Consumer complaint received 2023-09-01
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: AZ
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
I had a car breakdown on XXXX XXXX in Kansas on the way back to XXXX and had to have transported back to XXXX ... ..repairs were estimate at {$4000.00}, so I tried to obtain an online loan from XXXX and they were going to make me a loan for {$10000.00} since I was trying to cover car payment and addition transporting fees I had incurred. 
They asked me for my Routing and Account information, along with my debit card account number and told me that once the insurance was in place on the loan ... ..they told me that I had to have insurance on the loan that would protect the lender against my death or inability to work... ..I had never applied for an online loan before and called USAA and asked them prior to doing anything if this was normal and customary and she ( USAA customer service rep ) said she could not say if this was normal for an online loan, she said it could be or not ... she did not refer me to fraud department of the bank or even suggest from what I recall that she transfer to any other department at USAA... I then looked upon XXXX and they have a website that you can go to today and they sent papers with XXXX  ... ..they were still taking phone calls two days after the I was asked to go to XXXX and move the money that they had to deposited into my checking account at USAA {$2400.00} to pay for the insurance on the loan. I questioned why would this not be part of the cost of the loan and they said that it was a cost they paid for out of the proceeds or their commission ... ..it was a brief part of the conversation and so even though I had some reservations, I needed the loan and my mind was a more focused on getting the loan than what they were asking me to do ... ... red flags should have been going off, I made some serious errors in judgement but I kept saying to myself if they deposited {$2400.00} into my account and I was sending money to an insurance company to protect the lender, how could that be an issue, however, the promise of loan was just part of their scheme to commit a fraud crime against USAA... XXXX.and myself...... .at XXXX with them on the phone telling me to just go to XXXX, and have them scan the bar code and the money will be sent to the insurance company and we will deposit the {$10000.00} loan into your account ... ... .They broke the payment up into {$1000.00} scan and {$1400.00} scan and then they informed the funds did not come through to the insurance company and I needed to go back to XXXX and do this again ... .which I did ... ... .When the funds did not come the next morning I called USAA and they said they could not do anything until the scan had cleared ... ... ... what I did not know until the bank sent me copies of the check that they used which were written from a fictisious company from MN ... ... .I asked the representative at USAA to investigage and I gave him all of the information of what had happen, their phone numbers and lender name plus all of the receipts from XXXX ... ... .I made some errors in judgement and I expressed this to USAA personnel, however, I told them that they could not hold my Social Security that was deposited on XX/XX/XXXX in my account at USAA by direct deposit and it is my sole source of income ... .I am in the XXXX XXXX  but that XXXX has been hard to earn a living in ... I am XXXX XXXX XXXX this week. I have asked for information and USAA just told me that I should accept the facts that I made a mistake and forget my {$2600.00} Social Security payment and get on with my life, then I started to investigate and discovered that SS benefits are Non-Collectable and I informed them of this fact and have no communications from USAA whatsoever in any form or medium and I have provided them with all of my contact information ... .I have defaulted on my rent and all of my obligations and have informed them of this fact.

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