Consumer complaint received 2021-02-27
Company: BBVA FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Banking errors

Complaint:
I bank at Simple and they are closing and being taken over by BBVA soon but I currently have a shared and individual account. My issue is with both accounts really but the shared mostly. When I transferred funds from an expense and goal then deleted the goal the funds did not return to my account. I have deliberated repeatedly with customer service with no resolution. I will forward just a few of our many many communications back and forth on this. 

Me : Hello : I have written in about this issue multiple times over the months deliberating back and forth between different support staff in the attempt to make understood the fact that I had a sum of over {$600.00} in my shared account which suddenly disappeared when I transferred it from the expense category into my XXXX XXXX XXXX  as there was an overspent status at the time but certainly not more than $ XXXX worth!! I understand the terminology or language in correlation to the concepts of having an available balance vs a XXXX XXXX XXXX and an expense goal vs a savings goal also included under the protected balance of that separate account to which spending should NOT be made available unless one transfers said funds from there to wherever! 

Now ; I have not found the proper way to explain myself adequately thus have not been able to prove my case, until now. I now have the visual proof in the form of screenshots which give an exact example as to what occurred back then with that {$600.00}! 

Currently, I have exactly {$1.00} in my shared account balance which is showing up as my available balance of again, {$1.00}. Now, I created an expense for funds to be set aside for an upcoming phone bill from XXXX for {$130.00} starting on the XXXX of the month ie ; payday! Therefore, when utilizing the slide down feature to display my account status in the app, it shows as expected with available balance being {$1.00} and under that an expense of, yup, {$1.00} put aside for that bill of {$130.00}, correct!? Okay so logic follows that these funds are now allocated towards that expense I set yes? Now whats interesting is that the screenshot I have saved from way back when this event took place is ironically similar except that it shows a much larger amount of {$630.00} AND an expense of you guessed it, {$630.00}!!! Now I would like to insist that those funds were somehow or other, removed from my available balance and expense section regardless of whether or not spending was allowable because no spending took place as the FUNDS WERE GONE without my authorization or knowledge of where they transferred to since they did not follow the computational instruction I gave to transfer them into my XXXX XXXX XXXX in order to resolve that overspent and refill my balance do my purchasing habits could be executed at the store I was presently in shopping at! 

Now maybe it was just a strange fluke or glitch of the system, or maybe there was some nefarious mishandling of finances internally, I cant say since all I know is that I had {$630.00} vanish from the account balance it was put into for safekeeping and then I was, what felt like, spun around and around then back and forth often by different reps using their own version of conflicting language which always contradicted itself in manipulative framing thereby creating a more preferred off putting basis for a relationship as a customer of an FDIC insured entity!? I doubt that one in a position such as mine, would put in so much time and continued effort unless there was some basis of truth as to what they are compellingly confessing as to be true and hoping to be heard and replied to with the appropriate response in the form of resolution not more games of wordy confabulation and fiscal injury! Otherwise, no complaints! Ha! Thanks! 

Me : I had a savings goal that I had named XXXX Fund which had {$87.00} in it yesterday when I transferred it into my new savings account I just opened but its not there anymore and I deleted the label XXXX Funds so its not there now either!? What gives? I know I was negative in my XXXX XXXX XXXX but I would like to know what happened to that money please!? Thanks! 

XXXX XXXX. 
Im really glad you reached out about this, Id be happy to provide some clarity. 

Expenses and goals are not really separated from your Full available balance. 
So when your XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX goes negative it pulls from those accounts until the available balance is used up. 
The only way to protect against that is to keep tabs on your full available balance ( you can do this by clicking on your XXXX XXXX XXXX  balance a few times ) and if you want a truly separated saving fund then you can Deposit it in the XXXX XXXX  accounts. 

Thank you for being the best part of Simple, I hope you have a great day XXXX XXXX. 

Thats what Im confused about ... that it was in the protected funds part! Why is there no record of this though? 

XXXX XXXX, The XXXX XXXX will always be named one of two things on the goals tab. 
Emergency fund, and XXXX goal. 
Those two are the only ones that are protected, where as any others is just for budgeting purposes. 
When you deleted the goal to put the funds back in you had already spent them in other transactions. 
Here is a little more info on XXXX XXXX  and how to fund them. 
https : //www.simple.com/help/articles/goals/protected-goals Thank you for being the best part of Simple, I hope you have a great day XXXX XXXX XXXX 

Thank you for the simplified explanation but I still believe there is something being missed here. When I go to look under my recent transactions for the XXXX XXXX transfers using the XXXX app for example ; it has suddenly disappeared!? I understand how the accounts work which is why it doesnt make sense because I actually transferred that {$87.00} out of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX into the new Savings Account I initiated while new funds were deposited into the Shared Account that covered that over spent amount and put in extra to bring the balance up to whatever amount it is with that {$130.00} credit. I think theres some mistake here still. 

Hey there Folks, XXXX here stepping in. I'm happy to provide more clarification on what happened here. 

The " XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXg '' XXXX that was created was not a 'XXXX XXXX ' This means that the funds in this Goal were still apart of your total available account balance. 

When you overspend what's available in your XXXX, the amounts you see in your Goals and Expenses will remain the same. This is to help you keep track of where you were before you went overspent. 

When you made the {$87.00} transfer out of the XXXX back to your XXXX, the funds were not actually available in the XXXX because you were overspent. This is why no funds would've been allocated to your XXXX XXXX. 

At the time you made this transfer your total available account balance was {$6.00}. 

At this time, we don't have a way to show a running list of the transfers made between your Goals/Expenses and XXXX, or a running XXXX balance. 

I hope this clears up some confusion -- let us know if you need anything else. 

Best, XXXX Okay that all seems sensible except how I could have an available balance of {$6.00} and be overspent at the same time? 

Hey there XXXX, Great question! 

Your XXXX and total available balance are not always the same. Since your XXXX makes up your total available balance, you can have a {$0.00} XXXX balance with a total available balance of {$6.00}. The equation that we use is : Total Available Balance - Goals - Expenses = XXXX In your XXXX app on the activity tab, if you click on the small down-facing arrow near your XXXX you can see the explanation of your account balance. 

Let me know if you have any more questions! 

Best, XXXX I transferred {$600.00} from individual account for XXXX but its reflecting only {$480.00}? It wasnt in the negative when that was transferred so why has it not all been moved or where is that money please? Im also showing double atm fees charged when I use the XXXX app service within XXXX XXXX app ; why is this? 

Hey XXXX, When the {$600.00} transfer showed up in your shared account, there were also two separate transactions that took place afterward, a charge at a XXXX Cent only store for {$43.00}, as well as an ATM withdraw of {$120.00} ; does this ring any bells? 

And for the XXXX XXXX charge via XXXX, I'm not seeing anything in regards to it on the shared account. If it is on the shared account, could you please provide me the name that it shows up as or the attempted charge you've done? 

Best regards, Aries I keep having this message thread closed by different agents so I cant ever keep the threads ... but lets go at it again-Hello again XXXX R : Some time has elapsed since any real response from any of my messages posed regarding my Shared account balance along with the expenses and protected or not goals, but I still need some answers ; if not to resolve my concerns then to perhaps initiate some escalated internal review of the current procedures in place for the subject matter. 

That said, lets review ; last year, in XXXX, I originally wrote in with some complaints over funds that were missing after moving them from my goals and expenses ( an envelope in my briefcase ) to my XXXX. Doing so because the app indicated I was overspent. So upon recalculating that balance to a positive one in order to accommodate my purchasing needs, which would in theory, compensate for the overspent status ... it all disappeared from both my goal and expense AND XXXX or Available balance ... meaning ; I moved it from XXXX XXXX, which was under the XXXX XXXX status, ( hence it was not being pulled from that envelope to spend when my available balance was at XXXX, therefore it WAS protected! ) to my present balance so that I could spend from it but alas ... .could not use any of it because poof, it was gone! No longer in either envelope or balance!! It was around {$600.00} and it simply disappeared into thin air! Needless to say, it raised my concern so I called in immediately to inquire on it and spoke to someone extensively, in which the end result became less of any benefit or resolution and more of an acquiescence to their explanation since I wasnt at home with pen and paper to confirm what was being proposed! Thus, I just let it go until I could look more into the issue. Since then, Ive still discovered contradictory information that is confusing to decipher because it can be interpreted in multiple ways without being very concrete and that is not what needs to be when discussing money matters! Language should not interfere or determine monetary matters in my opinion, there should be no opinions involved whatsoever because then its all subject to interpretation and that is cause or reason for manipulation of the money! Ive taken multiple screenshots of the apps display of account status etc ... and much of it just moment apart tell a different status with nothing between them ... no transactions to cause the changes I mean! Perhaps Simple could add an attachment option here to include photos from clients phones to assist in communications!? Just a suggestion. What can I provide to help explain what Im saying better or how can I prove this to be the case? Need some answers in black and white please! will someone thats a math wizard please review my records from that time period and explain what happened because Im not crazy and I know there was {$600.00} plus in our account at that time! Thanks! 

Hi XXXX, Thanks for reaching out about this. My name is XXXX and I'm a support lead here at Simple. I'm happy to clarify what overspending means in your account. 

First, I'd like to clarify that the only XXXX XXXX we offer currently are the Savings Goal and the Emergency Fund. In your previous message, you mention that the " XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX '' is a XXXX XXXX - but this is not the case. Adding " XXXX XXXX '' to the name of the XXXX, unfortunately, does not make it Protected. 

With that being said, as a reminder, Goals that are not protected are *not* a separate balance from your total available account balance. Goals and Expenses are display budgeting tools that only help you budget funds. 

Overspending occurs when you spend more then what you have available in your XXXX, but the funds were allocated to a XXXX or XXXX instead. 

XXXX use an example account balance : - {$100.00} Total Available - {$50.00} in Goals - {$50.00} remaining in XXXX If you were to make a {$75.00} transaction and the transaction is spent from your XXXX, your XXXX will be overspent by {$25.00}, your Goals will *show* {$50.00}, and your total available balance will be {$25.00}. 

When you go overspent, the balance of your Goals will be inflated to show what your balance was *before* you went overspent, which is what is represented in my above example. If you navigate to your XXXX tab while overspent, you'll see a banner that notifies you of the overspent balance. 

Now, if you were to transfer the *inflated* {$50.00} that you see in your Goals balance to your XXXX, the account balances would then be : - {$25.00} Total Available - {$0.00} Goals - {$25.00} XXXX This is true because again, the Goals balance is inflated since youve already spent the funds from your XXXX. To be clear, when this happens funds are not missing - your Goals are inflated and the funds you see allocated are not truly there. 

When you make transfers from a non-XXXX XXXX  to your XXXX ( and vice versa ) you will not see a transfer line in your activity. However, I can confirm that your balances are accurate going back to XXXX. 

Best, XXXX XXXX everything youre saying does make sense ... except the parts about the XXXX balance being inflated? I can make transfers into and out of those Goals so how can then the funds have an option of inflation since they are actual funds not imagined ones? It would make sense if it were Expenses but I dont see how a goal under a XXXX XXXX account that has been funded and restricted from automatic spending suddenly become imaginary or dematerialize except when being transferred from XXXX location to another location that isnt designated into any of my accounts!? Am i just not getting something here? I feel like Im seeing the actual image were referencing but just keep getting translations of that image in different versions from you guys? 

Another conundrum Ive discovered recently after looking back on threads is XXXX where it is being said that my available balance & XXXX XXXX XXXX balance will deplete when transfers from XXXX XXXX XXXX are made into Emergency Funds within XXXX XXXX which is still a part of my XXXX XXXX XXXX  ie Available Balance ... .so why would it deplete when its going from one account to a subdivision of the same account!? How could it be depleted or less than what it was prior to the reclassification since its not changed locations or accounts!? This is truly mind boggling! Im sorry for my persistence but I just have to get through this block of mine apparently, or else its a very powerful XXXX Effect going on here and Im the only one immune?! 

I apologize for any confusion in the transcripts here but its tedious pasting it all! I hope this at least shows the extent of desperation Im experiencing with them over this! Hopefully a resolution with come from this now!!! 

Thank you, XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation