Consumer complaint received 2021-08-15
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: ND
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Other problem

Complaint:
To Whom It May Concern, As of XX/XX/XXXX, I had been a US Bank Student Credit Card holder since XXXX. I am writing this letter with very serious concerns about several security breeches that happened due to the severe infractions of multiple US Bank employees. Due to their negligence and irresponsible actions, I no longer felt safe to entrust my most private and personal security information with such an incompetent financial institution. I would like to explain what has happened. 
First, I was having some basic issues logging into the US Bank mobile banking app, so I decided to stop in the local branch. I had previously gone into this branch and a couple of other branches for the same reason, hoping to update my cell phone number to be able to confirm my identity on the app so I would then have full access to my mobile banking account. Each of those attempts had been unsuccessful, but I was willing to try again. I was hoping for a simple and straightforward encounter and at first, I thought it was. The teller who helped me, I believe her name was XXXX, seemed friendly and eager to help with my account. I very clearly explained to her not once, but twice, that I only had the one account with US Bank and simply needed to update my personal contact information. She said she saw another account in their system when she looked up my account and had explained to me that she would create a new account for me with my personal information, submit the form needed and that everything would go through and that I should have access to my account the next day. I was satisfied with that response, so I left the bank and went home. Once home, I was checking my email and noticed I had already received an email from US Bank stating that my personal information had been changed. Upon reading this, I thought she was successful, so I decided to check the app. The app wouldn't even let me get to the login, but that wasn't a red flag yet, because I assumed it was still down because of the maintenance she had been doing on my account. I went ahead and tried to log in online and actually managed to get past my security questions, which was further than I had gotten prior to going in to the branch office. However, once logged in, my stomach dropped because yes, I had access to my account now, however I was truly horrified to realize I had FULL access to a completely different credit card account that was NOT mine! I immediately loaded up my XXXX young children and rushed straight back to the bank, and right before we get there, I called the customer service number on the back of my card and quickly got connected with an agent. I explained to him that I wanted to be issued a new physical card for my XXXX Credit Card with a new number and to immediately cancel my old card to ensure that the other account holder would not be able to use it since our accounts were somehow merged now. He assured me that my old card was cancelled and that my new card would be on it's way within a week or so. I was relieved, thinking maybe this was sorted. 
Upon arriving at the bank, I immediately went to speak with the same teller to explain that there had been a massive security breech due to whatever she had done to my account, and the other persons account. She then seemed surprised because she thought she had helped me link my two accounts together, which was entirely wrong because, again, I only had one account with US Bank. She then said she just assumed it was mine because the other account holder shared the same name and date of birth as me. I was completely shocked and explained that what she did needed to be reversed immediately and explained that this was a huge breech of security and trust to both myself and this other account holder. She was on the phone with some sort of online banking maintenance and was trying to sort this out before the bank closed. Before I left, she seemed certain that she had resolved the matter and that I would not have any more access to the other customers ' account, nor would she have access to mine. I left because the bank was closed at this point and again, she assured me that everything was cleared up. 
I got back home and decided I just wanted to have a bit of piece of mind about this whole situation and that I wanted to see for myself that the account was indeed removed from my mobile banking. And to my complete horror again, I still had FULL access to this other account. I immediately called the US Bank customer service number again and after about 10 minutes, I was greeted by an agent who wanted to transfer me, and upon doing so ended up disconnecting the call. So, I again called back and this time I was on the call for 1 hour and 55 minutes. The agent who answered was XXXX, and she was truly the most competent, kind, helpful and understanding agent I worked with. After explaining the wild, shocking, and truly unbelievable experience I had endured to this point, XXXX openly admitted three different times that she was shocked to hear this and that clearly, the " teller dropped the ball ''. XXXX suspected this may have been some sort of fraudulent activity at first because the card was opened in a completely different state, so she transferred me to XXXX ( or XXXX, it was a bit hard to catch his name ) in the fraud department. Upon connecting with XXXX, he explained that the other account was linked with mine because it was opened with the same name, date of birth AND social security number. At first I was horrified, then they put me on a brief hold and XXXX left the call. While waiting to be reconnected, I realized how impossible of an explanation that was. I monitor all of my accounts extremely carefully on XXXX XXXX, and would absolutely have noticed this account if it were opened and used that whole time. Once XXXX answered again, I immediately explained to her how that truly was an impossible explanation and she awkwardly agreed and stated that XXXX was " a bit confused ''. 
Moving on from this momentary disaster, I pretty much demanded that XXXX inform the other account holder of the incompetencies that had unfolded that day and how she was also affected by such atrocious and irresponsible actions. XXXX told me that she had sent a message to the other account holder asking her to reach out about her account. None of this was even remotely satisfactory to me, so I asked for the most direct line to file a formal complaint about this atrocious experience and violations that occurred and she was very unsure about who to connect me with. She ended up having me on hold for approximately 30 minutes while she went to check with her supervisor because of the " unique circumstances of the situation ''. Once she got back on the phone, she gave me the address to the Office of the President and encouraged I send this letter there. She then connected me with XXXX at Web Support who was going to help me finally separate my account from the other account. After a couple of attempts, XXXX was successfully able to separate my account and I no longer had access to the other account. XXXX said she was going to do the same thing to the other account that she did with mine, so hopefully the other account holder wouldn't be able to see my information anymore. I was thrilled to know that I no longer had any access to that account, but was still very upset to not have actual confirmation that the other account holder couldn't see my information. XXXX then left the call and I explained to XXXX how this was truly such a massive breech of my trust and security and that I no longer felt like I could safely keep my account with US Bank and how I absolutely needed to close my account completely. XXXX was truly appalled and so apologetic towards me and the horrific and time-consuming event this had become. I was then connected with XXXX, the person who could actually help me close the account, and she was successful in closing my account. 
All in all, from the very first moment I got to the bank until the end of this call, I had spent nearly 5 HOURS of my day trying to sort out this madness. It is most shocking that such a large and successful financial institution could have such poorly trained staff who could allow such MASSIVE SECURITY BREECHES with their clients. I am truly sickened by this whole turn of events. And on a very personal note, I feel that I was truly wronged in this ordeal as well. Due to everything that led to the complete broken trust, I felt cornered into closing my longest standing credit card which has now damaged my credit. That was a horribly painful decision that I felt forced to make. There is nothing that can be done to remedy my credit that I have literally been working at building since the day I opened this credit card nearly a decade ago. 
To make things worse, which I didn't know would be possible, I received the credit card I had previously requested in the mail for my XXXX Credit Card, however, I also received a US Bank card for the other account holder 's XXXX account! I NEVER requested that! And the agent on the phone never told me I would get both in the mail! I was shocked! So yet another example of poor training, not verifying information, and poor communication on the agents ' behalf. 
As if this wasn't already bad enough, a few days later, I also received NEW PIN NUMBERS so I could activate and use both of " my new cards ''! This was sickening. 
So to recap, these are the biggest issues ; First I had an incredibly incompetent teller who didn't do the very most basic steps of her job to verify that my identity XXXX name, date of birth, address, phone number, and social security number ) truly matched the identity of the other account holder. Next, I dealt with a " confused '' teller working with the fraud department who caused me to be very panicked and emotional for a brief time, again due to not verifying information before conveying it to the customer in need of help. Then, I felt forced to close my longest standing line of credit which damaged my credit score. This was so unfair and so upsetting. And on top of everything, to have received not only the credit cards, but the PIN numbers as wellI mean, come on! This is more than negligence! This is poor training and truly unacceptable in every way. And if it happened this easily to me, who's to say these infractions haven't happened to others? 
Other than better training for your employees, ( which I hope would be a given after realizing the gravity of the true betrayal that the account holder and I have suffered after having put our trust in your financial institution ), I am also requesting that I receive confirmation for the following, IN WRITING ; One, that US Bank has been able to successfully inform the other account holder of these wrong-doings. Two, that she is completely aware that I was also given her credit card AND a PIN number to successfully activate and use that credit card. And lastly, I want confirmation that the other account holder DOES NOT have any more access to any of my personal information in any capacity. 
I genuinely hope, for the sake of all US Bank customers, that you implement some sort of additional coding into your software that prevents such rookie mistakes from happening to them. I will be filing this letter with the Office of the President, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, and with my State Attorney General. I hope all US Bank staff can do better in the future. 
Sincerely, A very upset and disappointed, FORMER customer P.S. Here is another example of the incompetence of US Bank software/employees ; PLEASE NOTE THE DATES OF THE CLOSED ACCOUNT AND THE DATES WHEN THE TWO NEW PIN NUMBERS WERE ISSUED. My account was " closed '' on XX/XX/XXXX, and the PIN numbers were sent on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. That should have been more than enough time, given the number of business days that had passed, for my account to show closed and to avoid the card and PIN numbers from ever being sent.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation