Consumer complaint received 2019-01-08
Company: SUNTRUST BANKS, INC.
State: FL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Fees charged for closing account

Complaint:
On Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, I found my SunTrust savings account was overdrawn by {$99.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. It stated Status " HOLD ''. I only had XXXX cents left in the account before this. I called SunTrust customer service and asked what this was all about. They said due to a Writ of Garnishment being filed for a debt, that {$100.00} was deducted from my account. I told them I did not know anything about it and received no advance notification. I asked for details, but was told by the customer rep that I would have to call " Florida Garnishment ''? Whoever they are.

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received paperwork by U.S. mail regarding a Writ of Garnishment filed by XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX. from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. in XXXX. I found several problems with the paperwork. I looked up the Florida Statute and from what I can tell, proper procedure was not followed.

" When a creditor seeks a garnishment, the clerk of court must send notice to the debtor regarding the garnishment. '' I only received paperwork from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I never received anything directly from the Clerk of Court. That is supposed to take place before any attempt at garnishment and collection of the debt. My SunTrust Bank savings account had a grand total of XXXX cents as a balance. Before I learned that it was SunTrust who deducted {$100.00} for 'legal fees ', I asked that the Clerk of Court make sure that the {$100.00}, or at least {$99.00} is deposited back to my account and that any fees or NSF charges that may have occurred as a result, be paid for as well.

" Additionally, the creditor must send the debtor notice of the garnishment, by first class mail within 5 business days of the writ of garnishment being issued. '' The Plaintiff 's Motion For Writ Of Garnishment is dated XX/XX/XXXX. The actual Writ is dated XX/XX/XXXX. According to the Certificate Of Service, all of this paperwork was not mailed to me until XX/XX/XXXX. According to the Florida statute, the plaintiff failed to meet any of the deadlines. Therefore, I requested that the Clerk of Court dismiss the case with prejudice. I sent a copy of the letter to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. The following week, I received a Dismissal of Garnishment dated XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX.

In the meantime, I received several overdraft notices in the mail along with several robo call messages to call SunTrust about the situation. I called and talked to a rep and explained that the Writ should never have been filed, the law group failed to follow procedure, no one gave me advance notice about the Writ and legal fee deduction, and the Writ was ultimately dismissed. The rep said that I had to contact the debt collector about this and in the meantime, I needed to cover the overdraft or else my savings account would be closed in 60 days. I said, " Why wait? Let 's just close it now and you keep the XXXX cents. '' He said that could not be done, that it would happen automatically in 60 days. I said fine, then we'll just let it happen in 60 days. He did not warn me there would be an additional 'Charge-off Account Fee ' of {$30.00}. I just received a letter from SunTrust, dated XX/XX/XXXX that I now owe them {$120.00} and the account " ... has been referred for collection ''. Before that, I had sent letters, made calls, and exchanged e-mails with SunTrust regarding this situation, all to no avail.

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