Consumer complaint received 2015-03-22
Company: SUNTRUST BANKS, INC.
State: VA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX : opened a checking and savings account with suntrust. Checks received and used were erroneously printed with my SAVINGS ACCOUNT information. This caused numerous overdrafts, returned checks and extreme mental stress as well as confusion. When I brought it up to the branch manager she apologized and credited all charges back. She reordered checks reflecting the correct information, however, for some reason it was several months before these checks arrived. This caused, again, more stress, inconvience and money. # XXXX due to a possible security breach on my checking account, I went to my branch in XX/XX/XXXX. I closed the XXXX checking account and savings account and reopened a new one. I did not open a new savings account, however, apparently the person helping me did open one. I was printed starter checks while waiting for the real ones. It took XXXX phone calls and 8 weeks before the checks arrived in the mail. In the meantime, I used the information on my starter checks to set up my automatic payments ( credit card, car insurance, electric etc ) well, imagine what happened. MY STARTER CHECKS HAD BEEN PRINTED WITH MY SAVINGS ACCOUNT INFORMATION! While trying to straighten out this repeated error I 1 : dealt with an extremely XXXX, young, know it all teller who spoke to me in an incredibly condescending tone. 2 : had my car insurance dropped and when I called to explain the issue and to restart my policy I was hit with 3 : a $ 20+ increase in my monthly rate due to the 9 days lapse in coverage, even though it was not my fault. I did not even have any access to the savings account to make deposits. 4 : suffered negative and costly consequences from my power company, cell phone provider and credit card company. 5 : I finally went to the bank on Friday XXXX XXXX to close my checking account and the savings account and found out the bank had been pulling funds from my savings to cover my checking. I never asked for this service. I had no access via deposit slips or through my ATM debit card to this savings account so therefore was unable to make deposits to the savings account I did not know I had. 6 : the mobile app would not work for me once I got the new checking account so I deleted it. Web banking was seemingly constantly undergoing updates and changes so it was very hard to access my account on line. 7 : THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE! Today I recieved a letter from suntrust stating that my checking account had been closed and charged off with a negative balance. This letter, dated XXXX XXXX, actually is referring to the checking account I CLOSED IN XXXX! When the account was closed it was in good standing. I never recieved any calls or mail from the bank regarding this until today. So I am now lead to believe the account was in fact never fully closed and some sort of inner bank activity was happening with it against my stated wishes and knowledge. How is this legal or even possible?? When I was at the bank on Friday, as well as the phone call with the very rude young man, I was told by both of them that they could see the old account and the date it had been closed by me with the help of a " manager '' at the branch. Yet, I recieve a letter on XX/XX/XXXX that Suntrust closed the account and is now demanding {$100.00} in fees. This shows a very sneaky and dishonest business model and perhaps even theft, not to mention extremely poor customer service regarding not just XXXX but XXXX accounts, leaving me with having to clean up the mess with not just Suntrust but also the businesses I use that deduct money, in good faith, from my account. My credit rating may be negatively affected, as well as relationships with my creditors and service providers. I believed yesterday I was finished with this stressful and costly experience. Now I am at wits end and have lost all faith in the banking industry.

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief