Consumer complaint received 2016-06-27
Company: BBVA FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: CA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
To whom this may concern, I have been suffering from the hardship of being repeatedly denied access to even the most basic checking accounts from a wide variety of banks. I am unsure why this is but the result is I have been having significant financial troubles and for the past 7 months I have been unable to cash any of my checks that I earn as income. As a result, I have had severe financial hardship being unable to afford basic necessities and being unable to pay medical bills. 

Recently, given the fact that I had over {$1500.00} in un-cashed soon to be expired checks, I tried opening up bank accounts again. Simple Bank, a subsidiary of BBVA Group and partnered with The XXXX provided me with an account. 

Because over {$400.00} dollars worth of checks had already expired and I was traveling, I had my mother, with a signed power of attorney, takes pictures of the checks and send them to me. I then used industry recognized signature software to endorse the checks and proceeded to deposit the checks with Simple 's mobile app. I made sure that checks were valid and the routing numbers and signature were clearly visible. I also further checked Simple 's TOU/TOS to confirm that this was not dis-allowed. 

In what appears to be a final and completely one sided decision, Simple, just moments ago unilaterally closed my account and is not answering my calls or questions. Simple simply says " [ I am ] no longer a customer and thus can not receive support ''. 

I take issue with Simple 's actions on a number of levels, not only does Simple actions violate the CFPB 's push for banks to allow checking accounts for all but it also puts me back into a financially precarious situation and I am likely going to face {$1000.00} of checks expiring. Placing additional burden on my already very XXXX situation. 

While the heart of the problems lies within the entire financial industry locking me out from accessing even the most basis checking account, I would like Simple to explain the following : 1. XXXX XXXX of Simple sent me a message saying my account has been closed because " the check you deposited was not valid ''. I have inquired to simple why the check was not valid and further inquired to which check was not valid ( I had deposited XXXX different checks ) and Simple has not responded. Please clarify why the check was not valid, allow me to explain my situation ( I am willing to provide any additional documentation ) and re-open my account. It appears as though Simple did not even try to process the check so it is unclear why the check was invalid. 
2. ) Please explain to me how I am supposed to pay medical bills if I am unable to cash valid checks. In this situation Simple is making a very inhuman decision to limit my access to earned monies while simultaneously refusing to explain their decision. Please offer solutions or methods which I can cash the checks. 

You may contact me at XXXXXXXXXXXX or via mail at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, California, XXXX. 

Sincerely Yours, XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation