Fifth Third Bank Over charges Ripoff Fort Wayne Indiana

Some people fall on hard times, yes. My husband and I are a young couple scraping to get by. But it infuriates me to read all of the whining on this website from people that " This or That Bank is charging me for overdraft fees and I don't deserve it". I think these people forget that when you overdraft and your transaction is paid, you are borrowing the bank's money! You have just made a purchase with money you don't have, the bank has paid it for you, and just like a mini loan, you must pay it back.

If you can't afford what you are buying, you have 2 choices. Either stop buying it, or find some way to increase your cash flow. I know it sounds hard, but if I was overdrafting my account I would analyze my situation. either you are living beyond your means and need to find less expensive housing or a less expensive car, or you need to work your butt off to bring in more money. That's life, and it might suck sometimes, but everyone is in the same situation. we just make different choices.

As an ex teller with a credit union I state that even tho credit unions has fees that are less than the big banks does, they still have fees. We had overdraft fees, money order fees, overlimit fees, etc..When you wrote a check that did not go thru because of no money in the account to cover it, you was charged and overdraft fee.. rather it was a credit union or not..But most people only used the credit union for their direct deposit or some place to cash a check at..so we charged for that too. if you was not a member we would not cash your check..When they used the credit union for direct deposit, they would come in, withdraw the money and then go to their large banks and deposit it there..You had to live in a certain area that we covered, or work at a certain employer that we serviced..So alot of times the credit union was taken advantage of by its own members..Calling a branch to get your fees removed was not necessary.. We had other members before us depositing money, getting loans, cashier checks, opening new accounts to take our time..and don't forget the drive thru also..

I once was a single mother of 4 myself and raising them on $5.00 an hour about 12 years ago. No child support and mortgage to pay and mouths to feed. So I know where you are coming from somewhat. I never aired my dirty laundry in public not alone on a website. I say BS to this single mom stuff. Until you have really been there, don't EVEN use that excuse. I never wrote checks or used my debit card for things when I did not have the money in my account. You say you had to write checks when there was no money in your account to feed your kids. so what did they eat when you had to pay for all those non suffficent funds? Did Johnny get his new shoes that week? Did Betsy get to eat a hot lunch at school. Or did she have to go without cause mommy wrote checks for money she did not have. My children grew up knowing that money does not grow on trees. nor from heaven. they learn from their parents.

My advice is to stay away from the banks and join a credit union. They will treat you much better. I wouldn't stand for the teller's answer, go above her. Best of Luck.

and I wasn't trying to justify the posters complaint or that it's ok to spend money you don't have. I'm also not going to lie and say I have never done it. I'm not happy about it, but I will say I feel I did what was best in that situation.

Emergencies do happen, and if you are living paycheck to paycheck you will likely end up bouncing a check at some point.

No matter how well you budget out your money and find ways to get by, if say your car breaks down and you at least have to get it towed out of the road you have to spend money you dont have yet.
No, I don't want to spend an extra 20 dollars on the fee, but I don't want the city to tow it for twice the price and then have to pay storage fees until I have the money to get it out of the tow yard.

There aren't always alternatives, or maybe there are, but sometimes you just don't have the energy or ability to come up with another way and at the time you make the decision to do something you know you shouldn't, and you know you don't want to, but you just pray that it will work out.

So maybe I shouldn't have said that you are forced maybe I should have said that you feel forced.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, it's a choice you have to make. Those comments were regarding the paycheck to paycheck issue, not the original issue here. I really wasn't commenting on her issue because she knows exactly why she was charged all these fees and can't really blame them.

I still can't believe that the banks have that type of reasoning behind it, but I did forget to ask my bank lady.

Erica, please read the other post I typed in response to Wachovia - Excuses Don't Hold Water. I left a lengthy explanation of what banks do not tell their customers. Hope it helps you to understand.

Erica, please read the other post I typed in response to Wachovia - Excuses Don't Hold Water. I left a lengthy explanation of what banks do not tell their customers. Hope it helps you to understand.

Erica, please read the other post I typed in response to Wachovia - Excuses Don't Hold Water. I left a lengthy explanation of what banks do not tell their customers. Hope it helps you to understand.

I could take this opportunity to pass on all the common wisdom tidbits here - use a check register, live within your means, take responsibility for your own actions, etc. However, instead I will address what is becoming a ridiculous whining trend in America.

"I live paycheck to paycheck for the most part. I am a single mother, trying to stay at least on top."

You are a single mother...therefore banks should have different transaction posting rules for you?

Me? I am a married father of three with a wife who is a stay-at-home mom. Like you, we only have one income. Guess what? I have to budget, just like you. So do us all a favor and lose the crybaby, "I'm a single mom" BS. That reality, along with your inability to use a check register and be responsible, is a product of YOUR DECISIONS. No one expects a woman to involuntarily shack up with a man or marry just to be married...after all, this isn't the 50's. However, when you make the decision to be a single mother, you accept that you will be doing many things mostly alone (even with child support)...including supporting one or more kids.

There is no ripoff here. 5/3 posted transactions the way every other bank does. Accept this situation as a lesson learned about personal responsibility for spending money you didn't have.

'For anyone that says they never spend money they don't have, they aren't truely living paycheck to paycheck. If you are REALLY living check to check, you don't have any savings and at one point or another an emergency comes up and you are forced to spend money you do not have.'

I know a LOT of people aside from us that do indeed truly live paycheck to paycheck. No savings etc. However, I have to disagree with you that you are forced to spend money you don't have. When you live paycheck to paycheck, you learn to live a different lifestyle than those that don't. If the kids are sick, you ask the Dr. for samples to get you through to that paycheck when you can afford meds. If you run out of something, you learn to substitute or go without. You barter with others in the same situation (I'll trade ya a dozen eggs for a couple of packages of Ramen). If you don't have the gas to get somewhere, you catch a ride with someone that's going that direction.

For most people it seems that it's easier to bounce a check than figure out another way. Ours has become a society of instant gratification, and the financial institutions prey on this kind of behavior. I've found that there is seldom a situation that is so dire that we can't wait a couple of days until payday. Many reports about financial institutions are complaints about fees and/or interest rates. Those that live paycheck to paycheck go out of their way to avoid these additional expenses, if you are barely affording day to day living, how can one justify spending even $20 for an overdraft fee? That $20 buys milk, bread and eggs for several days, puts gas in a vehicle, or purchases needed meds.

The OP admits to going over what was in her account 3 times. 5/3 charges $33.00 per overdraft. She says that she lives paycheck to paycheck, but that she could have accepted paying these fees. I would have been sick over this, since that $99 in fees is over half of my food budget for the week to feed my family of 11! I fail to understand what could possibly have been SO important that you absolutely couldn't live without it for a couple of days at such a high cost.

on here, and although I have never personally experienced it, I guess that is how it works. But if their reasoning really is that it's better to bounce a check to the grocery store than your mortgage payment then that is redicoulous!

It is not their concern which order your payments bounce. I mean if they are going to bounce, they are going to bounce. So why would they hold on to one payment for a while and make sure another payment is going to cash?? They should process your payments in the order that they are received! If they get a transaction on Monday it should be processed before the transaction they get on Friday. The amount shouldn't have anything to do with it.

I'm sorry, I don't understand that. I understood when people said that they process your pending transactions from largest to smallest. but it doesn't normally take over 4 days for charges to appear, so there is no reason that a charge from the first should show up after the charge from the fifth.

Maybe that is just the way it happened this time but someone please tell me that their reasoning is not that it's better to bouce one payment than another. If you end up bouncing a payment, it really shouldn't be their choice on which payment it is.

It just makes no sense. is my car payment more important that the grocery store also? What if I spent more money at the grocery store than my car payment? Will my car payment go through first? So no I don't think it can be that. They must have some other reasoning behind it.

Forgive me for going on about this for so long, but I just can't believe that they have this reasoning, I am going to have to ask my bank lady tommorrow. Anyhow I do agree though that if you spend more money than you have you will end up with bank fees and have no one to blame but yourself. Not that I haven't done it before, because I have and some of those times I ended up with fees, but I guess if I have to make a payment now that I don't have I will have to pay a penalty as well. It happens.

For anyone that says they never spend money they don't have, they aren't truely living paycheck to paycheck. If you are REALLY living check to check, you don't have any savings and at one point or another an emergency comes up and you are forced to spend money you do not have.

on here, and although I have never personally experienced it, I guess that is how it works. But if their reasoning really is that it's better to bounce a check to the grocery store than your mortgage payment then that is redicoulous!

It is not their concern which order your payments bounce. I mean if they are going to bounce, they are going to bounce. So why would they hold on to one payment for a while and make sure another payment is going to cash?? They should process your payments in the order that they are received! If they get a transaction on Monday it should be processed before the transaction they get on Friday. The amount shouldn't have anything to do with it.

I'm sorry, I don't understand that. I understood when people said that they process your pending transactions from largest to smallest. but it doesn't normally take over 4 days for charges to appear, so there is no reason that a charge from the first should show up after the charge from the fifth.

Maybe that is just the way it happened this time but someone please tell me that their reasoning is not that it's better to bouce one payment than another. If you end up bouncing a payment, it really shouldn't be their choice on which payment it is.

It just makes no sense. is my car payment more important that the grocery store also? What if I spent more money at the grocery store than my car payment? Will my car payment go through first? So no I don't think it can be that. They must have some other reasoning behind it.

Forgive me for going on about this for so long, but I just can't believe that they have this reasoning, I am going to have to ask my bank lady tommorrow. Anyhow I do agree though that if you spend more money than you have you will end up with bank fees and have no one to blame but yourself. Not that I haven't done it before, because I have and some of those times I ended up with fees, but I guess if I have to make a payment now that I don't have I will have to pay a penalty as well. It happens.

For anyone that says they never spend money they don't have, they aren't truely living paycheck to paycheck. If you are REALLY living check to check, you don't have any savings and at one point or another an emergency comes up and you are forced to spend money you do not have.

on here, and although I have never personally experienced it, I guess that is how it works. But if their reasoning really is that it's better to bounce a check to the grocery store than your mortgage payment then that is redicoulous!

It is not their concern which order your payments bounce. I mean if they are going to bounce, they are going to bounce. So why would they hold on to one payment for a while and make sure another payment is going to cash?? They should process your payments in the order that they are received! If they get a transaction on Monday it should be processed before the transaction they get on Friday. The amount shouldn't have anything to do with it.

I'm sorry, I don't understand that. I understood when people said that they process your pending transactions from largest to smallest. but it doesn't normally take over 4 days for charges to appear, so there is no reason that a charge from the first should show up after the charge from the fifth.

Maybe that is just the way it happened this time but someone please tell me that their reasoning is not that it's better to bouce one payment than another. If you end up bouncing a payment, it really shouldn't be their choice on which payment it is.

It just makes no sense. is my car payment more important that the grocery store also? What if I spent more money at the grocery store than my car payment? Will my car payment go through first? So no I don't think it can be that. They must have some other reasoning behind it.

Forgive me for going on about this for so long, but I just can't believe that they have this reasoning, I am going to have to ask my bank lady tommorrow. Anyhow I do agree though that if you spend more money than you have you will end up with bank fees and have no one to blame but yourself. Not that I haven't done it before, because I have and some of those times I ended up with fees, but I guess if I have to make a payment now that I don't have I will have to pay a penalty as well. It happens.

For anyone that says they never spend money they don't have, they aren't truely living paycheck to paycheck. If you are REALLY living check to check, you don't have any savings and at one point or another an emergency comes up and you are forced to spend money you do not have.

on here, and although I have never personally experienced it, I guess that is how it works. But if their reasoning really is that it's better to bounce a check to the grocery store than your mortgage payment then that is redicoulous!

It is not their concern which order your payments bounce. I mean if they are going to bounce, they are going to bounce. So why would they hold on to one payment for a while and make sure another payment is going to cash?? They should process your payments in the order that they are received! If they get a transaction on Monday it should be processed before the transaction they get on Friday. The amount shouldn't have anything to do with it.

I'm sorry, I don't understand that. I understood when people said that they process your pending transactions from largest to smallest. but it doesn't normally take over 4 days for charges to appear, so there is no reason that a charge from the first should show up after the charge from the fifth.

Maybe that is just the way it happened this time but someone please tell me that their reasoning is not that it's better to bouce one payment than another. If you end up bouncing a payment, it really shouldn't be their choice on which payment it is.

It just makes no sense. is my car payment more important that the grocery store also? What if I spent more money at the grocery store than my car payment? Will my car payment go through first? So no I don't think it can be that. They must have some other reasoning behind it.

Forgive me for going on about this for so long, but I just can't believe that they have this reasoning, I am going to have to ask my bank lady tommorrow. Anyhow I do agree though that if you spend more money than you have you will end up with bank fees and have no one to blame but yourself. Not that I haven't done it before, because I have and some of those times I ended up with fees, but I guess if I have to make a payment now that I don't have I will have to pay a penalty as well. It happens.

For anyone that says they never spend money they don't have, they aren't truely living paycheck to paycheck. If you are REALLY living check to check, you don't have any savings and at one point or another an emergency comes up and you are forced to spend money you do not have.

With a lot of banks these days. Their reasoning for this practice is that it's better to bounce a check to a grocery store than your mortgage payment. With that being said.....

You said that you went over your balance 3 times. By how much? How many of the fees were actually for the overdraft written? Did they pay the checks/debits or did they return them?

Solution? Don't write more than you have. We live paycheck to paycheck as well, but if I don't have the money in my account, then I stop spending. I can't afford even THREE overdrafts, to me, that's like taking cash out of my pocket and burning it. It's gone, for nothing. If you drafted three bad transactions in 4 days, it's time to ask yourself why, and what you can do to avoid this happening again. Sorry hon, but the sympathy level here is real low. If you don't like the fees that you pay for a checking account mistake, start using money orders.