BB&T (Branch Banking and Trust) institutes a 10 dollar a month fee on checking accounts

Recently I received a letter from BB&T where I have had the same accounts for well over a decade. They informed me that if my balances fall below 1500 dollars a month they will be charging me a 10 dollar service fee. It is a rare month in the last few years that I have a balance of more than a few hundred dollars in my personal account. So it leaves me feeling as if I am being penalised 120 dollars a year in the future for being poor. I will be expressing my opinion in person soon but for now I have sent the below letter to their customer service department through the online banking interface after receiving the same letter there that I did in the mail. Is it any wonder that we view the banks and credit card companys with such distrust anymore when at every chance they have they turn the screws on us a little more. I love how they can arbitrarily change the the type of account that I signed up for. Add fee’s, raise the fee’s, change the terms of the contract that I signed when I got the account…. grrrrr… I am not a happy camper right now.

Scott

Dear Sir,
I received your letter in the mail regarding the change in my account to a “bright” account with a 10 dollar per month if it falls below a certain balance. I don’t find anything Bright about it. I signed up for an account that did not have a monthly fee. I am disappointed in you that you are arbitrarily changing your agreement with me at this time. I suppose I will be discussing this with the people at my local branch as well but let met express my displeasure here also.

I have had an account here for around 15 years. First at coastal federal and now with BB&T. I have had an account here because of the service and the free checking. I also have a longstanding business account with you that has considerably more money in it than my personal account. The two accounts that I have with your institution are my primary accounts that I use on a daily or monthly basis.

If you do indeed intend to start charging a 10 dollar a month fee for minimum balances, I wish you to know that the first month in which this happens, I will be looking for a different home for both my personal and business checking accounts. I have a perfectly good Wachovia account that I don’t use much that doesn’t charge minimum balance fees. I prefer to do my banking at BB&T but at this point it looks as if it is going to be up to you as to whether I continue to do business with your bank.

I know that my accounts are not the largest. In total I probably only flow between 50,000 and 90,000 dollars through your institution on an annual basis. With an average balance in my personal account below your minimum many months. My business account probably only has an average balance of between 7,000 and 12,000 a month.

I do not understand the thinking that has led you to institute this policy. You have basically created a tax on your smaller depositors of 120 dollars a year. Did you decide that you don’t really like doing business with the smaller accounts? And that this is an effort to get rid of a bunch of them?

Times have been hard the last few years. I almost went out of business in 2010 due to the prior two years economic down turn. Actions such as this by financial institutions leave a really bad taste in my mouth considering that hard time most of us little people have had recently.

I hope that someone will read this and pass it up the chain there at BB&T. I guarantee that I won’t be the only person taking exception to this new policy of yours.

Sincerely,
Scott Carle