Consumer complaint received 2023-06-19
Company: REGIONS FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: TX
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:
I am filing this complaint regarding my dispute of an erroneous and unauthorized charge to my Regions personal checking account in the amount of {$250.00} by XXXX XXXX XXXX, a company of which I am not a Customer and have cancelled services with, which went through without my authorization or approval and deducted {$250.00} from my Regions checking account on XXXX XXXX XXXX Despite multiple claims filed with regions bank disputing this charge as erroneous, as well as providing ample written documentation and also verbal explanation to Regions, the bank has failed to honor my dispute of the charge, has denied my claims, and has refused to refund my account the above amount. 

( To preface : I was a customer of XXXX XXXX XXXX, but originally cancelled services with them on XXXX XXXX XXXX. After months of back-and-forth with this company and multiple failed promises by the company to reimburse me for charges that I paid for out of pocket which should have been covered under my home warranty, I again called and canceled services with them after still never been sent a promised reimbursement. In fact, on my last call with this company, they told me that I would have to have a credit card on file before even receiving a reimbursement, which I told them on the phone made no sense because I initially only wanted to cancel because I was having to pay for repair expenses out of my own pocket which shouldve been covered by the warranty that I was paying every month for in the amount of {$55.00}. After giving up on expecting any kind of a reimbursement by the home warranty, I decided to consider it a wash and I let it go. That was until, I begin receiving emails from this company, stating that my account was past due, despite me canceling the account with them on the phone, as it was the only way to do so. ) ***The only reason I provide this information as a preface is due to the fact that on my first phone call to regions bank, the banker I spoke with argued that because I had been a customer of XXXX XXXX XXXX this somehow warranted the business XXXX to continue to charge my Visa check card every month! This is obviously absolutely untrue, because even though the company still had my card number on file does not mean that they had my authorization to charge it after I had cancelled services with them! *** On XX/XX/XXXX the first unauthorized charge in an amount of {$53.00} by XXXX XXXX XXXX hit my regions account, which I went online to dispute, and which Regions approved and credited back to my bank account. 

On XXXX XXXX XXXX  I received a text saying a charge in the amount of {$250.00} was attempted by XXXX XXXX XXXX but was blocked ( this was due to my being wary of XXXX, and was based on my recent interactions with the company : theyre failure to cover warrantied repairs, the excessive checks I had written to for multiple vendor service visits for simple repair claims, and all of this after the repairs were either never made, or I had to pay for them myself out of pocketfor these reasons and more I was forced to resort to using the Regions lock it online checkcard controls to block all incoming charges, lest I deal with the incredible inconvenience of having to cancel my check card, and request a new XXXX - and then have to deal with changing all my other recurring subscriptions and automatic bill pays with other accounts ; something I didnt have time to do and didnt think was necessary ). 

so, After getting the above text, i tried to be proactive and contacted Regions bank ( using the mobile chat function on the app ) asking them to ensure all charges attempted by this vendor be blocked, as they were not authorized ; I explained was no longer a customer, of XXXX, but as single mom had not had time to close my check card due to ONE vendor fraudulently charging me ( and honestly, didnt think I should have to because I believed my bank would protect me ). 

Regions online response was recurring transactions are not blocked by XXXX which was not what I was asking for ; what I was asking for was Personal attention to the matter of attempted unauthorized charges that I was afraid would persist. The response I received was very unhelpful and completely void of understanding and not even an attempt at comprehension of the problem I explained it was NOT a recurring transaction - Clearly this company was attempting to charge me a much larger amount ( {$250.00} ) for a service they no longer provided me, yet the bankers at regions didnt seem to care or were unwilling to provide a solution. The response was simply after careful investigation ( whatever that means - I still to this day do not know what entailed ) we have decided not to credit your account. 

( But - then later regions credited my account the recurring monthly charge of {$53.00}???? which they earlier said they would not/ could not block? ) Then, on XXXX XXXX XXXX  I received a text saying that a charge in the amount of {$250.00} by XXXX XXXX XXXX was approved. 

I again immediately went online to dispute the unauthorized charge, which, in my opinion should never have been allowed to go through since I have notified the bank that this company was attempting to charge my card without my authorization. 7 - 10 days later I received a letter from Regions Bank stating that they were allowing the charge to go through and would not refund it and were denying my claim. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted regions bank ( again, using the chat function on the Regions mobile banking app ) and spoke with a banker via chat for sometime asking why the charge was denied, especially in light of the fact that the earlier unauthorized charge from XX/XX/XXXX had been approved by regions. I was told that the department would 1 ) not except calls regarding denials of claims, and 2 ) that I should call the claims department and have them add this second charge to the original claim/dispute that I filed for the {$53.00} charge which was approved. Very confusing, to be told that they would not take calls for denials of claims, yet at the same time to be told to call during business hours because the banker /department I was chatting with could not address my issue. So I was told to call to have them add the two claims to each other, yet also told a call would provide me no further information? This, honestly, did not make any sense to me, as it does not make any sense why the initial charge that I filed a claim for was approved, yet the second charge, which I provided documentation for when asked, I was denied multiple times. 

I have called Regions and provided verbal explanations as to why these charges were not authorized by me due to the fact that I am no longer a customer of this company, as well as provided ample written documentation to regions ( both emailed and mailed ) letting them know that this company XXXX I no longer do business with, and that they had no authorization to charge my card. 

In addition to the above, prior to these charges, going through on my account, I actually proactively contacted a regions bank, letting them know of the issue. I was dealing with with this company, in an attempt to hopefully get their assistance with blocking any future charges on my account. My proactive attempts, failed, And my claim was denied, despite re-opening it, and calling several times, and speaking with multiple bankers, the last call of which I told him that I would not be depositing any more money into the account until the charge was refunded to my account, and that all associated overdraft fees also be refunded to my account. 

I am disgusted and appalled at the level of customer service that I have been provided by this bank. Ive been a customer for over 10 years, and as an independent contractor who does not receive direct deposit as payment, I have paid them a checking account fee of {$8.00} every month for the last 10 years, and this is the first time that I have ever had an issue with fraudulent charges and the first time I have ever had to file a claim, or dispute a charge. 

To be treated this way by my BANK is appalling to me ( Especially after having spent hours on hold on the phone just to cancel services with XXXX - then being told Id be reimbursed for out of pocket expenses, and ultimately never receiving the promised reimbursement of near {$1000.00} by XXXX, but I digress ) to have my bank allow XXXX to charge my account {$250.00}, and then deny my multiple claims that was an unauthorized charge ( especially after approving my other identical claim charged by the same company, and for the same reasons! ) is completely unacceptable to me as a customer of over ten years, and a paying banking consumer. 

Last, but not least, the bankers that Ive spoken with on the phone at regions have been rude, and incredibly unhelpful. On my last phone call to regions, when I again attempted to gain more insight as to the denied claim, but got no information except that it was denied, I let the banker know of my dissatisfaction as a customer, and stated that I would be filing an online complaint to the CFPB, as well as that I would no longer be depositing money into the account until the original disputed charge was reversed and credited to my account ( as well as any related overdraft fees which were incurred afterwards ) and again, the response by the female banker was incredibly unhelpful, unsupportive, and unappreciative of my business.

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