Consumer complaint received 2021-02-26
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: PA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
In XXXX my wife received a Phishing text and then a call from someone posing as a USAA representative. We notified USAA to make sure our accounts were safe and were told they would look into it. We specifically asked if our accounts or online bill payer, outstanding checks would be affected and were told no. As the days went by, we heard nothing from USAA, no call, no email, no text, no letter, so we assumed all was well. 

Then we started receiving notifications of returned online billing payments, returned checks, etc. My trash sat on the side of the road for a week because their payment was never sent out. I had to make countless calls to various billers explaining what happened and using up my courtesy forgiveness to reverse returned payment fees. On top of this I had to spend way too much of my time calling USAA to figure this all out. Once WE called to find out what was going on, we were told our account was frozen due to a fraud investigation and would be reopened in a couple of days. We were told everything would be fine, sure ... That turned into several days and more and more payments were being rejected. I finally had to threaten to leave USAA where I have been a loyal customer for 11 years to get them to unfreeze my checking account. Ah, the story doesn't end there. 

My checking account was now unfrozen however they neglected to inform me that the online bill pay platform is hosted by a third party and they had separately frozen my bill paying account. So although my checking account was active, it took several days and more calls to learn that my bill payer was frozen. So I had to spend an hour on the phone with them and they refused to reopen my account until I paid them separately for a payment they had paid on my behalf prior to rejecting everything else. I understand I would owe that money but it was ridiculous that I had to provide them my USAA credit card to pay that bill just to get them to unfreeze my USAA bill payer. Ah, the story doesn't end there either! 

I received a notice that I was being assessed a {$20.00} returned payment fee and a subsequent cancelation notice of my USAA auto insurance because my USAA insurance payment was rejected by USAA from my USAA account which USAA had frozen .... Figure that one out. I called the insurance division and will say the woman I spoke to was most helpful and took it upon herself to waive this fee although she was unsure she authority to do. On top of this, apparently my USAA automatic insurance payment, which has been set up for years, had been somehow canceled BY USAA and they were about to terminate my insurance because of their own internal disorganization and lack of process! So I spent another hour on the phone re-signing up for the automatic insurance payments .... 

This has been an ordeal to say the least and I am not even certain its over. I have no idea what other fees USAA has charged me for rejecting my payments internally or externally. I've actually had to eat a fee for a check that was returned to our cleaning service because I am so tired of dealing with this mess. I have worked in the banking industry most of my life and have never even heard of something this ridiculous. Where's the process? Where's the communication? If your Fraud department freezes a customer 's account, where's the follow-through to assure downstream impacts are mitigated or even considered? We were lied to initially and then had to pull teeth to get anything resolved. What have I learned, next time we get a Phishing attempt, don't tell USAA and let them eat the fallout.

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