DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia woman on a fixed income has been trying since August to get Truist to return $500 to her.
“It’s just got me in a mess. I became immediately behind on rent, $200, which I get charged late fees and daily fees,” Mellisa Hyde told Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray.
Hyde signed up at her local Truist branch in Cedartown for a secured credit card.
Secured credit cards are designed to help people build credit. They work like credit cards when you are shopping. But instead of spending on credit, you put down a deposit that typically functions as your credit limit.
Hyde paid the Truist teller her $500 deposit, but by the time she got home, she received a rejection letter from Truist.
But they did not return the $500.
“They won’t give me any answers. They just keep putting me off, putting me off,” Hyde said.
“I’m on disability, I live on a fixed income, which is not very much. $500 is a lot of money to me, and that was put there to try to build my credit so I could get a better place to live,” she continued.
Hyde says she has been back to the bank more than a dozen times. She even filed a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
In its response, Truist explained why she was rejected for the secured credit card but when it came to her money wrote, “We can confirm that we are not holding your $500.00 as collateral and no fees have been assessed.”
After Channel 2 Action News started asking questions, Truist refunded Hyde her $500 and more. All together Truist paid her $1,010, not just the money that she was owed, but also enough to cover the late fees and penalties she had racked up with her late rent payment.
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