Biggest complaint about bank services is checking account management

The most complained-about bank in Ohio is PNC Bank, followed by The Huntington National Bank and Fifth Third Bank, according to a new report analyzing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s public Consumer Complaints Database.

PNC, Huntington and Fifth Third are also the fourth, second and largest banks by deposits in Ohio, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Huntington and Fifth Third are headquartered in Ohio.

The report, released by Ohio PIRG Education Fund on Sept. 17, also found the most common complaint was about checking accounts.

“The issues consumers complained about most were around account opening, closing and management. They accounted for 41 percent of complaints about bank accounts,” Bryan Stewart, spokesman for Ohio PIRG, said.

Since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began collecting data on banking in March 2012, the agency has recorded nearly 19,000 complaints by consumers about bank accounts and services, according to Ohio PIRG.

To view the Consumer Complaints Database go online to www.consumerfinance.gov/complaintdatabase/.

The database is important because “when you think about the larger picture, transparency is the first step towards accountability and letting people know about these tools because nobody wants to be the worst bank on that list,” Stewart said.

“The thing I would want consumers to know is there are tools out there to submit complaints about their banks,” he said.

Columbus-based Ohio PIRG Education Fund is affiliated with U.S. PIRG Education Fund, the Federation of State Public Interest Research Groups.

The CFPB is a federal agency formed in 2010 in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 economic downturn as a consumer watchdog.