Fifththirdbank

There is still a great deal of doubt in my mind as to the status of this complaint. I did contact the CEO's office of 5/3 and the Attorney General about this matter. Problem is as follows.

When "transferring" funds from your checking/debit account to other accounts, the change in your checking/debit account balance is almost instant. However, when issuing "payments" through your online checking/debit account, the balance may not change until the payment transaction is complete. This could occur weeks later. In the meantime, your checking/debit account balance appears greater that actuality.
For example: You have 500 in your checking account. You issue a "payment" for a utility invoice that equals 300. You might or might not see the payment as "pending". But the payment issued is not reflected in your balance. The balance remains at 500. You go on through the month using your debit card at the grocery store and gas station, based on a balance that reflects the false 500. Until your card is declined much to your surprise and embarrassment. You check your balance and the debit account is suddenly overdrawn. 5/3 completed your 300 payment transaction 3 weeks after you issued the payment. Your checking/debit balance was artificially high the entire month until the transaction was complete and the axe fell. That cost you 40 in overdraft fees. And the bank is making a killing.

When I brought up this matter to the CEO's office, I was told that people only wanted to know what was in the account at the time and so that is how they showed the balance. I immediately pointed out the fact that anybody who has ever used a checking account knows as soon as you issue a check you enter the check amount into your registry and subtract the amount from the account balance. That insures you have accounted for payments pending. ONLY people who "play" the system by writing bad checks in hopes of getting more money into the account before their bad checks bounce use money already committed. I asked why would the bank divert from accepted accounting practices used by everyone for centuries. No comment.
The answer is blatantly obvious. Every time a responsible person is tripped up by the misleading balance, the bank profits handsomely. I can only imagine this must add up into the millions. In fifty years of using a standard checking account, I never one time, to my recollection, ever bounced a check. It happened to me twice recently due to balances that didn't properly reflect the reality of my account. My personal opinion is that this is a legal con. At the very least, in order to prevent any confusion, it would be simple to include two balances. One amount based on the current balance in the account, and one balance reflecting pending transactions to be completed. So easy, but so costly to lose the scam.

When one uses the debit card on a week-end often times the debits show up as a list of charges pending. And that list remains until the following Monday. There is absolutely no reason why that list of pending charges cannot be totaled and deducted from the reflected balance. Just as there is no reason payments issued at the beginning of the month cannot be totaled and deducted from the balance reflected.