Back in December I decided it was finally time to open a business account for Frosted Fingers. My husband had a few accounts at PNC Bank and told me they had free business checking so I figured I’d go there to open my account. When I first walked in I told the lady that I was interested in a free checking account for my business. She told me that they did offer a free account, but then offered me a higher tiered account so that I could get free business checks. I told her that I would not have the income it took to keep up with that account. She told me it’d be ok, I could use that account to get the free checks and then she’d downgrade me back to the free account a few months later to avoid fees. I opened the account and she told me that I should be seeing my free checks in a few weeks.
A few weeks came and went and my checks did not. I called PNC Bank and she said if I ordered checks that I would have to pay for them. I told her that was not what we agreed on. So she ordered the checks and told me I’d have no fee. Then on 2/13/14 I see a charge on my account for checks. I had to call her and get that fee removed. I would not have even ordered checks if there was going to be a fee! I reminded her again at that time that I would not qualify for the high tier account, but she left me there anyway, promising she’d keep an eye on my account.
So on 4/1/14 I noticed a $17 service charge on my account at PNC Bank. I called my bank representative and she was away from her desk. I left a voice mail with all the information and never got a call back. Then on 5/1/14 I noticed another $17 service charge on my account. Again, I called and left a voice mail stating that there was now a second fee on my account and I never got a call back from the first fee. She called me back on 5/2/14 stating that she reversed the one charge but would have to talk to her manager about the second charge. In her voice mail to me she told me I needed to call her or come in because they had made some changes to their accounts.
Today was the first chance I could get into the bank. She told me that they no longer offer a free business banking account and that I would have to keep a minimum of $2500 in my account or pay a monthly fee of $17. She went on to tell me that at first her boss wasn’t going to wave the other $17 fee because they’d already waived two fees on my account. She told me that he would give me a credit for my $17 fee AND if I wanted to close my account since I couldn’t meet the minimum balance that he’d waive the $25 fee to close the account. WHAT?! A $25 fee to CLOSE the account?! Since I have a pending item on my account I decided I was going to come back later in the week to close the account.
As I was walking out the door with my children I heard him tell her there was no way he was waiving BOTH fees. He said he’d waive either the $17 or the $25, but not both. She didn’t bother to try to stop me as I was walking out the door to tell me this. So I went from having a free checking account when I walked in the door in December to having to pay a monthly fee of $17 OR $25 to close my account.
This is called Bait and Switch! I don’t think it’s even legal! I’m very frustrated to say the least. PNC Banking needs to do something to right this wrong!
That’s ridiculous
Ugh!
I don’t think we have PNC here, but I WON’T be using them for SURE!
I certainly won’t be using PNC Bank, that is horrible.
Did you take it to twitter? I would think that might make a difference. You need eyes a little higher up the chain to take a look at this.
Oh wow! Thanks for the heads up, I know to avoid them.
I get so upset when you do what you are suppose to do and make sure you understand all the rules and get all the information and then the next time you talk to someone it is like that never happened. It seems like sometimes companies can just do what they want but what are you to do you have to believe the information you are getting it reliable.
I hope you can get both fees waived.
BS! I’d print this blog post out with your card and leave it on his desk!
Lots of banks are doing that USBank pulled about the same thing on us. We closed accounts there . On one account they took every penny plus they said my husband owed money at the end. Needless to say we werent happy.
Try a local credit union they are much better although anymore checks just arent ‘free’ :/
I had horrible problems like this with Queens/Roosevelt Bank (they raised their minimum fee for a savings account and never told me, then started to take money out each month as a charge, so years later when I went to close the account there was NOTHING there, the whole $300 was gone in fees, and they said they’d waive the fees owed since then for keeping the empty account open for me if I paid $10 to close the account). I took all my accounts and left and never went back. Queens County Bank and Roosevelt Bank combined and they are thieves.
Oh wow, that’s bad. We’ve had good experiences with our account at Citibank, but our daughter opened one up with BBVA Compass when she got her first job last year, and we’ve been hit with some fees that we shouldn’t have. Not nearly to that extent and I didn’t want to have to take her in to argue it, so I just gave her the money to cover the fee, but still, had I known…I probably would have chosen a different bank for her.
Yikes! That’s horrible and sounds totally illegal. I’m so sorry and hope that, somehow, you can get both fees waived and can get away from that back ASAP!
Wow, what a nightmare. This is why I don’t deal with banks. I have a PayPal account with their debit card and a Walmart Moneycard I use for everything.
I use a small local bank & never got around to opening a business account. I did discuss it once, but decided not to bother.
I have never heard of this bank but this entire ordeal doesn’t surprise me. They are legal scam artists and good for you for taking the time to call them out! Sometimes I feel it would be best to keep our money under our mattress.
That’s a shame. And I would go to Twitter and FB and call them out…
Woah. That’s horrible. I’d definitely go higher than the local level since they’ve given you a run-around.