Truist Bank (formerly BB&T Bank)

Dear Mr. King,
As the President of BB&T, I felt a responsibility to inform you of certain facts regarding the actions of one of your bank officers (specifically Deborah Conrad). Please know I have been banking personally and professionally with BB&T for over a decade. During that time I have enjoyed the honesty, integrity and professionalism your team has always displayed. It was these characteristics that kept us with the bank for so long. Our banker, John Murkey has always been a gentlemen and wonderful business colleague. The relationship was mutual and always based on trust. In fact, our company was highlighted as your “customer of the year” in one of your advertising campaigns.
The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the unacceptable, fraudulent and potentially criminal behavior of one of your bank officers. Deborah Conrad lied on several occasions to me personally, other shareholders and the ComputerTraining.edu Management team. I thought you might like a few of the facts.
1. ComputerTraining.edu is required by each state to establish bonds for tuition refunds. Your bank officer, Deborah Conrad, deliberately took approximately $400, 000 of these funds by intentionally misleading ComputerTraining.edu’s President and CFO that these would be used to teach out our classes. As soon as the State of Maryland released the funds, she confiscated them. We have already notified the Maryland Higher Education Commission of her behavior and are also informing the Maryland Attorney General’s office. To deliberately mislead a bank customer/LICENSED SCHOOL and defraud the State of Maryland of $400, 000 that was set aside for students is a problem.
2. When we were notified on Christmas Eve that our line of credit was revoked, Deborah Conrad insisted we secure all of our assets (BB&T has first lien position). We have several emails that show her level of interest in the equipment we had at each campus. She instructed us to lock all of our locations and secure over 1, 500 computers. This included locking out our employees. She said management would need to go around and supervise anyone coming back to get their personal belongings. If there was any vandalism… I was going to be held responsible. I thought it was odd she asked me five separate times to write an email explaining how I was going to do all of this. Thank god I never wrote the email.
3. By revoking our line of credit, the company had no funds to operate. To make matters worse, Deborah Conrad informed me that the $2.8 million we had in accounts receivable would be confiscated by the bank to pay down our debt. We could not use the funds to teach out students or continue operations. Deborah Conrad claims the bank didn’t close the company… but think about it. Why else would we close? We spent 17 years of their lives building the school.
4. In addition to the accounts receivable, the company had $2.8 million set aside in restricted cash. Restricted cash was part of our bonding requirements and would have been refunded to the company had we taught out the students we still had in class. By revoking our line, we lost any opportunity to teach out the classes and use these funds to pay down business debt.
5. Another event that goes to show the lack of character Deborah Conrad displays is when she scheduled a meeting with our entire management team after the company was closed. When the ComputerTraining.edu management team showed up she had the bank’s counsel with her. At no time did Deborah Conrad inform us that the counsel was going to be present. To make matters worse, she introduced counsel as “Oh, this David… he works with the bank.” She deliberately misrepresented who he was and why he was there. Deborah was shocked to see that I flew in from Florida to attend the meeting. I walked in last. She scheduled the meeting with our Company’s CEO and CFO and assumed I wasn’t going to attend. When I walked in and asked specifically who this person was and why he was there she stumbled around trying to explain that we should have known counsel was coming because she had cc’d him on the email she sent to Chuck Lang (our president). We ended up walking out of the meeting. Her behavior was despicable. We are filing a complaint with the Maryland bar regarding David Fontana’s actions (he is your attorney). Mr. King, if you don’t believe me ask your VP Ed Barker. I’ve known Ed for 10 years. He was there for the event and I trust he will tell you the truth.
6. During this time, Deborah Conrad also spoke with Sallie Mae and told them she was working with us. The plan was to sell the company over the next 6 months and we needed BB&T to cooperate through the process. Sallie Mae was shocked by BB&T’s complete reversal. After speaking with Deborah, they were under the impression we were all moving forward (like the rest of us).
7. Only 30 days earlier, we engaged the BB&T Capital Markets Group to sell the company. They put a valuation on the company of somewhere between $10-15 million. Since we had 25 campuses that were all fully accredited, our company was of value to online and accredited schools looking to expand their offering. Again, this makes no sense considering that BB&T would have profited from this transaction.
8. The $2.8 million in receivables and $2.8 million in restricted cash would have given us $5.6 million to teach out all of the classes. The actual cost to do so was only $2 million. That’s $3.6 that BB&T would have gotten back AFTER all of the students were taught out. Let me ask you… why would the company close the doors? The company would have been $3.6 million less in debt to BB&T by teaching out the classes. Deborah Conrad deliberately caused this problem. She didn’t take the time to listen to the facts. She made poor decisions that has caused a huge mess. At the end of the day… I think she is simply evil.
Deborah Conrad’s story does not add up. I am offering to have an independent agency conduct a polygraph test. I think we should ask Deborah Conrad if she is willing to do the same.
As the President of BB&T, I thought you might want to know what some of your people are really doing. I find it hard to believe you would want your employees behaving this way. I stand nothing to gain by any of this. Deborah Conrad’s actions has already ruined my reputation. Deborah Conrad said she was working with us for “months.” The first time we met was Thanksgiving week. 30 days later on Christmas eve she closed our doors.
The defamation suit the bank filed is welcomed by our team. You will quickly find out that we have plenty of documentation and witnesses as to what I am saying in this letter. What she is saying doesn’t even make sense. It’s stupid. We were all willing to go our own ways and move on. Once again, BB&T is making a terrible decision. This is going to be a public relations nightmare for the bank. As far as not writing any news agencies, or publishing the truth by using lawyers to compound BB&T’s lies… it won’t work. I will continue writing news agencies, spend time on television reports… whatever until the truth is brought out.
Let me state for the record – Deborah Conrad is a liar, fraud and potential criminal. Sue me. It’s true. She is the one who made the decision to steal from our students. She is the one who made the decision to take funds from the State of Maryland.
ComputerTraining.edu had been in business for 17 years. We were the largest and most successful Microsoft IT Academy in the country. Our thousands of graduates enjoyed an 83% placement rate within 90 days of graduation. All of our campuses were nationally accredited. Our past history will prove we ALWAYS TAUGHT OUT OUR STUDENTS when closing a campus. Ironically, we lost $3.6 million…. Or should I say BB&T lost $3.6 by not teaching out the classes.
When this is all over and the dust settles… Deborah Conrad won’t be able to get a job at any bank. Once the facts come out in this case not only will she be embarrassed but so will the bank. Needless to say everyone is extremely disappointed. Unfortunately, your employee has put us in a situation where we have to respond. People are posting pictures of my children on websites due to her negligence. Everyone thinks we took the students money. Why don’t you tell the truth?

• There were $5.6 million in funds to teach out the classes available – Deborah Conrad lied.
• There were funds to make payroll – Deborah Conrad lied.

Their accounting practices are fraudulent and designed to create maximum fees. Had pending direct deposit, showed as available, yet they charged a series of automatic bill payments a day later and still charged overdraft fees! So they held the deposit (regular payroll deposit) 48 hours in order to send through the bill payments a day later. The Local manger was almost completely useless. 800 # customer service reps worse than useless. This happened 3 times! This is an evil bank! Avoid!

I used to be the biggest fan of TD Bank. Opened my account with them 10 years ago or so! Got all my family to transfer money there and recommended it to everybody. Commerce WAS the best and the most convenient bank. Never had Any problems with them and WAS in love with their customer service. That was back then, good old times lol. When it became TD, - I did some research and it looked like it was going to get better. TD was one of very few banks which pulled their investments out of all mortgage mess that country going through, -oh god was I wrong. All started with overdraft fee of $35. They repeatedly lie to me that they send new rules & regulations out to me and I will get it any day. I canceled my overdraft protection back in 2001(it’s a checking account not a credit card is my philosophy), but the very first month they introduced $35 overdraft fee, they let through 9 bogus internet transactions in the raw to go through and charged me $35 each time (looks like bankers and hackers working together now), not to mention that in 10 previous years I used my card 5 times ( if that) over internet and supposedly I had some anti theft protection from TD ( I know that because most of the times I travel from NJ to Fl I had to call them to get gas, - it wasn’t going through), but if they making money all protection goes to hell I guess! I asked them why I have an overdraft protection when I canceled it long time ago, their rep told me, that as I favor they gave it to me so my mortgage payment check wouldn’t bounce! What a BS ! So they made a note on my account in front of me not to let any payments through unless there is money in there! Then, just to make sure I went to different branch, and the confirmed that the note was made. Guess what, month later I was negative $1.99 because of some internet transaction again. Of course that famous computer glitch took my $850 deposit, for some miracle I didn’t throw away receipt ( they should have advice people that week to keep their receipts and say we have a problem not “ out computers temporary off line”). On top of that, for 1 year and 3 months I couldn’t get my statements send out to me. I called and requested it 8 times over the phone, and 4 times in person in 4 different branches-NOTHING. All that coasted me tons of time, money orders (while they investigate), and most important millions of nerve cells. But the last drop in the cup was when my mother receive her statement last month, she noticed $3000.00 deposit through branches ATM(which wasn’t made by her), then two days later $3000.00 withdraw(which wasn’t made by her). When she called, rep told her that one of her family members must of got a hold of her bank card….! When she said its just her and a cat, TD rep got angry and told her to call police if she wishes ( I wish she did), when she got supervisor on the phone, she told her that as a favor they can try to investigate…….

I don’t see that most convenient BS commercial any more, I guess even TD bank themselves don’t have the balls to say it!

P.S. Closed all my accounts there, refinance my car with some one else. I don’t know if TD Ameritrade rep will talk me into staying with them. Capital One looks pretty well as a bank, just compare their interest rate for checking TD Bank-0.25% Capital One-1.3%
Wow, what a differents.

Somewhere from the purchase order date to invoice date BBT alleged I had a negative balance. In the middle of the night BB&T hit me with 35 dollar overdraft item fees per transaction then told me I had a negative balance several days ago?. MY records show I did NOT have a negative balance and I made 2 deposits within the week which in turn should of prevented the overdraft fees and so called negative balance?

BBT REAL TIME ONLINE CHECKING HAS A MAJOR DELAY BUILT IN FROM THE PURCHASE ORDER DATE TO THE INVOICE DATE. THE DELAY IN THE REAL TIME PURCHASE ORDER TO INVOICE DAILY BALANCE OPENS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE BBT CROOKS TO HIT CUSTOMERS WITH EXTRA FEES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT..! I AM FORCED TO PRINT OUT MY ACCOUNT BALANCE EACH DAY TO KEEP TRACK OF BBT THEFT!...Hmmmmmmm.

Hello all,

I recently became fed up with these embezzlers. I have been banking with BB&T for over 4 years now. I have the student free checking, and in lieu of charging a monthly account fee, they transfer money from checking to savings. $25 dollars on the fifth of each month.

My account was running a little low, the lowest it had been in months. I hadn't overdrafted in about 3 months or so. I had also been keeping a dilligent register so BB&T could not screw me.

Well...on the 5th, I bought $20 in gas. The transfer also happens on the 5th. Neither one of these transactions posted until the 8th, which was a monday if I'm not mistaken. Because of this, BB&T deliberately chose to credit the $25 dollar transfer BEFORE my $20 dollar gas purchase, causing me to overdraft 3 times total, for $105.

If this transfer had not occurred at all (if there aren't sufficient funds, the transfer won't happen), then I would have still been in the green.

Simply put, I never went over my funds, so it is technically and literally impossible for me to have overdrafted. My register proves this. Any way this is cut, they come out looking like crooks.

I can personally attest to this companys dishonesty. Withholding information is far too commonplace.

90% of all overdraft fees hit the poorest 10% of all bank account holders. What does that tell you?

Sincerely,

Hunter M Barker

I recently incurred two overdraft charges on my checking account at bbt. I deposited a check and was told that $100 would immediately be credit to my account, when it actually didn't go through until the next day. As a result, instead of the $144 I should have had, I only had about $70. Then, over the weekend, I made purchases, assuming I had my full check, not half of it. My account again overdrafted, resulting in a balance of -$276. I went into my local branch and attempted to resolve this, informing them of what the teller had told me when I deposited my check. I even asked them to simply adjust that overdraft, then if the second would have still occurred, that I would resolve it. They refused, saying that it wasn't their fault. Then, I receive a notice saying that after 7 days a $30 charge would be placed on my account, a notice I received 4 days after the charge was applied. I am currently unemployed and have no steady income of any kind. I like this resolve in some way that I can close my account, even if it means a $0 balance in my account. I will no longer do business with bbt and will strongly discourage anyone I know to use them.

I have not used my account in more than two years. I keep it open in case I got a job that required direct deposit. As of December 1, 2009 I had $0.56 in my account. Yesterday, I received a letter saying that my account was negative $35.44 which shocked me. I call my local branch and asked why I was overdrawn when I hadn't even used this account. She informed me that during the months of Dec and Jan when I called the customer service number on the back of my card and ACTUALLY talked a representative they charged be $2.00 PER phone call. They charged me $6.00 total in fees for the phone calls and THEN charges me $30 for an overdraft fee. I told her that this was complete ###. What kind of company charges their customers to speak to a live person through customer service!?!?! They told me that the overdraft fee might be waived but the phone fees I will have to pay. Yeah, Right. Sorry, this girl don't play nice when things like this happens. I am NOT paying ANYTHING to them because I feel what they did and do everyday is wrong. I will going to my local branch tomorrow and closing my account. PERIOD.

Last week I noticed a large withdrawal from my BB&Taccount. When I inquired about this with the bank they told me that it was recovery money from an account in 2004. When I called they referred me to another number which I called and they told me it was from an account in 2004 that I had with my son. I asked why I was not contacted in some manner (phone, letter, etc) and they said they had contaced my son in 2005. The money they took was $236.00. I am 73 years old, I unfortunately have to live on my Social Security check due to a failed investment. I have had a couple of times NSF which of course they charged me for that. If I'm guilty I am guilty but there is no excuse for them sending the check back, charging the NSF immediately and then maybe 3 or 4 days letter they send you a post card telling you about their actions. If I didn't do online banking I would have not known about the NSF or the illegal withdrawal they just made. That is half of my mortgage payment and that is automatically deducted from my account (my permission of course). If I had not known about their illegal act my mortgage payment would have been sent back. I cannot afford to lose my home, I can't work and now I either pay my electric bill and be behine on my mortgage or pay the mortgage and lose my electricity (no lights, no heat). I cannot believe they did this. My son and his wife had a problem with jobs, etc. so I co-signed for a credit card for my daughter-in-law. It ended up maxed out for over 7, 000 dollars. I took out the present mortgage to help them and also to pay the +7, 000 dollars to BB&T so they wouldn't lose their money. I did the right thing for them so needless to say I'm dumbfounded they would do such a thing. I am going to carry this complaint on with Better Business Bureau and consumer advocate groups. I have absolutely no documentation regarding this incident from BB&T, just a big surprise. Wonder which employee has my money in their pocket? I know feel that my money is no longer safe in BB&T if they can just take you money when they want without even letting you know.

If you do not what control, of your own money bank at bb& t, they charge 2. 00, to talk to them, 2. 00 to use your atm card, they are theief, and yes yes yes, they will srcew any and ever way possiable, they pure out ole suck$

It’s time to return TD bank back to Canada. Today started out as a proud parent of two young girls when I brought some of their Girl Scout Cookies to sell at my office. Returning home I told my girls that I sold 4 boxes of cookies at work. They were so happy over 15 dollars they ask me to deposit the 15$ into their nonprofit checking account at TD bank in Chalfont pa. Good day so far. Looking for a deposit slip my wife told me that TD started charging the Girls of America 25$ a month fees for their account. The only started few months ago. These poor girls are working so hard for some arts and crafts. I think this wrong and TD bank should reimburse these fees. It’s Ironic that a Canadian bank charging the girls scouts of America for a small checking account. Go back to Canada.

We have had all of our business and personal accounts with BB&T. I don’t know what is going on, but they are a curse to anyone trying to survive in these tough economic times.
Issue One: We have a mortgage with them on a house my husband built as a model (he is a contractor). The mortgage is at 8.75% and when the bottom fell out of the housing industry, we contacted them and asked if we could refinance at a lower rate (they were around 4.25%). They said “we don’t do that for business customers”. We attempted to sell (impossible!), found a renter (which left us without a model) and held on hoping things would turn around. We went back to the bank six months ago and they agreed “to take a look at it”, asked for new tax returns, financial statements, etc. We told them we could not continue to make the payments, and talked with their collections department in North Carolina who told us to make payments of $50 per week until they made a decision. Okay – so we did that. They told us to bring the mortgage current and they would refinance; we did which they first applied to “late fees”, then applied to interest, then principal. That, of course, didn’t bring it current because of the “penalty” charges. We kept calling and asking if they had made a decision; they said “we’re looking at it and we’ll get back to you.”
Fast forward to December, 2009. We received a call from our branch manager who left a message on our telephone answering machine stating they were willing to do the refinance BUT would require we pay $25, 000 in penalties, principal and interest before they would do the refinance because it had taken so long. It TOOK SO LONG because BB&T kept stating they were "working on it". What, are they crazy? If I had $25, 000, the mortgage would be current. Yesterday we received a letter from an attorney stating the bank was foreclosing.
If they had refinanced, the rental payment would have covered the mortgage and we would not be faced with bankruptcy. My husband is in his late 60’s, has been in this business his entire life, and has never dealt with such greed and unwillingness to assist a customer.
Issue 2: My husband receives two retirement checks on the last day of the month which are wired into our account. They always show as pending funds on the last day of the month. We pay my health insurance payment with BB&T Bill Pay – the payment is $270.00. On December 31, 2009 the two checks were wire transferred as usual. However, BB&T decided to process the check for $270.00 first (there was $200 in the account) and HOLD his wire transfer until January 4, 2010. They cancelled my health insurance payment stating there were “insufficient funds”. I wrote to them and they confirmed the processed the BillPay at 7:00 instead of midnight, and didn’t process his wire transfer until the 4th of January. I checked our account activity for the prior six months and never ONCE have they held the deposit until the 4th of the following month.
Thank you for having this website – until I stumbled on it, I thought it was just me! Avoid BB&T at all costs!

In these difficult times, where money is always a problem I encountered myself depriving me from things that might well be able to afford them but I can’t because I have to support my daily life(Bills, Rent, Food, etc) … but it CITIZENS BANK with Headquarters in Providence, RI has taken the task of charging People multiples Overdraft fees to bring checking accounts in red balance just before they get a work direct deposit (that’s what been happening to me in the last two months and Sir I can prove it!) when I say swindle I’m not been dramatic they have charge me $78.00 for $2.86 and $7.68 that’s more than 700% more! And is not only me but with many people with whom I normally see at work, train or even on social websites. There anything you can do for us? How can we not suffer this kind of bad business practices? Only two weeks I have been charged an average of $ 300!

I make a normal complain and this are there answer: "Like a Courtesy we are going to return the amount of $78.00 to your checking account and two days later I have $117.00 in overdrafts fees again! with no apparent reason.

Please help!

BBT claims to be a hometown small bank. Well they have gotten WAY to big for their pants. They now won't remove overdraft fees even on 5.00 overdraft items which they in turn charge 35.00 per item to the customer unless you have the proper BANKING relationship with them. I.E lots of money in their back earning you 1%! They have become just as greedy as Bank of America and the big banks. How does congress allow these crooks to charge 35.00 for a pack of peanuts and a coke that overdrew your account because some merchant's software screwed up and double debited your checking account? tarp schmarp..lets give the money back to the American citizens and stipulate they use it to pay down debt to these crooks instead of throwing good money out of the door to the the bank thieves themself. Contact your senator about it.

Are BB&T customers aware after 2 calls to customer service within a billing cycle that they charge you $2.00 per call to speak to a customer service rep.? I got one on my statement for a 3rd call to find out why my new debit card had not arrived. I was told that one had not been ordered according to their records. Can you imagine getting charged for following up on a mistake made by the bank itself? The rep had to clear with a supervisor in order to refund the charge.

I am calling local credit unions today to compare charges. BB&T advertises that they are the favorite community bank. That is a very hard promise to live up to especially when the bank employees have attitudes that make it hard to like anything about them.

