Fifth Third Bank / 53.com review: poor customer service! 112

Fifth Third has no customer service. The Rand Road Palatine Il locations manager has no sense of urgency and has no balls to support his customers. I have 2 checking accounts one at Northern Trust and another at Fifth Third. I was told a wire transfer of 43K was to be put in my Northern Trust account. So I wrote a check from Northern to the Fifth Third Bank. The next thing I know is my Fifth Third account has been put on hold. When phoned to find out why, I was told that only the manager "Mustofa" could give us that information and he was not in. Mustofa was the only one to make these decisions about reopening our account. I finally find out that the Fifth Third Bank feels that we are "kitting". Mustofa finally called and he was to call early the next am to notify us of his findings. Well needless to say, Mustofa did not call and we called him. Now we find out that Mustofa has to contact his regional manager Joe to decide if they will take the hold off of our account. Joe has no balls either, according to Mustofa, Joe will not reopen my account because we bounced one...YES 1 check from one bank to another. WTF...is there no room for error in America any more...MUSTOFA...You loose, little did you know I put 1.5 million dollars thru Northern Trust every year...DUMB DUM MUSTOFA

The 5/3 bank has been good for us. But today I mistook my 5/3 debit card for a different card I carry and used the 5/3 card it over drew my account. Went to the bank and I was $12.89 over draft so they charged $25.00 for the over draft. All total they took $37.89 out of a different account to cover and left this account with a zero balance. Now what? I acknowledge it was my mistake but after over 50 years with the same bank they would not forgive. What a rip off. I am not a happy camper.

Not just rediculous but criminal almost. Additionall how they stack largest to smallest so your charged for more overdrafts . Honestly if you have overdraft protection (your savings account) they charge you to use your own money. Im feed up with banks!

Your not the only one. I am looking to start a class action law suit but need your story http://closeyourbankaccount.blogspot.com/

ive delt with them for 15 years since my credit union sold my mortgage to these thugs, yes i like the term because it fits. Customer service representitives are either clueless or malicious. Cant prove which but the results are the same. You can once and get one version, call back to talk to someone else a few days later and you get something totally different. I recently requested a payoff from them to which it covered 10 days. I didnt get the payoff info till day 6 so am now waiting to see how many days of extra interest this will cost me.Im shure they will drag there feet on it to its maximum effect, feel like you almost have to have a attorny hand deliver a payment to them just to protect yourself. its like playing some kind of shell game with them all the time with them trying to figure out how to screw you for just a little more money. I will never be as glad as the day i am finally totally thru with them forever.

Recently, I was visiting my son in Louisville, KY. While visiting, I lost my debit card. In the mean time, my son found that he was overdrawn at 5/3 bank. I wrote a check to my son so he could deposit the check to more than clear his overdraft account. This was on a Friday and his pay check was scheduled for an automatic deposit on Monday. I was looking at a 5 hour trip home and had only 4 dollars in my wallet. Since my son was overdrawn on Friday the 5/3 bank could not give him cash for that day. Despite the fact that I had given him $500.00 to deposit, the people would not give me any cash for my travel. With technology today, I can find out how much money I have in the bank with one phone call yet these people had to wait to see if my check cleared before they could assist me. Certainly, they could not help me on the day of my departure. The teller offered a cash advance "store" or she could loan my son $500.00 with a $50.00 fee attached for transferring funds to his account...cash advance?
My husband is on the local Board for our Tennessee bank and I speculate that the teller at his banks would have given me travel money from their own pockets before they would have offered to take advantage of my bad situation by charging interest on unnecessarily borrowed money. My husband and my son's father have a net worth of over 4 million dollars between them. My son is a promising professional. I have my doctorate and draw a 6 figure salary package. We are not stupid, broke, or losers. Yet, I have never been made to feel so stupid, broke and like such a loser as the employees of this Kroger based 5/3 bank were trained to make me feel. I was desperate and they tried to make money off of my bad situation while treating me with disrespect.

So there I was on Friday June 5th at around 9pm, looking at my account online. My balance was good. I had $203 dollars in my account. With 4 transactions pending. The money in my account more than covered my transactions, I would have about $100 dollars left over.

Saturday, my work paid me. I cashed my check at a local store, picked up pizza for my family, and enjoyed my weekend.

