Fifth Third Bank, LAKE MARY OFFICE

5th 3rd Bank-Class Action Law Suit for Unjust Fees
Overall Rating
Interest Rate and Cost
Office Environment & Staff
Waiting Time
Other Services
by TracyShibla, Jan. 21, 2018

To Mr. Greg Carmichael, CEO, President, Director:

I am writing a formal complaint about 5th 3rd bank.  I was banking with BOA (personal checking) CHASE bank (business checking) until my neighbor advised me to switch 5th 3rd bank. He told me that my experience was going to be great as it is a smaller bank than CHASE. He advised me that they would help me save for a house and give me financial advice to get to obtain my short term and long-term goals. I trusted my neighbor as he has financial wealth.

I went to the 5th 3rd branch in Lake Mary Blvd in Lake Mary, FL. I spoke with Brian Panzella, the branch’s Assistant Vice President, and he set me up with a checking and savings account. After opening up this account, I opened up a 401K.  

Then, I received several personal phone calls from that branch to move my business account over to 5th 3rd from Chase. I met with Brian again. I voiced my concern about moving my business account over because 5th 3rd has higher balance requirements than Chase. During this time, I also voiced my concern that I was switching jobs and would not have the full required amount of direct deposit going into the checking account for the first month. I did not want to be charged $11.00 fee. I explained that by the 2nd month, I would have enough direct deposit. Brian assured me that I wouldn’t be charged the $11.00 fee if I moved the business over from Chase.

Well, I was charged the $11.00 fee. Additionally, 5th 3rd bank could not correctly print my business name on the debit card. This did not sit well with me. I went into the branch closest to my job and I asked to close out the account. I explained that I was closing out of my account over the $11.00 fee. The account was closed. I signed papers that the account was closed. I moved my business checking back over to CHASE because 1) they have less balance requirements 2) free checks, 3) better office hours and locations.

Several weeks later, I went into a 5th 3rd bank in Casselberry, FL to close out my personal checking account. During that time, I was informed by a banker that my business account had been reopened due to an automatic withdrawal and that I had over $400 in fees. I asked, “Why hasn’t anyone called me?” No one had called to notify me of this, but the local branch was able to call me to solicit me for business?!? She said she wasn’t sure why no one called. She did tell me that a letter was mailed to me. She printed a copy of the letter. The address was correct, but I never received it. I explained to her that I live in a condo with a very large mail kiosk and unless they certified the letter, there was no guarantee that I would get it. She told me that I should have signed online to view the account daily. I went home immediately and signed in. The business checking still showed closed. There were no e-mails or alerts that popped up when I signed in. This lady was telling me it was showing reopened on the bank side.  However, online it showed as closed. She told me that I needed to go back and talk to Brian at the Lake Mary branch to see if he could waive the fees. This lead me to the impression he could waive some of the fees.

That same Saturday before Christmas, I went and saw Brian. His desk and office were filled with boxes filled with presents from amazon. He explained he was wrapping Christmas presents for his family. He was mid-wrapping when I walked in. He advised me that it is their policy to reopen a closed account if an automatic withdrawal is attempted. They need to charge something crazy like $37 for overdraft, $8 daily fees, $11.00 daily fees. Even though it was one attempt, he explained that there are daily fees for at least 20 days following the attempt. There were all these daily charges that were occurring. Since there was a second attempt, he told me that they would continue to occur for the next 20 days. He told me that he could not stop the charges that were going to continue to occur even though he witnessed me call the company attempting the withdrawal and advised them to stop auto-payments. He was more concerned with wrapping presents than taking care of the customer.

Brian told me that they do not call patients to let them know about overdrafts. That it is “against bank policy to notify customers that they are in negative.” Last year, I worked for a physician’s private practice. I was a co-signer on the bank accounts. There was a week where the balance went negative. The bank, a competitor of 5th 3rd, called both the owner and myself to let us known that the account was in the negative on a daily basis. This was despite me telling the bank that I was aware and that a deposit would not hit until next week. They continued to give us the courtesy of calling daily.

Brian told me that there was nothing he could do. I asked for the regional manager’s phone number. He told me that her name was Fallon Shields, but advised me that she would be unable to return any calls until after January 2, 2018 as she was on vacation. My father, who was with me, asked him if anyone was covering for Fallon. He advised us that no one would be covering for her while she was on vacation. So as my father pointed out, I basically had to continue to incur additional fees because no regional manager was available.

I went home after leaving Brian’s office. I immediately left a voicemail for Fallon. Additionally, I called customer service. They advised me that there is a standard amount of fee forgiveness. They applied it to my account. I asked why Brian didn’t offer me this standard fee forgiveness. Customer service could not answer me. They agreed that this was not right and told me that I could discuss this with Fallon. I asked customer service for another regional manager’s contact information. Customer service transferred me to an Oviedo branch. I spoke with a Steve at Oviedo. He advised me that he could not give me the name or contact information of the regional manager over that branch. He told me to wait for Fallon to call me back.

The day after Christmas, I went back in to Lake Mary branch to close out my personal account and savings account. At that time, I asked Brian why he didn’t offer me the standard fee forgiveness that customer service gave me. He told me that he did not want to offer it to me since I was closing out my account and that I was no longer a customer. I responded that I was still a customer as I had a personal checking, savings, and 401K at the bank. He just shrugged and told me that he didn’t want to help since I closed out the one account. Was this the excellent service my neighbor was speaking of?!?

After January 2, 2018, I left multiple messages for Fallon.  I finally received a call back and from her on January 17, 2017 after all possible charges could hit (remember 20 days-worth of charges). She actually left me a voicemail stating, “I got your voicemails. I did not call you back right away because I saw your account is closed and I’m assuming everything is resolved. If you still need something, you can call me back.”  It took the regional manager over 2 weeks to return my phone calls. Is this the excellent customer service that my neighbor was speaking of?

Of course, I went back to my neighbor and shared my experience with him. He went down to the Deltona 5th 3rd branch and immediately pulled out over $1 million dollars on December 26, 2018. He explained to the branch manager that he recommended a friend and that I got treated like shit.  He advised me that he will continue to pull out the rest of his investments from 5th 3rd. Of course, the day I went to close my account out, I shared this with Brian; that by him not crediting me the standard allowed amount cost him my neighbor’s account, which was more than $1 million. Brian and Fallon need to learn that customer service is important. Word of mouth travels and just because my account may not be worth $1 million, my friend’s account may be. Therefore, all customers should be treated with respect and fairness.

Additionally, after searching about 5th 3rd bank online, I found several class action lawsuits were filed against 5th 3rd Bank for unjust bank fees. 5th 3rd Bank has been making money by charging fees to accounts that have already been closed and the previous customers have no knowledge of this. There are thousands of complaints online by people that had very similar situations to mine. I have been mistreated by 5th 3rd bank.

I am asking that as the President of 5th 3rd Bank to please revoke all account fees that have been charged to me. Additionally, I’d like a written apology from both Brian and Fallon as I have been mistreated and ignored.  I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Tracy Shibla



* this review was made on Fifth Third Bank, Lake Mary Office at Lake Mary, FL
6 of 6 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes, No   Report Abuse

0 comment. Add a comment