Complain about a product or service

PNC Bank

Amanda of Throop, PA November 10, 2009

I have been recently unemployed and living off unemployment compensation. My checks aren't that big and trying to pay COBRA and all of my bills is hard enough. I sent my COBRA payment in for its due date of Nov. 1st. The check is cashed and posted usually within 5 days. I assumed the balance on my account had included that so on the weekend I paid some bills and bought some groceries at Walmart etc. Today...Nov 10th I see that they have over withdrawn me 13 times from my weekend starting with the most expensive withdrawls first pushing me over the limit within the first 2 payments. Which I know for a fact were made after the smaller less than 10 dollar debits from places like the dollar store and sadly a 3 dollar debit from dunkin donuts. My unemployment gets deposited tonight but unfortunately these charges are going to eat up the whole amount and still leave me in the negatives so ill have to wait 2 weeks of getting hit with the daily fee for being over withdrawn before I have money to use again. In the mean time im going to have my gas, electric and water bill to pay with no money to do so. I don't know what to do. Its bad enough I can't get a job now my whole life is going to crumble over the winter if i can't get out of debt. Someone needs to stop the banks from doing this. NJ has a lawsuit open right now over the withdrawl fees. Anyone interested in doing one in PA. This bank needs to be stopped. Im going to try to switch banks when I get my account settled but as of right now Im stuck between a rock and a hard place. Please please please someone help us.

Kristen of Elizabethville, PA November 9, 2009

I have had an account with PNC Bank for almost two years, and have overdrawn my account twice the whole time. As of recently, I paid a bill that overdrew my account by what SHOULD have been 140. Knowing that it was a friday and after bank hours, I could deposit monday morning first thing and cover the amount. So I was expecting to possibly get charged with an overdraft fee, but because I had always been in good standing with my account, I hoped they could maybe take it off considering I made conscious efforts to pay back what I owed, and didn't let the "pending" payment even post before I deposited.

Little did I know that I should probably just give PNC my debit card and checks back and let them do what they will with my money, since thats basically what they did. Monday morning, I glance at my online checking and see three overdraft fees at 36 ea. The 3rd posted fee itself put me in the negative by 13.20. I thought to myself, well how the hell did this happen? How can I get charged an overdraft fee when I have a positive amount in my account? And still, the "pending" transaction that I was planning on depositing against was nowhere to be found. Then, at around 12 pm on Monday I get slammed with the transaction made on Friday. Since my account was already mysteriously negatively balanced at 13.20, this charge going through put me in the negative at 318.08. In the days following, I see 5 charges, some from over FIVE days ago posted, plunging my account even further into the negative. Before I even got hit with all of THOSE overdraft fees, I was in the negative at 407.00.

then I got hit with TEN overdraft fees at 36 each. Add that up, and its 800.06. Not to mention the next five days of "continuous over draft fees" at 7.00 a pop, comes out to 835.06. Before I even got popped with overdraft fees, I was worrying how the hell am I going to pay back this 400 some charge when it should have gone through in order to be only 140.00. When I questioned them about this, I was told that the way they post is to post NSF fees first, even if the charges don't show, and they always take the largest charge first even if it was seven days after the smallest charge. she flat out told me this. I explained there is NO way I can pay back that kind of money in a short period of time, let a lone at all, and she told me "I can't authorize more than one overdraft fee removal and my manager can't do more than two." and I said, "well, lets talk to the branch supervisor". She then said "i'll be right back" and spoke privately with the manager to try and "authorize" it. After which she returned and said "nope, we can't do it, you knowingly paid for something without having the funds in the account."

to which I said "Yes, provided it and other transactions were posted according to the time in which they were made, it shouldn't have affected my account whatsoever." Then she told me. "Sorry, nothing we can do, pay it back and don't do it again. It's a hard lesson to learn." So I chose my battle, and left just deciding to pay a little back at a time in a way I could afford, because paying back over 800 dollars immediately was just nonfeasable. The next week, I went to cash a check because I knew that if I deposited the whole thing (which I couldn't due to needing it for other bills and living expenses) they would just automatically pay themselves back. So I cashed it and tried to deposit seventy dollars. To which I was told they would not accept my deposit unless it was the whole amount at once. ?!?! Are you freaking KIDDING ME!? And then they said its because the account is being closed by the corporate offices due to its length of time in a negative balance. (No one informed me this was happening or a date in which this would happen, they just went ahead and did it). The only way I could keep the account from being closed and reported on my credit and to other banks in the future, was to call the 1800 number and ask for a payment arrangement. I called the 1800 number and was told they could do nothing I'd have to set up an arrangement with my specific branch. Called them, she told me the best she could do was give me till the end of the month to pay the entire amount back or it would be closed and further collection action would be taken.

Alison of Frederick, MD November 3, 2009

I've been banking with PNC Bank for 2 years now. So far they have managed to charge me thousands of dollars in overdraft fees that make no sense whatsoever. I left my small bank for PNC because they promised me real time online banking. So far I've found their online system to be false and a scam for all those hard working customers who use it. Not one of the PNC representatives can accurately inform you of how the system works.

When you call to ask questions you receive different answers from each and everyone of them. How is it you can go online to check your balance and not have an accurate or up to date information? I was even told I can't get my balance at an ATM machine? I called yesterday and spoke to a representative. Asked them to check my pending transactions against my cash deposit I made that they held for 3 days and was told, "everything is going to clear tomorrow. You will have a positive balance." Well I wish that were the case.

I checked my balance today and found it to be overdrawn by 60. Now I'm expecting at least 5 overdraft fees. I called them to get my information because my account information wasn't updated online for an entire 3 days. How can they hold a cash deposit?

How can they take the largest withdrawal and put that through first when it wasn't pending before the other smaller withdrawals? I'll tell you why, because it makes them able to take more money from our accounts. PNC got a government bailout only to turn around and use our tax dollars and take more of our hard earned money. I am falling behind in my monthly bills. I've had to go without groceries due to the fact they have taken thousands of dollars from me. They make it impossible to track your funds.

M of Levittown, PA October 29, 2009

On Monday evening I was rushing to caught a train and I stopped at the atm to withdraw some money. I used the wrong bank card PNC instead of bank of america, which had more funds. First thing the next morning I deposited enough money to cover the overdraft. Later that day I noticed that I was in the red again. This time I had 4 overdraft fees. I soon realized that the bank decided to cleared my largest check first even though it was received that same day and ignored small transactions that were there since Friday.

I decided to pay the 132.00 in overdraft fee this morning and think that my account was in good standing according to my calculations. To my dismay, I now have an additional 71.00 pending in overdraft fees. Why would the bank not post the cash when it was received instead of holding it pending for a whole business day and overdraw my account again. PNC bank is the worst bank that I have ever dealt with. I am closing my account as soon as my last transaction is posted. Why have customer service if they are not going to help the ordinary consumer. Yes mistakes happen when you are rushing, but paying over 200.00 in overdraft fee is just unacceptable and criminal.

I have finally lost faith in a bank that I have used for over 10 years. I know that my few pennies will not hurt the bank, but I will not give PNC my hard earned money either. Good bye PNC... beware poor people.

Michael of Hyattsville, MD October 27, 2009

There is a problem with their computer system. It is programmed to debit first and credit second. PNC Bank's online banking has a pending transactions section. It saves charges and credits and usually posts them the next day (except for debit online card transactions). However, not all transactions (debits) get posted to this pending section thus making the pending section unreliable for tracking your account balance. The computer then waits until this unposted transaction (usually large)bringing your account to an almost overdraft situation then posts all the other pending transactions without regard to the order in which they were presented to the bank initially. So instead of clearing the older smaller debits first in order of presentation, they bounce all of them generating multiple NSF charges instead of maybe one charge. I find this to be unethical and a ripoff! Their must be something that can be done to force the banks to post debits and credits properly.

Rick of Ashburn, VA October 27, 2009

I may a big mistake of despositing my check from Bank Of America which was dated 4 days ealier into my PNC Bank Account of Friday night. I thought the funds would be available at least my Monday morning. The deposit slip showed Friday's date and time so I felt I was in good shape. Lucky I had PNC Bank's Overdraft Protection, I was bouncing charges on Monday evening which I still do not understand.

I called the bank and complained they told be they would have to verify the funds were available from Bank Of America to be put into my account (remember this was deposited Friday after 5PM Eastern Standard Time. I told them is not BA the largest bank in the US if not the world? Why is it the funds all ways come out of your account faster and on weekends, but deposit never happened till the bank feels like it?

I think the US Congress should look into this because I feel it is another way for banks to make money off the us the consumers. Probably to pay their rich execs. I still do not know all my charges yet. So far because I had overdraft protection it is only 10.00. I feel as a senior citzen I feel something should be done to about banking in general.

Sabrina of Columbia, MD October 22, 2009

I went into the bank to discuss some overdraft fee issues that I had with my best friends little sister's account. They had taken over 100 dollars out of her account and she didn't know what to do so I told her I would come to the bank and help her figure it out. When we got to the bank, I requested to speak with the manager. I understand rules are rules, but there were quite a few things that they were unable or unwilling to explain about what had happend with the charges on her account.

Not only was this an issue, but the manager of the branch was completely condescending and rude. I tried to compose myself and calmly ask if she had a supervisor I could speak with to help us resolve our issue, and she rudely exclaimed "Yes, I do and I will inform him that you will be calling him"

Then she laughed and walked into her office, grabbed her card and made a big scene about me wanting to talk to him. I was appalled that the manager of that branch was so rude and immature! Loss of 60 dollars, they refunded 60 but wouldn't refund the rest.

Asha of Fallston, MD October 21, 2009

I transferred/deposited money into my checking account on Friday and on Monday I noticed that there was a duplicate deposit in my checking account pending. So instead of taking time out of my day and calling PNC to question the deposit, I just transferred the alleged duplicate amount out of my checking and back into my other account. Well, that was were I was "wrong" (quoted from the PNC customer service representative).

Apparently, later on monday the alleged "duplicate deposit" dropped out of the pending status (it was never posted to the account and of course when that happens, any record of such virtually disappears. This is what made my case extremely hard to prove. I had no record of said duplicate deposit. So every purchase that I made on Monday and Tuesday went into overdraft. OF couse, I thought everything was A-Okay so I didn't check my account until I got the Alert (of which they only alert you after 24 hours of being overdrawn, conviently so, they can charge you for being overdrawn- otherwise I would have transferred money into my account to cover the charges).

Infact,when I called customer service, some representatives said yes they heard of complaints about duplicate transactions, but by the time I got the the Customer service managers (of which I needed their approval to remove the overdrawn fees) they swore up and down that they never heard of this complaint before. Well, I think that there are two things wrong with this system.

I believe there must be a delay for the online banking records. In addition, I believe that there are glitches in the system, and the PNC employees are not allowed to let the customer know about. People who write software and not %100 perfect all the time, there are programming errors may occur such as seeing duplicate transactions. Somehow I got caught up in this computer glitch, that cost me 236 charges in overdraft charges.

Jessica of Cincinnati, OH October 16, 2009

I don't have time to go into all the details of what PNC has done or not done, but I have experienced the same situations with the overdraft fees that these other consumers have reported. I do not trust a bank that just "states" I have an overdraft that was caught while pending and I didn't see it and it doesn't show up on the posted page. Plus, I had a check that they stated would take a couple days to fully clear, but that the first 100 is always availabe.

We were careful with our purchases and the next thing I know is that a couple of days later I get hit with fees. I spoke to CSR and they stated that the check hasn't fully cleared. I told her that the check is in the posted list and not in the pending. She still claimed that not all of the check was available as of yet. Then why is it in the pending stage????? (I ask) Also, they admit (and it's happend to me) they can take whatever order of purchases they want to determine how they clear.

I never can get clear answers and of course it is always my fault. I do take responsability on my irresponsability, but they get carried away with the fees.

Susan of Louisville, KY October 15, 2009

On Tuesday, October 13th after 5:00 pm, I went into WalMart here to purchase a money order that I had to get in the mail that day. I actually had the cash in my hand. When the guy totaled the bill, I looked in my purse and found that I was 30 cents, I repeat, 30 cents short. The guy was not going to give it to me without and the line was getting long and I couldn't leave. I made the decision to see if I could run it on my debit card. I knew I didn't have all the funds available, however, I was making this transaction after business hours. My plan was to get into the bank first thing in the morning and make the deposit and that would cancel out the pending withdrawal.

The next day, I went in and made a deposit for the total of the withdrawal, plus an additional 100 dollars for anything else that I wanted to take care of. After I made the deposit, I went into the lobby store and purchased something for about 6.35. After I left work, I had to go to the store to pick up a few groceries. I was on empty so I stopped to get gas first. When I swiped my card, it kept saying see attendant. The attendant came out and took it inside to swipe. He came back out and said that the card would not authorize the transaction. Of course that made no sense to me, so I pulled up my account on my cellphone. I almost stroked out when I saw NINE 36 charges.

I immediately called the 1-800 number. I was told that when I made that after hours transaction, that PENDING item caused me to bounce nine transaction that came through over the weekend. I told the rep that's not possible. Having worked in banks before, I knew that the banks clear on your "current" balance or the ledger balance. She told me no. My pending items, which included a transaction that was due to fall off, tied up my money, so the checks did not clear without an overdraft. I asked for a supervisor who proceeded to tell me that they changed their clearing process some time last year. I cried for about 2 hours because this mess ate up all my money and legitimate items that should have cleared will now show up and I'll be charged a fee for them.

The next morning, I went into my branch to speak with the branch manager who basically told me that what you see on the website is not accurate. She again stated that they clear on the pending (available) balance. After looking over this board, I see that I am not alone and that this is a key money making device for them. I won't pretend that I have kept my account in perfect condition. But when I make a mistake, I will work around the fact that I forgot about a check or a debit transaction and deal with the fees. I just can't accept this because, this is just not fair. My account is now over 400 overdrawn and I don't get paid for another week. Is there a way to make this known on a larger scale? We've got to stop them. This is extortion!!!!

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