Consumer complaint received 2022-05-06
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: MD
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Summary : USAA violated Regulation E 1005.11 ( c ) ( 1 ) by failing to open a timely investigation at the time I reported XXXX fraud associated with my USAA checking account and telling me that I needed to file a police report for it to pursue anything. Because of its failure under Regulation E, USAA harmed me by foreclosing any opportunity to try to recover my funds and potentially harmed others by missing the opportunity to prevent a bad actor from scamming further victims via use of USAAs payment systems and XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX platform. I would consider the matter resolved by USAA refunding the {$1500.00} I suffered in economic damages as the result of the fraud. 

Details : I was cheated out of {$1500.00} via XXXX by a scammer via two transactions that occurred on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, processed out of my USAA checking account. I called USAA on XX/XX/XXXX ( I have the phone records showing 3 calls between myself and USAA about the matter on that date ) to report the fraud and request USAA 's aid in recovering the funds. The USAA agent I spoke with said the Bank could do " nothing '' about it because I had agreed to send the vendor the money ( it is accurate that, on false premises, I agreed to send the vendor the funds ). But, while I agree that this may not have ultimately have qualified as an " unauthorized '' under Regulation E, the issue is that USAA violated Regulation E by failing to open a timely Regulation E investigation at the time I reported it and falsely claimed a police report was necessary for them to pursue. This harmed me because it foreclosed any possibility at all of recovering funds and it failed to protect other consumers against this scammer. 

At the time, I didn't know that USAA 's actions were Regulation E violations, but when I learned more about Regulation E, I called USAA back in the XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX timeframe to insist that it open an investigation. The representative I spoke with in XX/XX/XXXX explained that USAA could not find a record of any investigation having been opened in the XX/XX/XXXX timeframe. This was consistent with the representative I spoke with in XXXX having told me that there was nothing USAA could do, but, as the representative in XX/XX/XXXX told me, what I was told in XX/XX/XXXX was improper per USAAs standard procedure ( and was, furthermore, a violation of EFTA/Regulation E requirements ). 

When USAA finally did open an investigation in XX/XX/XXXX ( which was not timely under Regulation E ), I received a letter from USAA on XX/XX/XXXX telling me that it was denying the claim and " In the future, please notify us as soon as it appears on your statement so that we can assist you. '' It was frustrating to be incorrectly told by USAA that I had not reported the fraud timely when I had reported it the day after it occurred. I spoke a representative ( XXXX XXXX XXXX (? ) -- I am unsure of the spelling ) on XX/XX/XXXX within USAA 's CEO 's office who agreed that what the initial representative in XX/XX/XXXX told me about not opening an investigation was wrong, but she said it wouldn't matter because my claim was not for an unauthorized transaction. I told her that, regardless of an investigation outcome, USAA violated Regulation E by failing to open a timely investigation as it is required to do. She told me she would do additional research and that I would hear back from her shortly. I have since contacted USAA 3 times and have heard nothing back.

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