Consumer complaint received 2023-06-03
Company: Albert Corporation
State: NJ
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, the company with the app known as Albert gave me a {$25.00} advance while I was unemployed. I agreed to pay back {$30.00}. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, {$30.00} was debited from my checking account and they use the name known as XXXX XXXX to deposit and then take back the agreed amount of {$30.00} to repay the debt. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, {$140.00} was debited from Albert XXXX. I had no idea what this amount or payment was for because nothing was agreed-upon after the original debt settlement. I deleted my card from my digital wallet back on XX/XX/XXXX. I tried to cancel the account, but I could not because I always get an error notice saying that I can not connect to the app because they cant determine that I have a secured connectionto the Internet. 
On this date, at XXXXXXXX XXXX, XXXX, I reached out to the company via their support chat, which I have copies of because its by text message. I inquired as to what the charge was for, I was told that it was a yearly subscription to Albert XXXX. without my knowledge they monitored my checking account to take this {$140.00} for a one year subscription to the service. 
Of course, I argued that I never signed up or agreed to that service, Im not the kind of person that would ever pay for an entire years worth of a subscription upfront, so that was not me. The only thing they offered to do was change my subscription to a monthly plan of {$12.00}. I stated I wanted to cancel my account and I tried to do so via the app, but Im being told that I have to withdraw the XXXX dollars that is sitting in the account before I can close it. When I attempted to do that, I learned that the XXXX dollars is not actually available to me to withdraw because its in a rainy day fund of savings and some investment service. They keep saying the funds need to clear before I can withdraw them and cancel the account and get my money back. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I woke up early to see that they had also taken XXXX dollars from their service known as Albert cash. Once again, I reached out to the company to ask them why they were doing this I again was told via the chat support text message that the investment service monitors my checking account for viable investments for me and then withdraw some money from my checking account. I stated that I was furious, this was fraudulent, and I wanted to know when the money would be available to me so that I can cancel this account. I have not been given a straight answer, and every day I monitor this app and the funds are still not available to me. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I also reached out to my checking account banking company, the XXXX XXXX, which Im starting to believe, is behind all of these apps and online money scams. I set up a dispute for all of the money that Albert XXXX and Albert Cash had taken from my account and they canceled my debit card so that no more funds could be withdrawn from this company. 
On XX/XX/XXXX at approximately XXXXXXXX XXXX, XXXX, I once again went into the app to try to transfer funds and cancel this account. The funds have still not become available to me so I reached out again to their chat support text messaging. I told them I wanted a clear answer on when these funds would be available to me, so that I could cancel this account that I never agreed to. Again I was not given a satisfactory answer, and I told them that I was done playing and I was reporting them to the XXXX XXXX XXXX, and whoever I could find that was responsible for banking in America. And that is how I found customer finance protection bureau.

Company public response: Company believes the complaint provided an opportunity to answer consumer's questions
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation