I had an account with Fifth Third for 4 years after moving to Nashville. I had so many problems…read morewith this bank over the years, I wish I would have left sooner. I am a doctor in this community and have a fair amount of money that I always keep in my account. I started having problems about 6 months after getting an account with them when my account was hacked and someone drained my entire checking account. It took over a month and a half for the money to be returned. Following this fiasco, I wanted to change the type of checking account I had, as I was being charged a $3.95 per month fee, which was to receive "rewards", which I actually never saw. Following several inquiries the employees at this bank essentially told me I would lose all of my rewards if I decided to switch. So I wanted to cash out my rewards, which required my opening a new type of savings account, etc, etc....I have never had so much trouble receiving money I had earned before.
Although these things were annoying, what finally made me close my accounts was an incident that occurred recently (2014), while I was out of town for a job interview. When I went to use my debit card out of state, I found that it was denied, which had never happened to me before. I thought that it was a fluke so I went to another store and tried again and it was denied again. I began to panic because I needed money since I was out of town and I knew I had plenty of money in my account. I couldn't call until the next morning so I contacted the Belle Meade branch of Fifth Third the next day as soon as they opened.
The woman I spoke with looked up my account and explained to me that my card was part of the "Target compromise" and they had shut off my card. WITHOUT MY PERMISSION and without making sure I was aware of the situation. The lady mentioned that a new card had been issued, which I had not received, and she said "Well, I guess you should be better about checking your mail." That was it. I was stranded across the country with no access to my money and was basically told, oh well, by the people responsible for this. I was being punished for something that wasn't my fault. Luckily I was able to borrow money from a friend to float me until I got back to Nashville.
As soon as I got back to town, the first stop I made was to Fifth Third to close my accounts. I had had enough. I went to the Belle Meade branch and was helped by Stephanie E. the financial center manager. This woman was completely rude to me and basically acted as though it were my fault what had happened. I told her I wanted to cash out my rewards, which amount to about $100, by the way, which doesn't even cover the amount in fees I have paid over the years. And basically she refused. She said I could only get my rewards if I ordered a new debit card and kept my accounts open, etc, etc. So much for the customer is always right, this woman did not even attempt to make any concessions to help me or to give me a positive experience. So I said fine and told her to close my other accounts and to issue me a cashier's check. This took over an hour. AN HOUR. To issue 2 cashier's checks. I could not wait to get out of there and I promptly went across the street and opened an account at Bank of America, a place where I really feel that my money will be appreciated. Everyone at this Bank of America was extremely professional and well mannered and I couldn't be happier with my decision. I am going to tell everyone about my experience at Fifth Third and I really hope I can deter others from getting accounts there.
