Consumer complaint received 2021-06-07
Company: BBVA FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: AZ
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem accessing account

Complaint:
I currently hold 2 checking accounts with BBVA USA -- one personal, one business. On Wednesday XX/XX/2021, I deposited 2 money orders ( {$500.00} and {$100.00} ) into my personal checking account at my local BBVA branch in XXXX, AZ. Shortly afterwards, my account was flagged for suspected fraud as a result of the deposited money orders. 

The sudden block placed on my account prevented me from : making purchases with my BBVA debit cards.

logging into my account to check my balance. 
transferring money in or out of either one of my accounts. 
depositing or withdrawing money from ATM machines. 

This wouldn't have been as much of an issue had BBVA decided to ONLY freeze my personal account. However, with my business checking account also frozen, I was suddenly unable to accept payments from my customers, leaving me financially crippled. BBVA doesn't even have a 24-hour, emergency customer service line for instances such as these. Without access to any sort of after-hours help desk, I was left unable to access my funds clueless as to why this was happening. 

On the third day of my accounts being frozen ( XX/XX/XXXX ), someone from BBVA 's case review team informed me that BBVA had rejected my {$600.00} deposit. The reason given for the rejection was because both money orders were " Paid to '' one party, but were endorsed back over to me -- the original purchaser -- after I had made other payment arrangements with the originally intended recipient. Be that as it may, I had been told by 2 employees at my local branch that depositing these money orders would not cause any issues -- one of whom instructed that I endorse both money orders before making the deposit. It was only through following the instructions of the 2 BBVA employees that these issues arose.

At the time of this writing, my accounts with BBVA are still frozen after 6 days. BBVA 's inability to handle this issue in a reasonable, timely manner has resulted in the following : I had to cancel my weekend travel plans to visit family. 
I have been unable to refuel my vehicle. 
I have been unable to purchase groceries. 
I have missed 2 credit card payments ( each costing me a {$25.00} late fee ). 
I am going to miss my next car payment ( resulting in my car being put up for repossession ). 
I have missed my auto insurance payment. 
Several of my digital memberships lapsed ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, etc. ). 
My gym membership was suspended for non-payment ( costing me a {$20.00} reinstatement fee ). 

As of today, my company website is now down due to non-payment Aside from seizing my accounts and effectively stealing {$600.00} from me, BBVA also devastated my ability to operate my small business. I was unable to purchase advertisements, Once my vehicle was low on fuel, I was unable to market my business throughout my city. I even had to implement a temporary " CASH ONLY '' policy with my business just so I could have enough cash on hand to feed myself! This, consequently, resulted in a loss of business from all of my clients who paid via debit card/PayPal/Venmo/etc. In total, BBVA 's ( mis ) handling of this situation ended up costing me anywhere from {$750.00} - {$1000.00} in lost revenue ( as of the time of this submission ). 

I raised these concerns with an investigator who had access to my case. When I asked how BBVA planned on compensating me for all the loss they have caused, I was dismissively told, " Oh no. Sorry, we don't do that here. '' I was told that BBVA does not take responsibility for any losses I incurred throughout the past week, nor do they have any intent of indemnifying me for those losses. I even asked them if they would, at the very least, reach out to my credit card companies to help prevent subsequent late payments from being reported to the credit bureaus. They refused. I asked if they would reach out to my auto lender to explain how they had blocked me from making my car payment. Again, they refused. 

It wasn't until 3 days after my account was blocked that I was able to speak to a supervisor who agreed to have me call my auto lender on a 3-way call ( included as an mp3 file ) so she could explain the situation to them ( which unfortunately changed nothing ).

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation