Consumer complaint received 2020-07-18
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I deposited a check in my bank account to the amount of {$2900.00} using my mobile app. On XX/XX/XXXX, US bank cleared the check and moved it from " pending '' status to " cleared/accepted '' status, which is how they indicate to their customers that a check has cleared. in addition to that the bank account balance was updated with an increase of {$2900.00}. I saw this online on my app and after calling the bank, on their automated menu to verify account balance. Trusting that the money were in my bank account after verifying in 2 different ways, I felt comfortable to make a cash payment through XXXX to a third person. XXXX is a service US bank provides to it's customers. They advertise it as a service that allows customers to send, request and receive money fast, safe and easy. They indicate that they guarantee that US bank customers are protected through a online-risk free. On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX PST I noticed a transaction on my bank account via the mobile app that the bank reversed the check and it reappeared into pending transactions but this time as a negative balance, simultaneously the money disappeared from my balance. I immediately called the bank to understand what happened. I had 8-10 conversations on XX/XX/XXXX alone talking to various representatives who kept giving me factually incorrect information and in the end admitted that this is a known issue that scammers intimately familiar with how banks work are using to defraud bank customers. The bank representative had knowledge on the best days for the fraud to work ( i.e. Wednesdays ), but that doesn't change the fact that this is how the bank operates. They argued that they can't really tell a customer when a check is cleared, despite the fact that they indicate it has cleared, because a number of things can go wrong in the meantime and there is no way they can tell me how long would that take or at what point I can trust that the money is in my bank account ( regardless of the status online ). The bank refuses to take any responsibility for providing incorrect information to me as a customer and is also telling me that even though they can help me file a dispute with XXXX to get my money back, there is practically 0 % chance that will happen, despite advertising it as safe and easy. They are also refusing to reverse the cancellation of the check and still don't know what was the reason that all of this has happened despite talking to them at XXXX and then again 10 hours later at XXXX PST on XX/XX/XXXX. In addition to this being fundamentally wrong practice ( to tell a customer that something has cleared when in fact it hasn't ) that sets people in a position to be scammed. This bank representatives also provided factually incorrect information, multiple times throughout the day and refused to provide me with the recordings of the phone conversations I had with the different representatives. For example they told me the reason why the check bounced 2 days after it cleared is because the check was above the limit for mobile deposits, they told me the limit is {$1200.00}, it turns out it is {$5000.00}. They told me it takes 2-3 days to clear a check, later a different representative told me that it can take long time, that they can't guarantee anything and even though it says it is cleared it is actually not and so on and so on.

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