12th bank failure of the year announced: Regulators close down Ameribank Inc., a West Virginia-based

[Liberal_in_LA]

12th bank failure of the year announced
Regulators close down Ameribank Inc., a West Virginia-based-bank with total assets of $115 million.

By Catherine Clifford, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: September 19, 2008: 8:48 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Ameribank Inc. was shut down on Friday by the Office of the Thrift Supervision, making it the 12th bank this year to go under.

The Northfork, West Virginia bank had total assets of $115 million and total deposits of $102 million, according to a statement on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Web site.



http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/19/news/companies/ameribank_closure/?postversion=2008091920

[whistle]

1. I want to know when the "5th 3rd Bank" which began to appear only

...a year ago in Florida and multiplied faster than locust will close down? Who the fuck started this bank group?

Hundreds of these have been filed appraently:

<snip>
Report: 5th 3rd Bank
5th 3rd Bank worse than loan sharks-payday loan would be cheaper Orlando Florida

*Consumer Comment ..Another 'burned' debit card user! When will they learn?
5th 3rd Bank
Sand Lake Road
Orlando, Nationwide, fl
U.S.A
Phone: [phone]

From past experience, I already knew 5th/3rd would get my money any way they could, but this takes the cake.

On a Friday October 5I only had $2.60 in account. On Friday at 11:00 a.m. (in the morning) cash deposit) I deposited $22.41, leaving me a balance of $25.01. I even call on the phone after every transaction to make sure I have made no mistakes. I called the automatic number and had $25.01 in account.

On Friday night about 5:00 p.m. I made 2 transactions with debit card at gas stations. One was for $4.16. I called after this card was run and had a balance of $20.85.

At another gas station swiped card for $8.00. Called again - balance was $12.85. Please keep in mind this $12.85 plus a little cash was all I had until the next payday in about 5 days.

<MORE>

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/277/RipOff0277535.htm

[Ms. Toad]

2. Well, you can argue about whether the practices are good ones

but nothing I read in the account is out of the norm for banking practices.

It is standard for banks to charge for using ATMs other than their own. Sometimes both the ATM owner and the bank each charge so you get hit with two charges. I think they've toned their notices down, but at one point you had to read a notice that said the bank might charge and extra fee before you could withdraw money.

A Club 53 account is an interest bearing checking account, with fees waived if you keep a minimum balance. Banks that offer these also typically offer ones which do not bear interest with lower (or no) costs. When you open an account (and every once in a while after that) you need to evaluate whether your bank balance typically runs below the minimum balance - if it does, you probably ought to go for the non-interest bearing one with lower or no fees.

This is standard stuff that I was teaching my 9th grade remedial math students nearly 20 years ago (along with skills like verifying that their paycheck was correct, budgeting, figuring out how much extra cash they were paying with rent-to-own schemes, etc.).

As for where 5th/3rd came from - It's been around in Ohio, at least, for maybe 15 years. I don't have any direct experience with them - but, as I noted, what is being complained about are pretty typical bank practices.