BBT has been grossly insensitive to the needs of the customers. I have been asking BBT to reduce the 2 digit interest rate on my mortgage for almost 15 months. No one will listen to me. I kept on paying because I want to protect my credit. When my job advised me that my hours will be cut In July 2009, I knew that will pose a problem with keeping up with BBT'S exorbitant interest rate. I knew I am qualified for loan modification. I went to Christy James at the Hwy 85 branch submitted ALL the paperwork required for rate reduction and loan modiification. I did not hear from her again. I called her weekly, she didn't have the decency to return my call. After three months of calling, I was able to reach Christy James. She said, I have 3 addresses on my credit report and that was a concern to her. I told her the address was my mom, my sister and myself. I went to her office with my mother who had originally giving me $27, 000 as down payment for the house 3 years ago, and my sister and myself. All three of us showed her our GA IDs to show that the addresses on my credit report are my mom whose house I used to live and my sisters. And she said BBT prefers houses to go into fore closure than to modify it. Her statement shocked me. Is this the true mindset of BBT. Will BBT use any form of excuse to be taking peples home from them. I told her that I was not willing to walk away from the $27, 000 investment on a $120, 000 home and that all I am asking for is a rate reduction. Interest rate around the country is as low as 4.5 percent, why will BBT insists on 2 digit interest rate at this time and in this hard times. Christy James said she will send this to the underwriter and she will get back with me the following week. I did not hear from her. I kept calling, calling again. Six weeks later, I was able to reach her and she said, loan modification is denied. I said, what do you want me to do, she said I dont know. In my life, I have never seen such iinsensitivity and such un professionalism. I still dont know what to do.

Got slogged $245 in overdraft fees after a check from another bank was deposited!

Total purchases were under $40... Then tried to close the account numerous times and they ignored all requests. They then used all the balance of my account in fees which threw my account into a negative balance... Then to top it off they sent me a letter stating that they were going to charge me another $30 to close the account and that my details would be sent to collections... All this after I had tried sooo many times to close the account!
Anyways I stuck a letter to the worthless manager on their front door stating how I felt and that they were no better than criminals and guess what... I got slapped with a trespass order this morning for all bb&t banks... Ha ha ha!
They really don't like you telling others what they are actually like "criminals"
Anyways now they are refunding the additional fees, closing the accounts and sending me a check for the balance... I had to go through all this to get my account closed... Unbelievable... To see the notes I posted on their front door type in cathryn miller on facebook as I posted them there!

I wanted to take the time to voice my concern with recent service I have recieved. After reviewing my checking account I noticed that I was charged a thirty five dollar return item fee. This was a surprise to me because I was under the impression that if for any reason the funds where not availible in checking that for a seven dollar(which is now ten dollar)fee would be charged and the money would be taken from my savings account. After reviewing both my checking and savings account I saw two previous ten dollar transaction fees charged. That I expected and gladly paid for since I did use the service. There was also enough funds in my savings account to cover all of the transactions that where made. After discovering that a bank error occured I visited a nearby branch to discuss this matter. I was told that the only person that could help me was out to lunch and I could wait about thirty minutes for him to return. I decided it would be best to return later instead of waiting and requested to leave a message for him. When I returned he was assisting another customer so I patiently waited to speak with him. Shortly after another gentleman arrived and was also waiting to speak with him. What made me so upset was that he took a moment to run to copying machine and handed me a print saying here I was able to return eight dollars. I was very insulted because clearly an error had been made and I didn't feel that it was corrected. I asked him why this had happened, and to please explain why I wasn't given a full refund. The response I was given was, " I don't know Sharon is out of the office she can explain it to you tomorrow". Now I found that hard to believe seeing that he was the manager and didn't know. What manager doesn't know? If that where true then how was he able to do the small return in the first place? This was very disturbing to me because not only was I insulted by the amount refunded but I also felt brushed off that he did not take the time to care for my needs as a customer. I sent in a message online to customer service hoping that this issue would be resolved. I have been waiting for three days now with no resolution to this issue and no response why?

We opened a BB&T Student Account two years ago for my son while he is in college. We selected BB&T becuase they specifically offered an account aimed at students. It has an ATM card only, no check book.

A few days ago, he made a miscalculation of his available funds and made three transactions of between $1.08 and $3.67 which were AUTHORIZED by BB&T (as a courtesy) for which he had insufficient funds. The sum total of his overdraft was $6. BB&T charged him $140 - $35 for the $1.08 transaction, $70 for the $3.67 transaction, and 35 for the final $1.46 $2 transaction.

When we appealed to the bank asking for leniency given the small amounts and the fact that they had not rejected the transactions they were extremely clear: the charges stand - get lost. We closed all our accounts there and then.

Any potential future customer needs to understand this awful company's approach and take your business where it will be appreciated.