Can Anyone trust SunTrust?
September 23rd, 2009. By Kristine B
Maybe it’s just me, but it kind of seems like no one who’s put their trust in SunTrust can actually trust that they are being taken care of by SunTrust. Ok, that was a mouthful. But let’s do a little ‘splaining and it’ll all make sense.
First, there were the clients who said that their SunTrust HELOC accounts had been frozen or decreased with no justification or warning—sad, but unfortunately not the first time a company has been accused of treating its clients improperly (when will these companies learn?) Also not surprising is that these clients have taken to the courts in an attempt to tell SunTrust that they are just not gonna take this lying down.
Now comes news that SunTrust faces a lawsuit, not from clients but from employees, saying the company violated ERISA laws by breaching its fiduciary duty to people involved in the company’s investment plans, profit sharing retirement plans or SunTrust Banks stock.
Breach of fiduciary duty is a fancy way of saying that SunTrust allegedly did not put the needs of its plan participants ahead of the needs of the company. Specifically, the plaintiff claims that SunTrust made false and misleading statements about the company’s financial results and conditions. It wouldn’t be the first time a financial firm was accused of doing so, but it puts SunTrust in a bad light very shortly after news of the HELOC lawsuits broke.
So, clients say they can’t trust that money they counted on will be available to them when they need it. Employees say their benefits plans were hurt by misleading statements made by SunTrust. That kind of begs the question: is there anyone who has positive things to say about SunTrust?
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