Consumer complaint received 2020-09-03
Company: SANTANDER BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: PA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
During covid I was unable to work for a period of time in my state Pennsylvania the governor shut XXXX offices for a time and I had some financial challenges also because I received no stimulus money, I was denied a ppp loan and ultimately I received only some not all of my unemployment money owed to me so as a result during that time it was a challenge to keep deposits in for 4 auto draws that come out every month totaling roughly $ 5000- one of them is nearly {$4000.00} and it is for a practice loan for an office that I am starting up - which also due to covid and being turned down by SBA XXXX my opening is behind schedule- so 3 weeks ago I borrowed {$15000.00} from my life insurance to provide funds plus a cushion so that I would no longer get returned payments and fees - the money was deposited on XX/XX/XXXX - at some point I checked with atm and found to take small withdraws was denied - I called Santander on Friday XX/XX/XXXX their person XXXX told me it was a funds availability issue- then the following day when I called I was told by a different representative that it was referred to fraud department but that they were not open until Monday XXXX when I called I was told my account was just under review that individual was somewhat argumentative and they couldnt tell me any more and I couldnt speak to anyone else- on the following day XXXX from fraud department contacted me and informed me that I he said I not they - had called to report to Santander suspicious activity in my account which I never did! I never made any such call. And I told him so. He asked questions about some specific transactions - I did not have account in front of me but I had reviewed the night before online I did not see any problems. I did not get any resolve with this call. Yesterday evening a Santander representative called me told me that my deposit from my insurance company because it was large triggered a fraud alert? ( the deposit was for {$15000.00} because I CASHED OUT my life insurance and I have over {$5000.00} scheduled payments every month ) then he put me on hold for 25 minutes and hung up on me. This morning I called and waited on hold for over 20 minutes by time they picked up my phone was dead and I had to go to work. I need to be able to pay my bills- they let one loan draw go through Tuesday but he wont tell me whether I can schedule my {$4000.00} payment to my XXXX practice loan- and I have another one in 2 weeks!!! My practice loan is ready to go into default and I have money to pay it. I understand maybe they are holding my money because I had past overages but they have not told me this I think I deserve a truthful explanation - they have given me three completely different explanations - funds availability, fraudulent deposit, or fraud they say I reported - the last of which is particularly disturbing as I assume when I supposedly made this call someone from Santander would have verified my identity and as I know I never made the call then logically it means someone fabricated a falsehood - its made up! I would like someone to review these phone conversation tapes especially the so called fraud report they say I made.

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