Consumer complaint received 2018-03-08
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX, one month after moving from XXXX  to XXXX, my wife XXXX opened a new checking account at Captial One 360 Bank. We had previously banked at XXXX and discovered that XXXX had closed all their branches in XXXX. We found a Capital One branch located close to our home and decided to open an account there. 

When my wife went to the branch she was told that Capital One had a service called Capital One 360, which was their online banking. We were not told that this service would mean that the actual bank branch would be unable to assist us with anything other than deposits and withdrawals. She was sold on this service because it was billed as easy and convenient as well as having no minimum balance. 

At the opening of the account, she deposited two personal checks : 1 ) {$2300.00} from XXXX XXXX, who was our landlord in XXXX  ( check was the return of our one month security deposit on the apartment ), 2 ) {$2400.00} from XXXX XXXX ( payment for summer tutoring services performed by myself ). Thus the total initial deposit was {$4700.00}. 

From the opening of the account until XX/XX/XXXX we had no intention of using any of the funds in that account. The account had been opened as a rainy day fund, and with the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX rent due, that rainy day had come. In the meanwhile though, my wife had installed the Capital One mobile app and had periodically checked on the account via the app without any issue. We were concerned by the Equifax hack and have been periodically monitoring our bank accounts to check that nothing was amiss. 

Apparently Capital One sent an email to the effect that more information was needed and the account would be locked until they received more information. This email is dated XX/XX/XXXX. Unfortunately, my wife did not read that email and failed to respond. Thus we relied upon our continued access to the mobile website which did not display a warning or other indication that something was amiss with the account. I have included a screenshot of the email as forwarded from my wife to me. 

On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX my wife and I walked into the same branch, Capital One at Address : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX TX XXXX intending to withdraw some funds to make XXXX rent payment. We were surprised when the branch representative said that the account had been " locked '' XXXX her words XXXX. She then told us that since this is a XXXX account, that the actual branch didn't have any access to the account particulars and everything would have to be done over the phone. She then dialed a line that would connect us to the people who would unlock the account. At the time we thought that a lock must have been placed as a security precaution if the bank had detected some potentially fraudulent attempt to access the account. 

The number the representative dialed connected to a customer service rep who then informed us that all he could do is connect us to the security team. This connection was merely sending us to a voicemail. The branch representative was surprised by this and decided to try again since we were sitting in an actual Capital One bank and could provide all the necessary identification needed for security purposes. After 40 minutes we connected with someone who then told us that the security team could not be reached in any other way other than the connection they gave us that would lead directly to a voicemail. Frustrated and needing the money, my wife left a voicemail with her name and phone number. The branch representative then told us that if they got back to us before close of business that day, we could then return and withdraw money. When asked how long it might take, she assured us that at most 72 hours, which already seemed like an unreasonably long time to return a phone call to a customer who can not access needed funds. 

On the same day, my wife had connected her XXXX account to the CapitalOne account and XXXX did a micro {$.00} transaction to verify the existance and access to that account. My wife then transferred {$320.00} from her XXXX account to the CapitalOne account on XX/XX/XXXX with confirmation that the transfer was completed. She checked on the mobile app and it displayed a deposit of {$320.00} from XXXX. 

Around XXXX on the same day, worried that we would not be able to access the account, I called in to try to get contact with someone who could unlock the account. I explained to the person the urgency of the situation since we needed that money to pay for rent. He said that he understood, but we were given the same non-explanation and connected to the line which did not ring at all and went directly to voicemail. I asked to speak to his manager and he refused. I asked to speak with someone who handles customer complaints and he directed me to an email only, saying that there were no live people I could contact. I wrote a long email describing my complaint to XXXX but did not receive any response, not even an autoreply saying that the message has been received. 

The following day, XX/XX/XXXX, unable to access the account, our account at XXXX XXXX  where we had connected an autopay became overdrawn. Unsure whether someone from Captial One would contact us that day, my wife asked a friend of hers to lend us some money and transfer funds to our XXXX account to cover our overdrawn balance. 

