Consumer complaint received 2016-03-31
Product: Bank account or service — Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management — 
Company: SUNTRUST BANKS, INC. (MD)

On XXXX/XXXX/16 I received an email alert letting me know that my checking account was overdrawn. The email was puzzling since I know that I had not purchased any big ticket items. I immediately went to the bank branch where I opened my account to see what happened. This is what was explained to me : My checking account had been charged a series of 'mini fees ' that had been collected through debit card transactions. I asked why would the bank allow the transactions to continue when there was no money in the account? There was a mediocre explanation that eventually led to a requested print-out, by me, of my account. The print out revealed that SunTrust had been charging fees to my account of XXXX for each and every transaction. On some days, my account was charged up to XXXX of these XXXX fees on the same day. I 've been with SunTrust for less than six months, and they continue to, or the employee who opened the account, continues to make glaring errors in relation to my account. How? First, the account was set up improperly. Second, the representative who opened the account did not explain all of my options to me. This experience leads me to believe that there is poor management at this branch location ( XXXX XXXX ) and that the manager, XXXX XXXX is doing a horrible job with both managing and properly training his employees. 
On XXXX/XXXX/16 I left a message at the branch requesting that XXXX XXXX call me. On XXXX/XXXX/16 when I saw XXXX XXXX to check on my account status, he had not even looked into it and explained to me that he had been busy. On XXXX/XXXX/16, XXXX XXXX explained to me that again he had been busy. It was not until that day that he even begin addressing my account. To this day, he has not taken responsibility in the mismanagement of my account and instead is trying to cover up for his employee, XXXX XXXX, who opened my accounts. I believe that XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX are more interested in meeting their account quotas instead of the care and attention to the consumer. 
When I first opened account XXXX XXXX made a serious error of placing all of my money into my savings account instead of my checking account, as I had requested. This resulted in gross errors that led had to be straightened out when I went to pay my bills ; Certain payments did not go through due to XXXX XXXX 's error. In that instance, I do not believe XXXX XXXX was counseled by his manager. Something is amiss in the training if XXXX XXXX is allowed to continue making these mistakes and his manager is content with making excuses for his employees instead of re-training his employees and making sure the consumer is okay. XXXX XXXX sent me an email claiming that he tried to call me on the XXXX, but I do not believe that to be true, as I received no phone call. I, once again, had to be the one following up with him concerning my account. 
A total of approximately XXXX in fees were charged to my checking account ; fees that are both exorbitant and ludicrous seeing the nature of the fees. SunTrust was allowing card transactions to go through whether or not there was any money in the account. I feel that this was an instant payday predatory practice by the bank as they are aware that my paychecks are direct deposited every two weeks like clockwork. I believe that I was seen as an easy target and money could be made from my account due to my direct deposit. I will reiterate that these options were not explained to me thoroughly when I opened my account. My account was set up improperly. It is for this reason that I am requesting a full refund of all of my fees. SunTrust has violated my trust and is exploiting the consumer. 
My account was being charged for debit card transactions of XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, etc. SunTrust is taking advantage of consumers.