Consumer complaint received 2018-07-30
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Charged too much interest

Complaint:
Issue : USAA is not applying payments to credit card balances properly. 

Statement of Events : XX/XX/XXXX - I deposited a " convenience check '' received from USAA in the mail ( {$12000.00} at 0 % interest until XX/XX/XXXX with balance transfer fee paid up front ). 

XX/XX/XXXX - statement date that showed the promotional balance with a promotional APR applied ( {$11000.00} remaining ). 

XX/XX/XXXX - took a {$2000.00} cash advance ( intended to be short term ). 

XX/XX/XXXX - Made a {$2300.00} payment. Intention was to cover the minimum due ( {$110.00} ) which would be applied to the lower interest balance first, and have the rest applied to the higher interest balance IAW regulations. Instead, the {$2300.00} was applied to the lower interest balance only and all payments since then have been also. Interest is now accruing against the cash advance balance and is calculated daily unlike other balances. 

XX/XX/XXXX - Realized the problem and called USAA to dispute. Spent 25 minutes on the USAA chat app with an rep that couldn't get past square 1 and kept repeating the payment application rules without realizing that I was tracking the basic rules just fine. I then spent over 40 minutes on the phone with a rep that finally figured out ( after not getting it for the first 30 minutes or so ) that it appeared there was a problem with the way the payments had been applied. He then told me that he was not empowered to fix the problem ( effectively ) and that I would have to wait for a callback from a supervisor on Monday. I was not happy about wasting so much time on a Sunday without a resolution, but agreed to a XXXX XXXX call back from a supervisor on Monday morning. 

XX/XX/XXXX : - XXXX XXXX call back time came and went - no call. 
- XXXX XXXX - I called back and started the process over in what ended up being a 56 minute call ( 56 minutes and 16 seconds to be exact ). I was eventually transferred to XXXX in the " Executive Resolutions '' department. XXXX also agreed ( after some back and forth ) that there appeared to be an issue. However, apparently there was some discord in the office about whether or not the payment allocations was compliant with law and regulation ( and USAA policy ). Again, after much back and forth and time on hold, I did not receive a resolution. I even asked how I could make an ADDITIONAL payment that would reduce my high interest balance ( after fulfilling the minimum payment rules ), but XXXX was unable to advise me on a method that would work. He told me they would file something with " the back office '' and that was that. 

Summary : I believe I am being charged interest inappropriately and not in accordance with regulations. If USAA is finding some loophole to make this application of payments work, they are clearly not recognizing the intent of the regulators that created the new rules. Also, if it's happening to me, it's obviously happening to a lot of other people. 

Unfortunately, not many of us have both the financial background I do ( XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, etc ), and the time to spend 2 - 3 hours on the phone and then time to write a complaint like this ( and still not have a resolution ). I believe this incident should be researched as potentially more than a one off event and that USAA should be warned and/or disciplined appropriately for not making the application of payments a more transparent ( and compliant ) process. Even if they are somehow finding a loophole that allows them to be technically compliant, USAA is clearly not being transparent enough for the average consumer of the financial products they sell.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief