BB&T Bank NSF Fees $$672 rep outright lied on phone 3 others withheld info Woodbridge, Alexandria Virginia

I have a story that may sound familiar. As much as I hate that this has happened to so many other people and I am sorry you (we!) all have to go thru this, it makes me feel a little better to know I am not totally alone. So I'm adding my experience to the archives. Oh, and yeah, I'm going to file complaints once I am done this, and chat with my law school buddies and friends working in finance, looking for some actionable info if there is any.

I found out yesterday that BBT charged me $675 for NSF fees (fees ALONE), and that I "had a negative balance for a month now". Now seeing as I had deposited $800 and surely have spent no more than $600 I was a bit shocked. Last week after checking my balance (yeah I do that, despite accusations of phone reps) and finding out I had gone $80 into the hole I deposited $375 immediately and figured the difference would be sufficient....argh... I'm a PhD student and I cannot afford this!! (TIMEWISE OR MONEYWISE!! ITS FINALS!!)

Now, it was a major lapse of fiduciary responsibility on their behalves on a few points. First, I had made several deposits and had 4 interactions with reps who had pulled up my account and yeah this should do the trick, you're no longer in the negative. Cause I asked. 3 txns were deposits and the last one was when I had to order new checks because the 1 year post-merger grace period was over and I couldnt use the first VA checks any longer.

Now, that would have been an obvious time for someone to mention it. When I agreed to pay $14 for the checks, how come the nameless rep(and yes I have her name but will save it for the official complaints) never mentioned the additional $$35+ that I was going to incur? Like, hey, getting the duplicates feature for your checkbook will cost in total $50 bucks, you might wanna skip it or wait? Or dude you're broke... how do you propose to pay for this? Or, you need to put more money in before we can do this? She was staring at my deposit slip as well as my account info so she could pull up my number!! THe slip had the amount of the deposit on it!!! Hello???? And I did ask her if it would clear since I just made my deposit...sure no problem.

When I checked my balance yesterday and called the customer svc line, I got attitude from the phone rep, like there is nothing odd about $675 in fees. So today I went in to the branch today and spoke with another rep who seemed as though she was trying to help me. Generally this part of the situation is the same as everyone else here..rep goes to a branch manager (in another branch--Alexandria VA where i had opened my account)...but manager said it was not a bank error so all they can do is forgive me $36. ?????? Thirty six dollars?

But the straw that broke the camel's back?

While I was waiting for the rep to call back, I got a hurried sounding call from a "corporate headquarters/call center" who supposedly had no idea I had already figured it out and was trying to deal with the issue. She just happend to call because my account is overdrawn and I needed to make a deposit immediately. Like, why not call 3, 2 weeks ago???? Or when I owed ONLY $300???). I VERIFIED she was from a call center and not a branch. Later I checked my caller ID and the call came from phone # 7032840515 and called back on a hunch, cause 703 is my area code. Its no call center, its the Arlington branch. My Mom even called and verified the branch part here, just for giggles... (hmmm maybe Alexandria and Arlington have the same District Manager or something??) and the same lady with the same distinctive accent from "that regional call center" answered. I would have asked for a name but I was a little flustered at the time.

Now, I briefly worked as a stockbroker at a financial institution's call center, and ya know what? a.) you generally cant call someone back on their outgoing line, cause you probably wont be able to see it. This is why I found the caller ID number to be odd 2.)Call center? Bank Branch? Even a monkey would know the diffrence. The two cannot be confused, regardless of the dearth of mental power involved on a rep's part. 3.) Outright lying and misrepresentation must be against FRB regulations, I know the NASD doesnt allow it. There are so many rules and regulations that you have to watch every word out of your mouth.

But it may be a mistake they are making, cause people/institutions dont make up outright lies unless they are nervous and trying to cover things up. Maybe they were supposed to call earlier or something? Cause thats a really stupid thing to cover up! Maybe not but I can hope. I just know that credit probs this is causing is going to impede the background check I need to pass so I can get the kind of job I've been dreaming of for the past few years. I had pretty good credit for a grad student, till now at least.

So, anyhow, I have to try to calm down and not flunk my finals thanks to BB&T. Good luck everyone else, hope we find their achilles heel! If David slew goliath, maybe there is some hope.

Donna
Woodbridge, Virginia
U.S.A.

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