Richard. sent a message to Greg D. Carmichael – Chief Executive Officer of Fifth Third Bancorp – Email Address that said:
Your electronic payment processing system needs improvement. When your third party vendor can no longer process electronic payments from your customers then it is the bank's obligation and responsibility to notify its customers in a timely manner. I had scheduled a payment to Anthem for my health insurance for 11-29-16. I received an email on 11-29-16 that the payment failed due to some nonsense about a check sequence. When I called I learned that the third party who was handling the payment as your subcontractor was no longer working for you. No bank help was offered and I was told to call Anthem and pay the bill over the phone using my account and routing numbers which I did on 11-30-16. Someone knew that this would happen when the business relationship between you and your subcontractor ended. In this era of instant electronic communication it seems to me that Fifth Third should have notified customers that payments to Anthem and others would require a bank check which would add days to the transaction. Fifth Third should have handled it for me instead of telling me to call Anthem. What if Anthem had cancelled my health insurance due to a late payment and I had an emergency? Is this any way to treat a "Preferred Customer"?
May I hear from you on this issue? What steps will Fifth Third take to prevent this from happening in the future?
Thank you.
