who has or had fifth/third for a bank?

In reply to 1988RedT2: Amen brother

Never trust a bank who's name is an improper fraction. They might not be very good at math.

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 forgot to reply to this a few days ago.

How do you think its not morally wrong to rearrange charges to take more of my money?

I worked hard for my money, and I, surprise, wish to buy things that I want and need. Some times I made a mistake and overdrafted by a few dollars, big deal. My mistake, and I'll pay for it, but only that little bit. Then they re arrange things and boom I owe them $200-300. Then I'm broke for the next week, and I have to overdraft again to get gas to go to work (I was driving 70miles round trip to work).

I've fixed these problems, I no longer will bank with a large bank, and I don't spend that much freaking money to get to work. And when I do get a bank account in the next week or so, It'll be just for bills and savings. I wont be using them for daily transactions till I have a good amount of savings.

I think the best part was when I asked why it took soooo long for some charges to show up some times. And this is when I only spent money at the same 5-10 places for a few weeks. They said it was because where I buy things dont charge things at the same time, and they pay them as they are recieved.

Funny, my tax return was on a credit card (through H&R block and their bank who ever that is) and I set it up so any time I made a purchase, it alerted me. And it was withing 10-20 seconds I swiped my card 99% of the time, same places I went too before too. Funny how that works. I've been told 5/3 uses outdated systems, like that matters they probably have supercomputers setup to calculate how to screw your account up the most.

~Alex

Hi everyone,

My name is Michael and I work for Fifth Third as the Social Media Strategist. I hear you, and understand some of you are frustrated. While I can't address all your concerns on this forum, I can answer some of your questions:

Rustspecs13. Strizzo >> Accurate information re: the overdraft settlement can be found at overdraftsettlement.com or by calling 888-235-7491.

Ranger50, mad_machine, MadScientistMatt, 16vCorey >> There are many stories about our name, so here's the real one: http://bit.ly/whyfifththird.

Finally, please contact our Customer Service team at any time with questions or issues that you need resolved. There are a few ways you can do this:

• Via phone at 1-800-972-3030
• Via secure e-mail at http://bit.ly/i0B0eN
• Via Twitter -- you can direct questions to @Lynnat53 or @Ryanat53

At your service, Michael

p.s. No flames, please, about my ride. It's boring, and it's not fun, but it gets the job done.

-- Michael E. Rubin | Social Media Strategist, Fifth Third Bank

michaelat53 wrote: Ranger50, mad_machine, MadScientistMatt, 16vCorey >> There are many stories about our name, so here's the real one: http://bit.ly/whyfifththird.

That was a joke - but I was aware of the real story. It could have gone the other way and been Third Fifth Bank, but you've got to admit, that sounds like you've killed three bottles of Scotch.

Datsun1500 wrote:

Rustspecs13 wrote: How do you think its not morally wrong to rearrange charges to take more of my money?

I guess the same way you think it is not morally wrong to steal the banks money. If you spend more than you have and use their money without permission, it's stealing

I worked hard for my money, and I, surprise, wish to buy things that I want and need.

Then wait until you have the money, if we were on a cash system and you did not have enough cash, you would wait until you did.

Some times I made a mistake and overdrafted by a few dollars, big deal. My mistake, and I'll pay for it, but only that little bit. Then they re arrange things and boom I owe them $200-300. Then I'm broke for the next week, and I have to overdraft again to get gas to go to work (I was driving 70miles round trip to work).

It is not the banks fault you have a long drive. Again, work with cash and see what happens

They said it was because where I buy things dont charge things at the same time, and they pay them as they are recieved.

This is correct. As a business owner I can turn in the charges at any time. If I wait a day to do my banking, the charges you made at my place will come in later than ones you made after that. That is why when you get gas, a $1 charge shows for a day or 2. The bank is waiting for the actual charge amount to come through.

Funny, my tax return was on a credit card (through H&R block and their bank who ever that is) and I set it up so any time I made a purchase, it alerted me. And it was withing 10-20 seconds I swiped my card 99% of the time, same places I went too before too. Funny how that works.

That was alerting you to when a purchase was made on that card, not when the money for that purchase was actually sent to the vendor.

I've been told 5/3 uses outdated systems, like that matters they probably have supercomputers setup to calculate how to screw your account up the most.

They did not screw up your account. You did. Take some responsibility for spending more than you have. Most banks arrange stuff highest to lowest, some do lowest to highest. When a bank gets 10 charges from your account in 1 day, at the end of the banking day, from 10 different vendors, what order should they use?

You'd think in this day and age it could be real time, but what makes the most sense and requires the least amount of manipulation would obviously be chronological order. RE-arranging it is another step that costs money.

99.9% of mine actually seem to go through immediately, regardless of business charging.

The only places that don't are usually pizza or chinese food delivery places.

On the other hand, when i get gas, i also have $75 held immediately, even if i'm only topping up $5 worth. It works out well.

Datsun1500 wrote:

Rustspecs13 wrote: How do you think its not morally wrong to rearrange charges to take more of my money?

I guess the same way you think it is not morally wrong to steal the banks money. If you spend more than you have and use their money without permission, it's stealing

I don't think that anyone is mad at them for not letting them spend more than they have. That's ridiculous. I think the frustration is when you're supposed to have X amount of dollars in the bank, you spend significantly less than that, but you overdraft because something hasn't cleared, especially after they have told you you have X amount available to spend. I had an ex that deposited cash into her account, in person, and the teller told her it would be available immediately. She made several purchases later that day, and a few days later she got a letter in the mail about all the overdraft fees she would be incurring. When she called they told her the deposit hadn't cleared yet. After that happened the second time she switched banks and never had the problem again. I think that's the sort of thing people are pissed about.

I've had similar experiences with Teachers Credit Union and KeyBank.

Teachers Credit Union thought it would be cute to hold funds on a normal PAYCHECK for 10 days. THAT was a mess. I was about foaming at the mouth when i went in and they told me what they had done.

"Oh, it wasn't a personal check?"
"No, it's the same damn paycheck that i've been depositing with you for 2 years. You're going to refund me the overdraft charges and pay my late fees on my bills, and the bounced check fees on the bills."
"We can refund the overdrafts and that's it."
"No, berkeley that. You'll do it all."

I had to call corporate, and they took care of it, but made it very clear to me that they wouldn't fix it if it happened again. I politely told them to kiss my ass, berkeley a box of razor blades, and then switched banks.

I'm now with Bank of America, that probably has one of the worst reputations ever, and i have had not ONE single problem with them. NOT ONE in over 3 years. I'm not leaving them anytime soon.

MadScientistMatt wrote:

michaelat53 wrote: Ranger50, mad_machine, MadScientistMatt, 16vCorey >> There are many stories about our name, so here's the real one: http://bit.ly/whyfifththird.

That was a joke - but I was aware of the real story. It could have gone the other way and been Third Fifth Bank, but you've got to admit, that sounds like you've killed three bottles of Scotch.

You can say what you want, but if the shoes fits...........

I remember when 5/3 bought my old bank. What I do remember from the new paperwork from 5/3 is fees for piddly stupid E36 M3 now applied, account minimums went through the roof, and the standard account fees about doubled.

Soon after that, I pulled my accounts because it was like $15/mo to keep my under $200 account open. Talk about an assraping, since I had zero ways of getting to $1k plus to avoid ANY fees.

Datsun1500 wrote: .................................................

My point with my tax return card was that, it was um, instant. A few older retail stores even worked the same. It would at least, hold the money from my account if not actually withdraw it at that time. But effectively, Id have that exact amount of less money available.My point was it was far far faster then 5/3 ever was. I had a gas charge show up 5 or 8 days after i actually bought it. It was in the city too, just another average gas station.

And I've worked retail at a small shop, I totally understand as Ive personally ran many batches at the end of the day. Id still get a hold placed on the funds I used on my tax card, 5/3, not so much. That was my point with the tax card thing.

My point with the drive thing is, I HAD to go to work, and they made it impossible with out borrowing money in any form. I should have borrowed cash from my dad or something, but I didn't want to ask. So I made one overdraft, and that always turned into more. Which I'm fine for paying for what I chose to do, not what a computer/other person sets me up for.

How is over drafting stealing? I took a little too much, and I was charged for it. I didn't walk into a bank and say "Ok I need 5.95 for lunch, whos got it? They might get shot!" No I charged something, and then willingly paid for one overdraft, its the 1-5 others that came attached to it some how, and the late deposted pay checks I have a problem with. I'm taking all the responsibility for spending the money I did, not what they are trying to force on me.

I didn't even want a bank account other then savings really, All I need it for is for online purchases and bill paying. I relied on it way too much, and I won't ever make that mistake again.

My experience agree with 16vcorey. Say I bought something at the hobby store like I used to work at batching things out at 8-9pm. Say what I wanted was $126 over what I had in my account, but I didn't have my other cash on me. So Id buy it, go deposit $200 cash before 6-7pm, then go buy gas and go home and sleep. I'd wake up to 2 or more over drafts and still negative in my account, when I should have say $40.

That's when I cry about over draft fees. That's what I'm talking about. Not "They didn't let me use 2 grand when I had $100 in the bank, and they wanted me to pay for it!!!"

michaelat53- what do you google 5/3 and comment on things like this? Your employers suck, and the last two lines of that "history" is laughable. Find an employer with morals. That's what I did, I now enjoy my occupation.

~Alex

michaelat53 wrote: Hi everyone, My name is Michael and I work for Fifth Third as the Social Media Strategist. I hear you, and understand some of you are frustrated. While I can't address all your concerns on this forum, I can answer some of your questions: Rustspecs13. Strizzo >> Accurate information re: the overdraft settlement can be found at overdraftsettlement.com or by calling 888-235-7491. Ranger50, mad_machine, MadScientistMatt, 16vCorey >> There are many stories about our name, so here's the real one: http://bit.ly/whyfifththird. Finally, please contact our Customer Service team at any time with questions or issues that you need resolved. There are a few ways you can do this: * Via phone at 1-800-972-3030 * Via secure e-mail at http://bit.ly/i0B0eN * Via Twitter -- you can direct questions to @Lynnat53 or @Ryanat53 At your service, Michael p.s. No flames, please, about my ride. It's boring, and it's not fun, but it gets the job done. -- Michael E. Rubin | Social Media Strategist, Fifth Third Bank

Did you guys totally miss this?!? No comments?!?

I was going to comment on his ride, it being a corporate canoe and all, I doubt he would engage in a meaningful conversation here anyway, No love for bankers ,sorry .

I thought it was pretty pathetic, gee-wiz team googles bad publicity in internet chatter for spin control?

I hope and expect my financial institution spends its marketing budget less frivolously.

You can't quite call that a canoe, but it's damned odd. You never know who's listening.

I've been with the same credit union for close to 20 years, although I have had accounts at other major banks as well. I can't say enough good things about my bank, Bibb Teachers fed cred Union. No canoes, just a happy customer.

Yep, credit unions FTW. My dad is a retired firefighter, and I've had an account at the local firefighter's credit union since I was born. Never had a problem.

Datsun1500 wrote:

Javelin wrote:

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.

Don't know where you heard this from, but they are not. Right from the FDIC page: The Federal Reserve does not supervise or regulate credit unions. Federally chartered credit unions are regulated by the National Credit Union Administration, while state-chartered credit unions are regulated at the state level.

And the NCUA has the exact same rules and regulations as the FDIC. Literally identical. Just a different nameplate, kinda like Ford/Mercury.

michaelat53 wrote: Hi everyone, My name is Michael and I work for Fifth Third as the Social Media Strategist. I hear you, and understand some of you are frustrated. While I can't address all your concerns on this forum, I can answer some of your questions: Rustspecs13. Strizzo >> Accurate information re: the overdraft settlement can be found at overdraftsettlement.com or by calling 888-235-7491. Ranger50, mad_machine, MadScientistMatt, 16vCorey >> There are many stories about our name, so here's the real one: http://bit.ly/whyfifththird. Finally, please contact our Customer Service team at any time with questions or issues that you need resolved. There are a few ways you can do this: * Via phone at 1-800-972-3030 * Via secure e-mail at http://bit.ly/i0B0eN * Via Twitter -- you can direct questions to @Lynnat53 or @Ryanat53 At your service, Michael p.s. No flames, please, about my ride. It's boring, and it's not fun, but it gets the job done. -- Michael E. Rubin | Social Media Strategist, Fifth Third Bank

Like I said, No intelligent conversation. His car is boring, so is he . Corporate Shill. Reckon his car is a canoe?

bludroptop > As for spending our marketing budget less frivolously, I work in marketing and am always open for suggestions. Feel free to e-mail direct at michael.rubin@53.com with your ideas.

rustspecs13 > I love my occupation, too, Alex. Congrats and mazel tov to us. I know too many people who absolutely hate going into work every day, and I tell them that life is way too short for that.

TRoglodyte > Sorry, man, I had no choice about the canoe. SWMBO made that call.

At your service, Michael

-- Michael E. Rubin | Social Media Strategist, Fifth Third Bank

michaelat53 -Since you have shown an interest in our interests,welcome to the community. Maybe you can enlighten us about why banks run debits on an account before they run credits ?As far as the transportation thing, stick around, we'll fix that for you. We have a contagious sickness that we love to spread to the uninfected.

TRoglodyte wrote: michaelat53 -Since you have shown an interest in our interests,welcome to the community. Maybe you can enlighten us about why banks run debits on an account before they run credits ?As far as the transportation thing, stick around, we'll fix that for you. We have a contagious sickness that we love to spread to the uninfected.

Id also like to say welcome. Since you have made a few posts now, people here (myself included) will begin to take your feedback/input more seriously.

Id also like to know how the debits first thing works. IF I were a tinfoil hatter, Id say you do it because that way, if someone were close to going negative, that might help insure they do so you can collect overdraft fees. Please prove the tinfoil hat people wrong.

Also, explain the idea of a $30-something dollar OD fee on a $3.29 transaction? Is there a reason you dont charge x% of the transaction? Please do not say its because it will cost too much to do the math behind all those transactions.

Michaelat53, just bear in mind that nobody will take you seriously until you buy a Miata, so get on that.

In reply to Rustspecs13: I was going to switch to 5/3 cause they bought my mortgage from the broker, 1 month and i decided USbank was GOD's back... 5/3 delivered 3/5th the service of USB, i would assume they are terrible compared to ANY other bank

Datsun1500 wrote:

HalfTrac, Lord of the FWD deathbox wrote: You'd think in this day and age it could be real time, but what makes the most sense and requires the least amount of manipulation would obviously be chronological order. RE-arranging it is another step that costs money.

Chronological how? Checks, no problem they have numbers (even if people don't cash them in order). What about the electronic charges? They all hit the bank at the same time, what order then? Arranging them in chronological order is the same steps as any other way. Most people don't realize how the business end (vendor, not bank) works. Let's say I have a store that takes credit cards. From 9-6 about 30 people come in and charge something. I close the door at 6 and process the charges, all 30 hit the bank at the same time. Imagine you came to my store and the store down the block and bought 2 things. The store down the block closes at 5 and I close at 9. He processes them at 6, I process them at 9. They both hit the bank as that days business. What order should the bank use? If I leave at 9 and process mine the next day, his will hit the bank first even if you shopped at my place before his. There has to be some system and the banks decided it was highest to lowest. Don't rely on the ATM or online banking to tell you your balance and you will be fine. Your ATM balance could only have the $1 charge from the gas station showing from 2 hours ago, not the $50 tank of gas....

If my cell phone can time stamp Text messages, the banks can time stamp CC charges and it takes a middle schooler to write code that would auto collate them into the correct order...

But consider (real happenings) I have 400 dollars in my account... I spend 50 on 10 different 5 dollar purchases, and i have a 375 car payment... i berkeleyed up and i am 25 dollars short... my bad, i pay the car and accept the consequences of a 35 dollar ODC... (thats OVER 100% of what i OD) it is after all my fault for going to wendys 1 too many times...

The bank on the other hand says lets pay the car first, then hit him with the last 5$ transactions, for a total of 5 over drafts and 175 dollars in fees... if the check cashing companies get in trouble for practices JUST LIKE THESE (flat fees = absurd interest rates) then the banks should too.

And now, as i understand it, they have a limit to how many ODC's they can charge you for in a day, so i think it is 3 currently, but dont quote me on that.

I've never over-drafted an account, so bear with my ignorance of the subject, but can't you opt out of overdrafts? ie, "Don't let me spend money I don't have."

I can see the irritation with getting hit with overdraft fees. I can't see it EVER happening more than once. Don't spend money you don't have and it is a non issue. If you suck that bad at knowing your balance (I would) then use credit cards and pay them off every month. Impossible to overdraft a credit card.