Consumer complaint received 2023-08-18
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: MD
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Can't stop withdrawals from your account

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX issued an order against Bank XXXX XXXX, XXXX, which is a national bank headquartered in XXXX, North Carolina with branches and ATMs located in XXXX states and the District of Columbia. When a consumer writes a check or authorizes an XXXX transaction to a merchant or other payee using their deposit account at Bank of America, the merchant or other payee may then present that check or ACH authorization to the bank for payment. Until XX/XX/XXXX, if a consumer did not have sufficient funds in their account to pay for the transaction and the bank decided not to pay it, XXXX  XXXX XXXX assessed the consumer a {$35.00} non-sufficient funds fee. Merchants commonly re-present these returned transactionsthat is, they again try to receive paymentoften multiple times. For many years, XXXX  XXXX XXXX assessed non-sufficient fund fees on ACH and check transactions that it returned unpaid even though it had already assessed a {$35.00} fee for the same ACH or check transaction that it had previously returned unpaid ( i.e., repeat non-sufficient fund fees ). XXXX  XXXX XXXX would assess these repeat non-sufficient fund fees potentially as soon as the next day after the initial transaction. From XX/XX/XXXX until XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX  XXXX XXXX generated hundreds of millions of dollars in such fees. The Bureau found that XXXX  XXXX XXXX assessment of repeat non-sufficient fund fees was unfair in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of XXXX. The XXXX order requires XXXX  XXXX XXXX to refund all repeat non-sufficient fund fees that it collected since XX/XX/XXXX and has not yet refunded, totaling approximately {$80.00} XXXX in redress. The bank must also pay a {$60.00} XXXX civil penalty to the XXXX. The XXXX of the Comptroller of the Currency ( XXXX ) concurrently issued an order against the Bank separately fining it {$60.00} XXXX. 

USAA Federal Savings Bank does the same thing with assessing non-sufficient fund fees on XXXX or check transactions that it returned unpaid even though it had already assessed a {$29.00} fee for the same ACH or check transaction that it had previously returned unpaid. I have been a member for approximately 25 years and this has always occurred. At times, I called and asked that they refund the fees per the second transaction and, at times, they did. However, this is and was an ongoing issue with USAA Federal Savings Bank and just like with Bank XXXX XXXX, this needs to cease. I have complained before because I believed that money was taken from my account, fraudulently, over the years. However, USAA never goes back over 1 year to investigate and then in XXXX of XXXX, USAA is fined {$140.00} XXXX for bad money laundering controls. Regulators say the bank, which mainly serves XXXX military members, failed to keep track of its customers suspicious activities despite repeated warnings that it needed to improve.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation