Consumer complaint received 2018-04-20
Company: REGIONS FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: LA
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:
My complaint concerns Regions Bank and their inability to provide consumer protection of my account. Below is an adapted version of my affidavit I sent to them concerning fraudulent charges on my bank account. The charges span a period of 31 months. They were only willing to assist me in recovering the last 60 days worth of charges. I understand there is a time limit to these things but I do not understand why the time limit protects the perpetrators and not the victims. If I had known who was charging me and for what purpose I would have stopped the transactions earlier but hence there is the rub ... it is fraud and made to look as though the transactions are legitimate when in fact they are not. I expected a large institution like Regions, or any other federally insured bank for that matter, would have better consumer protection laws. I can only imagine what could have happened if I was an XXXX year old grandmother unable monitor my account with such a demanded accuracy. I'm sure many lives have been ruined by the lack of banking 's ability to protect consumers from such fraud as I have recently experienced. 

My adapted affidavit : I am writing to provide supporting information to assist you in your investigation concerning disputed transactions on my Regions Bank Account XXXX. At the end of this letter you find a complete list of all the transaction I would like to be addressed. In XX/XX/XXXX I signed my children up for karate lessons at a local karate gym. At the time of registration I wrote a check from this account to cover what I was told was the cost of uniforms and the cost of lessons for the first month. This bank account is not one that I use for daily transactions but rather keep money in it to cover my and my husbands student loan costs and a few other expenses. I do not use this account on a daily basis or for household expenses but rather had extra money in the account that month and wanted to use it to cover the cost of uniforms and the first month of lessons. 
The karate establishment I signed up with is called XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, LA. These ACH transactions are not from the establishment I signed up with but rather a secondary institution, XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) aka XXXX XXXX aka XXXX XXXX. I was not fully made aware that XXXX would be debiting my account for the karate lesson costs but rather was under the impression I would be paying XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX directly. When signing up with the establishments representative I was not told that my check information would be converted to an ACH draft immediately that day and on a monthly automatic renewing basis. 
I would have expected to be required to give them a voided check and fully informed of who was debiting my account, how often, on what day each month, and in what amount. These things were not fully discussed with my by the institutions representative. These ACH transactions look so similar to a student loan payment that my husband or I often mistook them as a student loan payment and as this account is not intended for everyday use there are many months I never even review this account. Secondly, I had also recently started a college fund for my children and at times thought these transactions could have been authorized by my financial investor as they state " XXXX XXXX '' in the memo line. 
The check I gave them I was told was for the cost of the first months tuition for XXXX children and the cost of their uniforms. I fully expected to be required to pay their lessons via a paper check on a monthly basis for the agreed upon lesson period of 6 months only. Again I did not give them a voided check to be used for ACH debit, not told what day during the month the debits would come out, mislead to think I was paying for uniforms and the first month of lessons when actually my check was used to set up automatic withdrawals to pay for tuition without my fully informed consent, and not informed I was apparently signing up for a billing contract with a secondary institution, XXXX. 
Upon scrutinizing these charges on my account this month I finally discovered who was actually billing my account. As I stated before these transactions say nothing about karate nor do they appear to be linked to the original institution I signed up for services with. Once I was able to contact XXXX I was informed I was paying tuition for karate lessons for XXXX children which is another billing discrepancy because I signed XXXX children up for lessons not XXXX. I was also informed they were not able to give me my money back rather Id have to contact XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX. Therefore I did contact the owner of this establishment. He said these billing errors were not his problem and he would not return any money even though my children only visited his establishment a handful of times in XXXX of XX/XX/XXXX. Rather that it was up to XXXX to do any refunds and that I had fully agreed to let XXXX bill me and automatically renew billing for an excess of 30 months on my account. He also stated I was actually signed up for a gym health membership and not karate instruction another discrepancy. I was told I was paying for karate lessons not a gym health membership. He did not even offer to remove my check information from XXXX which he gave to them to stop the billing. It was not until I made a public complaint against his institution that he stopped the billing. I have also filed complaints with the XXXX XXXX XXXX and the Federal Trade Commission against his establishment. 
He did send me a copy of the billing contract I had signed. It was actually two separate documents. Here again I was failed to be informed my one signature applied to 2 separate billing documents one of which was not disclosed to me. The billing agreement I signed simply states : I understand and agree to the terms of this agreement. I have received my student handbook and I understand that this agreement can only be cancelled with a 30 day written notice after the initial agreement has been filled. I also understand that my membership will self-renew on a month-to-month basis after 6 months and tuition is not refunded if I fail to follow proper protocol for withdrawal. Apparently the terms of the agreement were not what I discussed with the institutions representative but actually written in the back of the student handbook given to my children. In the document found in the student handbook it simply states the XXXX will be billing my account for a period of 6-12 months not the agreed upon 6 months only. An ACH billing date or a billing amount is not discussed or agreed upon in any of these apparent billing agreements. Also, I find it very questionable and unethical business practices to place the terms of a billing agreement in the back of a student handbook for my children ( ages XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX at the time ) to read and not fully disclosed to me, the responsible party, upon me signing up for karate lessons. 
I hope you are now able to see why I am disputing these ACH transactions. Here is a short list as to why these ACH transactions are fraudulent : 1. ) I was lead to believe my original check was used to pay for uniforms and the first month of lessons and not informed it would be used to set up ACH billing, 2. ) I was not directly informed of who was billing my account, 3. ) billing dates were not discussed, 4. ) billing amounts were not agreed upon, 5. ) I was lead to believe the billing period was for 6 months not 30 months, 6. ) once I did contact XXXX I was told I was being billed for XXXX students when I signed XXXX students up for lessons ( I signed all XXXX  of my children up for lessons not XXXX children. This is erroneous information and not something I agreed to ), 7. ) the owner of the establishment informed me I was paying for a gym health membership when I clearly was informed I was paying for karate lessons not a gym membership, 8. ) The billing agreement I signed was actually a deceptive 2 piece document not disclosed to me upon signing the original billing agreement. The second half of the document was located in the student handbook given to my minor children who have no legal authority to agree to a billing agreement. Please visit the website below to see further complaints concerning XXXX practices. Also, please update all my ACH transaction disputes with the list I have provided below. I truly appreciate all of your help. I am a hardworking mother who has one full-time and two part-time jobs. I would have never agreed to such a ridiculous billing agreement had I been informed properly as I can not afford such an expense. I feel that these billing practices are fraudulent, misleading, and border on identity theft. 


COMPLETE LIST OF ALL DISPUTED TRANSACTIONS FOR ACCOUNT NUMBER XXXX Against XXXX XXXX XXXX AKA XXXX XXXX   XXXX XX/XX/XXXXXX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX NA XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX NA XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX NA XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX NA XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX NA XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX NA XXXX NA XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX NA XXXX NA XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX NA XXXX NA XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX NA XXXX NA XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX NA XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX NA XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX NA XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX NA

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