Consumer complaint received 2023-04-12
Company: ENTERPRISE FINANCIAL SERVICES CORP
State: IL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On Tuesday XXXX XXXX, 2023 afternoon, my wife and I arrived at Enterprise Bank and TrusXXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, MO XXXX to withdraw cash from her account. My wife holds {$100000.00} on her account, which also serves as the main account where we both deposit our money so that she could have easy access to the money in case something were to happen to me. District manager XXXX XXXX said that they need to do a formal appointment to withdraw large sums of money and said Thursday would be the day to do it. I requested to set up the Thursday appointment and in the meantime withdraw the maximum allowable amount while there. We traveled over XXXX miles to the location as this was the only bank that would serve us. She said that {$5000.00} would be the maximum allowable limit although I am certain that I was able to withdraw {$10000.00} in the past. XXXX backtracked on her allowing us to withdraw the {$5000.00} and the Thursday appointment. She said that the appointment would have to be the Thursday after the next. I replied that that would also be ok, but she backtracked again, saying that I would have to call her on the phone to set up the appointment. I asked her why I couldnt set up the appointment in person right now and what was so special about talking through a telephone for setting up an appointment. She then gave me a rude glance and ordered me to take a seat. Later she came up to my wife and asked her to go to a back room with her. I asked if I could go too, but XXXX rudely replied no, you stay there. 

My wife, who suffers from crippling anxiety on a daily basis, regretted going in there alone, as she came out in tears and explained to me how they were interrogating her. One lady, XXXX XXXX, stood behind her while another lady sat in front of her and a man was on speaker phone. There was also a prolonged waiting period as the man could not be reached in his office for a long time. They made denigrating remarks about our marriage stating that we were basically strangers and asking leading questions to make it seem like I was coercing her. Some of the questions were not relevant and not standard procedure like questioning her educational history. Furthermore, the guy asked identifying questions like what was her date of birth towards the end of the conversation, and essentially hadnt verified who he was talking to the whole time in advance. He also assumed she was XXXX years old in his confused stupor. My wife was also asked if I was intimidating her. The pinnacle of the conversation was the guy saying that I am doing money laundering by putting money into my wifes account. My wife didnt know how to reply to that so the guy just said I dont know what were going to do about that. Apparently he thought that having money coming out of her cryptocurrency exchange was money laundering because I was the person who gave her the crypto that she sold. One would think that a husband giving his wife his personal assets is not a crime in this country, especially in a marriage where both parties have equal ownership of their assets and file a joint tax return. Furthermore, we had the marriage certificate on hand, but instead of asking to see it, the people preferred to interrogate my wife about the legitimacy of our marriage by asking denigrating questions about our marriage ceremony. He also asked her the loaded question of why she was treating her personal account like a business account although there isnt a single business transaction on the account. After the interview the interrogators dismissed my wife back to the main lobby but couldnt come up with any immediate reasons to refuse service. Thus they continued their talks in private trying to come up with reasons. 

Having no one to follow through with the situation, with the district manager doing undisclosed business in the back office, we waited for a long time before deciding that it was unjustly rude to keep us waiting without telling us what we are waiting for or how long we will likely be waiting. During the waiting period I wrote out a complaint on official stationery. After asking an employee who will be reviewing the complaint, it was revealed that XXXX XXXX would be the person to whom the complaint would be handed off to. This didnt make sense, since she is the person against whom the complaint was written, so I asked for him to make 2 scans so that I could hand deliver it to other branches. XXXX saw this and ordered him not to do this. She also ordered him not to serve me for my bank account needs that were separate from my wifes bank account. At some point we also noticed XXXX rudely snapping her fingers at her employee, XXXX, before rudely waving him off to go somewhere. Her rude behavior goes unchecked at this office, which is consistent with the fact that there is no one overseeing her compliance with basic banking protocol. We left soon after to go to the branch on XXXX XXXX. 

At the second branch, I was able to do the transactions pertaining to my bank account, but no transactions were possible on my wifes account because the account was downgraded to limited access- in other words the money was effectively confiscated by the bank because no money could be withdrawn. After handing off the written report against XXXX, we left that branch. 

I called the bank several times on the phone, and was finally able to reach someone after going through the ordeal of being carelessly hung up on and many callbacks trying to find someone capable of looking at the case. The man on the phone explained that the account reports XXXX XXXX taking the credit of putting the lock on the account and the reasoning being that a beneficiary tried to withdraw money from the account without the account owners awareness and this was backdated to Monday, the day before the actual incident. This was a downright lie that could be verified by both call records and camera footage at the bank. My wife and I were both present and thus it would be impossible to do this without my wifes knowledge. Furthermore, the fact that this report was backdated is also verifiable on the fact that the account has transactions that would have been impossible to perform had the account been locked when stated. And Lastly, XXXX XXXX, although having her name on file was taking orders from XXXX XXXX. We were all present at the bank during the incident when XXXX XXXX was ordering people around. 

This impromptu criminal investigation occurred while in an attempt to do a simple legal transaction of withdrawing our own money. Had there been transactions that were deemed suspicious, this investigation should have occurred then. Its not a coincidence that suddenly those previous transactions were under investigation despite being ignored before. The bank was trying to come up with reasons to withhold our money from us. This is not standard procedure when one enters a bank with all proper documentation, including social security cards, passports, and a marriage certificate. They simply looked at us and decided to treat us differently.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation