It could be said nothing is certain in life except death, taxes and, frequently, bank fees — overdraft, out-of-network ATMs and money transfers to name a few.
However, one bank’s check-cashing fee has particularly irked Savannah Alderman Tom Bordeaux.
Bordeaux, a lawyer by trade, had written a check to a client for a few hundred dollars from his SunTrust account as part of a civil settlement. His client, Cynthia Linthicum, took the check to SunTrust and was assessed a $7 fee because she was not an account holder.
“I was pretty hacked about it,” said Bordeaux, who went down to the Johnson Square branch to intervene on his client’s behalf.
Linthicum, who did not have a bank account at the time, told the teller that SunTrust had waived the fee in the past when she had cashed checks. She said she was told that while they sometimes comped the fee, they couldn’t do that all the time.
“I just felt like they’re not even trusting their own institution, their own checks from that bank,” said Linthicum. “It was insulting.”
Bordeaux argued that when he wrote a check to pay an American Express bill that SunTrust did not charge AmEx for cashing it. He said he was told this was different because the AmEx payment is processed through the banking system.
“(It) discriminates against poor people and young people without checking accounts,” said Bordeaux of the check-cashing policy. “It’s one thing if you bank at another bank and walk into SunTrust, that’s different. But this is SunTrust’s own check. That’s pretty rotten.”
Bordeaux said he was not looking for special treatment but for banks “to treat poor people like real people.”
Linthicum said she did not have a bank account because she’d had difficulty finding employment in the aftermath of losing her 11-year-old son in a 2008 hit-and-run.
“Prior to my son’s death, I had a banking account,” explained Linthicum. “I felt human.”
Hugh Suhr, a spokesman for SunTrust, said the fee helps pay for the overhead associated with operating a brick-and-mortar location.
“We charge a fee for cashing a check to any non-account holding individuals as we are providing them with a service and resources to conduct a transaction,” said Suhr.
“It is essentially the same as a fee to noncustomers for using our ATM network to help defray the costs associated with providing those services,” he added.
Other banks charge similar fees to non-account holders, though policies vary. A brief survey of some of Savannah’s financial institutions found that most do not charge individuals for cashing a personal check drawn from their bank, including BB&T, First Citizens, The Coastal Bank, First Chatham, The Savannah Bank, Wells Fargo and Bank of America. Some did assess fees for a business check, depending on the amount.
David Oliver, senior vice president of communications for the Georgia Bankers Association, said typically these check-cashing fees protect banks from potential fraud and can encourage individuals to open accounts.
“The overarching idea is that the bank that would do that is focused on providing a service to its customers,” said Oliver. “If the funds are not available or potentially fraudulent, there’s no way for the bank to recover that.”
Linthicum said she decided to go to GeoVista Credit Union to open an account in which to cash the check. Bordeaux also decided to switch banks following the incident, choosing The Savannah Bank.
However, he said he also wants to ensure that when the city writes a check to an employee or contractor without a bank account, that they are not charged a fee.
“I’ve dictated a letter to the city manager to ask her to look into it,” said Bordeaux.