In our last previous phone call with a live person, we had been told that it would most likely be within a week at most that we would hear back from the security team. Meanwhile from XX/XX/XXXX, my wife called back each morning, often on hold for 15-40 minutes before speaking to someone with no further information on the account and then getting forwarded to the same voicemail where she left a name and number. This continued until XX/XX/XXXX, when a week had now passed with no attempt to contact us. 

Now, we began to worry about XXXX rent and not wanting to borrow even more money from a family friend, I used my twitter account to post several tweets detailing our ordeal and the complete lack of responsiveness on the part of Capital One. I received a message in reply from @ XXXX asking for my wife 's name and zip code in a Direct Message. I responded to that request giving them my wife 's name ( XXXX XXXX ) and our home zip code ( XXXX ). Within an hour I received a followup Direct Message : " Thanks for the follow-up XXXX. We did some digging here, and while we're not able to place an outbound call in this case, we should be able to get you in touch with the right team. Have XXXX  call XXXX - this number will take her directly to the correct team to help. ^XXXX '' Hoping that this would be the end of our ordeal, my wife called in to that number. She was able to speak with a live person, who then told her that the account in question had been " closed '' because they had not received a response from us when we opened the account. Keep in mind that neither the branch bank rep nor the phone reps had told us that the account was closed, merely that it was locked. My wife responded by saying that if the account had been closed, then why had she been able to continue to access the account through a mobile login, and further why was XXXX able to confirm the account and allow a transfer of {$320.00} into that account. 

The representative did not explain how this could be possible, but continued to repeat that the account had been closed. We were fine with this, but needed our funds that were in three deposits 1 ) {$2300.00}, 2 ) {$2400.00}, and the final 3 ) {$320.00}. The representative then told my wife that CapitalOne would not issue us that money in a check, but that we would need to contact the original payor of the checks and XXXX to get them to " reverse '' the payment. Having no idea what they were talking about, my wife said she would call them back after speaking with me. 

Meanwhile, she then attempted to log in to her mobile app, only now to discover that suddenly her login no longer worked and displayed a message to call a number. Thus CapitalOne retroactively decided to correct the access we had been given online to fit in line with their narrative. I have included a photo dated XX/XX/XXXX of my wife 's account on the tablet at the bank branch showing access to the account and some of the details of the account to show that CapitalOne is lying about having closed the account prior to XX/XX/XXXX. 

I returned home immediately after receiving a stressed phone call from my wife and we dialed the number I had received on twitter. When my wife asked that the person speak with me, the representative stated that she would not speak with anyone other than my wife. I then turned the phone to speaker so that I could hear what the representative was saying. Again, she repeated the statement that we would need to go back to the payors of the checks and ask them to " reverse '' the payment. The checks had been deposited in XXXX XXXX, and CapitalOne was telling us to get people to get their money back from checks that had been deposited. 

As stated above, the two checks in question were from 1 ) our previous apartment landlord for a return of our security deposit, and 2 ) from the parent of a student of mine. We were told that when the issuing bank requested the " reversal '' that the money would be returned to the accounts of the payors. When asked whether I would receive any documentation from CapitalOne saying that a reversal was made, I was told that they would provide no such documentation. CapitalOne was asking me to put myself in financial jeopardy by asking a landlord and a former client to get their money back, and then trust in their goodwill and moral fortitude that they would then write us new checks, all without any documentation from CapitalOne that something of this nature occurred and that payment that had previously been received and deposited was now no longer the case. Essentially, should the landlord and client decide to not issue new checks to us, I would have no evidence that they had not paid me. Finally, with regard to XXXX, the representative insisted that XXXX would be able to reverse the transaction. The payor in this case was my wife since the {$320.00} had come from her XXXX account. The representative would not answer any further questions, refused to listen to me further because she determined that she had nothing further to offer and then hung up on us. 

Completely demoralized, I tracked down the phone number of our previous landlord and messaged her asking her to call me back. I explained the situation to her and while she was confused, she agreed to call her bank and ask them to do what CapitalOne had requested. 

Following that call, I placed another call to the mother of my student and explained again the same situation. She also agreed to do as CapitalOne asked. 

After that, my wife placed another call to XXXX asking them to " reverse '' the payment. After speaking to a manager level representative, we were told that XXXX is not a financial institution and only had the ability to process funds in one direction, by giving it, not be taking it. 

My wife then called the same number above to let them know that XXXX had said it was impossible to do as CapitalOne had asked. She further questioned why, if the account had been locked or " closed '' as they intimated, had the XXXX connection been allowed, and why had CapitalOne even accepted a XXXX deposit. She received no explanation, and the rep only replied that now no deposits would be accepted. The representative then told her that because of the nature of our calls that CapitalOne had decided that they no longer wanted to do business with us. If our ordeal weren't so real, that would have almost been comically funny. 

My wife replied that this was fine, that we only wanted to get our money back. The representative kept trying to insist that the paying institutions ( the banks from which the checks were drawn and XXXX ) would have to initiate the payment reversal. 

While she was on the phone, I received a call on my phone from our XXXX landlord. My landlord relayed how she had called her bank ( XXXX ) and asked to do what had been requested. She said that her bank said such a procedure was impossible, that the check had been deposited, and there couldn't even be a dispute of the check after such a long period had passed. According to XXXX policy, if XXXX had closed an account ( for whatever reason ) XXXX would have been required by law to issue a check for the balance in the account to the address on record. I hurriedly told my wife what our landlord had told me while she was still on the phone with CapitalOne. 

He repeated the same lines again about getting a reversal until my wife asked to speak with a supervisor. When told that XXXX had told us their policy, he placed my wife on hold to speak with someone. When he returned he told my wife that if we received either a " Hold Harmless Letter '' or " Letter of Indemnity '' from the banks of the payors, CapitalOne would then issue a check to us. My wife had no idea what that meant and he refused to give further information and my wife judged that the representative did not know exactly what those things meant either. He did not offer any further instructions and no email sharing directions for how those letters were to be constructed was given. 

Despondent, my wife hung up after writing down what she had been told, including a fax number ( XXXX ) where we were to fax these letters once we had received them from our landlord and my former client. He still had not let us know how we were to resolve the {$320.00} from our XXXX account. 

Again, I called our landlord to ask her to ask her bank for this, but now she was uncertain about signing a general letter of indemnity, not knowing how CapitalOne would use that letter. Since there was no specific direction regarding what terms would be needed in that letter, I could not tell her what she needed to hear. She agreed to ask her bank if they knew what CapitalOne would need, but she stated that while she would agree to an affadavit affirming the nature of the check that she wrote to us, she would likely not sign a general ( unspecific ) letter of indemnity. 

I received a similar reply from the mother of my student. 

Now we are completely out of options. CapitalOne says they closed the account. CapitalOne has now, beginning XX/XX/XXXX locked my wife out of online access. CapitalOne has told us of a method to recover the money that turned out to be impossible according to the banks of the check payors. CapitalOne now demands a legal instrument that the check payors are reluctant to sign. 

We even visited our local XXXX XXXX  representative to ask for clarification and she informed us that XXXX XXXX, like XXXX, would have issued a check for the balance in the account upon closing the account. 

I discovered the CFPB from calling the Federal Reserve consumer help line and was transferred to a CFPB representative who was very helpful. 

We are desperately in need of help. We were told that after filing the complaint that CapitalOne would have 15 calendar days to respond. 15 days would put us very close to the end of the month, at which point another rent payment will be due along with the other bills. We have not been able to make more than our minimum credit card balance payments and are essentially surviving on using credit cards to pay for gas, utilities, food, and essentials. We have a XXXX XXXX daughter and need this money to get some of our financial issues straightened.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation