Consumer complaint received 2017-05-30
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Fee problem
Company: BB&T CORPORATION (VA)

We are a working couple, with a daughter in college, a mortgage and two car payments. From   XX/XX/XXXX   until   XX/XX/XXXX   , I  was without full-time employment due to budget cuts within the company by which I was employed.     Needless to say, money was/is very tight for us and we were/are attempting to survive every month on a very tight budget. Thankfully, in   XX/XX/XXXX ,  I regained full-time employment and we have hope for the future. But, the recovery we have hoped and worked for has been difficult to obtain, as we are struggling to recover from the loss of more than {$4500.00} tha t BB & T h as collected from us in bank fees during our crisis period.     In   XX/XX/XXXX ,  we made a {$1000.00} error in our bank account and took 100 % responsibility for our mistake. We approache d BB & T in at tempt to find some financial relief from more than {$2100.00} in Overdraft Fees th at BB & T charg  ed ( du ring  XX/XX/XXXX  and   XX/XX/XXXX    ) a s a result of our mistake. Despite multiple visits to our branch bank, letters to  BB & T Customer Service and a letter to the Senior Vice President & Chief Client Experience Officer, BB & T would  not offer help in alleviating the disastrous loss of funds we had encountered.     No doubt, the loss of {$2100.0 0} in  XX/XX/XXXX  and    XX/XX/XXXX   put us in an even deeper hole. That money would have allowed us to better survive fro m  XX/XX/XXXX   until I found fulltime employment in   XX/XX/XXXX , b ut without that money we continued to incur additional bank overdraft fees in meeting our monthly obligations. During this peri od, BB & T colle cted another {$2000.00} in overdraft fees from us, often times charging {$36.00} per transaction for transactions that were less than {$5.00} in value.     The loss, in total, of more than {$4000.00} of our hard earned income has been devastating. But, becaus e BB & T was unwillin g to show us any significant mercy, we begrudgingly accepted this as our fate and vowed that we would work our way out of the deep hole that the loss created.     But, on   XX/XX/XXXX   , BB & T took an action that finally sent us over the edge. On this date, I de posited a check from my employer for {$1000.00}. This was money we desperately needed in the bank. B ut, BB & T  placed a ridicu lous seven ( 7 ) day  hold on the funds, citing that we had repeatedly overdrawn our account in the last six months. We have attached a  XXXX  report that indicates th at BB & T collected these funds within 24 hours, yet did not release the funds to us for a full seven ( 7 ) days, resulting in BB & T charging an additional {$280.00} in overdraft fees to our account, earning float on funds that were not rightfully theirs to exploit, causing us public embarrassment due to a returned check to an important vendor, and placing additional physical and emotional stress on our family. Incomprehensively, BB & T acc epted the exact same deposit from my employer o n  XX/XX/XXXX    a nd   XX/XX/XXXX , wi th nothing more than an overnight delay of funds.     We believe that rather than attempting to assist a long-term customer who desperately needed hel p, BB & T in tentionally sought additional ways to earn as many fees as possible, fully disregarding the well-being of their client and disingenuously promoting a mission to help our clients achieve their financial hopes and dreams.     It would have taken just a small amount of grace and forgiveness in   XX/XX/XXXX  f o r BB & T to   help us achieve our financial hopes and dreams, but the bottom line obviously trumped the mission statement.