Consumer complaint received 2021-05-14
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: NV
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
I have been in contact with Capital One bank for the last 6 months, trying to get this situation resolved. The company has not attempted to legitimately address any of my issues in the slightest. Instead, they have accused myself, with no evidence, of having no established or registered business and repeatedly given me wrong or incorrect information. I have been conducting business for years under this name, while filing taxes as an XXXX XXXX, using my personal Social Security number. Not only that, I also have numerous photos of my myself working in this business, whether at catered events, or in the kitchen itself, which I have attached. 

On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I opened up a XXXX Checking account with Capital One Bank. I proceeded to conduct the usual banking actions over the course of the years ( ACH and cash deposits, check deposits, ATM withdrawals, credit card payments, bill pay orders, miscellaneous bill payments, etc. ) As a result of the covid-19 pandemic, I ended up depositing my EIDL SBA loan around XX/XX/XXXX. On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from Capital One XXXX XXXX XXXX  stating that they'd noticed unusual recent activity on my account and that my account had been restricted until I called in to verify some details. I immediately called the number provided, concerned that some type of fraudulent charges had posted to my account. When I called in, the representative began asking me questions regarding recent transactions, most specifically why I had been making an increased amount of withdrawals in the last few months. These withdrawals were a result of my attempt to withdraw the SBA disaster loan I had received in XXXX for my business that was shut down because of the pandemic. However, because there are no physical branch locations in my city, I was forced to make repeated ATM withdrawals, over the course of weeks, in order to gradually get the money out of my bank account. I had even called Capital One to see if my daily withdrawal limit could be temporarily raised so I could withdraw it all at one time, but I was told I could not. 

As I was doing my best to verbally answer her questions, particularly why I had to make so many withdrawals and why I had received a government loan in addition to unemployment payments, I received a secondary call from Capital One. I asked the agent to give me a moment, as Capital One was calling me on the other line, just in case it was in regard to my account as well. Unfortunately, after asking the other representative to call me back and quickly switching back, the original agent had decided to hang up. After calling back several times, I was eventually able to speak to a different agent. However, after undergoing the questioning and justification regarding my banking habits again, this agent informed me that, based on the information ( only verbal answers ) I had provided, my account was under review and would be closed upon completion of the internal review. I was informed that my the remaining balance after the review would be mailed to me once the closure was complete. However, I was also told it was unlikely that any money would be returned to me, despite a current balance of {$680.00} ( all accrued from unemployment ), unless my total balance totaled the full amount of the loan amount I had previously received. The explanation I received for this was that the SBA might try to reverse the deposit, despite the fact that I had received no correspondence from the SBA to this effect. When I asked how long this review and closure process would take, I was not given any timeframe. When I asked for a point of contact, who could provide a timeframe or updates, whom I could provide documentation to prove the legality of my account activity and incoming deposits, I was told there was no one. 

At no point was I EVER asked to provide ANY sort of documentation, tax documents or anything else that might legitimize my small business or ownership of loan funds being deposited. In the same way, at no point, was I EVER provided the opportunity to validate my deposits with evidence ; despite me asking successively, multiple times in the same conversation, for an email or someone to send supporting documentation or evidence to of the validity of my ownership of the funds. Instead Capital One decided to simply ask me inconsequential questions over the phone, like : Why did you make so many ATM withdrawals? What did you spend all the loan money on? How many employees do you have? Why dont you have any employees? Why do your commissary customers, who are catering for special events, choose to pay you in cash? Why dont you force them to write you a check to deposit in our bank account? Keep in mind, I reiterated and explained several times that I had NOT spent all the loan funds and had not even begun to utilize them, as the quarantine had required us to close temporarily. Why you ( Capital One ) feel the need to lie to a consumer protection bureau, in defense of money that you unjustly stole from me, is beyond my comprehension. If they actually wanted to give me the opportunity to legitimize my business, they would have provided me with a contact person to send documentation to, in order to allow me to properly defend myself against their baseless accusations. If they want to be power crazy, and do whatever they want because theyre the bank, then they should just own up to that. Stop pretending to be fair when you were not. 

The next day I received another email stating that my account was restricted and that pending the review, my " account ( s ) may be closed and your balance - plus all interest earned - will be transferred to your linked external checking account. '' This, in itself, is odd, since I did not have a linked external checking account. After this, I did not receive much more correspondence, until on or about XX/XX/XXXX, when I noticed that my account balance had gone from {$680.00} to XXXX. When I called Capital One to find out to what address they had mailed my account closure balance check, I was informed that my balance had been withdrawn and sent to the SBA instead. When I requested a transaction ID or identifying information on the deposit, to reference when I contacted the SBA, I was provided nothing. The representative simply told me to contact someone in Capital One Customer Protection. That same day, I contacted the SBA help line, to verify if the bank can send back a deposit to the SBA. I was told no, the only way to make a payment toward an SBA loan is through the specific portal and payment website. I have continued to monitor my SBA loan management account, balance and payments posted and there is record of any credit/payment posting to my account or crediting toward lowering amount due for repayment. 

On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I received my actual account closure check amount, totaling {$0.00}, which was interest accrued on the prior month 's balance. On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted Capital One once again to determine where the {$680.00} was sent, since the SBA clearly never received it. After being transferred back to Customer Protection, I was informed that my payment had not been sent to the SBA, as previously stated, but to the Treasury. The representative then falsely claimed that it was the Treasury 's responsibility to disperse the funds to the appropriate department. However, the agent could not provide any evidence of who exactly the money was sent to or how the process worked. She simply claimed that it was their procedure to do it that way. I explained to her that the SBA, nor the Treasury, asked Capital One to make a payment toward my loan or return the loan payment, so why would they randomly send my money to the Treasury, with no explanation? She claimed that if the Treasury had not dispersed my money to the SBA, it probably was in their " Uncollected Funds ''. I asked if my payment had been sent with my account details, my name, social security number, checking account number, or any other type of identifying information to guide the Treasury on where to send the money. The agent once again claim they could not provide any information, simply stating over and over that they don't do anything with the payment once it is sent. I then asked the agent to which Treasury the payment had been sent to. Was it the US Treasury? A state Treasury? Where exactly had my money gone? If Capital One is actually randomly sending money to government departments, I need to know exactly where it was sent, so I can call someone to get this straightened out myself. 

I once again asked for a deposit ID or a transaction number that I could reference when contacting the Treasury ( whichever one it was sent to ). I was told that Capital One does not have that information. It is quite clear that someone at Capital One has that information, since supposedly someone in Capital One is sending money to the Treasury. Finally, after continuing to press her, the representative put me on hold to find a contact number for someone at the specific Treasury that the money was sent to. When she returned to the line, she provided a contact phone number of XXXX, which I confirmed with her when writing it down. This same number is seen written on the statement attached. The agent then stated to me that she had confirmed that my payment had either been sent to the Treasury or the Secret Service, she wasn't sure. Upon calling the number provided, it is a disconnected phone number, or at least does not ring through to anything. I have now been on hold for a total of 25 hours, waiting for an operator at the Department of the Treasury, in order to try to speak to someone who can locate my funds and either return them to me or properly route them to the proper destination. 

I think it is also quite convenient that every time I contact Capital One to find out where this balance was sent, it magically gets sent to somewhere or someone else, that they believe I have not contacted yet. First, I was told it MIGHT be sent to the SBA, or it might be mailed back to me, with no provision of any point of contact. Then a month later, I am told it actually was sent back to the SBA, once again with no point of contact. Then, a few months after that, when I informed Capital One that, per the SBA, banks can not simply send funds back to the SBA, the story suddenly changes. Now, it was sent to the U.S. Treasury and I am given a disconnected number to call. Why does Capital One have a disconnected number for a government branch that they seem to do so many transactions with ( as I was informed repeatedly that Capital One has a procedure that they follow in these situations )? Yet, it seems that they cant get their story straight, even with a set procedure in place, since it is so unclear that I have been told, in total, that it was sent 3 different places, in 3 different conversations, with 3 different representatives, all of whom had to put me on hold, in order to contact the internal department who handles these sort of situations. Now, after filing a complaint, the current story is that it was actually sent to The Secret Service, for sure this time. Unfortunately for Capital One, I have already contacted both my local office in XXXX XXXX, NV, in addition to the XXXX, FL field office as well. Guess what I was told, by 2 federal agents in COMPLETELY OPPOSITE states? The Secret Service does not take any funds without contacting me in some way and getting my signature in writing. They also go and get the money proactively, after this consent is obtained. Banks do not send them money unrequested. In addition, there is no ongoing investigation into myself, my business, or my SBA loan by the Secret Service.

After filing a complaint with a regulatory agency, a Capital One agent responded to my complaint with a standard justification entailing that I was provided opportunity to provide evidence and I did not. They stated : Our records confirmed that the account received two deposits of {$59000.00} from the SBA Treasury on XX/XX/XXXX and {$3000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. These deposits were deposited into a consumer account with no established or registered business. The accounts were restricted on XX/XX/XXXX. We provided you the opportunity to provide evidence to validate the proceeds that were received. Due to the lack of evidence a business decision was made to return the funds and close the account. The only amount that was owed to you was the interest earned of {$0.00} which was mailed to you via check when the account was closed on XX/XX/XXXX. The funds have been sent back to the United States Secret Service, this includes the {$680.00}. The government as well as Capital One will send a letter with directions to protest with a contact to reach out to the government to protest. 

In closing, Capital One has not done what they said they would do, because they have not attempted to remedy this situation in the slightest. Instead, they have simply attempted to shift blame for this situation away from themselves. As I stated above, it is extremely misleading how Capital One claims that, due to lack of evidence a business decision was made to return the funds and close the account, when, at no point, did they give me ANY opportunity to provide any sort of documentation or evidence to them. Pretty convenient to claim that you gave me an opportunity, so that you can blame me for why you had to make that decision. Except for one thing, the claim that I was given opportunity to provide evidence is a lie. There currently is not nor was there ever any writ or judgment against me or filed upon my account. Based on this, my funds should have been immediately returned to me, and not held for an undisclosed amount of time and then stolen. At no point, has any representative from Customer Protection even apologized for me receiving incorrect information over the past 6 months and wasting weeks of my time. In addition, I HAVE NEVER received any correspondence from Capital One OR The United States Secret Service with directions to protest any of these decisions. When I was on the phone with the representative, I was once again not given ANY directions on how to protest, despite numerous requests for it. In my initial call, I requested a phone number to contact someone. I was denied. I requested an email that I could email documentation to. I was denied. Alternatively, I requested my contact information to be given to the internal department instead, so they could contact me at their convenience, with any requests for documentation or necessary information. I was denied. How can a claim be made that they mailed me a letter with directions to protest, when I was verbally denied this exact information? Similarly, if this government contact to reach out is known, then why isnt this information not specifically stated in this response, rather than this attempt at gaslighting me into believing that they will proactively contact me? Obviously, whoever they sent it to did not notify the Secret Service of receipt of such funds, since they do not know about it. In respect to the government mailing out a letter, I would think that if the Secret Service had sent me directions to protest, they would have record of that when I am calling their office and speaking with federal agents. Except, they do not. Because, they are not investigating me for loan fraud and thus did not request Capital One to freeze my account or seize my funds. Instead, of their own volition, Capital One chose to lock my account ( which is in their right to do ), and then determined to send unrequested funds to some unknown entity, who they continue to refuse to disclose ( which I do not believe is in their right to do, considering that they gave me no opportunity to provide documentation, despite my request to do so, and their insufficient evidence for seizure of my funds ). Upon closure of a bank account, the balance is to be returned to me, unless there is a levy or garnishment on the account. Since there is not, Capital One did not have a legal right to disperse my funds to someone other than myself. To this day, they continue to fail to provide any proof or evidence of delivery or recipient receipt of funds. You can not just send money to The United States Secret Service. You have to address it, whether to a person, a department, an address, or even a city ( still a little unreasonable, but at least I have something to work with ). In addition, they have also failed to provide proof of duty of care, to insure that these funds were properly labeled, for efficient dispersal of funds, once received by the recipient. They are obviously trying to mislead and misdirect attention, in order to waste mine and others time, while they continue to unjustly profit from stolen funds. 

If Capital One wants to take people 's hard earned money, and money that the government is providing to small business owners to keep them from going bankrupt, they should at least keep track of where they're sending that money, unless they're simply unjustly enriching themselves/their government counterparts, with mine and I'm sure many other 's money that we need to survive. I am a young, XXXX, minority business owner and this is unacceptable during a pandemic and in this current day and age. Regulate these companies. They are out of control. 

I apologize for the length of this complaint, but Capital One seems to be avoiding every opportunity to rectify this situation and someone needs to hold them accountable for taking customers funds illegally. In their response to my complaint, I was also provided the responders specific contact info, whom I immediately attempted to contact. However, once again, they did not answer and I was forced to leave a voicemail, which has not been returned.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation