who has or had fifth/third for a bank?

So Ive had problems with them. Lots. First it was overdraft fees, and some how my charges weren't deducted in the order i bought things in.I couldn't prove it but I couldn't figure it out.

Then for some reason i decided to get direct deposit. Then that started showing up, when ever the hell it felt like it. Like two days after I needed it and had to spend money.

This has ruined my finances.

A letter showed up in the mail, and it has a class action lawsuit against 5/3 for this very thing.

My how convenient. I wasn't insane. Oh fifth third, how you have pissed off the wrong person. Wasn't me but some one actually had the balls to start this. I commend them, and hopefully join them.

I have always believed in karma. I hope it works in my favor for once....this could be very satisfying. I was cursing them for months....

~Alex

They screwed my brother on a loan they said he hadn't been paying on, even though he showed them all of the counter reciepts and cancelled checks. They also berkeleyed me on a car lease that was financed through them.

I learned early on not to put much faith in a bank that can't figure out how to express their name as a proper fraction.

No 5/3 has it right..... The 5 dollars you deposit, 3 of them can be used at sometime in the future.

All the big banks are worthless. If someone says they are great, they are a blind moron. JMO.

Brian

I only started with them because my dad has them. "and never had a problem" yeah well when you have a good amount of savings and you dont live pay check to pay check, or close that makes a big dmn difference.

Now I have to find a bank thats worth a crap. I guess national city, or who ever PNC used to be, was good/least evil, but they got screwed up by PNC.

I'm looking at CS bank, and I don't know who else. I was considering chase since two friends worked there, until both were randomly let go "to save cost" or some BS.

I should just throw it under my mattress. I don't trust any of them.

~Alex

Check out any credit unions you might can join. I heard on NPR today that many of them are accepting new members to the extent that "My aunt is a teacher" or " I know a policeman" might qualify you for membership.

Agreed on the credit unions. Just look or ask to see their charter statement to see if you qualify. I know of some that literally just ask for your zip or county you live in. It is really that general.

Brian

I once got a paycheque from a company I worked for from them. Took a bit to get my money, but I was puzzled over the name...

I know that the University of Virginia Credit union only requires that you live in one of the five or so counties that most UVA employees tend to live in. That is all. Not as many ATMs as a major bank, but I usually just use my debit card anyways.

credit unions all the way... spent the last 5 months out of the country... while everyone else in the group was getting yanked around with fees (pay with a debit at a store and get charged a fee because its out of the country and another for the conversion rate on top of the already skewed exchange rate)... goto an ATM and get the same kind of thing... we paid the $0.70 for using a non bank ATM if we used an ATM or just a straight exchange if we swiped at the store....

this is of course after years with them and never a problem...

I don't ever see us going to a big bank...

Keep in mind credit unions are not subject to the same rules and regulations that banks are. I found out the hard way trying to collect on checks bounced at my store so we stopped accepting checks from any credit unions.

Rad_Capz wrote: Keep in mind credit unions are not subject to the same rules and regulations that banks are. I found out the hard way trying to collect on checks bounced at my store so we stopped accepting checks from any credit unions.

Absolutely false. They are under the exact same rules and regulations on a Federal level.

I did not "bank" with them, but I had 5/3 for a car loan from '97 to '01. At that time, in that capacity, they were OK.

All banks are nasty. The bigger the bank, the nastier they are. I banked with a small local bank until they got swallowed by a large regional bank. Bye, bye. I took my money to the credit union where my wife has banked for years. They totally rock. I will never do business with a bank again.

Several banks got in hot water a while back for using an algorithm that would maximize the number of overdraft fees charged. If they pay the small charges first you might only have one, if they go big- small, they get 3 or 4. Makes a big difference over all customers.

Another vote for skipping the Too Big To Fail banks - I'm in the slow process of moving my accounts over to a local credit union from an overly large bank.

On recommendation is that whichever bank or CU you move to, google the 'Texas ratio'. This will give you an indication of their ratio of bad loans to capital and thus the likelihood of them being shut own by the FDIC or NCUA.

Datsun1500 wrote:

Strizzo wrote: Several banks got in hot water a while back for using an algorithm that would maximize the number of overdraft fees charged. If they pay the small charges first you might only have one, if they go big- small, they get 3 or 4. Makes a big difference over all customers.

I never understand why people think this is so wrong. If you do not spend more than you have order does not matter.

I agree to a point. The problem is IF you DID overdraft yourself, they would clean out your account with that huge debit, out of the items posted to your account, then add in all the others to escalate the fees incurred. If they would just take them as they come, their fees and therefore "free money" would be greatly diminished. You can't twist the rules to your favor without wrath of your "investors".

I have been hit ONCE for a double debited transaction. Still had money in my account if I hadn't been hit twice, but then got hit with $300 in overdraft charges which then cleaned out my account to the tune of -$500. To top if off, I could only get two overdraft fees "removed". So who is right here, me or the bank?

I do know of a bank that even though you deposited the cash to cover your spending, would debit your account BEFORE your deposit and therefore you get hit with overdraft fees. They are still around, I believe it was National City, now PNC Bank, but there policies changed real fast after someone "important" got hit with it.

Brian

grafmiata wrote: I learned early on not to put much faith in a bank that can't figure out how to express their name as a proper fraction.

If they had put the numbers the other way around, people would have thought they'd cracked open their third bottle of Scotch. (Which may very well be the case given some of the stories about them in this thread.)

They're called 5/3 because they take 5/3rds of your money.

No experience myself, but I've never heard anything positive outside of the one or two people that have posted in this thread.

In reply to Datsun1500:

Yeah, iPhone glitch. Thought it hadn't posted

Rustspecs13 wrote: So Ive had problems with them. Lots. First it was overdraft fees, and some how my charges weren't deducted in the order i bought things in.I couldn't prove it but I couldn't figure it out. Then for some reason i decided to get direct deposit. Then that started showing up, when ever the hell it felt like it. Like two days after I needed it and had to spend money. This has ruined my finances. A letter showed up in the mail, and it has a class action lawsuit against 5/3 for this very thing. My how convenient. I wasn't insane. Oh fifth third, how you have pissed off the wrong person. Wasn't me but some one actually had the balls to start this. I commend them, and hopefully join them. I have always believed in karma. I hope it works in my favor for once....this could be very satisfying. I was cursing them for months.... ~Alex

Well, I won't say 5/3rd is perfect but I don't think they are any worse than any other bank. First rule in dealing with them is to get to know the manager at your local branch, I've even gotten fees reversed when it WAS my fault. The timing of your direct deposits might be with the people making the deposit or their bank. One thing I really don't like is that transactions done later on Fridays don't show up online until Monday or Tuesday. Keep track of your account balance by yourself, don't rely on the online or phone systems to see if you have money.

Class action lawsuit? Have fun with that. In a class action suit a few years ago, where I'm sure the lawyers got several million, I got a check for for $0.06, yep, six cents.

My direct deposits were from the company I worked for.

I only set it up because I knew managers that used it and got it every thursday at 12am. Every time for months on end. Mine hit when ever we want 5/3's of your money felt like giving it to me. For a while it was thursday or friday. Once I noticed i was still broke saturday night, and bought gas. Surprise! overdraft and $100 gone of my pay check. Yet normally that would have never happened. after it started deposting between thursday and tuesday, I gave up caring and I just spent my money as I wanted.

Oh and my old companys bank? I wonder who that was, maybe it was their fault. OH CRAP it was 5/3 as well! They were simply transferring money within their own system! Huh, i wonder how that took so long, when they paid managers that had non 5/3 accounts on time every week....

I'm not really counting on getting much if any money, I've already told 5/3 to stuff it and I don't care. Its just a bonus if I end up getting some cash.

~Alex

Take control of your finances. Keep a token account open at a convenient bank so you can cash checks there. Take the entire check as cash (minus whatever you put into savings) and stuff it in your mattress. I mean really, what are you giving up? Zero point 29 percent interest? They can have it. Pay for everything with cash. No bank fees.

I hear stuff like this from lots of folks these days. Banks running all withdrawls before any deposits to try and force overdrafts etc... You gotta be careful, don't spend any money you aren't absolutely sure is already deposited in your account. If it was a check guess what, they may hold it for some unreasonable number of days, if you put money in at the ATM that does not count as a deposit until they get to it on the next business day.

I use a CU, yeah its better than a big bank but I think the difference has narrowed in the last decade. They started relaxing their membership requirements, and started playing the fee games like the big banks, IE they saw potential $$$$ by expanding their membership and got a bit greedy IMHO!

I havent read the whole thread, but many banks were getting in trouble (mine included) with uncle sam for several things.

1. Removing charged items in order from largest to smallest "in order to pay the largest debits first to avoid any possible utility problems...ya know...for the kids...". What that should really say is that by deducting the largest charges first, you have a higher likelihood of going negative, then they can get you for more overdraft charges.

2. Banks "extend" overdraft "coverage" to you. What this means is that if you have a 0 available balance, they will cover you, in some cases, up to $250 to avoid you having the embarrasment of a declined charge, or to avoid you having the electric cut off because you couldnt pay. What they didnt tell you is that you do have the option to opt out and therefore avoid having overdraft fees....except the only chance you had to opt out was when you opened the account, and there was never any mention of the opt-out-ability in your application or accompanying documents

3. With regards to the OPs automatic deposit, youre on youre own there...mine is always on time

Now Im all for some personal responsibility, and its mine, yours, everybodys job to track your finances. But with the amount of ridiculous overdraft fees you can rack up in a hurry (Ive been something like $400+ upside down on like $65 worth of transactions because $2 for gum and $3 for a burger add up fast when theres 9 transactions , and each hits you for a $37 OD fee), Uncle Sam passed some legislation this past year that went into effect in June IIRC (I cant remember the details, but I had some good links that outlined it all). But basically it all said that banks HAVE to give you the option to opt out of coverage at any time you want, and also that overdraft charges have to be relative to the card charge its is covering...I dont believe there were specifics, and this allowed banks to set levels they felt would be a competition point with each other. My institution is now only charging $10 for transactions under $20, and $20 plus a multiplier on each transaction over $20 that overdraw your account. Also, I have the option to pay that back over 30 days, not on my next deposit (Ive had whole paychecks swallowed by overdraft fees...then you buy more gas, and accrue more OD fees...viscous cycle yaddah yaddah).

What it boils down to is I now carry more cash (hard to overdraw the cash supply in your pocket ) and I have become uber diligent with tracking my finances. I also set up a savings account that will forward money to primary checking in the event I do go negative...although I have some issues with the way my bank does it. In all honesty though, its up to me and only me to monitor my money. Im basically on the "do not give him overdraft fees back ever...EVER" list at my bank because Ive had to fight them sooo many times, hence the carry cash and monitor furiously statements above.

Good luck with the CAL, though, Im interested as I did have an account with them briefly over a decade ago

I use Wachovia. They used to do some of that stupid crap too. After a sit down talk and a threat to move all personal and business accounts to another bank I haven't had a problem since. My wife still manages to nuke the house account ocasionally and they don't hurt me too bad. I keep a pretty close eye on my personal account and haven't blown it up in a long long time.