Consumer complaint received 2023-01-14
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: WA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX my daughter deposited a check for {$5300.00} that was the return of a security deposit from an apartment in LA that my daughter had used while in school there. 

Since I had paid both the deposit and the rent on that apartment, we transferred that money from her USAA savings account to my USAA checking account. Both I and my ex-husband were co-signatories on that account, since we opened it when my daughter was a minor. ( She's now XXXX. ) On XX/XX/XXXX, I changed my phone number from a XXXX XXXX number to a XXXX number, since I have moved to XXXX following a legal separation from my husband. On the way home from work that evening, I stopped to buy some cat litter, and the transaction was denied. I thought there were thousands in my checking, so I was puzzled and I called USAA. 

The USAA agent told me that both my daughter 's and my USAA accountsthree checking and three savings accountshad been frozen. The landlord had stopped payment on the refund check. 

USAA told me the check was fraudulent, and that USAA was going to stop doing business with me, and that all the accounts, with a total of about {$11000.00} in them were being frozen. 

I freaked out. XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I had about {$20.00} in cash in my wallet. I had no way to pay for groceries or medical co-pays. 

I asked why they had not called me. They said that they had tried that afternoon, but that the number was disconnected. They must have called just after I changed my number. I went round and round with the agent, but she just kept saying the check was fraudulent and the because I had fallen for a XXXX scam in XXXX ( losing about {$1000.00}, which was eventually recovered ), that I was too high a risk and they didn't want to do business with me. I said, so, because I am a victim of these things, a scam and a stop payment on a check, you're punishing me? You're blocking all access to my money during a health crisis and the holiday season? 

Their answer was, basically, yes, that's what we're doing. 

The next day, I called the landlord in LA, XXXX XXXX, which operates a building on XXXX, The XXXX, where my daughter had lived. I talked to the XXXXXXXX XXXX property manager. She was horrified. She said that the check had been for the wrong amount, and that she had instructed XXXX 's accounting department not to stop payment, but to call me to work it out. She called USAA to tell them this. 

Meanwhile, USAA locked me out of their mobile app, and out of their website. They did the same to my daughter and to my ex-husband. Both my daughter and my ex-husband called multiple times, as did I. I asked for a review of this decision, which they said would take 5 business days. 

Meanwhile, my paycheck for the second half of XXXX was direct deposited into an account I could not access. My daughter 's XXXX paycheck was also direct deposited into an account that she could not access. 

After the review, USAA told me that their decision stood, that they would freeze all my accounts for 60 days, then send me a check for whatever was left. They would no longer do business with me, though I could keep my insurance accounts with them. As if. 

Because I can not access my accounts in any way, I have no detailed idea of what USAA 's accounting is. 

They say that my daughter 's savings is {$5200.00} overdrawn, because most of the money was transferred to my checking account. They insist that we must pay back that {$5200.00}. 

But I don't have that money, because the landlord stopped payment on that check. Of that {$5200.00} from that check, I am guessing I spent perhaps {$1800.00}. I am happy to pay that back. But I don't see how I'm supposed to pay back {$5200.00} that I never received because of the stop payment. They are sending nasty-grams to both me and my daughter every few days. I don't have {$5200.00}, or even the {$1800.00} that I spent, because USAA has most of my money locked up. I have had to borrow money from friends just to get by. 

I am at a loss as to why I was presumed guilty. Why didn't they call to ask for an explanation? If they couldn't reach me because of the phone number change, why didn't they send an email? All I did was cash a check that I was expecting, from a business account, from the landlord of a building where my daughter had lived. They stopped payment on that, but that doesn't make me a criminal. 

USAA treated me with an utter lack of compassion and complete disrespect, even after both the landlord, my ex-husband and my daughter contacted them repeatedly to explain the situation. All I can guess is that I somehow tripped some sort of algorithm that USAA has, but I have no idea because they will not explain their decision to me, other than to say, " That check was fraudulent. '' It was not fraudulent. The landlord simply made a mistake and sent a check for the wrong amount. Because I was under incredible stress because of the XXXX, I didn't really register that.

Company public response: Company believes complaint represents an opportunity for improvement to better serve consumers
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation