Screw SunTrust

Discussion in 'The Thunderdome' started by DownNDirty, Apr 14, 2015.

  1. DownNDirty

    DownNDirty Contributor

    Ok, first off warning for long post but want to get this out there and off my chest. Also let me preface the following and tell you all that I am a Vice President of a community bank in East TN so I know a thing or two about the industry and am not just some mad consumer. My wife opened a joint account for us at SunTrust in January because it was more convenient for her to deposit checks being a realtor and SunTrust have several branches in the Tri-Cities and across the South. Made sense for her to venture out there for another account at the time.

    Friday April 3rd - Wife deposits two checks made out to her from loan closings the day before. One check was a little over $1,500 the other was a little over $1,700. Both checks came from the Keller Williams local account drawn on Bank of Tennessee - a large regional bank in the area. Wife gets $100 cash back and goes on her merry way.

    Monday April 6th - Wife goes to check balance online and funds aren't showing available. She goes into branch they inform her they had placed a hold on the checks. First off, they aren't allowed to do that without verbally telling her and they did not do anything of the sort and we have yet to receive a letter stating a hold was being placed on the accounts. Anyway, wife has SunTrust call BoT and verify the funds and they do and they say they will release the hold that night and funds will be available Tuesday.

    Tuesday April 7th - Wife goes to check balance and can not even log into her online banking. She calls customer service and they tell her that our account is under investigation for fraudulent activity and that she would have to go to the branch and speak with them. She goes straight to the branch and they tell her the funds are frozen and the account has been flagged for fraud. Dumbfounded, my wife wants answers and the branch says she has to speak with Customer Service that it's out of their hands. She calls Customer Service later and they bounce back that she has to talk to the branch that the fraud dept has placed a hold on the account and they can not give us any information at all. We are not allowed to talk to the Fraud Dept ourselves as SunTrust apparently doesn't allow customers to speak directly with them. At this time we have also been told they have frozen our savings accounts and we have no access to those funds either nor the funds that were already in the checking account prior to this fraud.

    Over the next couple of days it's even more back and forth with customer service, the branch, etc. No one will give us any definitive answers except that an investigation is under way and they can't release the funds. During this time, the branch CALLS Bank of Tennessee on my wife's behalf to try to get to the bottom of things. Bank of TN independently VERIFIES that the account is legitimate and the funds were there and that's what the Keller Williams checks look like. Never mind the freaking fact that my wife has been depositing these exact same type of checks since January with absolutely zero issues at all. SunTrust branch employees then even call the local Keller Williams office to verify my wife works there and they do. With this ammunition my wife asks them to please for the love of Christ release our funds and quit treating us like criminals. Of course the canned line we'll send this to the fraud department and we'll see what we can do. Oh ALSO in the meantime my wife has learned that the checks cleared SunTrust's bank on Monday night April 6th.

    Friday April 10th - with all of the information in hand my wife is at the branch again. The branch fills out some type of form saying the funds will be released after processing that night so in theory the funds would be there Saturday April 11th. Ok, we are finally getting somewhere. But this is absolutely absurd at this point anyway.

    Saturday April 11th - Wife calls customer service to verify the funds were released to the account and lo and behold they were. UNFORTUNATELY, they go on to tell her even though the funds are now in the account the account remains frozen, oh and SunTrust is closing our accounts. The lady says we have no access to the account because now a formal investigation has been launched by the Fraud Department and it can take up to 365 days for a resolution. That's when my patience went completely out the window - it should have already. Demand to speak to the highest supervisor possible. Finally get to about the 12th person we've talked to at SunTrust. This lady says that since they are closing the accounts anyhow it will be at the originating branch's discretion if they will go ahead and release the funds to us via a Cashier's Check.

    Monday April 13th - wife goes into branch speaks with them. Unfortunately, SunTrust is CLOSING this branch down in June so they don't even have a functioning branch manager there. The lady that is serving in the role though speaks a little more frankly and honestly with my wife and tells her she doesn't see why we can't get this taken care of but it has to go to a regional supervisor. She gathers all of the information and they again verify with Bank of Tennessee that the accounts are legit, they AGAIN call Keller Williams to verify employment on my wife, and send all the documents to this regional supervisor. He was "too busy" to get to it yesterday as the teller called my wife back last night right before they closed.

    In the meantime we get 3 letters from SunTrust in the mail yesterday. First letter reads:

    Dear so and so,

    SunTrust Fraud Risk Management continuously monitors client accounts to protect not only our clients' interests, but also SunTrust's interests. According to the Rules and Regulations for Deposit Accounts, our contractual agreement provided at the time of account opening, SunTrust may close an account for any reason without advance notice to depositor.

    Due to information obtained during our review of your account, we have determined that it is necessary to close your relationship with SunTrust immediately.

    If you have a SunTrust Check Card, ATM Card, Online Banking and/or Mobile Banking it has already been cancelled as a result of the account closing. You will need to make alternative arrangements for any automatic credits or debits to this account.

