Consumer complaint received 2023-05-17
Company: Dave Operating, LLC
State: AZ
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Banking errors

Complaint:
I've trusted Dave Banking with my main source of income which happens to be Social Security XXXX. I have my SSXXXX directly deposited into my " Dave Spending '' account. That is the name that Dave Banking chose for a regular checking account without checks. You get a Dave Debit Card with a Master Card symbol on it. This is an online app based Banking account that started out as an app that would give you a {$75.00} advance if you linked your external bank account to the app. After two verified pay days directly deposited into your external bank account Dave App would offer you an advance of {$25.00}, {$50.00}, or {$75.00} I would always take the {$75.00} every month for about a year. Then Dave offered a bank account and larger advances up to {$200.00} I gladly took him up on that and immediately was offered the {$200.00} advance. I had my full benefits directly deposited into my Dave Spending account. That amount is currently over {$2000.00} every month. Well I continued to take the {$200.00} advances once a month for over two years never paying back late and always on time. Then one day I logged into the app to request an advance and there was a new banner advertising " {$500.00} advances '' so read more about it and was lead to believe that I could now get up {$500.00} instead of the {$200.00} I was currently getting. I just had to agree to opening an " Extra Cash Account '' so I checked the box agreeing to the new account. At that point everything changed. I was never even offered the {$200.00} advance I was getting before the change. I think I was offered {$50.00} the first month then {$75.00} the second month and it would only offer those smaller amounts for the next few months. I sent several inquiries and complaints about the small amounts when I was supposed to be eligible for the {$500.00} advances. The customer service was the worst I've ever experienced. They would recite the exact same thing I read several times before contacting them. Every month for the last six months I've had to contact customer service to ask them to check into my account and fix the problem. Once they told me I needed to make my Dave Spending account my primary account. Well my Dave Spending account was my primary account for years. The customer service acted like I just opened an account yesterday. After the complaints I was offered {$100.00} once and the last time was {$120.00}. Now when I try to request an advance it says I'm not eligible to receive an advance. What is going on with this Bank. My income hasn't changed, my pay date hasn't changed, nothing has changed except the amount they offer me. I feel like I was mislead and deceived about the {$500.00} advances which I've learned that Dave very rarely ever offers {$500.00} to anyone. Which if you ask me is False Advertising I would have never checked that box that changed the requesting an advance to opening a Extra Cash account that lowered my ability to get even {$200.00}. I used to be able to count on that {$200.00} every month now I can't count on any amount. DAVE BANK lied and mislead me into opening that Extra Cash account. They never reported any kind of positive activity to any credit bureaus. I have records of every single advance I've taken and paid back on time from XXXX to XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation