Consumer complaint received 2022-11-02
Company: REGIONS FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: FL
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Personal line of credit
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect

Complaint:
I called Regions customer service because they locked my account for an unknown reason on XX/XX/2022. They unlocked my account and proceeded to extend an offer for a personal loan in the amount of {$6000.00} that would not cost anything the first year. The person offering the loan told me on the recorded line repeatedly that this does not cost anything unless I use the loan and do not make a payment on time. I explained I did not need a loan and he assured me that this was of no cost to me and would just be there for a back up. I agreed, and he then told me he needed to attach it to my checking. I asked if I could not have it attached to my checking because I did not want this money mixed with my checking account that I use for spending. I told him since, like he said, this would just be a backup and I have no intention of even using, I rather it be attached to savings if it must be attached. He said I could move the money wherever I choose with no problem. After agreeing to this, I check my account and everything looks just as described. Days later, I started receiving unknown calls coming through as scam-likely multiple times a day with some including voicemails saying they are with Regions to collect a debt and would give a different number from which they called to return their call. I called Regions customer service directly, on XX/XX/2022 at XXXX and spoke with a representative on a recorded line to check my account, explaining I was receiving multiple calls daily for over a month from people saying they are with Regions. They assured me everything was good with my checking and savings account, as well as the loan. I specifically told the representative it was shortly after agreed to this loan that I started receiving calls, and gave them one of the numbers I was receiving calls from. She told me it was likely scam and advised me to not answer these calls, as well as assured again that my account was good. XX/XX/2022 I went to my Regions app, and checked my accounts. I, for the first time clicked on the {$6000.00} loan which showed up on the app as still {$6000.00} that I never used. When I clicked on it, I saw all of these interest and late fee charges. I went to my bank and they explained to me that when the person who offered the loan attached it to my checking account, it charged me an interest charge of {$6.00}. Since the person who offered me this loan on the recorded line assured me multiple times this would not cost anything if I do not use and he himself attached this to my account assuring it did not matter where I move this money as long as I do not use or miss a payment. So, I was charged {$6.00} interest I believe, when he attached this to my account after being told there would be no charge for this on the recorded line many times. As this account continuously showed up as {$6000.00} and I never used, I had no idea I was being charged and that the scam calls saying they were from Regions were in fact from Regions. I was lied to by the person who gave me this loan, and lied to again by Regions customer service stating that there was no issue with any of my accounts and to ignore these calls. For months, I was unknowingly charged interest and late fees on this loan I never used. My banker at Regions said that he would work on fixing this for me, and I had him give the XXXX loan back from my account. The rest of the charges were from the initial {$6.00} interest charged I should not have been charged because I did not attach this to my checking and assured that I could move the money from checking to savings with no problem or charge. Regions said they were working on resolving this but in the meantime I am still seeing interest and late fees on the loan account from them so I made another appointment with my bank. The second time, they were able to get some of the charges taken off but not all and explained there was nothing more they could do. I would have to call Regions loan department to sort this out from here. I called the loan department several times this past month, and spoke with several supervisors, assuring me they all had filed a complaint and this matter was being investigated, they filed a credit dispute as well as the last supervisor assuring me she filed a credit dispute for this to be reversed on my credit on XX/XX/2022. It is now XX/XX/2022 and I have received no call back or resolution on this matter that has greatly taken a toll on my credit score, because of their mistakes.

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 monetary relief