Consumer complaint received 2023-11-11
Company: PNC Bank N.A.
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Can't close your account

Complaint:
We are a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  who have been in business for over 40 years. We have a very high annual revenue compared to our working capital, which means that money moves in and out of our account very quickly. PNC has withheld over XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX of our company 's money for over a month and refused to let us withdraw even a cent. PNC has done this without providing any reasonable justification. PNC is withholding our operating capital, which is vitally important for business operations. 

PNC is effectively stealing countless XXXX XXXX XXXX in interest and opportunity costs. They have not agreed to pay us interest on the money. 

Our first deposit with PNC on was on XX/XX/23. We made roughly XXXX large deposits from XX/XX/23 to XX/XX/23. We would transfer the money out of the account in batches to our main account to purchase additional XXXX  and XXXX  bullion. 

On XX/XX/23 we began experiencing several returned checks. On XX/XX/23 we had XXXX checks return with return code " XXXX  ''. This is very uncharacteristic of our business and our customers. After following up with our customers, they informed us that the funds were available in their respective accounts, but the checks were returned anyway. 

After the items were returned, PNC placed a hold on our account. We made a call to customer service and PNC agreed to remove the hold. We explained that the account had never gone negative despite the return items and that we had left a large safety buffer in the account specifically to protect against returned checks, as we had previously experienced approximately XXXX returned check every month or so in previous accounts ( this is a very low frequency considering the volume we do ). 

Over the next month we continued making deposits of similar volume, and checks continued to be returned with the XXXX  code despite our customers promising the funds were available in their accounts. After a serious discussion with our banking contact, he informed us that the likely reason for the returns was that our customers were endorsing the checks to an abbreviated name for our company rather than the full company name. We have had customers write checks out to the abbreviated name for the past XXXX XXXX with other banks because it helps avoid mistakes with customers who do not speak XXXX as a first language. We did not expect this to cause problems at PNC. We ultimately decided that we would ask our customers to endorse their checks to our full and unabbreviated company name. 

We had XXXX more returned item after implementing this policy from a batch deposit made on XX/XX/23. After the item was returned, PNC placed another hold on our account, which at this point contained oveXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX. About a week later, PNC informed us that they would be ending the business relationship with us and that we were free to withdraw the funds. At the recommendation of the back office and the branch manager, we agreed to withdraw our funds via cashier 's check and part amicably. On the final approval step for the cashier 's check, the back office informed the teller that our cashier 's check was denied. Later that XXXX, a second hold was placed on the account. It is now over a month since our last deposit on XX/XX/23 and we still do not have access to over hXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in funds. PNC will not give us a valid reason to hold the funds. They have stated that it is due to the returned items, but the account has had not activity for over a month so there is no chance for any more returned items. 

This is our operating capital, which is vitally important for our business operations. 

PNC is effectively stealing countless XXXX XXXX XXXX in interest and opportunity costs. They have not agreed to pay us interest on the money and have provided no date when we will have access to our money.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief