Consumer complaint received 2022-03-21
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: KY
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
I elected to have my IRS refund direct deposited into an account I have with XXXX XXXX which is run by XXXX although the bank itself is Fifth Third ( got that?! ). I have had this account since late XXXX XXXX of XXXX. I primarily use it to get my paychecks from work deposited there but have also used it to get my tax refunds in XXXX, XXXX and XXXX as well as the three stimulus checks last year. All of these were from the IRS and all of them were also several thousand dollars. My refund according to the IRS was to be deposited on XX/XX/XXXX. However, on or about XX/XX/XXXX, my wife got a phone call from XXXX saying that the refund amount that we were expecting is somewhat less than what they were showing. My wife and I had no idea why there would be any discrepancy from what we could see on the IRS transcripts and told them that. Then, on XX/XX/XXXX or XXXX, XXXX  called me on my way to work and said that I had to tell them the exact amount of the refund and why it was different than what my tax return showed. I told them I was driving and had no way to access any information at this time. I directed them to deposit my money into my account, but they said that if I couldn't tell them the exact amount that they were sending my refund back to the IRS immediately. I told them that this made absolutely no sense since the check amount was LESS than what I was expecting, so there was no risk of loss on their end. After thinking about it at work ( I work the night shift ) I realized that probably the USDA took out the past due balance on our mortgage since we were a little behind although at that time, I had no verification of this. I called my wife and asked her to call the agent back that she had talked to earlier, hoping that she hadn't left for the day. My wife was unable to reach her and left a message which was not returned. I also sent an email explaining that I believed that some of the refund was withheld by USDA, but again, no response from XXXX/Fifth Third. Finally on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX I got a notice in the mail that the USDA did indeed " intercept '' a portion of tax refund, however by this time, XXXX had presumably already sent my money back to the IRS ( I hope! ) since it wasn't deposited into my bank account. It has now been nearly three weeks and we still don't have our tax refund. It is for a large amount of money and for some reason XXXX thinks that makes it OK to not deposit the check into my account. This seems to be a violation of Section 910 ) a ) ( 1 ) of the Consumer Protection Act which can be found here : XXXX XXXX XXXX  We have incurred insurmountable damages by having to put off so many things that we had planned to take care of ; home repairs ( fridge, we lost a ton of food already, AC unit , water valve on side of house ) fix both of my vans so that I could get better gas mileage which is extremely important with the price of gas nearly {$4.00} a gallon and my one-way commute to work is over 30 miles, get our belongings out of storage in XXXX  ( we live in XXXX  now ), pay off debt, kids all need clothes, pay mortgage, etc, etc. We would like to file a lawsuit because this is unfair that a bank would choose not to deposit a check with my name into my bank account from an indisputably verified source, the IRS. Please help!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation