Consumer complaint received 2020-08-25
Company: PEOPLE'S UNITED BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CT
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: CD (Certificate of Deposit)
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Fees charged for closing account

Complaint:
I need to ask CFPB to please help me with an attempted IRA Rollover that got renamed a distribution and was therefore taxed. 
I had an IRA CD from People 's United Bank that matured XX/XX/XXXX. 
( Acct # XXXX ) ( Plan # XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX I went to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, CT to retrieve my funds. I was not allowed to fill out the form myself to rollover from a People 's United Bank IRA CD to my XXXX ( workplace plan ) 401k. Several People 's Bank associates blamed the Corona virus panic  and denied me interior access to the bank repeatedly. So I had to wait to process the rollover via the drive thru. 

When Vice President XXXX XXXX ( employee number XXXX ) did process the form that was required she did so incorrectly. First she submitted the required form to the IRA Department of People 's United Bank in XXXX, VT with a date of XX/XX/XXXX and the form bounced back to XXXX, CT via USPS mail. And she proceeded to sit on the returned form in need of a correction and do nothing. I waited and waited for the check in the mail as had been originally promised. 

Finally, after I was forced to complain, XXXX XXXX then revised my form, processed the check as a distribution and withheld CT taxes. This was because she misidentified the rollover as an early withdrawal and therefore it was taxed as a distribution. ( My IRA CD was put into Plan XXXX. ) I specifically stated that this was to be a rollover. 

For 43 days various employees had told me that there is no way to correct this and l must contact the State of Connecticut Tax Division to rectify the taxation error and/or miscategorization that the aforementioned People 's United Bank employee made. ( XXXX XXXX ) Further, on the advice of XXXX XXXX at XXXX, I had to add the missing taxed funds in order to make any rollover to my XXXX ( workplace plan ) 401k legitimate since partial contributions would be taxed and/or refused and cause a potential IRS audit. 

This was bad customer service to say the least. I have quite the story to tell about those 43 days as well. Dropped calls, smart XXXX responses from banking representatives and a general XXXX blamed on the corona virus which I identify as an incredible ineptitude of People 's United Bank retirement banking procedures. And to top the whole mess off, several People 's United Bank associates that I talked to over the phone insisted that this matter had to be handled this way due to new Connecticut State tax law changes. Are there penalties for this type of conduct in Connecticut State banking law? Has the law been changed to tax rollovers in Connecticut now? Will I be taxed again when I actually do get a distribution of these funds? 

I have received paperwork in the mail continuing to identify this as an early withdrawal. I am extremely concerned about the perpetual mishandling of my funds. This banking error has now been passed over to me to get my incorrectly taxed amount back from the State of Connecticut. This burden, as I see it, should not be mine but should be rectified by People 's United Bank since I originally requested a Rollover form and I never asked for a distribution. 
Thank you for reading this. I hope I have clearly explained the situation.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief