Consumer complaint received 2017-04-06
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: IL
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problems caused by my funds being low

Complaint:
My overdraft settings were changed in XXXX without my knowledge, and after a slew of automatic payment went through over the weekend, my account was overdrafted. I was not alerted via the mobile app, or by the online banking system. I was told that a 'courtesy paper alert ' was mailed out to me. Which does n't help because A ) I ca n't get mail on Sundays and B ) by the time I would have received it these fees probably would have totaled several thousand dollars. I was told that it is n't their fault the notification did n't go off properly, and that the 'paper alert ' is a courtesy to which they extend their customer. Seems pretty predatory to me. 

All in all, I incurred XXXX overdraft fees over the weekend past 3 business days : {$73.00}, {$370.00}, and {$140.00} ( which is still pending even though I brought the account to a positive balance by the time it was posted ). 

I called customer service and was told that it was my fault that the setting had been changed and that I had n't noticed it until the account was overdrafted. ( I mean, duh, of course I would n't have noticed a change on my account until I get charged several hundred dollars in fees ). Anyways, this first person told me there was nothing they could do. So I asked to speak to supervisor who also said the same thing. Until she said that she could reverse {$37.00}. Then we got disconnected ( I mean, of course we did! ), and I waited 5 minutes for a courtesy call-back, but of course, nothing. So I call back customer service, jump through all the automated system hoops, and explain that I got disconnected. The agent says that she will have the supervisor call me back in 3-5 minutes. Okay. 30 minutes go by, and ( of course ) no call back. So I call back a third time, and get a different sup. on the phone. She tells me that she is able to reverse up to {$74.00} ( {$37.00} XXXX ) of the fees on my account. Yeah ... that 's still over {$500.00} in overdraft fees that they 've swindled from me. So, I point out that I 'm not satisfied, I 've been a customer in good standing with this bank for almost 5 years and ask if they will extend a courtesy to me of reversing these fees. No, of course the ca n't. She ca n't help or do anything else about it. She ca n't even explain what went wrong with the alerts and settings in the first place. So I ask to speak to her manager. Who eventually offers to reverse an additional {$74.00} ( thats {$37.00} XXXX ) in fees ( seeing a pattern hear yet? ) I tell her that I am extremely disappointed with their handling of this situation and that I 've never gotten such a run around from a bank before. She ca n't explain why the alerts did n't work, how the settings got switched, or even what their official policy on administering refunds is. She only tells me that j $ XXXX is as much as she is allowed to refund ( which seems arbitrary when you ca n't even explain the policy behind it ). 

So, I 'm out almost {$450.00} for what amounted to less than {$70.00} in money actually overdrafted. And 53 does n't give a XXXX. They do n't care that a committed customer is on the verge of closing the account in it 's entirety because they ca n't seem to make things works correctly. Alerts do n't work, settings that change mysteriously, and a lack of explanation and empathy/making things right again make this whole institution seem like one big, scammy predator. And why not? That 's the treatment we 've almost come to expect here in America. I do n't know why I expected more from 5/3.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation