Consumer complaint received 2017-05-26
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed
Company: SUNTRUST BANKS, INC. (VA)

On  XXXX   XXXX ,    2017 I con tac ted SunTrusts Stop Payment depa rtment ( proof submitted, #  1 ) to interc ept an upcoming invoice for which I had revoked my authorization.     T he Stop Payment employee gave me a baffling reply ( proof submitted ; # 2 ). Naturally, in my stop payment request I specified which payment I was talking about : that it was an invoice coming via **** in an amount of {$240.00} ( and I gave its number ) that I wanted to be stopped. One cant be more precise than that. However, far from honoring my request, or at least addressing my concerns, SunTrust discu ssed a CHECK CARD purchase, made in a DIFFERENT AMOUNT. The authorizationthe employee wroteoccurred on   XX/XX/17   at   XXXX   XXXX  .  ET, an d the card ending in **** was used. So not only was this transaction different in every respect from the  one I  wanted to prevent, it was authorized HOURS AFTER I contacted  SunTrust with my sto p payment request ( at  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   ). It must be clear to everybody but the most careless reader th at it COULDNT have been the item that I sought to stop. The next day SunTrust paid, over my express wishes, the amount for which I had revoked authorization. To da  te (    XX/XX/XXXX  ), S  unTrust ha s failed to give any explanation as to why their Customer Service/Stop Payment employee did not address at all the problem for which I requested assistance.     What could have prompted the employee to concentrate on an item that did not resemble in any aspect the item described in my stop payment request? I think he wrote about whichever item he saw in my record because the invoice in question had not yet been presentedthus the loss was eminently preventable at that time. Why did he not act upon my timely request, thereby preventing a foreseeable loss? I can not fathom that. The fact remains, though, that in spite of my   XX/XX/XXXX  contacting Customer Service/Stop Payment department ( proof of which I am   submitting with this complaint,  # 1 ),  on   XX/XX/XXXX  ( t hat is, already in possession of the information that I had revoked my authorization for the char ge ) SunTrust paid t he invoice AGAINST MY CLEARLY STATED INTENTIONS.     Having been unsuccessful getting either my order or my money back from the merchant, o n  XX/XX/XXXX  I c ontacted  SunTrust to dis pute the charge. I explained ( proof submitted,  # 3 ) that my reason was that even though I contacted SunTrust o n   XX/XX/XXXX  to pr event payment,  SunTrust failed to  do so, and I felt making me bear the consequences of SunTrusts failure to act upon my request is wrong.      SunTrust s ent me an affidavit form pertaining to the   XX/XX/XXXX  charg e, which I returned  via U.S. Mail t o the address given to me as soon as I received it, having marked I revoked the authorization I had given to the party to debit my account before the debit was initiated. Date I revoked the authorization :  XXXX   XXXX ,    2017.       SunTrust ig nored my signed affidavit ( which was quite an insult on their part ), just as it ignored the   XX/XX/XXXX  expl anation of my claim. While initially it issued a provisional credit in the disputed amount , SunTrust de nied my claim, declaring that the charge resulted from a valid transaction, and revoked the provisional credit.      SunTrust ass erted that the transactionconducted on  XXXX   XXXX ,    2017 was co mplete and valid. There were no errors on the transaction, and withdrew the provisional credit. BusinessDictionary (   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   ) defines transaction  ( definitions 4 and 3 ) as an [ e ] xchange of goods o r services between a buyer and a seller or [ a ] ctivity affecting a bank account and performed by the account holder or at his or her request. As I have not received anything in exchange for my money, which was paid not AT, but AGAINST my request, this was not even a transaction, let alone a complete and va lid one. But when I brought this up, curious to learn why SunTrust  considers to be a valid transaction something that does not conform to either applicable definition of the t erm, SunTrust conveniently ignored this point, too. ( To add insult to the injury, they invariably offer in every communication to answer any questions I still may have. ) I have  been trying to recover my money for ove r four  months. A number of exchanges have taken place sinc e  XX/XX/XXXX . Th ese, however, did not lead to a resolution, due to a complete lack of good faith on the part of  SunTrust. The singlemost important fact in this case is that I informed SunTrust that I had revoked my authorization for a payment in time to prevent the loss, yet SunTrust paid   the amount all the same. This is the basis of my claim. However, communications from  SunTrust do not mention having been notified that the amount was no longer authorized, nor do they explain why the Stop Payment department did not address my request at all. They recite in tedious detail fact s that are irrelevant and not even in dispute, but carefully avoid the fact that is the most crucialthat the Bank paid an amount, knowing full well that I had revoked authorization for it. I have brought this matter to their attention so many times that the Bank cant be unaware of it. Rather, their actions are consistent with a refusal to take responsibility for their own fault. Although handling a depositors money not with reasonable care, but with a complete disregard for the depositors wishes   is bad enough, compounding it with excising facts in order to materially alter a customers case ( so that they can deny it ) makes it much worse. I am saddened that SunTrust values its reputation and integrity so little that it resorts to such tactics, just to avoid responsibility.
SunTrust boasts to have a dedicated fraud protection team to ensure that you are not held responsible for charges you did n't make '' ( # 4 ). I assume that this is a company policy and not a calculated false statement. SunTrust has clearly violated this policy.
I am a senior citizen, trying to survive on an extremely limited income since my unexpected retirement. I have lived financially responsibly my entire life ; never spent more than I earned. But due to SunTrusts improper actio  ns ( paying a party an amount I did not authorize, and making me bear the consequences of their own wrongdoing ), I did not have enough money left in my account to cover a check  . So SunTrust began charging me overdraft fees. This shifted the balance further to the negative, so next time SunTrust again penalized me for it. So for SunTrust, this is a gift that keeps giving, as they say. To date, SunTrust has frittered/siphoned away 75.44 % of my monthly income.
Knowing from a long experience how SunTrust deals with complaints, I try to speed up the process a bit. Here are SunTrusts policies pertaining to overdraft fees, as I found them on their website. I would n't say a word against SunTrust 's applying these policies, had the negative balance come about through my own fault. I want SunTrust to reimburse me for the overdraft fees only because SunTrust itself has caused the condition for which it keeps penalizing me. And that goes against every principle of justice and fairness.
Overdraft Fee A {$36.00} fee that is incurred when a transaction amount exceeds    your available balance and is paid with negative funds.       Extended Overdraft Fee A {$36.00} fee that is incurred when your current ( ledger ) balance has been negative for five consecutive business days ( excludes Saturdays, Sundays and ho lidays ). We start counting on the day your current balance becomes negative. https : //www.suntrust.com/facts-about-banking/understanding-bank-fees/overdraft-fees P lease note that it does not say anywhere that SunTrust is entitled to exact these fees even if the negative balance comes about as a result of SunTrusts own wrongdoing. I submit that the Bank should not continue to benefit from conditions that its own wrongdoing brought about. Should SunTrust disagree, I am asking it to kindly give me the URL for the warning that SunTrust will exact these penalties even if the bank itself causes the negative balance.
From the moment SunTrust charged my account against my instructions, I lost co  ntrol of my money. Once the Bank managed to cause a negative balance, it can, pointing to its above-cited policies, keep siphoning off at least {$72.00} each month, like clockwork, until my entire retirement income is used u p. SunTrust has  already caused me the loss of 75.44 % of my monthly income. And I am completely powerless, because they pretend that their wrongdoing did not happen ; they admit of no fault ; their replies only insult my intellect as they make me appear an unreasonable person unable to understand simple policies.     I will greatly appreciate CFPBs efforts to have this matter resolved. I am attaching proof of the basis of my claim. Because of the hardships I am suffering, I would be grateful for a speedy resolution. Thank you very much for all your assistance.