over 11,000 from our store account causing serious damage to our finances!

Kim of Louisville, KY June 8, 2009

I had to borrow money from family when car repairs hit close to 2k. I deposited a check to 5/3 drawn on a local bank & asked when funds would be available. Teller said tomorrow, so if I wrote a check today, yes it would clear when it came through tomorrow. When I paid the mechanics shop, they also called to verify funds. That teller (I heard the call) said yes they were available if the check went in that afternoon. The check went in that afternoon and today, 3 business days later I get an overdraft notice of 75!!! THEY LIED. I called customer service and all they would do was cut the amount in half. The money was there, they could SEE it, and we'd asked the bank twice if the check was okay to clear. And no one can figure out how the mechanics deposit cleared his own bank and got to mine and cleared before the deposit showed up.

Anthony of Forest Park, IL June 4, 2009

Twice the Fifth Third Bank has withheld funds from a deposit (5,000.00 and 6000.00) for an extra 8 to 10 days after the funds have cleared the makers account. They come up with lame excuses (Check too large and endorsement not clear) for violating the Federal Reserve Deposit Rules. The Fifth Third Bank acts as if the Federal Reserve Bank does not exist. Once the funds have cleared, there is no reason allowed, under Federal Reserve Rules, to withhold funds from a checking account.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |