SunTrust Bank 'Bank Policy' designed to rip off checking account customers Atlanta Georgia Internet

First off you have to realize what country you live in. It's a capitalistic economy that we live in. It's not fair. It was never intended to be such. As a result businesses have the right (in the fine print you signed) to function under their own rules while still adhering to both state and federal guidelines.

Overdraft is common. It's very common. To the tune of millions of dollars a month common. Let's say you start with $100 you have two debit card transactions on a particular day $10 and $65 leaving you with a $25 available balance. Those charges can be on hold for as long as the merchant you purchased from want's them to be on hold. Normal time to post is 3-5 business days. In the time I spent with SunTrust I've seen them last several weeks too. Now if something else posts onto the account first for $30 then you have a -$5 available balance, and those two debit transactions will be charged a $35 Unavailable Funds (UAF) fee. Regardless. Yes that fee is high, but most of the larger banks are all charging in the same price range. You signed a contract with them that allowed them to do that. And yes, even if you overdraw your account by $0.01 you will be charged that fee. I know it's ridiculous, but again, good luck finding a bank that doesn't do that. Remember that word I used up top? "Capitalistic?"

All banks process the most important items first, and by that I mean the largest items. It makes logical sense. If your housing payment is due wouldn't you want that to pay rather than have that returned back because they allowed other, smaller, charges to go through first?

In these instances the branch managers have limited ability to refund charges, and in most cases they won't anyway because the bank has to make money. Plain and simple. In order to get a charge over a certain limit taken off that has to go one or two steps higher, and honestly even then its incredibly difficult to have done when it is clearly your fault.

Realize though that everyone at the branch level wants to help you. That's their entire purpose for being there, but they cannot protect you from bad spending habits, they can only offer advise. SunTrust is a great bank. If this were any other bank I wouldn't even bother writing this, but you cannot blame the bank for your financial difficulties and you cannot expect them to bend over backwards when they are not at fault. Item processing is standard everywhere, it's designed to help the company make money while at the same time make sure that your larger purchases are not sent back forcing you out of your home or causing you to lose a method of transportation. And the same goes for not flat out refusing to process the debit. If your car broke down in the middle of nowhere and you needed $100 to get back home, but only had $5 in the bank, wouldn't it be worth it to have a debit card that will allow you to do that, or would you rather be without help?

And yes, I had to give a speech similar to this several times a day every day I worked at SunTrust because people just can't seem to understand NSF fees.

YOU spent money that YOU did not have available in YOUR account. That is YOUR fault, not the banks. It is common practice that when several charges/checks come in at the same time, they post from largest amount to smallest. Is this nice? NO. Are they within their rights, Yes. Dont spend money you don't have.

Suntrust hasn't bothered to respond to this report. I think they are overwhelmed with all the other headlines in Ripoff Report. Plus, there is no disputing my claims. They had offered to stop my monthly maintenance fees because my wifes' employer is a major customer of theirs and has an employee program. Well, I had to call again because they never stopped billing us the $13 a month. Refunded (supposedly) one month's fees. Suntrust is definately not suffering in this economy and doesn't deserve any bailout, ever!!!!