BB&T, without any good reason, froze my account and refuses to release it.

I sublet an apartment I had in Pennsylvania to a longtime friend. He paid his rent with an automatic online payment system. The account was with an institution based in Utah, which sent a check every week and automatically deducted the amount from his account.

Since April, I have been depositing these checks in my BB&T checking account with no problem. On Aug. 27, a teller placed a five-day hold on two of those checks, totaling $200. Later that afternoon, the branch manager called me, informing me BB&T was placing a freeze on my entire account. The bank security department believed all the checks were fraudulent and would be returned, even though they had cleared and been paid to my account. Today, Sept. 1, with my friend on the line with me, we verified with a representative of his bank that his account is in good standing, that each check was valid, and that each check was paid to BB&T.

The branch manager at BB&T said her security department was more advanced and was going through their own channels. My account will have a hold on it for at least 30 days so thier advanced department can verify what I verified in 20 minutes. Meanwhile, I have no checking account with which to pay my bills.

My friend warned me that he stopped doing business with BB&T because of their arcane rules and disregard to the need of their customers.

I have been with BB&T for almost 10 years now and I will be closing my account by the end of the week. I typically get paid every other Thursday seeing that my depost hits the pending transaction on Wednesday and then posts on Thursday morning. But over the last 3 pay periods, I've noticed that my direct depost hits the pending transaction on Thursday and then posts now on Friday. Is this illegal? On just this last go-around, they slammed me with overdraft fees because of the way they lined up my debts and credits in conjunction with moving the pending transaction and posting forward by 24 hours. When I went to the bank to reconcile, the teller first said that I didn't need to see anyone in charge and that she could answer my questions as to why this time-table has been moved forward by 24 hours. Her reply back was that it's on my organization's side and not BB&T. After further investigation, my organization has nothing to do this. This lady lied through her teeth to me. Thanks Kennesaw, GA branch - you just lost another customer.

Due to one transaction which to took me over the limit. Each time i used my debit card it was $35.00 with a grand total of $1, 0000.00. Never happen before. They are dragging their feet return the fees. WHO HAS $1, 000 THEY WANT TO GIVE TO A BANK LIKE BB&T ALPHARETTA GA, THATS RUDE, RACIST AND LACKS COUSTOMER SERVICE.

Do not bank with the ALPHARETTA, GA, Cumming or Suwanne Branches...they only favor their golfing friends. Wait until the media gets a hold of this...what bank charges $1, 0000 in NSF fees. What about a courtesy call to the customer? NOT BB&T-RIPP OFF---OH, I have also contacted the federal authorities.

I have been trying to work with BB&T for a loan modification since December, 2008. They had offered me a modification at $300-$400.00 over the mortgage payment in december 2008. I requested they revisit it, as I could not afford a higher payment. I waited 3 weeks and called them, the loss-mitigation department told me I had refused the modification, so they were putting the home in foreclosure. Well, needless to say, I have a copy of the letter requesting they look at the modofcation agreement and try to lower the payment, not raise it. They blatently lied right to my face when they said I refused the modification offer.
The threats went on for months...finally I got a gal named Tiffany Whitmire, she gleefully and proudly lied about the number of contacts I made to the bank and the content of numerous conversations I had, had with various employees regarding this modification. She finally relented and told me they would give the modification; we discussed interest, payments, escrows, etc...she said she would email me the contract. HA, HA, HA...I got a forbearance agreement instead. They wanted legal fees, a drive-by appraisal fee of $300.00, interest fees, etc...up front to the tune of $8, 100.00 and the contract stated "after I paid that amount, they would CONSIDER a modification". They refused to me give me an accounting of the fees, only to say a "registered letter" from the attorney was $1, 425.00...Can you imagine? The reason for the forbearance they said was "I didn't qualify" for a modification.
Folks, if I do not qualify for a modification, why did they send me one in December 2008 (when things were worse for me), at a higher payment and expect I could pay it. Also, how could I pay them $8, 100.00 up front if I could not afford a loan modification? They are liars, liars, liars. Until I lost my income, I was never late on a payment, I needed help because I got behind.
It is not bad enough they lie, cheat and misrepresent their actions, but many of the employees are " happily" aiding and enabling this behavior. The employee's parents of these people must be so proud to see what their children are doing with their hard-earned educations; learning how to cheat, steal, and break people!