    At the time of account closure, SunTrust Fraud Risk Management performed a thorough review to determine the status of the funds in your recently closed account. After review, we have determined that a portion of the remaining funds in your account will be returned to you in the form of a check within 2-3 business days. Additional research will be performed on the remaining balance including any transactions occurring on or after the date of this letter. After research is complete, if it is determined that these funds should be returned, a second check will be sent within 15 business days. If it is determined that these funds are not collectible by SunTrust, the remaining funds will be forfeited.

    We regret having to take such action, but our decision is final. If you have any questions, please call 1-800-SunTrust or contact your local SunTrust office.

    OK...........now I have another letter that is verbatim the letter above except in the At the time of account closure paragraph it reads like this:

    After review, we have determined that additional research is necessary on the funds in your account to determine if the funds are collectible by SunTrust. After research is complete, if it is determined that these funds should be returned, a check will be sent within 15 business days. If it is determined that these funds are not collectible by SunTrust, the remaining funds will be forfeited.

    Soooooooooooo...........

    In one letter it says some of the funds (who knows the actual amount) should have been returned to me in 2-3 business days which I absolutely should have got by now. In the other letter it says additional research is necessary. WHAT FREAKING RESEARCH? The checks have cleared, they are legitimate, SunTrust has ZERO risk at this point and are holding our money hostage and we cannot have access to them. Not only those funds but the funds in the checking account prior to this incident and the funds in our two savings accounts.

    Seriously, seriously considering lawyering it up and I'm not even a very litigious person. I'm dumbfounded at the stupidity SunTrust is displaying here. I have contacts I can call myself at the FDIC and the State of Tennessee that can help me with this I'm sure but I tried to give SunTrust the chance to get it fixed and gave them much longer than I probably should have.

    Just be warned if you bank at SunTrust - God forbid you deposit any type of larger check because apparently it's against the law to bank with SunTrust and have a check over $1,500. My wife feels like a criminal at this point, the realtor office has to be thinking we are freaking terrorists or something, and it's character assassination at it's finest. I've never experienced anything even remotely like this before. It's not like we are rolling in the money and we live paycheck to paycheck like 93% of Americans. I mean I have a bit of a reserve but it wasn't ready for this. I'm strapped right now and SunTrust is holding something like $3,500 of my money hostage. Maybe the regional moron will come to his senses today and release the funds. Otherwise I'm heading straight to the nearest ambulance chaser to see what can be done about this crap.

    Thanks for reading
     
  2. droski

    droski Traffic Criminal

    Was this a business account?
     
  3. DownNDirty

    DownNDirty Contributor

    No personal. She's just an agent in the office. The check from Keller Williams was their Escrow business account but our accounts at SunTrust were personal checking consumer accounts.
     
  4. rbroyles

    rbroyles Chieftain

    You are a hell of a lot more patient than I would be. I would already have my attorney on the phone with them telling them either give me my money or get sued for whatever grounds we can think of. And take your banking services and pound them.
     
  5. droski

    droski Traffic Criminal

    Weird stuff
     
  6. OrangeBlood79

    OrangeBlood79 Contributor

    F'ing lawyer up.
     
  7. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    I have never experienced anything like this. Might be time to at least tell them you are lawyering up.
     
  8. The Dooz

    The Dooz Super Moderator

    Two words.

    Credit. Union.
     
  9. DownNDirty

    DownNDirty Contributor

    Forgot to mention that the 3rd letter dated the day AFTER they say they are closing our accounts was welcoming us to SunTrust Online Banking. One day I might find this amusing.
     
  10. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    Or a private owned bank
     
  11. warhammer

    warhammer Chieftain

    Mason jars charge no service fees.
     
  12. NorrisAlan

    NorrisAlan Founder of the Mike Honcho Fan Club

    Unfortunately, they don't accept checks.

    I definitely would already have a fleet of lawyers following my every foot step.
     
  13. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    Seriously though, credit unions are probably the way to go for us non-millionaires.
     
  14. NorrisAlan

    NorrisAlan Founder of the Mike Honcho Fan Club

    I have been at ORNLFCU all of my banking life and I have never had any issues.
     
  15. kmf600

    kmf600 Energy vampire

    Playing with my money is like playing with my emotions, Smokey.
     
  16. kidbourbon

    kidbourbon Well-Known Member

    What are the advantages of a credit union?
     
  17. NorrisAlan

    NorrisAlan Founder of the Mike Honcho Fan Club

    By the way, The Big Lebowski is on Netflix right now.
     
  18. kmf600

    kmf600 Energy vampire

    Saw that. This is a Friday quote, if you didn't recognize it.
     
  19. The Dooz

    The Dooz Super Moderator

    They exist to serve your monetary needs, not make money off of them.
     
  20. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    I still keep a checking and savings account at TVA. No reason not to.
     

Share This Page