Consumer complaint received 2019-02-19
Company: SANTANDER BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX DID NOT FOLLOW UP ON IDENTITY THEFT. 
SANTANDER INFORMED CHECK RECIPIENT THAT MY ACCOUNT IS FROZEN AND ALLOWED XXXX XXXX WITHDRAWALS FROM BLOCKED BANK ACCOUNT. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX : I discovered a XXXX XXXX store card that was opened and connected to my Santander debit card. I then received a notice from XXXX XXXX stating that I had defaulted on my XXXX XXXX payments that had been set up automatically through the XXXX XXXX site. I explained what happened to XXXX XXXX and they said they had not heard from XXXX XXXX about my identity theft. I made a one-time payment to cover the amount XXXX XXXX said was overdue, as well as a payment arrangement to continue the disrupted payment arrangements I had made through the XXXX XXXX website ( which I no longer had access to ). The one-time payment, in the amount of {$310.00}, and the payment plan, in the amount of {$160.00} per month, were made on XX/XX/XXXX. I contacted XXXX XXXX again, XXXX XXXX only responded to first communication and now continues to be non-responsive. In XX/XX/XXXX, consumer report ( XXXX  ) shows delinquency and unexplained billing on my XXXX XXXX card as well as monthly payments that are not the same as the payment plan I made through XXXX XXXX previously or through XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. 
[ 5 attachments regarding above ] SANTANDER : I reported the XXXX XXXX identity theft to Santander. I requested that Santander open a new account for me, block my old Santander account and just allow some payments that were scheduled to come out of the blocked account 1- In the process of opening a new account for me, Santander opened three online accounts that prevented me from accessing the Santander online payment center and prevented me from accessing my new account. The Fraud department had made an agreement with me to move money out of the blocked account into the new account and monitor my blocked account so that only certain payments can go through, until the issue of three online accounts is resolved and I am able to access my account online to make payments. The blocked account was not monitored and then I did not hear from the Fraud department. 

2- I also asked Santander to send me all statements from when I first opened my Santander account. In reviewing the statements : -There was a disruption in the monthly auto payments being withdrawn by XXXX XXXX from my Santander account.

-Santander allowed XXXX XXXX ( after I reported the identity theft ) to debit my blocked bank account twice in XX/XX/XXXX and once in XX/XX/XXXX ( each in the amount of {$160.00} ). My Santander statements show that the payments were made to XXXX XXXX, however, my XX/XX/XXXX XXXX credit report does not show the amounts were paid to XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. They also allowed other payments to be deducted from my blocked bank account up to {$2000.00}. After following up with the bank twice their statements still did not clarify how this amount was generated. I eventually called Santander customer service and they clarified that all this was not clear because Santander sent me combined statements with the old and new account. Customer service sent an email to Santander corporate about this but I  have no communication from them in response. 

3- I have records of bounced checks that were sent to the check recipient from Santander stating on the check that my account is frozen. There is no record of the bounced checks in the statements I received from Santander or on the first XXXX report I received in XX/XX/XXXX. There has been no response from Santander regarding this characterization of my account. I found out later in the year, in an attempt to open a savings account for my children, that Santander reported the {$2000.00} amount to XXXX 4- On XX/XX/XXXX I sent a {$500.00} wire to my sister in the XXXX. This wire was not received until early XX/XX/XXXX. The claim from Santander is that the intermediary bank held up the wire for compliance reasons (? ). There is no indication from Santander whether this  intermediary bank is in the U.S. or XXXX My sister on her end said that the bank had not received any information until the day the wire arrived. 

The Santander XXXX branch is now permanently closed so I am unable to confirm anything with that branch. There is unexplained activity in my credit report. 
[ 5 attachment regarding above ]

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 explanation