We put trust in many things, but nothing compared to the trust we have with the bank we do business with. What if you knew your bank wasn’t keeping up with their end of the bargain by keeping your information safe? Scary thought indeed. A friend of mine and a small business owner shared some very sensitive information with me about her experience with Fifth Third Bank.
Fifth Third Bank hired a 3rd party business that is tied to fraudulent activities. My friend and a small business owner put her trust in Fifth Third Bank for all her banking and merchant needs. Unfortunately, she is now going through a horrific experience with the bank by trying to get restitution for the money she has lost in fees and other expenses from Fifth Third Bank.
The story
Fifth Third Bank hires a 3rd party processing company called Vantiv – in comes Ray Gustafson “account manager” who should be in jail for his illegal activities! Ray was at the initial meeting, my friend clearly stated at the beginning of the meeting that she was NOT paying for equipment, she stated clearly that the bank gets enough money out of processing fees, etc. Ray advises her to open new accounts, and he will deposit 300.00 for each of the two businesses. Keep in mind that she was splitting up the merchant processing between her two business to make record keeping much easier instead of having two businesses share one account. She asked for documentation over & over in regard to her processing fees and any other transactions from Ray. She received none.. zero… NO documentation.. 5/3 has no documentation! How does a bank not have transaction history, hmm, something is fishy here.
In June, someone called her about processing services which she was not interested in because of the issues she was having with Fifth Third Bank. In July, the same person called about processing services and this time she took the call. The person on the phone said he had an application for one of her businesses, he said he knew something was out of order and it looked like a bogus application. I asked the caller whose account is this? Ray Gustafson? He said he only had a account manager’s phone number but he would check for a name. He came back to the phone and said yup that’s him. I said it’s a bogus application, and I want those applications.. THEY ARE FORGED! MY SIGNATURE WAS FORGED. I immediately called my banker who was speechless, filed a police report, and gave info to my attorney. NO ONE SEEMS TO want to help.
I was informed by my friend that Fifth Third paid her a measly $200 in restitution, what a slap in the face. Fifth Third needs to be sued for doing business with a crook and putting a customer in harms way. Ray Gustafson not only forged signatures on applications, but during the same time period her credit card was hacked, not too coincidental huh? During this whole ordeal her bank account was being drained by erroneous charges that the bank couldn’t provide any details about. Ray Gustafson is no longer with Fifth Third Bank, go figure. I guess he moved on to suck the life from another small business owner.
If you bank at Fifth Third Bank you may want to bank with another financial institution.
Fifth Third Bank do the right thing for your customer! Leave a comment with an email and I will put you in touch with my friend.