My husband had to pay for a rental car, and the company put a $300 hold on his BB & T account. He returned the car the next day, and though this was a Friday, the hold should have been released in a timely manner, right? No more than a day or two. Instead the bank held the hold for who knows how long, our laptop cord broke and I was unable to check the account to see the hold released. In the meantime, the bank was busily bouncing checks left and right, because this "hold" on the account wasn't released, and this set up more bounce fees, because the fees totaled $380 the first go round.

Then, because we live paycheck to paycheck, especially this month, because the aforesaid rental was due to brake work that ended up costing $650, and then the transmission went out on the same car, and my husband missed 4 days of work with no way to get there, so of course each and every $10 or $20 debit that we made on the account ended up costing us more in OD fees, so basically we are in a vicious cycle, because yes, we have no money, because we have been fee'd to death, and we still have to put gas in the car so that he can go to work, so that he can pay more in fees.

Yes it is our fault that we didn't stop living as soon as we realized we had paid $945 in fees, but I challenge you to live with no money, having all of your money going to pay the $945 in OD fees, I suppose we should have just sat at home with no food, money or diapers, no gas to get to work, yep, we are total wastrels, and yes we understand that the banks policy is that OD fees discourage OD's, but when the bank charges you a $35 fee each incident, totaling $945 in one month, greatly because it is bank policy to take the largest amount out first, and then down from there, some of these OD fees were on non bank ATM charges of $2.50, so we paid $35 on a $2.50 fee. Some of these fees were the result of automatic payments, I did try to call the company to ask that the automatic payments not be taken out, but they basically told me to go stuff it.

I called the branch manager several times, leaving messages on her machine, and never got a call back. I also wrote to the bank website, basically begging them to please help me break this cycle, and they told me that I was out of luck. They said that they only refund fees if the bank makes a mistake, and as far as they are concerned the hold on the account in the amount of $300 was not a mistake, and the fact that they did not release the hold in a timely manner was not a mistake.

SO yes, to all you out there who feel we got what we deserved due to our reckless spending, and to BB & T who was so understanding of our plight, THANKS!! We have $10 in our account to make it through the week, and no money for rent, or utilities, because as soon as we get the next paycheck it needs to go to rent, which means we will have no money AGAIN for the gas and food for the week, which means that maybe we will have to "bounce" something to get through the week, which will mean more fees, and the cycle continues. Yes, I understand it is my fault that I did not check to make sure the $300 hold was released. But if you honestly believe that these practices are fair and balanced, then you have never REALLY lived paycheck to paycheck. I have read some of the less than sympathetic responses to these types of posts, and understand that there are many who take the stance "if you don't have it, don't spend it" but I challenge you to make it through a week with absolutely no money, because the bank fees just ate it all.

Yep, we certainly learned our lesson. My husbands company only does payroll through direct deposit, but I am closing this account and moving to a local credit union, hoping that we will never be stuck in a cycle like this again. I feel that the practice of OD fees and high to low debits does target those of us with lower incomes, because we are the only jerks that ever end up in situations like this. And I remind you, this whole cycle started because of a hold on the account that was not released in a timely manner, and the cycle begets the cycle, because once you have paid a couple hundred dollars in fees, it sets you up for the next week to be that much short, and if you live paycheck to paycheck, you are pretty much out of luck. We have been stuck in a cycle of financial distress anyway, two of the houses we were renting last year ended up in foreclosure due to nonpayment of mortgages by the owners, so three times we have had to come up with first, last and security deposits, eating up whatever savings we had managed to accumulate plus putting a big dent in any future savings, and my husbands company of 5 years went broke, causing a month of unemployment, so our financial situation was tenuous anyway. Reading posts on this and other sites, and reading the replies to some of these posts, I understand that many feel that people in our situation are there because of our own reckless spending practices, but I assure you that we are not spending money simply to be spending it. The vast majority of our money goes to basic household expenses, we do not shop for the sake of shopping, we have not taken a vacation for 7 years, we do not have parties for the kids birthdays, etc etc. I am still wearing socks I bought 17 months ago. I wish that more people would understand that sometimes the people who have the least aren't there because they recklessly spend money, but because it costs money to live.