Consumer complaint received 2019-05-14
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: OH
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Billing problem

Complaint:
Prior to XXXX, I had been satisfied with my service from USAA and did not have any issues with the financial institution. During the summer of XXXX, however, all of that changed. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I secured an auto loan with USAA in the amount of {$50000.00}, to purchase a car from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( the Dealership ) in XXXX XXXX XXXX, Florida. The agreement with the dealership was that once the deal was funded, the car would be shipped to me in XXXX, Ohio. USAA sent the funds directly to the dealership, and I waited patiently for the car to be shipped to me. After a few weeks, USAA began to contact me about the title to the vehicle. I informed USAA that I never received the vehicle and do not have the title. Although I never received any funds from USAA and USAA never received the title, I was instructed to attempt to resolve the issue directly with the dealership. Unfortunately, while I was trying to resolve the issue with the dealership, the company literally disappeared. The contact information of the dealership was no longer correct. 

I should not have been responsible to resolve this issue alone. USAA had a vested interest in this matter, also. I did not have the funds nor the vehicle. USAA never attempted to repossess the vehicle from me, because it was known that I did not have the vehicle. I sent letters requesting a fraud investigation. I was told there was no fraud between USAA and myself, that this was a civil matter, and USAA would not get involved. However, there was fraud between USAA and the dealership, seeing that the money was exchanged between USAA and the dealership for the delivery of a product that was never received by the customer. 

Finally, after years of attempting to enlist USAAs assistance, I filed a police report with the XXXX XXXX XXXX Police department ( report number is XXXX-XXXX ). According to Detective XXXX XXXX of the XXXX XXXX XXXX Department, the car has been sold at least twice since it was sold to me, the last known address of the dealership, where USAA sent the funds to pay for the vehicle, is actually a parking garage and not a dealership. I have repeatedly provided all of this information to USAA, to no avail of a resolution. I have not received any assistance from the bank for this clearly fraudulent transaction. 

USAA has been reluctant to assist me in this matter. The bank is clearly aware that it has failed in its responsibility to me as a member of USAA, to properly investigate and take action on this case. This was reinforced when I discovered that the signature on the application is not my signature. I have relayed all of the information that I had in the multiple letters that I sent to USAA. However, I received the same response that there is not any fraud found between USAA and the Dealership, and therefore USAA would not do anything. I have sent multiple letters to USAA and the collection agency that USAA hired to collect funds for the account, in an attempt to resolve this issue that has hurt me financially and emotionally. 
I have attached the letters that I have sent to USAA and the collection agency. 

I have recently obtained new information showing that Mr. XXXX XXXX, has been indicted and sentenced to 48 months in federal prison for laundering the proceeds of fraud against banks in XXXX and elsewhere. The indictment states XXXX, working with others, submitted false loan applications in XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, and USAA Federal Savings Bank, all of which were federally insured. On XX/XX/XXXX, U.S. District Judge XXXX XXXX XXXX sentenced XXXX to 48 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. The court also ordered him to pay a total of {$410000.00} in restitution to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, USAA Federal Savings Bank, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX. The court found that XXXX XXXX criminal conduct involved {$550000.00} in bank-fraud proceeds and that XXXX employed sophisticated means in fabricating loan documentation and moving funds between bank accounts he controlled. 

This new information supports my claim that the information sent to you by the dealership pertaining to the application, the forged signature on the application, the delivery charges for the vehicle, and the title certificate, and all other documents were fraudulent. Additionally, the funds for the car were sent directly to the dealership by USAA and not sent to me. Therefore, the dealership has committed fraud against USAA and myself, causing the entire transaction to be fraudulent and voidable.

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