I used to have First Commonwealth as a bank before I moved, and kept the account active to use Paypal. I always used credit, but one day the system for some reason withdrew the money from the account instead of going with credit. I called First Commonwealth immediately to let them know the situation (my account, as I well knew, had less than $3 in it). Outside of not being able to cancel the payment, which was outside of their control, they absolutely refused to remove the overdraft fee. Other banks, such as Wells Fargo, do everything they can to work with the customer, especially when an error occurs that was outside of their control. First Commonwealth needs to seriously consider this, and a few other technicalities (such as their horrible online system and still lacking email statements at the time of this writing), carefully if they wan to be a successful bank. It is, after all, OUR money that keeps them running.

I had a checking account at First Commonwealth Bank (FCB) at it's downtown Pittsburgh office, which I opened in early 2005 before it became so financially troubled. Everything went fine until fall of 2009 when, through my own fault, I bounced my first check with FCB. Because of the one check, I was also charged for five other pending transactions, none of which were over $6 (e.g., Subway for $5.35; $4.06 at Au Bon Pain.) I called the bank manager, assuming he'd waive the $198 in overdraft fees. Instead, he agreed to "splitting" that amount. I agree to being punished for the one check, but the rest is just greediness on the bank's part. What caused me to close the account, though, was the fact that the manager felt called upon to raise his voice when discussing this with me on the phone -- never a sign of professionalism.

Now I see the bank is being sued for, inter alia, fraud, in Allegheny County Common Pleas court. I'm glad I got out when I did.