Consumer complaint received 2023-10-13
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: CO
Product: Credit card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX  a charge for {$2600.00} appeared on my USAA credit card from " XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX ''. I did not recognize the charge and reported it immediately as fraudulent. I also had large fraudulent charges ( several XXXX dollars each ) hit two other credit cards ( XXXX and XXXX XXXX ) and reported those to the respective companies as well. The charges to all accounts were from the same vendor - " XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ''. All three companies ( including USAA ) opened fraud cases, canceled my cards and issued new ones, and ultimately credited the fraudulent charges back to my accounts. I also had a fraudulent ACH transaction for {$600.00} hit my USAA checking account on XX/XX/XXXX from " XXXX XXXX ''. That charge was also disputed and ultimately refunded. The timing of all 4 charges indicated to me that this was an instance of fairly sophisticated identity theft. 

On XX/XX/XXXX  the fraudulent charge for {$2600.00} appeared on my USAA card again. When I called USAA to ask why I was seeing the charges again, they informed me that their fraud department had asked for further documentation from the vendor and received an invoice proving that the charges were legitimate ( attached ). I reviewed the invoice and told them that I had 1. never had an interaction with this vendor and 2. never received the plumbing services that were stated on the invoice. I also pointed out several obviously suspicious items on the invoice : my address ( customer address ) is similar to the actual address but incorrect, the business address provided by the vendor is actually a residential address, there's no line items detailing out the charges ( labor, parts, etc. ). But the most important point is that these are services I never requested, approved, or received and USAA is accepting a fraudulent invoice as proof that I am responsible for payment of thousands of dollars that I did not authorize. 

I have since reached out to USAA customer support multiple times. Each time, I have been escalated to their Member Resolutions team, provided a detailed explanation of the situation and asked to speak to a member of the Fraud team who is familiar with my case. I've been told repeatedly that there is no way for ANYONE within the USAA customer support organization to connect a customer directly to the Fraud department. When I've requested that my case be reviewed again and to receive a call back and/or written explanation from the Fraud department detailing out why they have made this decision and what I need to do to further dispute the charges I have been told that they can't guarantee any response from the fraud team. To date, I have escalated the case at least four times and each time, the Fraud department has provided notes in my file ( which I have only been made aware of by calling Customer Support ) saying that I am responsible for the charges with no further explanation. I can not get anyone at USAA to help me and am repeatedly running into a broken process that does not allow for appropriate escalation.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation