Consumer complaint received 2023-06-19
Company: Albert Corporation
State: TN
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Can't close your account

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I attempted to begin the process of closing my savings account, as well as a small investment account that I currently have through the online finance app called Albert. Though that process did not need to be time sensitive, the amount of roadblocks I have encountered in simply beginning has been, I think, beyond what any regulation would consider reasonable in regards to consumer-accessible closing and managing of financial products and accounts. 

Firstly, my savings account seems to be permanently locked into the savings buckets it had been split up in. So, if my entire balance is {$7000.00} and I wish to withdraw that money, but when originally deposited, I split it into three different savings goals, I would have to request processing of three separate transactions to withdraw that total. There seems to be no option for consolidation of those savings goals within that saving account that is made available through the app. 

Next, I seem to be completely unable to withdraw these funds to my preferred account at my main financial institution. In this case, XXXX XXXX XXXX Though my entire XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX account, and its associated products seem to be linked to Albert and accessible to withdraw from, the app will not allow me to move my funds to my savings account with XXXX XXXX XXXX. The explanation for this is that only one of my accounts from XXXX XXXX XXXX can be linked to the Albert savings product at any one time. When I opened this account, it was with my XXXX Checking account. However, there seems to be no way whatsoever to switch which account is linked to the Albert savings account. The only option immediately available seems to be deleting the currently linked account and then having the app automatically default to what accounts you might have remaining connected to it. The issue here is that I, like I must imagine many other Americans, mainly utilize only one financial institution. So, I can not delete my XXXX  checking account from Albert because you can only delete entire institutions ( not individual accounts ) and it wont let you delete a linked account unless there is another available. Unfortunately, my only other financial institution is Albert. 

Why is it unfortunate that Albert is my only other financial institution? Thats because the only way to reach a real person at Albert ( unless you are paying for their genius service ) is an email to customer support taking who knows how many days for a response. Luckily, I have been paying for their genius service ever since I signed up with Albert years ago. However, though I have been texting their genius service for the past few hours, it is clear that there isnt an actual person responding to my messages, or there is a gaggle of people responding, and each of them is only given one of my messages at a time. At no point in this entire conversation has previous information been integrated into the solutions being offered to me. It appears as though I am getting simply a computer generated summary of the frequently asked questions page on their website. I even received a link to one of their policies ( completely unrelated to the problem Im having ) in a text that seems to be fraudulent, sending my browser through multiple ad or data tracking websites before jettisoning me back to the Albert app to no screen in particular, showing no policy at all. At this point, I am not only worried that my entire account has been compromised by some sort of in-house security breach operation, but I am also still completely without any recourse in solving my problem and removing my funds from Albert. 

My only options seem to be either simply withdrawing this money to my XXXX XXXX  XXXX checking account, a thing I do not want to do and as a consumer do not feel like I should be forced to do, or to open up a new account with Albert, utilizing their Albert Cash financial service. Not only does this feel coercive, it is most certainly an undue burden to the consumer that, at least in how it feels, appears to be some sort of trick designed to squeeze more money from me on my way out the door. Even if it wasnt or isnt either of those things, it is incredibly wasteful. For the only way I can open an Albert Cash account involves having an actual physical, I assume plastic, debit card mailed to my address. I rest easier knowing that some American governmental agencies are involved in my financial dealings, but I do not feel that it is necessary to bring the United States Postal Service into this process for no reason at all. I prefer not to go so far out of my way to acquire products that are destined only for a pair of scissors and my trashcan. 

Though I have attempted to be thorough in my cataloging of this horrendous process and its many failures, as you can see already it has been a failure on such a broad battlefield that it is still possible I have failed to mention one element or another. However, I believe this adequately summarizes the bulk of how this all went wrong, and should give some constructive options for Albert to rectify their many unforced errors. I also wouldnt be surprised, as I gestured at earlier, if there is some regulation requiring financial institutions to not make their products impossible for consumers to close which is being disregarded in how Albert has chosen to design their business. 

At the very least, I require that my funds be moved in a timely fashion and I would make the case that I am due a refund of at least some of the years of the Albert genius service that I paid for. If not on the basis of poor quality alone, I truly believe it has been fraudulently advertised by the company which feels like something that should be against the law, especially when it comes to financial products.

Company public response: Company believes the complaint provided an opportunity to answer consumer's questions
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation