After 11 years, 5/3 (Fifth Third) Bank loses me as a customer.

When you get used to a bank, how it works, the customer service you receive, the features that make it right for you, it is very hard to say goodbye.   I had to do that very thing yesterday, 4/2/2013, when I had to close my accounts at Fifth Third Bank.  Why?  $11.00 a month service fees.  Since semi-retiring from being a Paramedic, and solely working as the Owner/Web Admin of my site here A Medic’s World, I currently don’t have a direct deposit like I used to.   I also can’t guarantee the monthly balance requirements that would be needed for the account minimum.

When Fifth Third Bank sent out notices saying that the checking and savings accounts were changing I was worried, this was back in February and March that the notices went out.   There was a number to the call center where I asked if I had any options that would keep me from having to pay the $11 a month, the lovely lady on the other side kindly asked me if I was military or prior military, and I said yes.  She proceeded to tell me that if you can provide a current Military I.D. or your DD Form 214 (military separation papers) that you can have your account flagged and there would be no fees.  So I got up the next morning, DD Form 214 and my Drivers License in hand, and visited my local branch, where the teller I visited with told me the same thing.  She flagged my account, the account name changed to reflect the Military notation, and I thought all was well.  I left happy, in knowing that I benefited from my prior service, and serving during in Desert Storm/Desert Shield.

Well my next banking statement came, I looked online, and what did I see?  $11.00 had been taken out of my account, I was assured that this would not happen, so I went to my Fifth Third Branch, DD form 214 in hand again, just in case, and inquired with the next available teller, who informed me that my account was still tagged Military, and she didn’t know why the money was taken out.  She asked me to hold on, went to the bank manger, came back and informed me that I still had to have a direct deposit.  I stated at that time, that this was not told to me when I switched statuses, and that I do not have the ability to have a direct deposit at this time.   She said there was nothing she could do, and I said well I need to speak with someone about closing my accounts, and this is where we are today with this post.

I spoke with a Financial Service Representative next, and she went through the process of helping me close my account.  I did not want to do this I told her, but with the restrictions of either having a direct deposit or a minimum balance every month ($500.00) I said I can’t guarantee either of those.  She was very nice, did do everything she could to try and help me, I explained to her I do have income that comes in via Paypal that I reverse transfer from time to time, like payments to the blog, or for things I sell on eBay, but neither of those would satisfy the requirements of Fifth Third Bank.  So sadly, my account was closed after 11 years being with them.  Sad day.  I will be writing a follow up article about Melissa, who helped me, she was wonderful, and I will have a separate post about her next.

So the big bank of Fifth Third lost me as a loyal customer.  In 11 years, I had a bank I enjoyed, and was happy to stay with, except for when my account would be empty after 6-7 months with the monthly $11 dollar charges if I was to stay.  I never wrote checks, did most of my banking online, rarely used the ATM, its not like I was costing them a lot of money in my opinion.

I have switched over to First Federal Lakewood, here in the Northern Ohio area.  They offer a completely free checking as long as I have at least 1 transaction of some sort every six months, I am sure that will not be a problem, they were very nice, shared that they were getting an influx of Fifth Third Customers switching over, and I am not sure if this will hurt Fifth Third in the future, but I wish they could have did a little more to try and keep me as a customer.