Consumer complaint received 2022-01-08
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: VA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Banking errors

Complaint:
Monday XX/XX/2022 - XXXX am : Received a text that stated it was a Truist Alert asking if we attempted a transaction with XXXX XXXX in the amount of {$430.00}. If yes reply 1 if no reply 2. We had not attempted this transaction so I replied with 2 for no. A follow up text shortly after stated that a representative would be in touch shortly. 

- XXXX am : I attempted to contact Truist through their XXXX customer service number as I wanted to follow up on the text I received. After 3 attempts ( XXXX & XXXX being the other 2 calls ) I was not able to speak to a representative as I was unable to make it past the automated prompts. The automated prompts were asking for either the last 4 digits of my social security or tax identification number. I provide the last 4 of my social and PIN number but when ask to verify which account I was calling in reference too, I was unable to do so as the last 4 digits of the accounts that were being offered didnt match any of the ones on our account. I then decided to contact the local branch office located in XXXX VA on XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

- XXXX am : Contacted the local Truist branch ( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX spoke with a lady named *****. I explained the text I received and that I was following up to verify that everything was ok and that our bank cards were still active. She stated that she didnt see a charge or pending charge for that amount and that everything looked in good working order. I then assumed it was handled and everything was ok. 

- XXXX am : Looked at my cell phone and noticed I had 2 missed calls from Truists customer service number ( XXXX ). Being concerned that there was still an ongoing issue I immediately dialed the number back. 

- XXXX am : While on the outgoing call to Truist I received a call from Truists customer service number on my other line. I ended the call I was on and answered the incoming call from them. I spoke with a man who advised me that there had been attempts to get into our online account and also discussed the {$430.00} transaction that we did not make. He stated that our cards would have to be replaced and that he would provide us with a temporary password so that we could access our online information while everything was locked for investigation. I was advised that the new cards would be coming by XXXX XXXX and that there was a fee but they were waiving it. I did tell him that BB & T did not charge us when this happened before but he stated that Truist handled things differently. The call was slightly muffled and broken at times, and he placed me on hold a lot, so it made it hard to follow what was being said, but I just figured it was because people work remotely now. He never requested any information such as a password or social security number so it didnt really trigger any concern. I gave him an email address and last 4 of our tax identification number ( Truist requests this when you call ). He then stated that we would be receiving a few notifications to our devices by text and email and that he would need the codes that came through to authenticate what we were doing. The texts and email with the codes came through and the email looked like others we had received so I proceeded to read him the codes. At this point Id been on the phone with him for close to an hour. He gave me the temporary password and just said that we would need to use that next time we logged in. We decided to wait until another time to set all that up as we were at work. The call was ended 1hr and 10 minutes later. 

- XXXX am : Husband called local Truist branch, while I was still on the phone, after the phone call was taking quite some time. He just wanted to make sure that it was ok to be talking to someone since they had earlier stated to me that they didnt see any problems with our account. He spoke with ***** of the local branch who verified with him that the number calling was indeed there main customer service line. She then stated that it very well could be their fraud department and didnt see any reason for concern cause she just may not be able to see the issue on her end. 

XXXX am : Husband was contacted by the local Truist branch and spoke with ***** again who stated that the call I was on, and concerned about, seems to be suspicious. Immediately my husband checked our accounts on his mobile app and saw that almost all of the money in our 3 accounts had been removed. Since this appeared to be a breach to our online account with all of our information, it was decided that it was best to lock all of our accounts. This would mean that we would not be able to access any of our funds at this time and had no answers as to when we would be able to as the fraud department now was handling this. 

- XXXX pm : My husband makes many attempts to contact me. Once he reaches me he explains what happened and advises me to get in touch with Truist and find out more information from the fraud department and when we will be able to access our funds. 

- XXXX pm : I attempted to contact Truist and reach anybody that could provide us with information on this investigation. I was unsuccessful after 5+ hours of waiting on hold on the phone. 

- XXXX pm : Husband was contacted by the local Truist branch and was advised that we needed to file a complaint online with the FBI XXXX online fraud investigations department. It appeared that who ever contacted me had fraudulently wired the money out of our account. They stated that an investigation was initiated and that we were to wait to hear from them. No time provided as to when. 

- XXXX pm : Fraud department contacted my husband ( XXXX ) XXXX and provided case numbers. We were advised that these numbers would be required when trying to speak to anyone about our accounts due to them being locked. They then stated they were working on things and would be in touch. Again nobody provided a timeline or any information on how they intended to help us, their customer retain access to our funds while the investigation was ongoing. 

- XXXX pm : I filed a complaint online with the FBI as requested. 

Tuesday XX/XX/2022 - XXXX am : Started trying to contact the local bank branch. Unable to contact them as they werent opening until late do you weather conditions. 

- XXXX am : I was contacted by ***** from the FBI XXXX department to go over the complaint I had submitted to them concerning this matter. He went over some additional information I needed to obtain from the bank for his records. I advised him that I had been attempting to contact them and as soon as I could get a hold of someone at the local branch I would try to provide all the additional information he needed. 

- XXXX am : Finally got in contact with ***** at the local branch who had been working on this with us and advised her that I wanted to come in and get some additional information for the FBI. I also informed her that I wanted to find out more about our legal rights under Regulation E and FDIC. She said she would be available in XXXX minutes. 

- XXXX am : I arrived at the bank and spoke with ***** who informed me that she had good news and that our funds were now released and available. She provided a printout of this for our records. We discussed options for retrieving the funds since our accounts were breached and locked. We decided it was in our best interest due to ongoing issues of fraud weve encountered with BB & T/Truist that we just remove the money from their establishment and place in an account with another bank. She advised that I could not authorize the closing out of the accounts and that my husband would have to come in and do so. My husband promptly went to the bank branch and closed out the accounts. He was issued a cashiers check and cash for the amount of funds we had in all 3 accounts, minus the amount we needed to leave there to cover our pending transactions. I then proceeded to place this money into a new account at XXXX XXXX. We assumed this was all cleared up. 
Wednesday XX/XX/2022 - XXXX pm : I received a call from a ***** that said he was from Truist calling from ( XXXX ) XXXX. He stated that we should have never been able to close and remove the funds from the accounts, as they were never available, since the fraudulent wire transfers had been successfully completed and they had not completed their investigation. He advised me that those accounts were now in the negative and that it was our responsibility to return the check and cash they issued us. If we did not do so then the accounts would remain in the negative. I asked him that if the funds were put back into the accounts what access would we have to them? He stated that we would be at a {$0.00} balance since the fraudulent transactions had been successful. I asked him about what type of protection they were going to provide us since we were the customers and had done everything theyd asked. He told me he didnt have answers for those questions as he was limited to information on this issue due to just being informed. I told him that was unacceptable. He asked if he could do some research and call me back. I told him to tell me when I could expect to hear from him on this and he didnt have an answer for that. He then said he would make a phone call and call me right back. 

- XXXX pm : ***** from Truist called back. He stated again that our only option was to return the funds to them or our account would be negative and they would have to submit it to collections. Advised him that this was just simply not an acceptable answer as this was their error and we did not do anything wrong. My husband arrived home and took over the call and got told the same information. My husband informed him that we would cooperate with them in any way but the funds were staying where they were due to their error. 

Friday XX/XX/2022 XXXX pm : Truist canceled the cashiers check provided and deposited to us three days prior, and the funds were removed from our XXXX XXXX account.

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