Roy, you are right on when it comes to the banks. That $5 fee is ridiculous, but is just the very tip of the iceberg. How about the unfair, downright immoral, albeit legal undoubtedly due to strong lobbying, "check bumping"? This is when some poor soul, picture a hard working single mother or perhaps a senior citizen, doesn't have enough funds to cover a check or checks. Here is what the fine, caring, "be a part of our family" banks do.
Say there is $100 in the person's account. Checks come in for $110, $25, $33 and $18. So what does the bank do? If you said they pay the three checks totaling $76 against the $100 balance and deal with the $110 check as a return item you are wrong. That would be way too fair. Instead they "bump" the bigger check up to send all of the checks to a return status, greedily charging outrageous return fees four times instead of just once.
Until I had an employee come to me crying after being victimized by this scam, I would have never believed it to be true. Greed, simply greed. So while you are at it, rally the troops and go after all banks and their truly wrongful ways.
Michael Lawrence
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Hooray Mr. Exum, and Lou Holtz for that matter, for speaking up in the court of public opinion after having been wronged. Seems to me Suntrust is just doing their dead-level best to behave like a credit card company, and you called them on it. Don't worry, you've got some of your five dollars back because I will never consider them for any of my banking needs, meager as they may be.
But isn't it nice to know that the Suntrust CEO got his mega-bonus for having a worse year than the year before? I'm sure he earned it, probably five dollars at a time, courtesy of folks that could scarcely afford it.
I had a similar experience with a local bike shop near Tremont a few years back concerning the return of a deposit for goods not delivered in a timely manner. Since then I have worked tirelessly on their behalf to always advise other bike folks exactly where not to shop. It won't replace my lost deposit, but I always have a warm feeling when I steer somebody to Owen Cyclery, where I've always been treated fairly and honestly.
Keep up the good work Mr. Exum.
Herb Montgomery
Hixson
Herbm55@yahoo.com
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Mr. Exum,
I share your disdain for the current state of the banking system. However, it is naive to suggest that Suntrust is the only bank that carries on business this way. I don't know of any bank that will simply cash a check for someone who doesn't have an account with that bank. They either charge a fee or refuse to cash the check, even if said check is drawn on that bank.
In fact, First Tennessee Bank recently refused to sell me a money order, for which I was paying cash, since I didn't have an account at that bank. Say what you want about the Postal Service, but they sold me a money order. The fee was just a few cents, no questions asked.
No, I'm certainly no fan of the banking system these days, but I recently opened two small checking accounts - business and personal - with Suntrust Bank, and my dealings with them have all been good so far.
Which leaves us with the question: did they actually expect you to cash the check for $5.00 and then give them the $5.00 as a check-cashing fee? Some local media sales department needs to hire this teller.
Jim Stevens
Jim_12494@msn.com
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About 14 years ago, I had just gotten a new job and was eager to start saving a portion of my new salary. Since I was working in the vicinity of the First Tennessee Bank on North Market, I used my lunch period to visit them and inquire about starting my new savings account.
The customer service rep asked for my checking account number, and I replied that I could give it to her but it was with another bank. Unfortunately, she informed me, I couldn't save with their bank because I didn't have my checking account there. She then proceeded to ask if there was anything else she could do for me.
Needless to say, I never tire of sharing my story with anyone who will listen. I have more money now than I did at that point in my life, but First Tennessee will never see a dime of it as long as I live.
By the way, I bank with Cornerstone Bank which is locally owned and all of the people in the lobby know me by my first name without having to see my deposit slip. They are awesome.
Sincerely,
Linda McDonald
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Regions Bank also nicks folks like Suntrust does. I loaned a friend 15 dollars. When he repaid me, he wrote me a check for 15 dollars on his personal Regions account. When I went to the bank, they wanted to charge me 5 dollars to cash it since I didn't have an account with them. So I would have got 10 dollars back for 15 I loaned.
I declined their offer, took it to my bank, Tn Valley Federal Credit Union, and even though it wasn't on their bank, they cashed it for me. No charge. Only bank with folks who appreciate your business.
Arlos Dempsey
Signal Mtn.
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Hurray for Exum.
And I would like to state also that Cornerstone Bank is the best bank and the fairest that I have ever dealt with.
Gail Fishbach
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Mr. Exum,
SunTrust, like other banks, has the check cashing fee for non-customers in place for several reasons. When SunTrust hands you cash you leave with an arguably valuable asset, paper inked by the Federal Reserve. SunTrust is left with a piece of paper that may turn out to be stolen or fraudulent. SunTrust immediately hands you their cash, and does not get their cash returned until after the time and expense required to process the check.
Like most of us, you probably enjoy ‘free’ personal checking. The banks are businesses, and in order to provide that ‘free’ service, they use fees to cover their expenses. Amongst other things, those expenses include the salary for both the obscenely overpaid CEO and the definitely-not-overpaid teller. Part of the reason your bank’s CEO can cash the SunTrust check for you without charging you a fee is because he (most likely) charges people to whom you write checks a fee if they try to cash your check at your bank without being an account holder at your bank. Why don’t you include your bank in your ‘get-even’ plan?
Even if the teller had known you were the Roy Exum, they would have had to follow bank policy. How was the teller to know you were a sanctimonious writer of Chattanoogan columns, pompous buddy of Lou Holtz, and at least in your forthcoming treatment of the teller, a first rate boor?
If you have time for a ‘get-even’ plan for banks and CEOs, you could help us all, including that poor teller, by spending it on the Federal Reserve (a private bank bilking you out of far more than SunTrust ever will), the no-account politicians who have forfeited the United States monetary sovereignty to the Fed, and the obscene compensation febezzled by CEO’s of most large companies.
I do not work for SunTrust, don’t know anyone that does, and have never been to a SunTrust bank. I have, for ‘free’, cashed a SunTrust check at my bank. My paycheck, like most paychecks, is lower so that the CEO of the ‘company’ can be paid more than $2,000 per hour. And my hard earned savings, like everyone’s, is being continuously filched by our no-account politicians and the Federal Reserve.
Norman Good
Hixson
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I banked with SunTrust until 2003. That's when I returned from active duty in the call-up for the invasion into Iraq.
I left Tennessee and my career as an attorney to become an enlisted man. But when I returned, I still had to pay taxes on the 2002 atty income. SunTrust, my bank, wouldn't lend me a dime. I moved my accounts to another bank that would do business with me.
Banks, like the goofy teabaggers and "conservatives" care about one thing, themselves.
Robin R. Flores
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Michael Lawrence’s analogy is a prime example of how the American public helped and continues to help contribute to the economic problems we all face. Here’s a novel idea: instead of writing $186 worth of checks against a $100 balance and then blaming the bank for charging you fees on the no-interest loan they are giving you, don’t spend money you don’t have. Is it really that hard of a concept?
Brian Ramsey
Ooltewah
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