Consumer complaint received 2021-11-04
Company: Affirm Holdings, Inc
State: UT
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
I currently hold a savings account at Affirm. I have had this account since XXXX, 2020. I have gradually increased the account amount, and it currently has quite a lot of money in it. I have never had troubles accessing my funds, transferring in or out of this account, until now. 

This problem all started on Thursday. XXXX XXXX. I was trying to do withdrawals on my account, through the IOS Affirm App, and I could not get it to work. Assuming it was just technical difficulty, I called into customer service. The representative was helpful, and after over an hour, uninstalling, reinstalling, resetting up my account, the app appeared to be working. I initiated 3 withdrawals, to pull all of my funds out of the account, and have them sent to another institution I bank with. This would have transferred all of my funds. All 3 transactions appeared to be pending on my account. The next morning ( Friday, XXXX XXXX ), I logged into my account, and there was nothing showing in my activity. All pending withdrawals were gone. The funds appeared back in my account like I had done nothing. 

Note : When you make a withdrawal on their website, as soon as you do and the withdrawal is pending, it deductions the funds out of your account. So that evening, with the pending withdrawals, my balance was XXXX - then the next morning, they were gone from the activity, and my balance was back to the full amount. 

Almost the exact same thing happened again on Friday. I called. I walked yet another representative through the issue. They had me initiate more withdrawals that sat pending. However, this time, I did it from Affirm 's website, rather than the App. I checked on Saturday, XXXX XXXX, and again, all requests gone, and the money showing in my account. 

Frustrated, anxious, and starting to feel stressed, I knew they have also responded to me before through their help/resolution center ( message system ), so I opened a claim there. *Note : It took them until today ( XXXX XXXX ) to respond, in which they checked my account, saw pending withdrawals ( that were initiated by me again today, but again dropped off ) and so they closed the ticket. Case ID Number : XXXX So, Monday I called. Again. I tried to explain that this is now my 4th attempt trying to get my funds. They told me to do the same thing. However, this time I spoke to a supervisor, who then confirmed with me the withdrawals looked correct and should process within a day. 

Next morning, Tuesday, XXXX XXXX ( today ), I logged in, and gone. AGAIN. I called and demanded I speak to a supervisor. He opened up Case ID Number : XXXX. He told me it outlined the issue I was having withdrawing my funds and would mark it critical. Later this afternoon, I checked again. And they had already disappeared. So, I called, again, extremely frustrated. The supervisor this time, was incredibly plain, no help, read from a candid script, and could tell me nothing. At this point, I got nervous so I did additional research. 

I know Affirm is a thintech, and I understand that their affiliate institution, XXXX XXXX, is the actual bank that is FDA insured and holds the funds. I called them today as well, and they told me they could not do anything for me, as Affirm is the only one that can confirm me, my information, and actually initiate the transaction to pull my funds. After discovering that information, I emailed Affirm, and it opened yet another Case ID number : XXXX. I wrote out all details, explaining the situation. I also called, one more time, hoping for some kind of help. 

This time, the rep was a little more helpful, and at least did some troubleshooting with me. He identified I had XXXX saved linked accounts, when Affirm only allows 6. I deleted 3. He also confirmed my address, in which was an old address, so we updated both my billing and mailing address to the correct one. Talking through it with him, he couldn't confirm, but thought one of those things might have been the cause to why the withdrawals kept not going through. He opened up yet another Case ID number : XXXX, and told me that he sent it to the right department ( making me think the last 2 hadn't been? ) that way if these current pending withdrawals don't go through, they will be able to review that and send my funds to me manually.

My ultimate frustration is that I feel like my funds are being held hostage. I also feel like no one can give me a straight answer as to what the problem is. So at this point, I don't know if it's a technical error, a system glitch, or if one of these institutions are purposely withholding my funds from me. Not only is this unethical, it's extremely dishonest, and now impacting things in my life, as I am set to close on a home in less then 2 weeks.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation