Consumer complaint received 2023-12-08
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: FL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem accessing account

Complaint:
I initially opened an account with First Virginia Bank in XX/XX/XXXX. First Virginia Bank was subsequently acquired by BB & T ( a North Carolina Bank ). Truist was involved in a merger ( which included BB & T and Sun Trust Banks towards the end of 2019 ). Just about XXXX years later Truist started integrating systems and were obviously clueless. I moved from Virginia to Florida at the end of XXXX. My accounts while living in Virginia was in a trust for over a decade. BB & T was promptly notified of my Florida change of residence and the accounts continued in the name of the trust. My Florida home telephone number and Florida address were listed on the online profile settings for the past decade. 

First I went online and my accounts were gone. When I called Truist customer service telephone to get an explanation, I received all sorts of erratic answers and was finally told after a considerable time had passed and being on hold a significant portion of it that my accounts were suspended. I asked why and they said they couldn't tell me and said I needed to go local branch office. There were a bunch of people there with the same issue. I was told they made an error with all accoints in the name of a trust were erroneously removed. About a week and a half later, I received a voicemail that it was all resolved. It was not resolved. Only one of my accounts was restored online ( while not small in amount was the smaller of the accounts they restored ). So I had to again reach out to the branch manageXXXX. 

Then there was a problem getting online access. I use a home telephone number, not a mobile phone. I spent a considerable amount of time as they kept trying to send a signal to the home phone when I told them over and over they needed to make a call and leave a message and I will get a record of the voicemail attached to an email sent to me via the home phone provider. 

Finally I stopped getting paper statements ( even though my preference listed online was to receive statements in such a manner ). I finally reached customer service ( they are terrible as far as speaking English or understanding simple clear concepts such as one needs to call a home phone vs. text or send a signal to it ) on XX/XX/XXXX. They asked for my home address, which has not changed in a decade and said it doesn't match their records. My profile on their online site clearly had the same Florida address and home telephone number I had for about a decade. I had asked why I had not received paper copies of my statements for about the past year. While they had me on hold I downloaded my XX/XX/XXXX statement ( from their online site ) and someone in systems changed in back to the Virginia address I had not used in about a decade. I asked them why they changed it and why they are sending my personal financial information to an old address where it is vulnerable to be placed in the wrong hands, either on purpose or by accident. They refused to give me an answer and kept insisting I needed a code which they would text to my home phone. I explained they can leave me a voicemail ( since they had a record of it ) and I could playback the code from the email I would get frome the voice message and they told me to go to the local branch. I told them I'd go there and close-out the account ( which I did ). 

I went to the local branch and received a BS explanation that the old Virginia address was used as Truist created a personal vs. a trust difference. The account was in a trust ( vs. personal name ) in Virginia for about a bit more than a decade before I moved so that holds no water

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