Fifth Third Bank Charges Customer $300 In Overdraft Fees Without Notifying Him: Report

Fifth Third Bank charged an unknowing customer $300 in overdraft fees, Consumerist reports.

Even if you signed up to receive overdraft notifications from your bank, you may still be surprised by unwelcome overdraft fees piling up against your account.

A Fifth Third Bank customer wrote to Consumerist, a blog that focuses on consumer issues, saying that he was shocked to find out that he had racked up $300 in overdraft fees -- a daily overdraft fee as well as a fee for every purchase -- that landed him with a checking account that was $700 in the red.

He wrote that he did not receive any emails from Fifth Third about the overdrafts, though he had signed up for overdraft notifications. As a result, he wrote, "I will soon be finding another bank."

Have you been surprised by bank fees? Please e-mail us your story at [e-mail].

This is not the first time that the Cincinnati-based bank has charged unsuspecting customers overdraft fees. Taylor McKinley, 27, was charged overdraft fees on a bank account he thought he had closed at Fifth Third, HuffPost Money reported in March. After less than two weeks, he owed $438.35.

Fifth Third agreed to pay nearly $10 million to settle an overdraft fee lawsuit in late 2010, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. The bank had employed a common tactic of ordering transactions from largest to smallest, instead of by recency, which caused customers to incur many overdraft fees, according to the lawsuit.

Overdraft fees are one of the many tactics banks employ to make money off of the poor. In an effort to further extract fees from the poor, Fifth Third has entered the payday lending business, charging $10 for every $100 borrowed, according to the National Consumer Law Center.

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Comments

[TisKishnsing]

02:57 PM on 05/07/2012

from the name of the bank, we can all guess how lousy its services are.

[TexasUser]

11:32 PM on 05/03/2012

Even if they do use this tactic, how can you get into the negative? The transaction is PENDING and that means it's already been taken from your account. They can process the transactions any way they like, the money is already gone. So I don't understand how this works. Happens to me ALL THE TIME. And no, I don't use it for gas etc. But even if, they place a large enough hold so that money is also gone already. They kept on charging me 35 buchs for overdraft even though I never signed up for it. Kept on contacting them and demanded a refund. Always did get one, but it's still unnecessary. That's Chase.

[rebekahabbott]

03:09 PM on 05/03/2012

Figure out how to balance your checkbook. Jeesh.

[Constantyne Wyre]

04:01 PM on 05/03/2012

IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT BALANCING YOUR CHECK BOOK! I bet the majority of people who leave that comment are kids living at home and just letting their parents pay for everything. Jeesh.

[rebekahabbott]

04:12 PM on 05/03/2012

Actually I'm a 30 year old Accountant. And it is all about balancing your checkbook. Don't overdraft your account, don't get charged fees....it's pretty simple. Don't write checks or use your debit card when you have no money in your account!!!! I bet the majority of people who think it's not all about balancing your checkbook are the ones out there overdrafting their accounts then complaining because the bank charged you a fee.

[TexasUser]

11:32 PM on 05/03/2012

Clueless.

[AllBent]

02:25 PM on 05/03/2012

I mowed a lawn for a customer of mine and they wrote a ck to me drawn on 5/3 bank and when I presented it to be cashed, since I use a credit union and do not have an account w/them, there was a 20% charge.....for cashing their own check, I knew then and there that I would NEVER leave my credit union.....Do any other banks out there charge a non customer a fee to cash a check from that institution?

[Yo Hinck]

03:14 PM on 05/03/2012

Bank of America charged my wife $6.00 to cash one of their own checks

[O K Ali]

07:21 PM on 05/04/2012

Wells Fargo charges $7

[whitcombc]

02:21 PM on 05/03/2012

5th 3rd is almost as funny as the West Branch Branch of the Red Bank Bank.

[whitcombc]

02:19 PM on 05/03/2012

Bank of America still orders transactions from Largest to smallest and actually re-orders them overnight.

[Walla-Walla]

01:11 PM on 05/03/2012

Overdraft fees suck and are outrageously high. That's why I don't overdraft. I don't think it right how much the bank charges for these fees but I also think it ridiculous how many people don't know how to even manage their bank account. It's addition and subtraction.

[Yo Hinck]

03:24 PM on 05/03/2012

I was with Wachovia thru 3 name changes, they would do the same thing. When I complained to them they told me I am responsible to check my own bank balance, which is understood. I used to check my account online b4 I would leave my house to go buy a coffee that cost $3.49 when I purchased it, but the way the bank would process the charges that same cup of coffee ended up costing me around $40.00 in over draft and then compounded with an over limit fee as well !!!

[Constantyne Wyre]

04:00 PM on 05/03/2012

They did the same to me. I knew I had one more debit being drawn out from my account (my house payment) and that my balance was about $10.00 less than my house payment. So, I sucked it up and knew that mistake was gonna cost me $35.00.....until Wachovia MOVED my house payment AHEAD of three transactions that were pending (they were pending even before the house payment got there), therby racking up #140.00 in overdraft fees. IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT BALANCING YOUR CHECK BOOK! I bet the majority of people who leave that comment are kids living at home and just letting their parents pay for everything. Jeesh.

[MiMi LLawsonn]

11:47 AM on 05/03/2012

The BIG banks have become "greedy" as the little banks were swallowed up....perhaps people need to go back to community banks again....and not worry about supporting the large ones...
It seems like the banks should be REQUIRED by law to at least inform the customer what has happened....it can snowball really FAST.....

[ILoveGreatDanes]

04:58 AM on 05/03/2012

5th 3rd? It sounds like Jessica Simpson came up with that name.

[lagunasuz]

02:47 AM on 05/03/2012

Don't use banks! Use credit unions.

[kamact]

12:03 AM on 05/03/2012

Implode this bank now!

[odhinn42]

10:55 PM on 05/02/2012

Oh, it was 5/3rd? Not surprised in the least... Seriously, these guys have been the 'bad guys' to me since they did this to me some 15 years ago.

[pcs5141]

10:03 PM on 05/02/2012

I just finished separating myself from all BANKS.I am a very happy CREDIT UNION customer now.

[Janzee12000]

08:43 PM on 05/02/2012

I used to have an account with 5th 3rd. When I move out of Cinti I thought I had closed it out. Even went in the main branch, emptied the account and signed off on the paperwork. Years later when checing my credit score I found a lowered score due to a negative balance because of a 'withdrawl fee'..

Screw these guys!

[helenaivy]

12:37 PM on 05/03/2012

I hate Fifth Third. They are terrible.

[Sam Good]

06:59 PM on 05/02/2012

Don't find another bank, dummy. Join a credit union instead.

Non-profit makes all the difference. When there's no profit motive, they've got no incentive to take you to the cleaners.