Consumer complaint received 2018-05-13
Company: PNC Bank N.A.
State: MO
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX I have a serious complaint against PNC. Please consider my story. 

I am divorcing my wife. At this time it is necessary to get a full pulse on my financial health. I recently visited XXXX XXXX and was shocked : Over the course of our marriage, my wife has opened up dozens of credit cards in my name, without my knowledge. The worst of which - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXS. Please see the attached screenshot I took. My wife secretly opened the card in my name over two years ago, and in that time, PNC also allowed her to run up the balance to nearly {$13000.00}. 

Note that the card was opened on XX/XX/XXXX. Let me be perfectly clear : I have never opened a credit card in my life. After confronting my wife, she admitted to using my personal information, without my knowledge, to open this account. It took PNC some time to direct me to someone for help. 

I first spoke to a fraud agent on XX/XX/XXXX. She was polite and ready to help me any way she could. I was upset, but she was trying to help, and she let me get my story across. I told her I needed the statements from the time my wife opened the account up to today. She immediately obliged and sent an email with an attachment containing the statements and a fraud kit, I think she said. The trouble was, I was unable to open the zipped attachment to see the contents. 

I called PNC again later that day, or early the next day. I eventually got to the fraud department, but was still unsure who I was talking to. I didn't know if I was talking to someone in customer service in general, or the fraud department. I was told that an agent my case. I was unaware a case had even been opened up. Poor communication on the part of PNC. I followed up with the agent several times, but received only a voicemail ; I left several messages, but got no return call. This went on for a few days. Again, I didn't know I had been assigned to the fraud team. I eventually found their number. Instead of hearing from the agent assigned, I was left a message by someone else from the fraud team, and I ended up playing phone tag with her for a few additional days. I had provided my work and my cell number ; however, I was not contacted at work, and at the end of each day, I only had a message from the fraud team. I was not being helped in a swift manner ; at this point I was not being helped at all. 

Long story short, I was left waiting for far too long. I was given no details about my case, and PNC did not make clear the process they had started. As I said, I didn't know I had been assigned someone from fraud until days after I had first called PNC. All the information I had to that point was from XXXX XXXX ; nothing from PNC. I didn't even know the last four digits of the card number. A card that I never opened. As I said, my wife had opened it using my personal information, and she hid the mailed statements from me. This is an absurd situation, and PNC is a part of it. I did not open an online PNC account, nor did I apply for a credit card. And yet here is my name associated with the card. 

So while I'm waiting, the late fee and interest was intact, and I was billed still. This has taken a severe toll on my emotional and financial health. What about PNC 's best practices? Do you even practice ethical, sound business practices? I was violated. Am I to understand that PNC prides themselves on protecting customers? If so, how was I victimized? I'm not even a customer. I didn't open the card, and I am not the card holder. So why is my name on the card, and why is this seriously affecting my credit score? 

I've held a joint checking account at PNC with my wife for at least ten years ; that checking account is now closed. I did so for my own protection, but also because of what PNC did to me. Eventually someone in Retail Escalations spoke with me and hinted that if my wife had been paying using our joint checking account, even if I didn't know about it, the fraud team would probably not rule in my favor. I was so tired of waiting on PNC I just gave in. I even wrote them a letter and thanked them for their honesty ; I wish now I had not. In working with other credit card companies, I've come to understand PNC 's practices and investigations were not the same nor sound, and that in at least one case, XXXX  XXXX, the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX confirmed that the account my wife opened up with them was fraudulent. And yet with PNC, they continue to victimize the victim. 

My divorce lawyer advised me that since my wife admitted to fraudulently opening up the card, with my name associated with it, to not call the police. He advised me to request the statements from when my wife opened up the account over two years ago, up to today ( as I mentioned earlier ), and to contact PNC and pay the monthly amount. He advised me to present him with all of this up until the divorce, in hope that my wife will rightly be responsible for the {$13000.00} balance. In the meantime, I'm doing as instructed, and it is the ethical thing. The right thing. What does PNC plan to do? How do they plan to do right by me? I was victimized, and PNC 's poor practices allowed this. They made it easy. 

So with late fees and interest, the next payment due was {$1500.00}. How was I supposed to pay that when I just found out about the card a few weeks prior? As you may see from the XXXX XXXX data, my wife had been making sporadic payments, and my credit and debt, totally unbeknownst to me, was getting worse. I had to call PNC and make a deal with them to get on a 'hardship ' payment plan. I've never had to do anything like that in my life, and it was humiliating. 

As I mentioned, there are dozens of cards my wife opened over the years, without my knowledge. I am paying XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX, etc. All cards I didn't open, and didn't know about. How am I to protect myself when my wife is hiding the statements from me? How is she allowed to go online and along with PNC, make me a victim?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation