Consumer complaint received 2023-07-04
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: MD
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:
In XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted USAA Credit Card regarding a fraudulent transaction. They told me the only option available to address the fraudulent charge, was to cancel the card, which I did not want to do. The USAA supervisor refused to address the fraudulent charge unless I agreed to cancel the card. 

Because there was no choice, the card ending in XXXX was canceled/closed. USAA issued a new card ending in XXXX. The fraudulent charges were not adequately addressed. The same company USAA had been notified did not have permission to charge my card- and for which I was forced to close the previous credit card, continued to post transactions using the " closed '' card. USAA accepted the transactions and simply forwarded through to the new card- never addressing the fraud, despite being from the same company previously posting fraudulently- which USAA stated could only be addressed by closing the previous card. USAA simply transferred the fraudulent transactions to the new non-activated card. 

Forcing the customer to cancel the card - and the hours of shifting payments associated with that specific card to a non-USAA card- was all for nothing, causing other issues and the fraudulent transactions were never stopped - only transferred to the new card. 

Because USAA did not address the issues - but simply transferred them, I opted not activate the new card to avoid further issues. I never used or activated the replacement card received. 

Despite the card never having been authorized for use, I logged in today to find a balance on the same account that was never activated or authorized for use. The new credit card information was never provided to anyone because the card was never activated, due the ongoing issues. 

There was no charge - only a balance for the exact amount of the United Services Automobile Association ( USAA ) Insurance Bill. I called USAA who stated the charge was " pending '' - but no charge was shown, pending or posted - only a balance that appeared yesterday - without any associated charge. 

USAA refused to address the charge or the balance. I attempted to address the issue multiple times previously and in the face repeated failures by USAA to address or prevent unauthorized transactions, despite being forced into following their protocol to do so, purposely did not activate the new card to avoid having to deal with any more ongoing unauthorized charges which USAA continually let go through. 

USAA instead, engaged in phone tag, refused to leave messages as requested- simply leaving messages to the effect of " we called, sorry we missed you ''. 

I do not understand why USAA continues to allow fraudulent charges on a card that was NEVER activated or authorized for use. 

Currently, they are not only accepting fraudulent charges on an account never authorized for use, they are creating the fraudulent charges. 

I logged to USAA on XX/XX/XXXX to confirm my auto-insurance bill was paid as needed on XX/XX/XXXX, or pay it, if showing as unpaid due to an oversight in updating payment info. The account in question had been paid-in-full by way of non-USAA account payment, XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. If the account details had not been updated, then there would have been no authorized account for payments - and no payment should have gone through. Even, had USAA fraudulently taken the liberty of updating the payment information of their own accord- it remains a credit that was never authroized for use - and no payment should have gone through - by any party. 

USAA fraudently charged a non-activated account ; never authorized for use. USAA seems to be aware of what they were doing - as there is no charge showing on my credit card - only a balance owed without any associated charge to dispute. I would like to simply pay the amount with an active account from another company, but I can not do that - as USAA took the funds, but did not record the transaction on the credit card - they only created a balance due, with no charge showing or associated. 

When I attempted to address the matter with USAA, they said they could not do anything because the charge was " pending ''. I asked how that could be, when the amount charged was already showing as a balance to be paid - and payments are not accepted for pending charges ( if an attempt is made to pay a pending charge, it is blocked from going through ). When I asked them to cancel the charge, they changed their answer and said the charge can't be seen. 

I stopped writing here, to take additional screenshots. 
Despite no pending charges showing less than hour before - a full charge - on the same card which was NEVER AUTHORIZED FOR USE, suddenly appeared - never having shown as pending- just as " due ''. 

Even if I am able to dispute this instance of USAA 's fraudulent use of an unauthorized card- it does not fix or address the issue that fraudulent transactions are allowed to go through - and have been for an extended period, on a card never authorized for use. It also does not addres the fact that USAA is now the party creating the fraudulent charges and using an unauthorized account. In fact, they are the only party with 100 % full knowledge that the account is not activated and used it anyway ; this was not a charge to the closed card, as other transactions were. This fraudulent payment was charged using the new credit card number, as seen in the screenshots- a number never provided as a payment source to any party - not even USAA XXXX XXXX.

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