Consumer complaint received 2023-05-22
Company: Chime Financial Inc
State: MI
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem making or receiving payments

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2023 i had used the bank account i currently have on XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX  chime app were i have banked for the last six years under the username XXXX. On that date of XX/XX/XXXX i used the feature in there app which i have used a few times prior, one of those priors is they same person i tried sent money to in this transaction but with the fraudulent account set up it went to an undisclosed account that failed to make it to the correct account were the person could claim it correctly like before in XXXX XXXX as i will explain. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I was approached by my grandmother XXXX XXXX XXXX social ending in XXXX that she needed to borrow a few dollars to help cover her overdrafts at her only approved bank account she has ever opened @ XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, Mi branch. So after deciding what was needed i decided quickest way was using the pay anyone feature in the chime banking app to send money as the funds would be sent per request of text message from my app at the number i provided in my chime banking app. With my XXXX something year old not tech savvy I grabbed her cell to wait for the message confirming the card we would like the money to go onto to in the amount of {$160.00} to her number ( XXXX ) XXXX but message never came so i could receive the message and input her debit card number from her XXXX bank as we did previously in XXXX of XXXX ' for her. so with never receiving the text message on the provided cell number we inputted saying to claim the money on her cell like i have with a few other people in previous months usually within a minute of hitting send on the app they usually come through, so I gave it a few more mins to see if it was just going slow and still nothing come through to the cell phone provided.so at that time i chose to block the transaction on my app '' s end before being accepted by whoever or whatever knowing something wasn't right and st that time showed wasn't accepted yet, knowing something was wrong at this point and boy was i right. so i decided the next correct thing was to call chime customer support to see what happened at there chime support center and got on the phone with a very lovely lady and she explained what had happened as she said give her a few mins and she would be back in a min, and she did just that coming back saying everything looked right and didn't see a problem till i explained that i never received the text receiving message to input my grandmother debit and she showed it was transferred to the person account on chime and accepted it and told her how is that possible when we never inputted that debit card or received the text to finalize the transfer to the XXXX bank account like previously in XX/XX/XXXX ' and she said no worry 's she would look into this after about XXXX mins or so she come to find out the money was sent to another chime account that was previously opened and after speaking to her, and her confirming with my grandmother with her name date of birth and social number someone had indeed opened an fake account in my grandmothers name using all her credentials and cell number except one thing wasn't correct her email on the account account. So after finding out by her explaining if you send money to a person through pay anyone appeature and there is a known chime account tied to that cell number number it doesn't go to there cell phone for text acceptance and finalization but straight deposited to that account with chime but knowing this account shouldn't of been open in my grandmothers name and not were we wanted the fund transferred knowing it wasn't her account, she opened a complaint stating fraud as the primary reason to reverse the transaction and be investigated how it was opened with the info myself and my grandmother ( XXXX XXXX XXXX gave them including her right email of XXXX that should of been on the account to confirm the email if she did open it as google confirmed there was no such email like was on the fake account or has ever has existed on the service so that threw up another red flag for rep and had it escalated the review as time could be of virtue n this situation knowing of the email XXXX the customer service rep found to be on fraudulent on the account was a fake email which is different from the actual owners email we provided that was correct as everything was different then the transaction we had previously sent money to with same phone number and person. so after everything taken into consideration she noted all that info would be noted and told me 4-7 days the account of my grandmothers would be closed and money returned as it was opened fraudulently and should not be opened as requested to be closed as she could clearly see that the account which was opened illegally was clearly not the persons account i attended it to go to and confirmation from both party it wasn't right.. But that was not the case for us after 4 reopened cases and one with XXXX and speaking to the FDIC oand a complaint to there main overseeingoffice that oversees the bank called XXXX bank they didn't see nothing wrong here. so with my grandmother calling Friday to confirm the account which was illegally opened in her name was closed as of Friday XXXX XXXXshe asked them about my {$160.00} in funds that was supposed to be under investigation to be sent back as that wasn't her account and told that the representative i don't know were the funds went as i never received them back yet and service rep said she could not speak to that transaction as the account was closed previously in the last 45 days and no viewable balance as it was closed so she can see no details. so now with her fake account gone and closed my money no were in sight or re deposited in my grandmother XXXX account or back into my chime account and two months gone by of trying to negotiate the return of my money i have talked to chime over a dozen times and the same thing keeps happening they tell me to open a complaint and say they will send me an email to fill out more papers if needed and never get it and will be sent to the back office to review jut to rinse and repeat and just get to another call were another complaint is filed to go around and around with the call center getting no where and no closer to the money or answer of why it happened that my grandmother never got her money that neither i or herself has ever received like we should have originally. when i use a service and send it to a designated number it shouldn't go to an account they decide on unless distinguished by the customer previously in the transaction as that is not a good way to conduct business as it has cost me 50+ hours of headaches and confusion and disappointment. i am to the point now of almost seeking legal action for all the time and stress this has caused me not including the continued overdrafts this fund was supposed to cover so lost an additional {$90.00} due to this error and having to borrow her an additional {$160.00} to cover the original overdraft fees Please help and can reach me at ( XXXX ) XXXX and would love to explain more if needed as apprently they cant grasp someone openmed an account illegally in my grandmothers name and she didnt recieve the money that there system automatically sent to a fake account that was setup in her name with her credentials but fake email Thanks, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief