Consumer complaint received 2022-10-25
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: AL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
I initially contacted 5/3 Bank on XX/XX/2022 to follow up on report that I filed back in XXXX of XXXXwhere I advised the institution that what I thought was a fraudulent charge on my XXXX ending in XXXX. The charge was {$16.00} from XXXX, and appeared to be a monthly charge for a XXXX membership. 

I advised that I did not authorize the charge, and that I pay my XXXX XXXX membership in one lump sum in XXXX or XXXX each year on a completely different card with another card issuer. The representative completed a dispute, and issued me another card. This is a card that I rarely use besides a purchase to XXXX back in XXXX for approximately {$2000.00} and a monthly subscription to XXXX XXXX which is around {$9.00} a month. 

Several months later, I noticed that the charges were still coming through, so I called 5/3 bank back XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX XXXX  XXXX ) and spoke with a representative who advised that she could see that I had done a dispute, but XXXX has the ability to get your new card number from XXXX as a part of MasterCards ability to share your information ( I'm assuming per the 5/3 Bank XXXX agreement ). The representative offered to put in another dispute, but I wanted to avoid that because if XXXX can simply get the new card number, I would be back at square one in XXXX. The representative advised that I should contact XXXX customer service in an attempt to let them know the charge was fraudulent, which I did the same day at XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX. 

The representative I spoke with at XXXX stated that there was a different email address associated with the card ending in XXXX ( which now ended in XXXX after the dispute ). I advised the representative that I wasn't familiar with the email address, but the rep insisted that I must have shared my credit card information with someone I know, and I reiterated that I did not. Since I was not able to " verify '' the email associated with the {$16.00} XXXX XXXX monthly membership, I was advised that he could only refund the charges but could not stop them going forward although I advised that I had no association with that account or email. The rep went on to say he couldn't pull up the information with the potentially fraudulent account because I couldn't verify the email. 

After hitting a wall with XXXX Customer service, I called 5/3 Bank back hoping that there were some options on the table to resolve this issue that another more senior representative would be able to offer ( XX/XX/2022 XXXXXXXX XXXX  ). Unfortunately, the only options I was offered with either doing a " Stop Payment '' with XXXX ( which I was advised that XXXX could potentially decide not to do business with me anymore ), or another dispute, or to call XXXX to ask them to stop sharing my information when a new card is issued, i.e. " opt out '' of information sharing. I thought that calling XXXX would be a reasonable option, so I called them XX/XX/2022 XXXX XXXX Unfortunately, the representative at XXXX forwarded me back to 5/3 Bank 's customer service line. 

Now during this time, I still had full access to my account online to make payments, etc. The XXXX representative ended up forwarded me to 5/3 Bank 's dispute resolutions team who reiterated that the dispute that they were offering to put in may cause me to lose my business relationship with XXXX, but in my opinion it was worth it because I was being charged for a membership that I was not responsible for. I went forward with the dispute and sent an email to " XXXX '' as requested by the representative with details of what transpired and documents to prove that I paid my XXXX XXXX membership on an annual basis, not monthly ( attached ). 

I received a letter from 5/3 Bank dated XX/XX/2022 that essentially advised that my dispute with XXXX had been resolved and I received a credit of {$16.00} on XX/XX/2022 ( attached ). 

Fast forward to XX/XX/2022 and for some reason I'm not able to log into my aforementioned 5/3 credit card account. I call the customer service hotline ( XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX ) to have my account unlocked ( thinking that I entered in my password incorrectly too many time ). The customer service representative I spoke to initially starts asking for extra identifying demographic information, which I thought was odd but I complied. After verifying my information, the representative advised that my account was being reviewed by the fraud team and she needed to transfer me over to that department. After giving the agent that I'm transferred to a few moments to review the account, she comes back on the phone to ask me questions I can't possibly answer without online access to my account ( e.g. month, date, year card was opened, last payment made, and minimum payment due ). I was told that I failed the verification, and was told nothing else about the status of my account. The representative did state that I needed to go into a branch to resolve the issue, but did not offer what I needed to take or address the fact that I live 4-5 hours from the nearest 5/3 Bank branch XXXX I want to add that 5/3 bank has not sent me anything in the mail or via email that advises that there is an issue with my credit card account. The last communication that I have from 5/3 Bank was the letter that advised my dispute was settled. 

I called back into the customer service number about 20 minutes later at XXXXXXXX XXXX  XXXX. Again, the representative forwarded me to the fraud department were I sat on hold for XXXX minutes. I hung up, called back in at XXXX XXXX  XXXX and the next representative was nice enough to tell me that I had been on hold because the fraud department was already closed when I was transferred at XXXXXXXX XXXX 

I decided to wait a couple of weeks before I called back hoping that I would receive some sort of formal documentation or request from 5/3 Bank regarding the status of my account in the mail. At this point, the only thing I know is that the account is in fraud review, and apparently has been for a month when I called back in on the XXXX of XXXX. 

I called the fraud department directly this time ( XX/XX/2022 XXXX XXXX XXXX ). I spoke with a representative named XXXX who put me on hold for about 15 minutes to " review '' my account. After he was finished reviewing the account, he came back on and asked me to once again verify the month, date and year my credit card was opened. Again, this is information that I could only hope to ascertain from online banking. I opened this account about 7-8 years ago, and surely they don't think I still have the original letter. Even if I had the original letter, the letter is going to have a post marked date, not the date an underwriter ( or AI ) actually reviewed and approved the account. Unfortunately, this is the only method I was given to prove my identity when I spoke with XXXX. XXXX advised that he ran this by a Senior Analyst, and this was the only option they could solution for. I pushed back on that response and asked if there were other methods like verification through mail, etc but XXXX then claimed that he couldn't pull up anything on my account since I wasn't able to verify the month, date, and year my card was opened. Of course that doesn't make any sense because XXXX took about 15 or so minutes to " review '' my account when I was initially transferred to him. XXXX then advised me that I could also go into a branch to resolve this issue, so I asked him to tell me where the nearest branch was. After realizing there was no branch for hundreds of miles, XXXX then went on to say that I can try to call a branch to verify myself and resolve this issue because " they may have a different process, '' which XXXX knew was not truthful. XXXX also refused to provide me his employee ID number.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation