Consumer complaint received 2018-04-23
Company: PNC Bank N.A.
State: IL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Other banking product or service
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem making or receiving payments

Complaint:
Back in the late XX/XX/XXXX it was recommended that I open a self-directed Roth IRA account with XXXX XXXX. The bank set-up a bank account that was linked to a brokerage account with XXXX XXXX XXXX. It was suggested Roth contributions could be made at the bank level and security purchases made through XXXX XXXX. When purchases at XXXX XXXX were made, the bank would send the monies to XXXX XXXX to pay for the trades. Back in early XX/XX/XXXX I was notified in writing by XXXX XXXX that their company was being sold to another broker-dealer. They gave me the option of moving my account to the new broker-dealer or transferring my account elsewhere without incurring any fees. I elected to transfer the Roth IRA to a Roth IRA I already had established with The XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted XXXX and completed a Roth IRA transfer form and submitted it to XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from XXXX that XXXX XXXX had rejected the transfer request as being not in good order. After numerous phone calls to XXXX and XXXX XXXX, it was determined that the problem was that XXXX XXXX had made themselves the Trustee on my Roth IRA. I was told that in order to facilitate the transfer, that an officer of the bank had to sign off on the transfer request form. Unfortunately, XXXX XXXX was taken over by PNC Bank many years ago. After making numerous phone calls to PNC Bank, I eventually came in contact with XXXX XXXX from PNC in early XX/XX/XXXX who said she could help and would get back with me shortly. Unfortunately her call never came. On XX/XX/XXXX I again contacted PNC Bank. This time I spoke with XXXX XXXX. He checked my records and found that XXXX XXXX did not do anything with my initial request. He promised that he would send my request to the escalations department and that someone would get back with me. Again, that call from PNC Bank escalations department never came. On XX/XX/XXXX I again contacted PNC Bank and was transferred to a supervisor from the Escalations Department named XXXX XXXX. I again explained the issue. She asked that I send her a copy of my XXXX XXXX statement which I did via email on XX/XX/XXXX. I also included a XXXX transfer request form for the bank to sign-off on as requested by XXXX. XXXX XXXX informed me that she was sending my request to the PNC Bank legal department. On XX/XX/XXXX I sent a follow-up email to XXXX XXXX who responded that the legal department was still working on my request. Several additional weeks passed before I received a phone call from XXXX XXXX from PNC Bank on XX/XX/XXXX. He identified himself as a subordinate of supervisor XXXX XXXX. He indicated that he had been working on my issue for a few days. After speaking with XXXX XXXX, it was very apparent to me that he didn't know much about my issue after all. The one thing he did tell me was that the bank account that I had set-up as my Roth IRA had been closed for many years. I asked him who authorized the account to be closed as it was not me. He couldn't answer that question. I've since sent a follow-up email to XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and have not had the courtesy of a response. In the meantime, I have an account that I can not do anything with as it is apparently owned by XXXX XXXX  and PNC Bank has done absolutely nothing to work through this to bring about a resolution. I've given them over two months to resolve this problem and have had no success. Please help me. The sense of urgency is that XXXX XXXX will no longer be in business in the near future. I've included several attachments for your review. Thank you! XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation