Consumer complaint received 2021-01-14
Company: M&T BANK CORPORATION
State: MD
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Personal line of credit
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect

Complaint:
At the end of XX/XX/XXXX, I attempted to make a payment on a personal loan I had with M & T Bank, only to find out the loan had been paid off without my knowledge. I suspected it was a mistake and called to find out what happened only to be told by my loan officer, XXXX, that he couldn't tell me where the funds came from and that I should " not worry about it, since it's paid off. '' The loan was closed and an additional {$3500.00} was sent to me via check. I deposited that money into my savings account and sat on it, strongly suspecting it wasn't mine but not knowing to whom it actually belonged. I also received a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, informing me that the loan had been paid off and closed. 

It turns out, a car dealership from whom I purchased a vehicle in early XXXX sent a payoff amount for my trade-in to the wrong bank. ( In order to facilitate the sale of the vehicle, the dealership actually issued a second payment to the correct bank. ) The dealership had been attempting to recover the funds mistakenly sent to M & T Bank beginning less than 48 hours after the mistake had been made. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a phone call from M & T Bank informing me that there had been a mistake and that they had taken out ( WITHOUT my authorization or signature ) a new loan in my name back-dated to XX/XX/XXXX and were taking ( again, without needing my signature or other authorization ) the amount of {$3500.00} from my savings account to rectify the mistake. 

Meanwhile, the dealership had been trying to get its money back unsuccessfully until the funds were returned to them on XX/XX/XXXX. So that means that, during all this time, M & T Bank had possession of the funds. 

My complaint against M & T Bank is this : they have issued a new loan in my name with backdated interest to XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$110.00}. It can not be stressed enough - this is interest on money that was in their possession during this period of time. The dealership had not been reimbursed, and I did not have an open account from XXXX until XXXX. 

The remaining balance of the loan at the time the mistake was made was {$4000.00}. The loan reopened in my name was either reopened without my knowledge in XX/XX/XXXX or backdated to accrue interest from XX/XX/XXXX and was reopened in the amount of {$4100.00}. 

I have spoken to several members of M & T Bank, from the branch manager to the corporation 's customer service line. I have told them that the loan should have been reopened in the amount of {$4000.00}. All of them told me " tough luck '' and refuse to change the amount. 

It should be noted that, given the fact that my " new '' loan number is the same as my " old '' loan number, it would appear that M & T Bank has actually attempted to erase the mistake from its accounting records altogether.

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 monetary relief