Consumer complaint received 2023-07-22
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Other banking product or service
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low
Sub-issue: Non-sufficient funds and associated fees

Complaint:
On the evening of XX/XX/23, my phone was stolen. My phone was protected with a passcode as well as XXXX, but before I even realized the phone was missing or had a chance to deactivate it, whoever stole it was somehow able to unlock it. They were also able to get into my USAA banking app. It appears that they attempted this multiple times, but because they had access to my email ( through my email phone app ), they were eventually able to access the app. They then proceeded to make several transactions from my checking account. There were several {$1000.00} transactions via XXXX from my checking account to an account with the name XXXX XXXX, which I was unfamiliar with, and assume belonged to the person that stole my phone. Two transactions went through, even though USAA policy states that only {$1000.00} should be able to be transferred within a 24 hour period. They continued to try to make XXXX transfers, as there are two additional cancelled transfers on my checking statement. I assume when this failed, they tried a different method, which was XXXX XXXX, and they were able to transfer {$2800.00} out of my account with this method. After this, a total of {$4800.00} were missing, and my account had only {$53.00} left. 

As soon as I realized this had happened, I contacted USAA and submitted a fraud report explaining the details of what happened. I was told that I would be contacted within the next two business days and was reassured that I would probably have my funds replaced. 
I continued to contact USAA for the next several days in a row about the status of my fraud claim, but no one was able to give me a real update, only that the investigation was ongoing, and someone should be contacting me soon. This continued for over a week. 

Finally on XX/XX/23, I received a message to my inbox on my USAA account that my fraud claim had been denied and I was found liable for all the missing funds. I immediately called and asked why the claim was denied, and was not given a straight answer immediately, but after talking to several different people, the reason I was given was that if I had Face ID and a passcode enabled, there was no way anyone else could have accessed my phone or my USAA app. But this was exactly what happened. In addition, I discovered that the fraud claim that was opened was only for the two {$1000.00} XXXX transactions, and not the {$2800.00} XXXX XXXX transaction. So I immediately requested an appeal for the initial fraud claim, and opened a fraud claim for the {$2800.00} transaction. In the mean time, I have had to borrow money from my parents just to cover rent. 
I continued to try to contact USAA for updates daily, without success in obtaining an update. On XX/XX/23, I was notified that a " temporary '' {$2800.00} credit was being applied to my account while the XXXX XXXX transaction was being investigated. I continued to try to get in contact with USAA. I was able to get in touch with someone in the XXXX XXXX department, who seemed like they would be helpful, but after multiple attempts to try to contact this person directly, I was also unsuccessful. 

It was not until XX/XX/23 that I was sent another notification to my USAA inbox that my fraud claims were denied again, for the same reason, and the temporary {$2800.00} credit would be removed. During this time I had lost faith in USAA and had therefore moved all remaining funds to a XXXX bank Account, so the {$2800.00} debit resulted in my checking account being overdrafted. I then began receiving daily calls requesting that I make a transfer to resolve the overdraft. During these calls I attempted to explain my situation, but this did not seem to have any effect. I was able to transfer money back into the account on XX/XX/23 to return the checking account to XXXX, as I was becoming frustrated with the frequent calls, and feeling helpless to resolve the situation. 

During this whole process I felt that USAA 's communication was very lacking, and I feel outright lied to, when I am told that someone would be in contact within XXXX days, and then I do not hear anything for over a week. And when I do hear something, it is an inbox notification, not an actual person that I can speak to. In addition, I believe that USAA 's own policy was violated with the two {$1000.00} XXXX transactions within XXXX hours. Their explanation was that one transaction occurred just before midnight on XX/XX/23, and the second occurred just after midnight on XX/XX/23, therefore they occurred on two separate days, and the policy does not apply. That does not make sense to me. In addition, I was never able to actually speak to anyone from the fraud department, and I do not understand how they did not find the multiple attempts to access my USAA account, followed by the multiple transactions, suspicious. I do not feel that I should be held liable for these, and it has affected my ability to pay my rent and bills.

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