Consumer complaint received 2019-07-11
Company: NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I transferred money to my Navy Federal Credit Union card from a XXXX  XXXX XXXX that I believed belonged to my employer. There were six transfers beginning XX/XX/2019. After the initial transfer, I went to an XXXX store to make the purchases. I was warned of a scam that involved XXXX gift cards purchased after 10k was transferred into a person 's checking account where the cash was available next day but once the items were shipped it was discovered the money wasn't there. I was purchasing XXXX phones and shared that the bank had put a 7 to 10 day business hold on the transfer before the money was made available. Though it was different than the scenario given to me, I went home and contacted the bank. I was told that Navy Federal holds any 3rd party transfer over {$500.00} for 7 to 10 days because in the past the funds were not available to be pulled after the previous 3 day hold was released. So I stated that the additional payment hold days were incorporated to ensure that the money was there and the customer service agent said yes. She said if I was on the account she could call the bank and verify. I told her that the account was not in my name because I had checked due the information the XXXX manager had given me. I waited for the hold to end and it did. The money was applied to the card. I made five more transfers after that believing the transaction to be legit from the information I had been given about the payment holds. I kept checking my bank statements even taking pictures each time to record the activity there was no payment reversal until XX/XX/2019 when Navy Federal attempted to pull all six transfers at once, more than a full month after the first transfer. When I spoke to a rep, he said that the money had been credited to the card not pulled from the XXXX XXXX XXXX account. I told him about my conversation with the rep after my first transfer and he agreed that the money is drawn on the third day when the amount is less than {$500.00} and after 7 to 10 business days for amounts over it. I asked why wasn't I notified that the money was not drawn from XXXX  XXXX XXXX but credited by Navy Federal. If I had been notified I could have walked away rather than believing the transfers were being processed. I was given bank account information to cover all transfers but the rep advised against it because it seem to be a scam. I told him that I would like the account investigated to see if it was legitimate because I couldn't afford to pay back $ XXXX. I had to make a payment to my card after I was locked out of my account. When the collections department called me, I informed the rep of what happened and asked if there were notes of the investigation. He said the note was there but he was calling to collect a debt. My credit card payment prior to these events was the XXXX of each month so there was no reason for the call yesterday by collections other to let me know I was responsible for the money even though Navy Federal didn't draw the money or alert me to anything until XX/XX/XXXX. I filled a scam complaint after leaving the XXXX store, froze my consumer report, pulled my credit card and filed a case online with the FBI after making the first purchase at the XXXX store. I figured better to be safe and protect my identity should it be a scam. With the transfers going through, I believed it to be a legitimate transfer because each transfer was held for the 7 to 10 business days. Navy Federal needs to check its internal practices and people. The second transfer should not have gone through if as the rep stated, an attempt to pull the money was made and the funds were insufficient.

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