Consumer complaint received 2023-08-01
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Can't close your account

Complaint:
Financial accounts closed due to theft/Fraud. 

After returning from several years of service in XXXX I closed my USAA Bank checking and savings accounts because I had too many fraudulent transactions on my statements and USAA failed to resolve them. I closed my USAA credit card in XXXX after fraudulent transactions appeared on my account and it took enormous efforts to get the fraudulent charges removed, unlike service I received from other credit cards. In XXXX I opened another credit card account with USAA Bank, but closed it after only a year because of the same service and security/fraud issues. Since XXXX I have never used any service from USAA Bank and have repeatedly asked USAA to not use my information for any purpose, but they refuse and continue to send me marketing materials. 

Insurance accounts closed for privacy rights violations. 

USAA routinely used information obtained from me to solicit other services and products without giving me notice of their intent to use my information or the option to opt out of their marketing. For example, my cars were insured by USAA since the mid-XXXXs and I have never given USAA permission to use my account or personal information for any purpose other than the insurance I purchased. Nonetheless, I received a call from someone who claimed they were from USAA and said they noticed from my policy information that my cars were getting old and they could help me select and finance new cars my response was NO and dont ever call me again for any reason! 

I cancelled my home insurance policy with USAA in XXXX and cancelled my car insurance in XXXX and told USAA that I did not plan to use any USAA service ever again so please close my account and cancel my membership with USAA. 

Retaliation By USAA. 

After receiving additional marketing materials from USAA after I closed all my accounts and cancelled my membership, I went to my USAA account on-line and changed and deleted my information. USAA retaliated by permanently locking me out of my on-line account. I have called USAA several times and asked them to please do not send me any more marketing materials and do not provide my account or personal information to anyone for any reason, but I continue to get marketing materials from USAA even though I have not done any business with them for over seven years and repeatedly asked them to not use my information for any reason. They routinely tell me to log onto my account and make any changes, but they know they have permanently locked my out of their system in retaliation for my previous attempts to stop them from using my information to solicit future business from me. 

As soon as Californias Consumer Privacy Act was implemented in XXXX I requested that USAA delete my personal information, but received no response. I continued to get marketing materials from USAA so I made additional requests to delete and not use or share my personal information again this year ( XXXX ). USAA sent a response to the on-line account they have permanently locked my out of so I sent a letter to the president of USAA with copies of my requests. 

Continuing Violations by USAA. 

On Friday XX/XX/XXXX I called USAA to again ask they to please stop sending me marketing materials and they said I needed to log onto my account to make changes. The USAA representative acknowledged that I was permanently locked out of their system and said she could not authenticate me to issue a new log in. USAA is used to dealing with soldiers who have limited freedoms and privacy rights. They have collected my financial and personal information for decades while failing to secure that important information and violating my privacy rights by sharing my information and using it without my knowledge or permission. I have not done any business with USAA for over seven years and will never do business with them again, yet they hold decades of my financial and personal information which they continue to use in a sloppy manner disregarding all my requests to safeguard this information and not disclose it or use it for marketing or any other purpose. My requests to delete the information have also been ignored. I do not want my financial and personal information in the hands of USAA. A detailed inspection of USAA records will reveal decades of lack security, theft/fraud and disregard for the privacy rights of its customers. 

I plan to file a lawsuit regarding USAAs violations of my rights, but most soldiers and former soldiers cant pursue a lawsuit against USAA and USAA knows this. Therefore, I am asking the CFPB to investigate all incidents of theft and fraud to identify and stop any routine acts of theft/ fraud by USAA or its employees. I am also requesting that the CFPB stop USAA from using and disclosing information from its customers for marketing when they have asked USAA to stop. If USAA is allowed to keep my financial and personal information indefinitely, then I ask that a complete security audit be conducted of USAAs security systems. I refuse to do business with USAA because they have failed to protect my financial accounts from fraud/theft in the past, and they continue to violate my privacy rights on a regular basis in complete disregard of federal and state laws.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation