Fifth Third Bank, Fifth Third Bank- excessive overdraft fees- usury abuse?? Sarasota Florida

A couple of days ago, I inadvertantly overdrew my account because I forgot about a $293 life insurance premium that was to hit my account. This was not showing in my "pending" transactions and admittedly, I just overlooked it. My husband and I often use our debit card and even for small amounts. So when I checked the account the next day (the day my paycheck was to have posted), I saw that I had $370 in overdraft charges!! I just about fainted!

I looked at my history and realized, because of Fifth Third's policy of running larger transactions through first, all my small debit card purchases were hit with a $37 charge! So- for a total overdraft of like $180, I was hit with nearly $400 in charges above and beyond that!

So I marched down to my local branch to argue this. I felt that absolutely I should be "punished" for overdrawing my account (which was completely inadvertant- I've got two small kids at home and I'm not the best at staying on top of my account)- but with one or two fees- not 10 for such small transactions! I would rather them decline my debit card than allow the transactions to go through and charge me so much.

Anyway- went to the office, the manager agreed with me that it did seem excessive, so she submitted a form to their "review board" (they don't even make the decision locally now to waive fees). While there, because my account was now showing overdrawn by $25 due to the $370 in overdraft fees, I had her transfer $1000 over from my business account to make sure I had a cushion. Well- I look at my account the next day and I get hit with another $111 in overdraft fees because of the -$25 balance from the previous day (again, caused by the overdraft fee!).

This time I called the bank, absolutely livid, and insisted that they were charging me overdrafts on top of overdrafts- how is anyone supposed to get caught up???? And all of this when I had transferred $1000 from my business account the day I had the -$25 balance. When I worked for the bank previous to Fifth Third (and yes, I worked for Fifth Third for about a year- they bought my previous bank- no one is left there that I worked with, if that tells you anything), all credits posted prior to debits. The manager tried to tell me that the overdraft fee of $111 was not due to the $370 fee- but if you look at my account history, my account would not have been overdrawn by the $25 if it weren't for the $370 in fees.

So- as of yesterday, Fifth Third (being ever so generous-- NOT) decided to refund $150 of my $370. I still think that is way excessive- what sort of an APR is that on $180 in overdrafts??!?!? Again- if they had posted the transactions as they came in, my fee wouldn't have been as high (instead of largest to smallest). I am waiting to hear what they are going to do about my $111 in fees now.

I realize that I screwed up and I absolutely think I should pay SOMETHING in overdraft fees. But one $37 charge is big enough- ok, maybe even 2. But to charge me 10 on the first day (running large deposits through first), and 3 on the second day when I even transferred money over from business to cover-- IS ABSURD! My husband is out of work now due to the economy- we can't afford these kind of bank fees. I think Fifth Third is absolutely taking advantage! Even if there is nothing I can do legally, I want the message out there about what crooks they are over there. It's such a pain to close an account- but obviously I want to move my accounts now!

Thanks for listening/ reading.

Trudy
Sarasota, Florida
U.S.A.