Consumer complaint received 2017-05-09
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low — Overdrafts and overdraft fees
Company: BB&T CORPORATION (AL)

Here is my list of complaints :  ( 1 )  When I initially opened my account wit h BB & T  I was not sufficiently advise with regards to the Overdraft Protection Law. I was given a piece of paper to sign and the explanation of the reason for the form was completely brushed over. I was basically told that it was just a formality so that the bank could go ahead and cover all my debit card charges.      ( 2 )  On  XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX  I deposited a check into my checking account. On the same day I wrote a check from that account and deposited it into an account with a different bank. When I looked at my transaction history it showed the deposit, then it showed and overdraft fee and then it showed the withdrawal that caused the overdraft. I asked  BB  & T to reverse the charge. They told me that the funds that I deposited were not available for withdrawal until the next day. However, my concern was that even before I overdrew my account, I was charged an overdraft fee. At no time did it show that I had overdrawn my account until after the fee was charged. I asked BB & T to reverse the charge. I was told that my branch office would have to authorize the reversal of the charge. My banker called me and told me that he had spoken with his superiors and they would not allow him to rev erse the charge. BB & T says that they clear credits before debits, but in this case they apparently did not. Although they say that the funds can take time to clear, the funds were showing available in my account the next day after the deposit. This either means that when my other bank (   XXXX    ) cleared my check with BB & T at  the end of the day on the  XXXX  the  XXXX  withdrawal was taken out first or, as my account showed, I was charged an overdraft fee before I had even overdrawn the account.     (  XXXX  ) On  XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX  I had an unexpected withdrawal from my checking account. The withdrawal was a debit card payment for a service that I pay for monthly. I had changed my method of payment with that service company, but could not delete the old payment card. For some reason they did not process my payment in  XXXX  and then used the old paym ent method ( my BB & T debit card ) to pay the past due amount that they had failed to charge previously. Because I was not aware of the charge to the account I did not know that I had overdrawn the account until I received a letter in the mail from BB & T . The letter was dated  XXXX   XXXX , but I did not receive it until  XXXX   XXXX , 9 days after the letter was dated. The letter is showing that it was sent   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   but there is not date stamp on the letter showing when it was actually mailed. This is not the first time that I have received an overdraft notice more than a week after the overdraft occurred. Given that most   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   deliveries are completed in th e US  withi in 2-3  days of mailing, it is highly suspicious that   BB & T 's notices did not get to me until over 7 days after the overdraft occurred. BB & T charges an additional overdraft fee after 7 days of the account being overdrawn.
  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   I am now being charged a service fee of {$12.00} a month that I was not aware of. The charge says Service Ch  arges - Prior Period. I do not know why I am being charged this fee when I have not had a service charge on my account since it was opened. I have not received notice of any change to my account. I see that there are unread messages in my online account, but when I click on the link nothing opens. I have not received anything in the mail explaining any change to my account. This fee has now caused me to be overdrawn once again on the account.     Given the above I believe that  BB & T ha s policies in place that undermine account holders in order to obtain fees.