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Fifth Third Bank / 53.com

Fifth Third Bank / 53.com review: 5/3 bank fraud charges 4

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6:42 pm EDT
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I had a beginning balance in my checking account of almost $300 the day my overdraft took place. I admit the $24 overdraft was indeed my fault, an accounting error in my check register, even though the ONE check that overdrew was actually written to MY company, to deposit in my company account which was ALSO at Fifth Third Bank. I was prepared to pay the $37 overdraft fee for the one overdraft and cover the $24 that bounced...I mean who was going to return it? Me? To Me? Anyway, I awoke to find $293 in overdraft fees posted to my account the next morning because of the way Fifth Third Bank and certain 'other' banks rearrange their ledgers which 'allows' them to charge multiple fraudulent and excessive overdraft fees on purchases made by debit card that have already CLEARED on that day as they are pre-approved. My online ledger was showing a balance still on my account after all my debit purchases. Not realizing I had miscalculated my register when my check to myself (my company) was posted that night, instead of charging me for the actual overdraft of the check, they rearranged everything on my ledger that 'allowed' them to charge 'multiple' $37 overdraft fees on my debit purchases that day as if I had had a $0 balance on my account! My direct deposit was to happen that night at midnight, but because I couldn't make a deposit on that day before 2pm, I awoke to find my entire deposit taken and additional fees taken making my account -$531! I had to borrow money to cover my negative balance, nothing pending on my account. I deposited enough to have a credit balance on my account of $159. I made 2 purchases that day. Low and behold I awoke the next morning to have been charged another $189 in overdraft fees leaving me with another negative balance of -$103. The trickle down effect of my first overdraft keeps going. I again go to my bank asking about this fee and I'm told these fees are for the day before yesterday! I was frantically searching my ledger to see what they were talking about and there were a couple of 'foreign atm fees' of $2 that didn't show on my account until after that first overdraft. This still did not add up to me according to the fees they charge and I STILL cannot figure it out. Anyway, trying to wrap up my long story, I made a deposit as soon as I found out about the last fees, had a credit balance on my account all weekend of $12 on MY ONLINE LEDGER, awoke on Tuesday to find out they had charged me another $86 in overdraft fees, supposedly for the 2 purchases I made on the day I deposited the money that showed I had $159. They considered those purchases 'pending', and when the previous $189 overdraft hit, that in turn overdrafted THOSE 2 purchases! All this I believe because even though I made my deposit early Sunday morning, the deposit was 'pending', not actually posted until Tuesday...and I'm the one who has to pay for THEIR POLICIES. All in all I have deposited nearly $717 to cover a $24 overdraft of ONE check in stead of the $37 overdraft fee that I TRULY AND HONESTLY owed them. And had they charged me only the one $37 overdraft fee, none of the other overdrafts would have happened. This domino effect is absoutely devastating to the common consumer like myself who lives paycheck to paycheck. If any of us decided to rearrange a ledger at our place of work we would be fired. If ANY other industry or business tried such a thing it would be considered 'Theft by Deception'. Which in reality is exactly what it is. This HAS to be a LOOPHOLE in the banking laws that banks have adopted as 'Policy' to legally extort money from the consumer. It's hard for me to fathom that this isn't a 'gray area' in the law that some great and wonderful financial legal team has found to get more money out of the very people who are supposed to be able to trust them with their money. I WANT TO CLOSE THIS LOOPHOLE. I WANT A CLASS ACTION SUIT STARTED AGAINST FIFTH THIRD BANK AND OTHER BANKS WHO HAVE ADOPTED THIS SO-CALLED 'POLICY'. I can't imagine how many $$Millions$$ of dollars in these excessive and fraudulent fees have been stolen from consumers all over the country. I would be interested to know how these banks hide these extorted monies when they file their taxes. If you're an attorney willing to start a class-action suit I'll be the first in line. I am filing formal complaints with the Attorney General, the State Banking Office, the FDIC, the SEC, the Federal Reserve, Consumer Protection, the Comptroller of the US Currency, my State Representative, and Congress. And Michael Moore, if you want to expose someone in your NEXT FILM, PLEASE EXPOSE THE BANKING AND FINANCIAL INDUSTRY FOR WHAT IT REALLY IS. It's no wonder our financial system is failing and the economy is collapsing. It's because of greed. Plain and simple. Think about this...we actually have to PAY someone to TAKE OUR PAYMENTS these days! How twisted is that!

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4 comments
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user2192564
Dayton, US
Feb 24, 2021 4:49 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Fraud department is accusing me of fraud for taking my own money out of my account. I have reported it to CFPB. Now they refuse to give me my funds. This is criminal

Susan J Schaeffer

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Tony Mayausky
, US
Aug 09, 2016 9:05 pm EDT

I also have seen this many times. The latest I've discovered was a purchase that was pending (subtracted from my current balance) disappeared for 3 days (money added to my current balance, to make it look like it was a mistake) then on the 4th day(money subtracted again and showing a real charge(not pending). I understand systems updates, but this was just another scam that luckily I caught. So make sure account and online match always. I hope there are others out there like me

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reefercat
, US
Jun 23, 2011 5:53 am EDT

blah blah blah, good to see you enjoying that creative accounting kool ade. LOL, no one stated it wasn't disclosed. In fact I stated it was all legal.

Are you seriously stating that the situation the poster described is A OK, simply because, "well, it was all disclosed". It is in fact an example of what in any other setting would be referred to as simple extortion.

And you are wrong about it makes no difference if you balanced your checkbook: in the scenario the poster describes it would still put you at a disadvantage, e.g. by getting a later deposit. Because the bank, by rearranging the priority of ledger items, is going to disregard that timely deposit and seize on the revenue they generate from the earlier overdraft situation. Sounds like you need to read over what happened more closely.

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reefercat
, US
Jun 22, 2011 6:32 am EDT

right. it's not rearranged for no reason. It's rearranged for the very specific reason of milking the cow. ?And it's all legal and above board. Nice, huh?

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