They don't want you as a customer
Written: Mar 06 '07 (Updated Mar 08 '07)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
| Web Site Experience: |
 |
|
|
Pros: None.
Cons: High fees, unyielding/uncaring customer support.
The Bottom Line: This bank isn't there to help you; they just want to take as much of your money as possible.
|
|
|
| wvhokie55's Full Review: Fifth Third Bank |
When I first got out of school, I thought that I might want to buy a house rather than throw money away on an apartment. My grandmother knew the branch manager at the 5/3 location near my parents' house, so I made an appointment to talk with her.
After pulling my credit report (which showed that I had excellent credit history), she said that I would need to have a second credit account in order for them (or any other bank) to give me a mortgage. I really don't like credit cards, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and get another one if it would help me buy a house someday. Thus, I signed up for a 5/3 Mastercard.
Oddly enough, when the card arrived, it had a $12,500 limit, which is more than 25% of what I make in a year. I thought that was a little strange for someone who just graduated from college. Secondly, the card had a 24% APR, which some might say is usurious. Since I never carry a balance, I didn't really care about this, though.
My problems arose after I used the Mastercard to pay for my moving expenses. I used my bank's online bill pay system to pay the Mastercard bill. Even though I had scheduled the payment in plenty of time (7 business days beforehand), 5/3 apparently didn't get it until the day after it was due. Thus, I was assessed a $39 finance charge.
I figured after I explained what had happened, they would cut me some slack. After all, I had never missed a payment, never carried a balance, or otherwise attempted to cheat them. I was wrong in this assumption - they refused to waive the fee. So I wrote a nice long letter to their customer service department explaining the situation and threatening to close my account. The response? "Thank you for contacting 5/3. The fee will not be waived."
Now I was angry. I figured that if I had taken the time to write a letter, they could write more than a one-sentence reply. So I wrote another letter explaining the basics of customer service to them. Again, another one sentence response saying the fee would not be waved - even though at this point I wasn't asking for it to be.
It appeared to me as though they hadn't even read what I had written, and even when I pointed this out, they didn't care. They obviously didn't want my business, and they don't want yours, either. I promptly cancelled my credit card with 5/3.
I was also troubled by the extremely large credit limit I was given - that almost seems like predatory lending in my opinion. Even with an excellent credit history, it seems rather irresponsible to give someone that much credit without any proof of assets or income.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
wvhokie55
|
|
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.