Consumer complaint received 2018-04-14
Company: REGIONS FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Fee problem

Complaint:
I signed up for a checking account with Regions Bank in XX/XX/XXXX as a spending account. There was a promotion on XXXX that advertised free checking with direct deposit. The terms of the promotion I signed up for were as follows : {$200.00} bonus offer set to expire on XX/XX/XXXX Any LifeGreen Checking   account is eligible for the bonus. 
Offer is available in AL, AR, FL, GA, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, MS , MO, NC, SC, TN & TX. 
Direct Deposit is required for this offer. See options here. 
Application will trigger a Soft Pull, which does not affect your credit. 
You can fund up to {$1000.00} towards the opening deposit with a credit card. 
The {$8.00} to $ 18 Monthly fees can be waived ( see below ). 
There will be an early account termination fee of {$25.00} if you close this account within 180 days. 
Minimum opening deposit is {$50.00} How To Earn The {$200.00} Bonus Open any LifeGreen Checking account online with the promo code XXXX. You can also have a personalized voucher emailed to you from the offer page for an in-branch visit. Use this online application link, which appears to be working fine ( be sure to use the promo code ). If the link is down you can try finding an updated offer by doing a XXXX search for Regions Checking Bonus. 
Make 10 purchases with your Regions Visa CheckCard within 60 days of account opening. 
Make a ACH Direct Deposits such as payroll or Government benefits deposit within 60 days of account opening. 
Once requirements are met, youll receive the {$200.00} credit to your account within 120 days of completing the requirements. 
Avoid The Monthly Fee You can avoid the monthly fee associated with most of the LifeGreen Checking accounts. LifeGreen Checking $ XXXX Monthly FeeLifeGreen eAccess Account $ XXXX  Monthly FeeLifeGreen Simple Checking $ XXXX Monthly FeeLifeGreen Preferred Checking $ XXXX Monthly Fee No Monthly Fee with : {$1500.00} average monthly balance OR ACH direct deposit, such as a recurring payroll or government benefit deposit, to your LifeGreen Checking account. '' As this was being used as a spending account with a {$50.00} per month direct deposit, I signed up. I do not open accounts that require a monthly payment or have a minimum deposit amount as I knew that I would only be adding {$50.00} per month. 
There was also a bonus of {$200.00} for opening the account and and having three months of direct deposit ( again with no minimum amount ). 
In addition, there was another promotion for a {$50.00} gift card for referring someone else and once they opened an account, the gift card would be provided. 
I carefully read the policy information contained in the XXXX ad and there was no mention of the minimum requirements for the monthly deposit. 
In XX/XX/XXXX, two months after the account was opened, there was an account charge for {$8.00}. This happened again in XX/XX/XXXX and I called customer service. They told me that the terms of the promotion I signed up for changed and that there would need to be a minimum of {$500.00} per month to qualify for the free checking and get the promotion. This change was never communicated to me and go against the promotion I signed up for. 

The statements for XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX are attached to show that I was not charged a fee for the first two months.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation