Fifth Third Bank / 53.com
Reviews and Complaints

Within two weeks, 53 forced us to turn away our business with them after being a customer for over 20 years.

1). They were suppose to close a checking account which I faxed documentation into upon request, they never closed the account down as they said they would, and people kept overdrafting it.

2). I put an increase in my credit card limit, instead they thought I put a request to decrease it, and REFUSE to increase it again for another 6 months.

There are so many other banks out there, so my suggestion is go to another bank before it's to late.

20 years, and this is the respect I get.

This bank is a joke! Corporate office has some of the worst customer service I've ever come across. They treat you as if you're callinG about THEIR money, not yours. I've had 5 day holds on my checks turn to 9 days with no explanation or warning! I have overdraft, but twice now, I've been over charged for overdraft, while theres money in my savings! Just loGGed into my account to find out I'm beinG charGed aGain, not only with money in my savings, but now theres also money in my checkinG too. Can't explain that? well, neither could the snob at corporate. I reGret ever dealinG with these corporate theives. Theres a place for people this deceitful, riGht alonG side of g.w. bush.

Please avoid 5/3 Bank. They bought out the First Charter locations in NC. Since the buyout, the service of what was once a good friendly caring back has turned very sour. Fee, fees, fees for everything. But the best is what they did to me. They allowed 15k to be taken out of my business account for no explainable reason. No call, no explaination, just secracy, overdraft fees, bounced checks. They have no explanation for the debit and don't care. I was forced to borrow money to re-fund my account, and they even charged me fees for depositing cash to cover my checks! And they won't refund the fees even though I have been a 20 yr customer and haven't done anything wrong. Avoid 5/3 at any cost. Questions? Contact Bob Rahilly @ [protected]@aol.com

My aged mother recently discovered a CD that was to have come due two years ago, Oct 2007. I called Fifth Third bank who confirmed the existence of the CD and the fact that they had not sent out a renewal notice in 2007. They offered to pay the face value of the CD, ignoring that they have been collecting interest on that money for two years without paying one cent to my mother. I asked for an interest adjustment to offset her losses. Three months later they finally told me that there is nothing that they are willing to do about this situation except cut a check for the amount on the CD. That’s what I call customer service. I am sorry that our government is bailing out businesses that do not care about their customers.

Email to 53 bank executives

Over the past several weeks I have been in contact on a regular basis with representatives from your 53 rewards team. I have several accounts with 53 bank and found out, much to my surprise, that I was accruing rewards points on my cards when I used them as credit transactions. For the record, I had no idea that I could earn points, let alone that I had to use my 53 cards as credit in order to earn them... Very bad communication on 53's part.

I won't go into all the details of my past dealings with your rewards team, just the incident this morning. I spoke with shenel regarding my personal account ending in 1223 (With 4866 points) as well as my business account ending in 1501 (With 196 points). Shenel agreed to move the 196 points from my business account over to my personal account so the points would all be in one place and I could get some use out of them before 53 expired them. Shenel was very helpful, polite and courteous and assured me that the points would be available in my personal account within 10 business days.

I was back in my personal account this afternoon performing a few banking transactions and I thought I would click on the 53 rewards link to see if anything had happened with the points. When I got into my account, much to my dismay and confusion, my balance said that my previous point balance was 4811.15 and that my new points available amount was 935.02!

I'm not a mathematician, but I have no clue how the transaction discussed above could result in 935.02! It makes no sense whatsoever, so I decided I should call – once again – 53 rewards to find out what was going on with my account. I spoke with lisa (Employee number 025420) who addressed me with a smug attitude regarding my need to call 53 rewards to fix my problem. She said she was sorry for my inconvenience and that was that. Well, that's not good enough, so I asked lisa (Employee number 025420) several times if I could speak with her supervisor and was finally transferred to rose (Employee number 0164201).

This is where it gets even more interesting...

When I asked rose (Employee number 0164201) to pull up both my personal and business accounts, she came back with the following response:

* my personal account ending in 1223 had 3902 points plus an additional 4837 points
* my business account ending in 1501 had 176 points
* total points available according to rose (Employee number 0164201) is 8915 – nearly twice the amount that I had ever heard from any of your other employees! Wtf?

I wasn't sure I heard her properly, since none of the point amounts matched with anything I had ever heard from any 53 rewards representative.

Rose (Employee number 0164201) assured me that she would personally see to it that my personal account was credited within three (3) business days for the 8915 points. At this point I didn't really believe her, so I asked for her phone number (616.653.9124) so I could call her back immediately when we hung up to make sure I had her number so I could follow-up in three (3) business days. Rose (Employee number 0164201) assured me that 616.653.9124 was her number and asked me if there was anything else she could help me with. I said "no", hung up and called 616.653.9124 and guess what! – it didn't work!

I really don't know what you guys are doing at 53 bank, but it sounds like you're scamming consumers, and someone needs to get your house in order – right now – or I promise I will do everything I can to make sure all the other 53 customers I know (And everyone they know) pull their accounts out of your inept institution.

Social networks are wonderful things.

A highly disgruntled, abused customer,

Victor p errante

C. Richard cordray, ohio attorney general

I requested a debit card for my new account because they forgot to do it, and instead i received a CREDIT CARD by mail. The BCM (Gregory) denied tha fact that i never requested the credit card so we had to talk to his regional manager. Both were unprofesional, we felt neglected and very frustrated. Also we requested back in Feb 09 for our checking acct to be linked to our savings acct for overdraft protection, but unfortunaltely that never happened either. The customer service is poor, unprofesional and we felt very unapprecitated. The Banking Center Manager (Gregory) should be doing something else.

I have been contacted by several people regarding Fifth Third Bank practices. The attorney below has started a class action suit against Fifth Third and rightly so. I have lost thousands of dollars on their banking practices. You can also email me. I plan on creating a patition that can be posted publically. My email address is [protected]@gmail.com

Strauss & Troy
John M. Levy
Attorney at Law
The Federal Reserve Building
150 East Fourth Street
Cincinnati, OH [protected]
email: [protected]@strausstroy.com
www: www.strausstroy.com
phone: [protected]
fax: [protected]

Fifth Third sent my husband and myself Notices about changes in Credit Card Terms. My husband recently paid his off, I still have a balance with a low interest rate. The notice came on June 19 and it states to opt-out you have to have the opt-out response at their address by June 23. My husband is out of town until June 22. With the postal service, unless we pay for overnight mail, these opt-out letters probably will not get there on time. I spoke with two customer reps at Fifth Third. They could only say "We're sorry you feel that way". I asked to speak to a supervicor. After waiting five minutes they came back and said the Supervisor had too many calls ahead of mine. No wonder! We have excellent credit, are never late, pay way more than required. This is just another example of a bailed out bank destroying the public trust. D. Robinson

We have been customers from 5/3 Bank for over 20 twenty years. I deposited a check in my checking account which was drawn off a line of credit from another institution. The check was deposited on the 15th of May and was credited to my Huntington account on the same day. The branch called to verify funds on the 16th and was told that I didn't have enough to cover the check, they didn't ask to see if the check had cleared only if the funds were available. So they put a hold on the account. A week later we got a notice from the hold, (no phone call or customer service). Three creditors were not paid because of the hold. This involved over 200.00 dollars worth of fees from the credit card companies. I pay off my accounts due to interest on credit cards. Fifth Thirds response which came from the branch manager was that it was Huntingtons fault and they were not responsible for the charge. We ask that they would write a letter to the other companies explaining the situation and they refused. I use to work for this bank and the customer service has gone in the toliet. This bank only cares about fees that they collect. I will never have another account with them and I will probably close my commercial account, along with my checking account, savings account and my investment account. Shame on the branch manager for not doing the right thing.

Beware! Do not use this bank for credit of any kind!

We have a car loan with this bank and they offer us a "grace period" to avoid late fees. It is approximately 15 days each month. We have been called time after time on the 10th day of this grace period, looking for their payment. We've been called sunday mornings at 8 a. M. And we've even been called new year's day at 8 a. M. We've been told by their customer service reps that our grace period is only 10 days even though I had my payment book in my hand... *sigh*

Then... My husband gets a credit card from them... He ends up above his limit one month. He got his bill and paid what he was told was the minimum due, which would include the overlimit and if paid, he would avoid any additional fees. Big lie! I was told by their customer service that if you are over limit, you need to make a payment before your next bill is generated to avoid the next over limit fee. I asked how am I supposed to make a payment before the bill is generated and basically was told to use the automated bill options via the phone and internet... So, even though they tell me on my statement to make the minimum payment due to avoid any additional fees... What they mean is make the minimum payment before your next bill is generated to avoid any additional fees.

So, save yourself a big headache and avoid this bank at all costs. I will be closing these accounts as soon as I possibly can!

Fifth third bank has a policy if you are a couple days late with a loan payment, they have the right to take money from your checking or savings. Overdraw your account, charge you with any fees they see fit. They do not have to notify you when they do this. You and your family can end up stranded far from home, and someone at fifth third telling you it`s your fault. I filed a complaint the first time they did this and won my case, they put the money back. However doesn`t make up for the suffering of being stranded. Couple months go by and fifth third proceeded to do the same thing. They claim thats standard procedure. For the safety of my family or yours i would not recomend this bank to anyone unless you like to live dangerously, your life could be at stake when your bank account is sucked dry by corporate greed, and you can`t put food on the table for your family. ~~have a good day and god bless~~

i too have been hit hard by fifth third bank over the past 3 years by overdraft charges, i can have money for 5 things but have 6 out (yes i know this is my fault) so they pay the biggest one making the other 5 bounce and collecting fee's 5 times (this has happened alot) they cashes a check that was post dated a month in advance and i got nailed with a overdraft fee, my wife made a CASH deposit one morning several things came out that day and guess what we got hammered with overdraft fee's we was told the CASH had to clear for a day or so, come on cash has to clear? then when i took it to the bank to find out why we was charged overdraft fee's they couldnt come up with an answer on what bounced but i was told there was a note on my account not to refund me any money

I was charged overdraft fees on three transactions after a 4th transactions caused my account to be overdrawn. ON the first day i made 2 debit card transactions, the money was immediatually withdrawn from my account(but not posted) I then had a 10 dollar check go through. On the second day(at 4:00pm) I made another transaction with my debit card, not thinking that the money wouldnt be there until after midnight. After I hanged up I realized what I had done, but it was too late the transaction had already gone through. The bank also withdrew this money from account(but not posted) which then caused the overdraft. So on that day when they finally posted my first 3 charges I was charged 3 overdraft fees. The customer service (gentleman) was very condensing implying that I was playing beat the money to the bank or whatever.

Copy of a letter I sent to the bank:
*****
On March 13, 2009 I discovered that the escrow department had withdrawn $1, 884.16 on December 5, 2008 from my escrow account and used it to pay someone else’s property taxes. The county admits to receiving duplicate payments on the other parcel number and states that it refunded the money on January 30, 2009. The county has supplied the bank with the date of the draft as well as the check number. I brought this to the bank’s attention the same day that I discovered the error. The bank admits to the error but will not refund the money to my account until it can actually be recovered. The problem is that my wife and I are attempting to refinance with another lender but are unable to do so until this matter is resolved. Otherwise, we must upfront the escrow fees at the closing of the new loan. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to pay that amount out of my own pocket. Additionally, I do not feel that I should have to.

We have made contact with the bank on average of three (3) times per week to resolve this matter but are at a standstill. We always speak to the customer service department who tells us that the escrow department is working on it and that they cannot see anything other than what is in the notes. I repeatedly ask to speak with someone in the escrow department but am told that it is against company policy. I ask to speak with a representative of First American (they are the vendor used to handle property taxes) but am also repeatedly told that they are not allowed to release contact information for their outside vendors. It is our stance that since the bank made the error and withdrew the money by mistake; they should refund it to our account and then worry about recouping the payment themselves. We are the customer but are the ones who are being made to suffer even though they made the mistake. I have repeatedly made the suggestion of the bank refunding our account from their funds but the idea has been consistently scoffed at. This is nothing short of theft!

My rate lock period is about to expire on my refinancing. If that happens and I am unable to lock into a comparable rate, I will be forced to file suit and will ask for damages equivalent to the additional interest we will have to pay over the life of the loan. This is a straight forward and uncomplicated matter but for some unknown reason it has turned into a difficult situation. I only ask that I am refunded the money that is rightfully mine! If the bank had accidentally deposited money into my account that was not mine, you would request an immediate reimbursement. I ask only of you what you would demand of me!

I have to date had over $500 stolen from me by this institution for less than $75 in overdrafts. The most recent case nobody was able to explain to me what item caused the oerdr4aft but the fees nonetheless kept accumulating. The person working at 53 could only reverse one overdraft fee which was $111.00 . Nobody at the bank understood what was causing the overdrafts but they said they were not allwoed to reverse them. To steal money of these amounts from a student who just got laid off in this economy is disgusting. I don't know how these peolp-e sleep at night. I have 2 lawyers interested in filing a class action lawsuit against Fifth Third bank for predatory overdraft fees and unethical business practices. Please send your story along with any proof that you have to [protected]@GMX.com so I can get the info. to the lawyers ASAP as it seems that may be the only way to recover the money that was stolen from us.

When I was 16 years old I opened my first bank account at 5/3 with my father. Flash forward 9 years. In January I moved across town and I informed the bank of my new address. In March I receive a letter stating that there was a security breach and that my debit card would be deactivated and that I should receive a new one by Marh 12. March 12 came and went with no new card. March 13 I called customer service to see what the problem was. The customer service person informs me that my address was never changed and that the original card was returned. He updated my address and told me I had to wait 12 days for it to get in the system then I could order a new card. I was leaving for vacation in 4 days so I asked what my options were. He said to go into the branch and at least get an ATM card. The next day I go into the branch. The manager tells me that my address was changed in the system and she ordered me a new debit card but told me it would not arrive before I left for vacation. I then asked for an ATM card. She informed me that I could only get an ATM card at the branch at which my account was opened. After 9 years I felt it was ridiculous that my affiliate bank must remain the same. I asked how to change my affiliate and I was informed that I would have to close my account and open a new one. What a way to reward loyal customers! Frustrated I left sans a way to access my money on vacation. A week and a half later I arrive home and check my mailbox for the card the manager had ordered. It is not there but a letter stating I changed my address in January is. Turns out, they had my correct address all along. I go back into the bank to see where the card I ordered is. The representative said no card was ordered. I ask him to order another card. Two weeks go by, no card, the representative calls me to check on this situation. He then tells me he will call customer service and get me a card. Several days later (6 weeks after the original attempt to get a debit card), A PIN and a debit card finally arrive...Now it won't activate.

Got a mortgage with them several months ago, have yet to
receive a mortgage billing statement. Called them. no statement. Very strange way to do business.

Looks like a refi with a better run bank is the way to go.

The P O box 479 Cincinnati, Ohio 45201 is and I guess has been listed as my permanent address for at least five years unbeknown to me. I have discovered that it is owned by fifth third bank and have called repeatedly To Mike Mose [protected] and Roger Bonnell and Chris Eagen [protected]. I have never had a phone call returned even though I leave my name and number every time and request a return call. I started calling when I discovered it on November 26, 2008. I still have not had my calls returned.
Sincerely Maureen cooper [protected]

The fee's at 5/3 bank are astronomical. To me it is absolutely ridiculous that they can debit an account immediately, but not honor deposits. This is only a way for the bank to make money. It dishearten's me that a bank in this country can actually run this way. They also deduct everything in your account, from largest to smallest. Convienently for them, if you run out of money, they can charge you more overdraft fee's for all of the smaller items going through. They do not deduct things in chronological order. What a ridiculous company. I have talked with one person and convinced them to not use 5/3 bank. I hope to get others away from there as well.

We have been with fifth third bank for over six years. Last week we deposited several thousand in our account with our tax return check. this was on saturday. on tuesday i discovered we had been charged $270 in overdraft fees..for what? On wednesday i went to the bank only to discover another overdraft fee of $370. The bank claims that on Friday we overdrew $2.00 on our account. When asked about these fees we got no answer. We deposited thousands on saturday. We then called corporate and were told our check did not clear until tuesday. well according to my online statement, my available daily balance on monday was over $3000.00. They claim they cannot divide the money online to show money available and money pending. well that is misleading and fraud. How can you charge me over $600 in fees for a supposed $2.00 overdraw? that money was needed to pay off bills and keep our family going and they screwed us. I have since contacted the BBB, and I have also contacted a news station who deals with money matters. Both are contacting the bank. i will not stop until i get this money back.