Consumer complaint received 2018-04-20
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 
XXXX XXXX, MN XXXX XXXX : Fraud Claim # XXXX XXXX, I appreciate your timely response. This has been an absolute nightmare and inconvenience for my entire family. We are victims of check fraud and theft. 

Under penalty of perjury, I whole heartedly believe the information you have stated in your reply is inaccurate and the decision is incorrect. I kindly request this claim re-opened immediately. 

There are a number of incorrect statements in your reply I would like to address. Including ; the number of checks forged, the time frame the checks were lost, the police report, the information regarding the secondary investigation, and most importantly, the details of informing US Bank of my missing checks to begin with. 

I would like to start off by sharing that I recently, just this past month of XX/XX/XXXX, received a letter in the mail from US Bank notifying me of an overdrawn checking account. I was able to confirm US Bank charged me funds for a monthly checking account maintenance fee and accrued fines for not paying this monthly fee. I had closed my account after all this fraudulent activity and the poor customer service I received. So, why do I owe US Bank money now? Because someone at the branch made a mistake and did not close my account properly. I called the customer service line. The attendant was able to recognize the error and voided the funds I supposedly owed US Bank. 
This is another example of the many mistakes on the US Bank side regarding the care of my familys finical security. The mistakes of US Bank have cost me and my family time, money, stress and finical hardship. I would like you to take this opportunity to spend more time to evaluate this fraud claim, recognize the errors on US Banks part, take responsibility, ( maybe more training is required? ), and refund my familys losses. 

Regarding the details of informing US Bank of my missing checks - This is a significant point. I did in fact inform the bank of my missing checks. I did so immediately. If proper steps were taken at that time by the administrators at US Bank, none of this check fraud and theft would have happened at all. My actions in immediately notifying US Bank of lost checks is not the definition of Customer Negligence. Per the Uniform Commercial Code 3-406 I DID NOT fail to exercise ordinary care that contributed the altercation of the checks. I DID take responsibility to protect my account information. A check book went missing and I immediately informed my bank. At no time have I ever discussed or shared information about my account with anyone else. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I had walked into a branch inside of a XXXX XXXX in XXXX near my work. I let the teller know of a lost check book. I wanted to make sure I wouldnt be confused in the future and potentially use checks that were ( or should have been - in this case ) cancelled. So, I ensured to request the new checks to be completely different. I specifically requested a new number series on the checks as well as a completely different style. The lost checks were pink and had a flower motif. My new checks are standard and blue. I wanted nothing to do with the lost checks and I made that very clear with the teller at that time. 

In the XXXX XXXX XXXX Report of Alleged Fraudulent Customer Statement I state : That I had asked US Bank to cancel the flower check book when I ordered the new checks in a new number series of 700. That would have been in XX/XX/XXXX. 
I confirmed that my check stock is normally stored in a specific locked drawer with other personal paperwork. 
No one else had access to the area. No one else had my user ID or password. 
I stated I had recently moved. I moved in XX/XX/XXXX. 
In an additional follow up faxed letter to the XXXX XXXX XXXX during this investigation - I state : that I had told the bank of the lost checks and was surprised this situation is even happening. 

Regarding the police report ; In XX/XX/XXXX I had to take time to travel to the Sherriff Station to have this report taken. I had to wait weeks for it to be prepared. Then, I had to pay a {$25.00} fee to receive a copy and include it with the XXXX XXXX XXXX Report of Alleged Fraudulent Customer Statement. These are not the actions of a negligent person. These are the actions of a responsible party having due diligence. 
The Sheriff Report states :. the victim did not give anybody permission to sign her name or withdraw money from my account. The victim does not recall when she lost the checks deposited checks, money from her account, she believes when she moved in XXXX she may have accidentally thrown the checks in the garbage. The name XXXX XXXX is printed on all three checks as the payee and it appears his name was used to endorse of all three checks. All three checks are completed using different writing style and signatures. When compared to the signature on the victims DL, all three checks appear to be signed by a different person. The victim has never know this XXXX XXXX Per Your response letter to me dated XX/XX/XXXX you state : during the investigation, and after reading the police report, it was determined that your checks were unsecured after they went missing at an unknown time, but you did indicate they may have gone missing around XX/XX/XXXX. We have included a copy of this report for your reference Thank you for the copy of the report I originally provided US Bank. Lets back track here and review your statement and take a better look at the material noted. 
My checks were reported missing to US Bank in XX/XX/XXXX. In the sheriff report I say I dont recall when they were lost. I dont. Thats what lost means. But, upon recognition I couldnt find them, I reported them as lost to US Bank immediately in XX/XX/XXXX. 
I moved in XX/XX/XXXX. In moving home locations and going through all of my personal belongings, I do not recall seeing the reported as lost pink flower check book. Although, if there was any time that this material could have gotten into the position of XXXX XXXX, I was guessing maybe during the move. But thankfully, like a responsible adult, I had already told US Bank months prior that those flower checks were lost. 
Stating to a Sherriff Deputy during a check fraud and forgery victim report that previously reported as lost checks may have found their way to the trash during a residential move months after the fact they had been reported as such does not constitute Customer Negligence and Customer Liability under the security section of the XXXX. My entire point is that I did in fact upon discovering that my checks were missing reported the loss to the bank immediately and would have prevented any fraudulent transactions from occurring. 

In your reply letter to me, you state there was a secondary investigation. When was there a secondary investigation of this case? I am not aware nor included in it. What date was that preformed? Is there an additional XXXX XXXX XXXX Report of Alleged Fraudulent Customer Statement made? I did not received a reply letter from the XXXX XXXX XXXX as I had with the first investigation that I was aware of. I requested a secondary investigation and was very rudely declined by XXXX XXXX. In my letter to the CFPB I state I did have back up and supporting documents with me at the time. I did. XXXX XXXX wanted nothing to do with me or the case. 
It is a shame you would ask me to provide even more additional information knowing that we are all aware the Banks accounting system shows every single time my bank account is accessed. It records dates, times, locations, the name of the bank associate that handled the transaction at the time, as well as notes they add. It is all in the system. Everything I have stated can be validated if someone was to take the time to do so. I implore you to please review my account. 

This decision to decline the forgery and check fraud and theft of my account was discretional. This was made by someone in the liaison center that misread the sheriff report and assumed I lost my checks when I moved in XXXX and did not validate anything else. You did the same thing in your reply letter. Someone made a poor decision. I would greatly appreciate if you would please review this case with more attention. 


Thank you for your time and assistance in this matter. I look forward to hearing from you. 


XXXX XXXX XXXX : I just called the US Bank XXXX to send this reply back to them - XXXX XXXX is not a listed person in their directory.

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 monetary relief