Consumer complaint received 2023-10-03
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: OH
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Opening an account
Sub-issue: Confusing or missing disclosures

Complaint:
I am executor of my mother 's estate. I requested to open estate savings account with USAA. I was mailed application from USAA to open this account. I completed the application following the printed directions on the application and sent it back to USAA digitally per USAA request. I then received a call telling me I had not completed one section of the application. I read the instructions on the application to the caller which clearly stated I was not to answer these questions and to skip to the next section ( which I had done ). I mistakenly assumed this resolved the issue until I received a letter about the same issue. I again called and this time spoke to " resolutions department '' about this issue. I was assured by the gentleman this matter would be resolved and the account would be opened " today ''. Unfortunately, I realized that was a lie when I received yet another letter about not opening the account because of the section I did not answer. Again I called USAA and after being on the phone for OVER XXXX MINUTES, I was finally transferred to a member of management. ( I was not transferred to management until I stated I would file a complaint the Federal Reserve ) When I explained this farce to him, he assured me the estate account would be opened " by XXXX EST and I will call you to confirm this ''. He was a man of his word ; the account was opened and he did call me back. It took WEEKS and HOURS on the phone to get this account opened because of the incompetence of USAA personnel. I was told repeatedly my calls could not be transferred to a member of management -- why?? Are the practices a USAA so " shady '' that these roadblocks are in place to frustrate their customers in hopes the customers will just give up trying to get issues resolved? Unfortunately, I am still dealing with issues regarding this estate account and have spents copious amounts of time on the phone trying to resolve these. I have been told repeatedly I can not speak with management. I have had respresentatives tell me they can not email me copies of forms I emailed to USAA. Because of all of the issues, I called USAA today to request to close out all of my USAA banks accounts. I requested to transfer the funds in the estate account to my checking account ( because I was told I could not close out the estate account until it had been opened for 30 days ) and was told it would take 5 DAYS for the funds to be transferred from my USAA estate account to my USAA checking account. Those funds were transferred via wire into the estate account on XXXX so there is no legitimate reason for this delay in the transfer. I was also told that my request to close out my accounts could not occur today and I would have to call back another day. WHY is USAA allowed to conduct business like this?

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