Consumer complaint received 2019-04-07
Company: REGIONS FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: AL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low
Sub-issue: Overdrafts and overdraft fees

Complaint:
Hello, I am hoping someone at your organization can help me with my complaint regarding Regions Bank. My husband and I have made several attempts to get overdraft fees reversed. My husband called Regions, and spoke with a representative and her supervisor. Both ladies said they couldnt remove the charge. My husband was told to go to a branch to see what they could do. He spoke to a representative at our local branch. She was supposed to research the charge and follow up with us by XX/XX/XXXX. We never heard from her. I emailed Regions 3 times after this as well, but they are unwilling to help. 

What happened was we had 6 pending transactions in our account on XX/XX/XXXX. We had enough money to cover the pending charges. My husband and I went out to dinner on XX/XX/XXXX, and after dinner we had an available balance in our account of {$79.00}. We shopped for groceries afterwards, and spent {$90.00}. My husband and I did the same thing the week before, because he got paid the following day. He deposited his paycheck and we didnt receive any overdraft charges. We figured it would be the same this time, but instead we were charged 6 overdraft fees adding up to {$210.00}. 

The XXXX transaction of {$90.00} on XX/XX/XXXX was what caused our account to be overdrawn by {$11.00}. We can understand having to pay 1 overdraft fee for this, but we were charged 6 overdraft fees instead. In the emails Ive sent to the bank, I tried asking them to reverse 5 charges and asked if we can just pay 1 charge. Each time they emailed me back stating theres nothing they can do. 

I was told the reason for the 6 overdraft fees is because we had 6 pending transactions on XX/XX/XXXX, before we went out to dinner and went to XXXX. Regions states they allowed those payments to clear first ( our dinner at the buffet for {$30.00}, and the transaction at XXXX for {$90.00} ) a total of {$120.00}. We had an available balance of {$110.00} when they did this, which brought the account to - {$11.00}. Then they charged us overdraft fees for the smaller 6 pending transactions. 

This seems very unfair, because we had enough funds in our account to cover all pending transactions except 1. My husband also deposited his paycheck in the account on XX/XX/XXXX, which would have covered the amount we were overdrawn ( {$11.00} ). His paycheck posted to the account before the last 2 pending transactions posted on XX/XX/XXXX ( {$30.00} at the buffet, and {$90.00} at XXXX XXXX. Ive attached screen shots to show this. 

Regions representatives also told us they can not waive any fees because we have had overdraft fees waived 3 times in the past ( on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX ). The fee waived on XX/XX/XXXX was only {$18.00}, because the representative my husband talked to made a mistake. It was supposed to be for {$36.00}, we just never corrected them. 

Since the phone calls, branch visit, and emails werent getting anywhere, I emailed again asking if there was a specific department I could contact regarding my concerns/complaint. I wasnt given an answer, instead I was given a breakdown of why I was charged the fees. They have given me the breakdown twice. However, no matter how they word it, the bottom line is we had enough money to cover all but 1 of our pending transactions. In addition, my husbands paycheck posted to the account before the last 2 pending transactions did. 

Im hoping there is something that can be done about this. We have been with the bank a few years, and rarely ask for anything. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you, I hope you have a good night.

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