Fifth Third Bank / 53.com

I also was ripped-off with 5/3 overdrafts. I had deposited 477.00 into my checking account the day that my deposit posted to my account which did have a balance prior to the deposit, they charged my 165.00 in overdraft fees the same day. Nobody works with you when you call, take your money elsewhere- I did.

Carl W- Chicago, IL

Same things happened to me and my family. We had an overdraft of $25.00 roughly and they ended up taking our ENTIRE paychecks after we deposited them. WE didn't know either that we were overdrawn as when I checked our account we had a positive balance of nearly $100.00. So, we lost over $500.00 of our paycheck to cover OD fees on an account that showed positive. I called the bank and the man had me so confused about debits/credits/deposits that i didn't know what to do. I took our next paycheck, cashed it and worked on a cash basis for about 2 weeks...after writing no checks, using no debit cards and using only cash...I checked our account and we were nearly $500 overdrawn! I called and asked HOW since we had not been using anything...I was told by the very rude bank manager that we had 2 transactions go through at the begining of that two weeks, and the fees are charged each day as a NEW Overdraft! Crooked. He wouldn't let me close our account to stop the charges so that I could get everything caught up...he said they would reduce the fee to $8.00 per day. So...I opened a checking account at another bank...and filed a formal complaint with 5/3, the BBB and contacted our local troubleshooter who told me I was not the first to complain about this bank. I've finally convinved serveral of our friends to switch banks too. Theives with a disclosure statement is what they are!

I agree, 5/3 bank is a ripoff. I too have an account with them, both checking and savings. They have stolen so far about $723 from us, this includes the savings money we had in our savings account. When we first set up our account we asked that our savings account be connected to our checking account to cover OD fees. When we got charged for OD fees for having a positive balance, shown on their printouts, they never took the money out of our Savings account to cover it. Not like they should of anyway as we were never in the whole to begin with...but anyway...when this happened on Jan. 25, 2010 we didn't receive the OD notice in the mail until Feb. 2, 2010 by this time we had over draft fees of 503.00. When we went in to correct this MISS-UNDERSTANDING the bank told us that they never had the Savings account connected to our Checking, so they fixed that for us and connected the two accounts. Well then that took all the money we had from our savings for over draft fees before we could fix the account, as the account was in the whole. So now our savings account is gone. This still did not get us up to a positive number. The next day when we went in to fix this problem, more OD fees were being charged to us. So now we are up to $603 in OD fees, and our Savings of $120 gone. And the bank claims they can only refund us $333 as this was their mistake. HUH! Our Savings is gone and they stole from us and they can't give the money back to us? On top of this we have been with them for two months now, and not once have we received a bank statement. The bank told me to go online and keep track of our account. WHAT! Then when we asked them why on the banks printout it shows us in the positive on the 25 but the bank takes out 125 in OD fees... They couldn't explain that. On the OD Notice that we finally received in the mail a week and a half later... it shows two charges coming out on the 25th of Jan. which according to the bank Over Drew our account. Yet on the print out of our account. It shows the two charges coming out on the 26th of Jan. I'm a very unhappy customer, I now have no clue how much money is in my account and am afraid to write anymore checks or use my debit card. How many more OD Fees are they going to charge me?

I truly wish a Lawyer would take this case... We are being ripped off big time. And we can't do anything about it.

I have been charged a total of $255 in overdrafts charges in the last week for an overdraft that was only $15 over what I had in the bank. I have filed a formal complaint with Fifth Third and with the better business bureau. They are losing money due to the economy so they are steeling from their customers to stay afloat...they will go under in no time because they are going to lose customer real fast this way.

I have had similar experience.

1. On 9/05/08 I had balance of 85.34 in checking account (pretty low i know does not happen often)

2. on 9/06/08 I deposited a check in the amount of 551.99 (I was aware that only 100.00 would be available immediatley giving me a balance of 185.34)

3. on 9/09/08 when I checked my balance in the morning because I knew I cut it close and had some debits pending from my check card, my available balance was 449.73 however I noticed an overdraft alert (I clicked on the alert however system told me data was not available yet please check later)

4. Now here is where it starts getting great -- a bogus "internet check" was cleared thru my account putting me overdrawn on my account. I did the math since everything was listed and my last 2 debits from my check card from Starbucks put me over my limit. So now theoretically these 2.00 cups of coffee I had purchased 4 days ago with my check card are now going to cost me 39.00 each (2.00 + 37.00 overdraft for each cup of coffee). Well I was upset but knew hands down the internet check was bogus and did not see any reason I would not win the dispute.
A. Internet check had invalid routing number (I went online and checked with CHECKCOMPOSER.COM and routing number does not exist (ended up it was old routing number from old bank before it was bought out by 5th third bank probably close to 10 years ago))
B. Check number was not even remotely close to my current check numbers.
C. Name on check was mine however address was Hendon Road in Hartford CT. I have never been to conneticut and Hendon Road does not exist in Hartford CT. (I called the police in Hartford and confirmed this was a bogus address).

5. It gets better -- So now I go to that Starbucks place and purchase coffee and a breakfast sandwich and put it on my dreaded check card (remember I just checked my available balance and it was 449.73) thus I new I had plenty to cover this purchase. Then went to the bank filled out 5 page form to dispute charge and went to work. Well the next day went back online to check on my accout out of curiosity and also look at my overdraft notice and behold this 74.00 overdraft was now 148.00! The ### took my 5.18 purchase that I had made the previous morning for my coffee and sandwich added it to my debits which had already posted and now instead of my last to debits being overlimit my last four debits were overlimit so they could tack on another 74.00! One last note -- My overdraft notice is dated 9/09/08 however this 5.18 they added to the overdraft did not even post to my account until the morning of 9/11/08 It's unbelievable