Monday at around noon I noticed I was suddenly $6.78 negative. My husband immediately drove to the bank, and deposited $200 in cash. I should not have been in the negative as all my pendings were covered. However a check from a month ago (written for $105) finally hit the system. My own fault for forgetting about it. I would pay the overdraft fee, and the negative balance. The price you pay for a checking account.

Then on Tuesday I checked my account again. I am currently $111 negative. Hmmm... that did not seem right to me. So I scrolled through my transaction script. The check from a month ago, was changed to go through on Friday (trust me it was not there Friday or I would have deposited my $200 in cash during my lunch break on Saturday). The 4 transactions listed as pending were put on hold, so that the bigger check could go through first. Resulting in 4 bounced checks.

Fifth Third tells me that old check went through on Friday. That I am wrong. That their customers like it that the bigger checks get cleared first. It was not there when I went to bed on Friday. It did not show up until Monday. It was not listed as pending. So now I get to pay late fees and overdraft fees for 4 transactions that they pushed to the side. They will not work with me on this. Their reasoning for why I did not see the transaction is that their online computer had not updated yet (at 9pm at night?) and that the central computer keeps the real tally, and that the central computer is always right. If the online computer does not update by the end of the business day, what is the point to online checking? It also seems their online checking does not update (unless it is a credit/debit card) over the weekend. Any transactions that hit the actual bank, will not be listed until Monday. So if they are not listed Friday at close, not listed Saturday, nor Sunday, how can anyone balance their accounts?

Absolutely agree! But mechants also have to be wary of them! Fifth Third is in the process of trying to sell the majority stake in their processing unit so they will absolutely approve ANY transaction regardless of the safety! They'll give you voice approval for ANY transaction and then lie and deny! Merchants should run for the hills and find another processor before they get taken for big money!

I had an account with 5th 3rd Bank back in 2005. I was in the Marine Corps at the time. I closed the account at the end of '05 when I transfered from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL to Camp Pendleton, CA. In order to close an account, the account must be at $0.00 right? 2 years later, when I return from a deployment to Iraq, I have 2 letters waiting for me. One is from 5th 3rd and states that I owe them $179.16 and my account is being turned over to a collection agency, and the second is from ChexSystems stating that 5th 3rd has turned my account over to them for collection. It also stated I had 30 days to dispute the banks claim before they would assume it was legitimate. The postmark on the letter said it was sent 4 months before I returned from Iraq. When I called to find out what was going on, I was given a run around, made to call 7 different numbers attempting to contact the appropriate people, and ultimately refused any options. Finally, I got hold of someone at 5th 3rd that told me she was clearing my account. Went through a verifier and everything.

Here I sit, almost two years since then, attempting to open a checking account, when I get told that I will not be able to open an account because of a hit with ChexSystems. I began the process again, just to find out that I have to call 13 numbers and that my account went from ChexSystems to Arrow Financial and from them to Financial Management Systems. I finally gave up and paid it because I need an account in order to receive my direct deposit. No direct deposit = no money. I paid them 2 days ago. Now when I call back, Financial Management Systems says that it is paid and the information has been forwarded to Arrow Financial. I call Arrow Financial, and they tell me they have not received any information and have no dealings with ChexSystems whatsoever and that I must have imagined ChexSystems and Financial Management Systems telling me that they did. When I asked to speak with a supervisor, she told me to hold, and I was left waiting on hold for an hour before I had to hang up.
This has been driving my nuts. I will be reporting this to the BBB, suing them, and if I feel it becomes necessary, I will take it to Oprah. I don't care for her show too much myself, but she is always interested in having veterans that have been mistreated on the show.
Overall, STAY AWAY FROM 5TH 3RD BANK. And if you ever have to deal with ChexSystems or Arrow Financial, I pity you.

@Leebug 77.

Hell, I've head of banks being blood-sucking institutions, but I never heard of it being applied literally!

My branch at Fifth Third Bank in Woodmere, Ohio recently offered me a chance to be apart of a EARLY ACCESS ACCOUNT (EAA). I was told that if I ever needed cash for paying something and did not have money to pay, the EAA would cover the check. At first I was leery about all of it but within weeks I was calling back to sign up for it. I wrote a check and the EARLY ACCESS ACCOUNT (EAA) funds covered the payment and the bank charged me $50 as stated they would do. I was told I have 30 days to pay the funds back and I did. So, everything was okay.

Now I needed to use the EARLY ACCESS ACCOUNT again and this time I called into the automated line and received a lilve rep by my prompts. I asked if the money was still available in the EAA and she said yes. I told her good because I would be writing a check for my car note and needed the account to cover my check.

Yesterday while going into the bank to make a deposit for another matter I learned that my account was overdrawn by the teller. I did not understand why but did not have time to talk to her since I had my grandson with me.

I went home did my homework (I am I am in college) and then called the automated line and prompted the line for a live rep. Upon getting a live rep I asked what overdrew my account and was told my car note payment. I then asked how that could be possible when I have funds in my EAA to cover the check. I was told you did not access those funds to cover your check. I asked her what she was talking about when before when I used the EAA all I did was call my branch and the funds were sent to my checking account, and by calling into the automated line and receiving a live rep the same process should have been instituted to cover my car payment.

She became very rude and said that is not the process. I called my branch and they too were very rude and said the $111 in overdraft fees would stay on my account overdrawing me.

I was furious and told them that this is unethical and not how a bank is suppose to treat a customer with money available to cover payments and on a new product that the bank approached me with. Maybe I do not know all of the procedures with accessing it and at this point that is not the case.

I called in to have the funds accessed into my account with my branch the first time I used the EAA and calling into the call center should give me the same results. I asked the call center and my branch why would they overdraw my account when they see the funds available in the EAA?

I asked the call center for someone over the supervisor's head that I was talking too and she declined to give me any name of the owner's of the bank or any other numbers and said she was in charge.

I then replied, you mean to tell me there is no one over a supervisor at your bank. (I knew she was lying) and she said no I am in charge.

I am going to write the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the executives of the bank at the Fifth Third Bank headquarters to report this mistreatment.

Hawthorne

I would love to sue them in a class action suit. My account was messed up because they did not credit a cash deposit to my account. Numerous items had been returned. While they did reverse some of the charges, I've been hit with $246 in fees. I paid all the returned items. Those fees came because the returned items ended up re-presenting to my account. I never would have encountered any problems if the cash deposit had been available when it was supposed to be.

Don't spend money you don't have. The overdraft policy was in your ruls and regulations booklet that you got when you opened your account.

That happened to me also, now on a credit card charge I had reversed because I have no idea what it is has shown back on my closed account that they refuse to close! I have filed a complaint with the BBB and there is no help there also. I would love to go against this bank in a class action suit.

Pissed off in Illinois

I have my car financed with Fifth Third Bank, since 2005. I am unemployed at this time and was late on ONE payment and they turned it over to a collection agency! It states on my payment book on time payment and late payment giving me a grace period of 10 days. BEWARE ! Once my car is paid off I will NEVER deal with Fifth Third bank EVER again.
They DO NOT care about you or your situation.
Maybe if they loose their job they can feel/see what its like.

5/3's online system has some serious flaws. A payment will show up on one day and be bounced the next with fees added. It seems very strange that some payments will not show up on the acount for 24 hours when other will. They claim it is the way they have always posted and even if you prove them wrong they refuse to do anything about it. The best one is a cash deposit shows up right away but they wait 24 hours to deduct any payments against it so you can't make sure they were processed properly until its too late.

In case you didn't read this correctly, we DID contact 5/3 about the payments, it is NOT late because it was within the 10-day grace period allowed by law, and we DID make that payment, yet still received the phone calls after making the payment.

Our credit rating is aces and always has been. Disturbed? I think not. We made every effort to work with 5/eSo before you making insinuations and accusations, know who you are dealing with and watch your tongue.

168 days ago by Daniel [send email]
Well If you customers keep complaining about being called and disturbed just to collect money, the aswer is very simpe! PAY ON TIME! if yo u have a credit card I think you should first know the meaning of responsability, or if you can't pay I suggest stop paying with it. If you think you are disturbed being called just think on the people you disturb too, just pay on time I don't think It's that hard.

Fifth Third bank is very unprofessional. I have had continual problems with my HSA account, and every single person I spoke to on the customer service line was RUDE. They told me it was my problem. The tellers at the bank are also rude and not helpful whatsoever. These people won't do anything for you, so don't waste your time even trying. I will NEVER bank with this bank, and I only have my HSA account because this is what my empolyer offers.

I had a similar problem. I deposit money into the account.. I recieved notifications that I was overdrawn on my account... I have never imaging that I would have been charged for money that was put in... it is outrageous that I have to paid overdraft fees on money that was in my account... stilllnot understand what happen... it is very uneasy feeling not known if you can pay a bill or not... have no way of proving... but now I see my self without enough money to pay my bills... have to transfered cash from another institution to pay the overdrafts... someone should look into this... I went and complain... they told me I total my registry wrong!

One evening I called the fifth third banks 800 # for an automated update on my checking
accounts. I thought I had become the victim of 'identity theft', as both my balances were
way off. One balance stated a $3.oo balance, when it should have been over $250.00,
The other account info stated an even worse error, reporting a balance that was so way off, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I even called the 800 # two more times to be certain of what I heard. Yes, I did hear it right, and I was in a panic all night, as they no longer have
a 24 hour service that you can contact.
I immediately called my credit card companies, and luckily they were at a correct balance,
which gave me some comfort.
After hardly sleeping all night, I called the 800 # at 8 a.m., and my balances were then correct. When I reported it to my local banking office, and to customer service at the 800 #,
and asked if other customers had reported this same problem, I was told this was the first they heard about it. This incident occured right after I had initiated a dispute with fifth third bank, concerning a single debit that they deducted twice from my account (their error), and it
had turned into a rediculous financial debate, trying to get my own money back from them !
I believe it was done on purpose, to come back at me for standing up to them, as just when the bank opened the next morning my balances were correct. Coincidence, or what ?!?
" Yes", you do "STINK" !

I have also had terrible service from fifth third bank and the reason is they have out sourced. These people can hardly speak english and are terribly rude. I called today for a pay off on my house and they did not understand what I was trying to do so they would yell at me if they could not finish reading off their script of what to say. Don't interrupt them when they are reading their script as they don't understand what you are trying to say. What a joke. This is the United States and you should be giving these jobs to our people. No wonder our economy is in such a mess. I will never do business with this bank again. If this is what we are experiencing what about the people that have not taken the time to complain.

I've been a Fifth Third Customer for years. Recently I received my statement and found a transaction that was made from another country, as well as an international transaction fee, that I did not make. I have been on the phone for many hours trying to get this resolved and still nothing. The customer service represatives are incompetent and rude. Maybe I should start charging them for my time. What a JOKE!

Well If you customers keep complaining about being called and disturbed just to collect money, the aswer is very simpe! PAY ON TIME! if yo u have a credit card I think you should first know the meaning of responsability, or if you can't pay I suggest stop paying with it. If you think you are disturbed being called just think on the people you disturb too, just pay on time I don't think It's that hard.

Harassment!

Our car payments are made through 5th 3rd and due the 17th of each month with a 10-day grace period. Since my husband's SS check arrives on the 22th, we pay our bill within the 10-day time frame allowed BY LAW. We've never been late. We've never missed a payment. We've explained the situation to them.

However, Fifth/Third phones our home repeatedly if the bill isn't paid by the 17th. It's an automated message that connects us to an operator. IF we don't speak to the operator, the phone calls continue until we do.

On Memorial Day weekend, we paid the bill at a Fifth Third branch on Saturday morning (the 24th.)
Yet, they still phoned our home four times Saturday, waking up kids and friends who were trying to sleep after a long trip and late night arrival. They also phoned once on Monday(26th), then again on Tuesday (27th). Their excuse is that their computer won't log our payment until Tuesday evening at midnight.

These calls were placed on a National Holiday weekend, for heaven's sake, to long time customers who regularly pay their bills.

To say we're furious is an understatement. We're considering legal action.

May 7, 2008

To:
Fifth Third Bank
PO Box 630778
Cincinnati, Ohio [protected]

Regional Adjustments Bureau Incorp.
7000 Goodlett Farms Pkwy.
Condova, TN [protected]
[protected]

Better Business Bureau
1005 LaPosada
Austin, TX 78752
[protected]

Subject: Harassment

Un like you, I am going to give you the courtesy to let you know of a potential problem.

First, if a problem arises with any loans I have, I expect the bank to at least contact me before turning the dogs loose. That never occurred. Second, the dogs never contacted me either. But did make contact with neighbors and family members, and never stated what the problem was nor would they accept my home phone number so that contact could be made.

I identified the problem with the bank and paid with penalty prior to any of this BS surfacing. What amazes me is, all of this occurred on a monthly note that was less then 20 days late. Needless to say, both companies involved have acted in a less then professional manner, in fact, it is down right sleazy.

Here is the potential problem, if I find out about any more of this kind of activity, I wont stop with the BBB and you will hear from my lawyer.

William Zech

I am very discouraged by everyone in the lease termination department and the customer service department. I have been disputing a charge and everyone I talk to gives me the run around. I leave messages and nobody calls me back. Some people say sorry its too late you are going to have to pay anyway. Nobody wants to actually look into the situation and find out how they can help. I have even gotten people who refuse to transfer me to anybody else. I feel like they don't care about their customers, only getting the money that I shouldn't have owed in the first place. To make matters worse, I got the bill only a month ago and they have already reported me to collections and told me it was going to be on my credit report despite the fact that I am trying to dispute it. I'm tired of the collections department calling 5 - 10 times a day and not understanding that I am trying to dispute this charge. I am tired of talking to people who don't actually care about their customers. That shows a reflection of the bank. Who would ever want to bank with people who don't seem to care about you. I want a bank that will try to understand my situation and research it to the best of their ability and help me come up with a reasonable solution.

Here's a bank that doesn't charge overdraft fees.

http://free-overdraft.com/signup/LearnMore/LearnMore.html

I had a car loan for the last 5 years with 5th 3rd. In Sep. they sent me a final payment letter. I paid it and thought I was done with them. A few weeks later I got a default letter saying I owed them 0.00 how starnge, so I called just to make sure everything was paid off & they said the letter should not have been sent out & I was all paid up, all was fine.
Two weeks before x-mas I got a call that I owed 108.00 in late fees, they put it on hold until after the new year (I told them they would not get any $ out of me right before the holiday).
I have never gotten a letter from them about this. Only phone calls asking me for the $.
Tuesday I spoke with Andrea in collections dispute & she was nice, but wants the $ and does not care about what letters I have, I signed a contract & that means something, but their letters don't count (?).
So I called back & spoke with Charles in collections, I explained that I don't feel comfortable giving them this money when I have back up that says I dont owe. I am not giving them my $ without at first looking into it.
He told me that this is "just not clicking with me" about 25 times. I asked for his manager & he refused over and over again. This person I have never met brought me to tears of anger! He finally put his manager, Derrick Flynt on & he basically stuck up for Charles. So, I ended it with I am not paying any $ without an investigation on my part.
What guarantee do I have that I give them the $ they want now and in 3 months they call again and want more? Wheres my protection from this company?
Well guess what? This morning I got a call from Kristen at 5th 3rd collections telling me I owe them over 600.00 ! I am disgusted with this company and not one employee can give me the name of a upper level manager that I can take this too.
sorry this was long, but it sure felt good to get it out!
I am not bending over and giving them a dime without a fight !

I have never been treated so badly by any custmer service rep as I was this morning by a Fifth Third Bank rep. She said her name was Sheila PMBA. I called to make a payment on my car loan. She was extemely rude.

I asked to speak with a supervisor and she refused. She stated she was the one helping me and asked why I needed a supervisor. I told her its my right and my option to ask for one. She never let me speak with anyone.

I was left feeling extremely uncomfortable giving my personal banking information to her in order to make my car payment.
Please can someone help me? I no longer wish to bank with Fifth Third Bank. I will not be treated so rudely.

I asked which number I was to use if I called back and she said [protected].

I want to speak to a supervisor!

Sounds like you were dealing with the collections department - which is outsourced. A local bank manager could have helped you. Collectors are evil, paid very little and don't listen to logic. I would never be able to do that job. That can happen with any lender.

If that's your biggest problem, consider yourself very lucky.

When Fifth Third Bank took over Old Kent the problems started.
Anyone banking with them might know some of them. They include frequent un-notified changes of policy. But the most outrageous are their statements. They are so confusing even the smartest among us would have trouble making sense of them. They include debiting from the lowest to highest but accounting from the highest to the lowest, putting in direct debits late and then charging fees and crediting checks at the end of the day after debiting all the items and then charging fees. The list is endless. Stay away.