First Citizens Bank: What’s the Problem?

Apparently First Citizens is not used to the questioning of their policies. As happened last month, I noticed another charge on my business account today, labeled in the details only as “miscellaneous” and inquired about it.

Actually, I did more than inquire. I wrote

Lists only as “miscellaneous” fee–can I get a better description? If this is like last month’s image-view overage fee, I will again request (ok, require) an audit trail of the transactions for which the fee is being charged.

How did they respond? Canned default reply of:

Dear Customer,
Thank you for your message. We appreciate the opportunity to respond to your inquiry. This BOB Advantage fee is for excessive posted transactions. The BOB Advantage Basic includes 10 images pulled per month at no charge with a base module charge of $0.75 for each image pulled over 10. You pulled 22 images during your statement period resulting in a fee of $7.50. Since the billing for BOB Advantage is one month behind, this fee represents activity in August. Here is a link to the BOB Advantage fee schedule: http://www.firstcitizens.com/learn_more/learn_business_online_banking/fee_schedule.html.
If you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to send us a message or call us toll free at 866-FCB-4BIZ (866-322-4249), option 5. Our representatives are available Monday through Friday between the hours of 8am and 8pm ET. Thank you for contacting Business Central. We appreciate your business.
Thank You,
[Name Removed to Protect the Guilty]

They’ve apparently never been questioned in the past. My reply:

Thanks for the response. I understand the policy, but what I am requesting is that if I am being charged for these excessive images, I am going to demand an audit that shows what images were pulled and when. In essence, I want First Citizens to prove these charges.

Is it that difficult? If you create a dumb policy, be prepared to back it up. Otherwise, prepare to not only refund it, but risk getting reported to the Federal Trade Commission.

Dropping them this month anyway…taking my business where it’s appreciated. I miss our Venture Bank.

Apparently First Citizens is not used to the questioning of their policies. As happened last month, I noticed another charge on my business account today, labeled in the details only as “miscellaneous” and inquired about it. Actually, I did more than inquire. I wrote Lists only as “miscellaneous” fee–can I get a better description? If…