Consumer complaint received 2020-06-09
Company: BANK OF THE WEST
State: WA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Can't close your account

Complaint:
XX/XX/2020 XXXX XXXX sent me a letter indicating I had been declined my request for a Deposit Account. I did not apply for a Deposit Account at XXXX XXXX. I do have a mortgage account at XXXX XXXX. I pay the mortgage every month on the XXXX or the day before to post on the XXXX. I subsequently, not soon enough, contacted XXXX XXXX and reported that I did not open the Deposit Account. I reported it to XXXX XXXX as Fraudulent. 

XX/XX/2020 XXXX XXXX sent me a letter thanking me for contacting the online fraud department. I have never received anything from Bank of the West to indicate they are taking my report to them of fraud seriously. No letters. Nothing. 

Note : During this time I should have frozen my credit and put out a fraud alert. I did not until do that until XX/XX/2020. 

XX/XX/2020 Bank of the West sent me a notification indicating I had opened a new Bank of the West account online on XXXX. Apparently at XXXX XXXX the fraud account did not have all of the correct information. On XXXX at Bank of the West they either had ALL of my correct information or Bank of the West does not check close enough. Either way the Identity Theft individual does have my drivers license, ssn, address, name correctly, everything they need to open accounts. 

XX/XX/2020 Bank of the West sent another piece of letter mail indicating Debit Card Overdraft protection had been declined XX/XX/2020 Bank of the West - I contacted the Fraud Online department. I spoke to XXXX at approximately XXXX about the fraudulent account. He indicated they account would be flagged. I asked, would it be closed? He also indicated at that time no checks were issued, debit cards or credit cards. 

XX/XX/2020 Put Fraud Alert and Froze accounts with all three reporting agencies. Incidentally BOW uses XXXX. More about that later. 

XX/XX/2020 Bank of the West - I called them back to verify that the account was actually flagged  blocked  closed?? XXXX at BOW at XXXX indicated the account was blocked. 

Note : XXXX XXXX or XXXX informed me that any future calls they would not be able to talk to me on the phone because of this action. I think it was XXXX. 

XX/XX/2020 I called Bank of the West back. Not content with response of XXXX. This is where it gets interesting. Big question WHY XXXX, WASHINGTON. I spoke to another person, a female ... .really nice lady. She listened to me. Sounded like she did not see what I thought had been done. She was also very vague. But she said this ... .she gave me the address and phone number of the XXXX XXXX Washington XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX , WA XXXX and to CALL THEM. I asked what business am I calling. She says ... .you need to call them ... .that 's it. 

XX/XX/2020 I called Bank of the West in XXXX, Washington and was connected to an XXXX ( XXXX? ). I asked him why was I led to your bank? He asked if he could call me back after he investigated the account. He confirmed what we knew it was an online fraud account. He said he and another friend opens all new accounts at that bank branch. Why that branch? What's up with these two fellas? That was the last I spoke to XXXX. He assured me the account was dead. I am still receiving mail from Bank of the West even after the fraudulent account was reported and said to be dead  closed flagged. 

XX/XX/2020 Bank of West sends me another letter ... .Welcome to Bank of the West. Thank you for opening an account with us. This letter sent way after the account was reported FRAUDULENT. Why did I even receive this letter?? XXXX!! 

XX/XX/2020 Bank of the West - Honestly I am not sure of this date but the event is this ... .I visited the local XXXX , Oregon XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX . I  met with XXXX XXXX. I told him the whole story. He again assured me the account was blocked. 

XX/XX/2020 Bank of the West - I received a letter in the mail from the bank indicating my application for a Credit Card has been denied due to unable to get information from credit reporting agency. This clearly tells me if I had not FROZEN my credit they would have granted a Credit Card. What I want to know is ... ..what is the mailing address on file? It has to be different from my real mailing address. Are they telling me everything they know? Why was this letter even produced and sent to me? The account has been reported Fraudulent. That should be a giant RED FLAG ... ..do you think!! 

Today, XX/XX/2020 I do not believe Bank of the West takes FRAUD Accounts seriously. I have no confidence that the account is closed. Otherwise why am I still receiving correspondence after being told the account is closed. I am filing this complaint with you in hopes I can get a letter from Bank of the West recognizing this is a Fraudulent Account and that I have never opened or had an account with them ... ever. 

Here is what I believe is the problem with Bank of the West. When you begin the online process they should ask for you information. You SSN number is a piece of it. At that exact moment their ONLINE PROGRAMMERS should check to see if that SSN is in their system and FLAGGED as FRAUD. They should pop up a screen at that moment to the person entering the information ... ..Account is Reported Fraudulent. Please call the office. That would stop anyone from getting into the system period. Also, their IP address would be tagged, tracking directly to the perpetrator would be possible. I know this for fact. Bank of the West has this perps Browser type, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, time of day, date and for the most part location. Why can't I have this information?? I want it. I want to go after this person.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation