Consumer complaint received 2019-12-28
Company: CHARLES SCHWAB CORPORATION, THE
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
My complaint is simple : fraud occurred on my Charles Schwab accounts attached to my brokerage accounts, it was reported in a timely manner, and I have not been refunded almost one year later. Multiple Charles Schwab representatives have left me hanging for almost 12 months, some making false promises only to pass the buck to a different customer service agent. Schwab promises its clients, Schwab will cover 100 % of any losses in any of your Schwab accounts due to unauthorized activity. It offers two caveats : 1 ) a customer must safeguard his or her accounts by not sharing account access information and 2 ) reporting the fraud as quickly as possible. As such, my hospital stay was one in which an order for XXXX XXXX was entered to save my life. I did not give any information whatsoever to any person on earth, and I reported the fraud as soon as I was out of the hospital and had access to my belongings once again ( they had been in a XXXX locker for weeks ). I have never shared the actual debit card nor have I given out my PIN number to a single soul. Per Schwabs request, I gave them the suspect name XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. 

A brief narrative : After a XXXX XXXX stay for stage XXXX XXXX XXXX from XX/XX/XXXX till XX/XX/XXXX, I returned home to fraudulent actions on both my checking and savings accounts at Charles Schwab. The nature of the criminal activity is debit card abuse at an ATM. There were 3 errors on my checking and 56 on my savings. The fraudulent activity included a series of XX/XX/XXXX ATM cash withdrawals ( done in increments of {$200.00} and {$400.00} ) topping {$18000.00} done over the time period of my XXXX XXXX. The address for the criminal activity is XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, Texas. All fraudulent transactions took place while I was XXXX   at XXXX. I immediately reported the fraud to Charles Schwab, and the claim is still pending with them. The debit card number used in these fraudulent transactions is XXXX. 

I submitted all requested documentation to Charles Schwab, including a police report and confirmation of my XXXX XXXX. The police also confirmed my XXXX XXXX and stated for the record that I was defrauded. I was initially refunded by XXXX XXXX before it was soon reversed with no notification or warning. Several months later XXXX XXXX promised to refund me on three occasions before blaming not being able to do so on a committee. The latest representative from the Client Advocacy Team, XXXX XXXX, has told me he will look into how the fraud was not detected when it was completely different to my patterns over the years ( I do not use ATMs ). Telephone banker XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, told me my personal banker was  XXXX XXXX. This lined up with the series of sales emails I received from him, and so I directly called and emailed him with no response. After the contact and a mention of filing a complaint, he was surreptitiously removed from my accounts. Charles Schwab accepted no responsibility for this error and blamed it on me. As a customer, this meant no one over the phone or at the branch was willing to stand by the Schwab guarantee. This is terrible and unacceptable and a complete violation of my financial rights. 

These events are terrifying to any customer, but to go through this on your XXXX when you need the funds for a XXXX XXXX and your family ( my wife is XXXX with our XXXX XXXX ),  it is especially troubling and traumatic. Rather than making positional personal assumptions, Schwab should stand by a defrauded customer and not ignore its security guarantee to bully a XXXX customer. 

Charles Schwab has not stood by its security guarantee in protecting my accounts. I ask that this be escalated within the bank to a leader who can rectify the situation and finally restore me for the fraud I have endured. 

I am also submitting this claim on behalf of my wife, XXXX, who is a signer on the accounts. Thank you for your time and please let me know if I can be if any assistance in facilitating a resolution.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation