Consumer complaint received 2018-12-02
Company: PENTAGON FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
This Complaint is about : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX PENFED ) in regard to its BANKING MISCONDUCT AND DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES PERPETUATED CONTINUOUSLY AGAINST ME BY ITS BANKING TEAM For the past one month and 11 days, I have made provision to cover an ACH that was returned because of an issue that arose while I was out of the country around the XX/XX/XXXX. 
While I was away, I received no email to inform me of this problem, and it was when I called my other bank that I notice that a payment that should have been made on XX/XX/XXXX was not paid and as such, the ACH I made out to PENFED could not have gone through. That was when I was frantically calling and seeking ways to transfer money to this Bank, all to no avail. 
Then I also found out that PENFED had already closed my current account! With no warning, no valid process, no due process, nothing! 
I was not happy and asked them why they would consider closing an account under such pretext. 
Notwithstanding, I started a wire transfer from XXXX to cover this amount. Alas! No way! The Bank is refusing to take the money. It has now been over one month that PENFED had been blocking my attempts to bring this account current since the time that I placed a call to them on the XX/XX/XXXXabout how to make this payment to them from XXXX. 
I want to officially report this bank 's banking team as being prejudiced against me. The circumstances surrounding their continued attempt to sabotage me is why I am making this report so that these can be investigated thoroughly. The banking team led by a lady name XXXX XXXX has so far been attempting to create the impression to credit bureaus or to any financial entity that I am owing them and I am unable to pay for more than 30 days so as to destroy my credit. 
I have proof of the wire transfer that I made on XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX BXXXX in XXXX that they refused and sent back over a week later on the XX/XX/XXXX The money was returned by this bank. 
When this happened, I called this bank to ask why they returned the payment, but no valid reason was provided to me. 
As they continued to pass my call around from one staff to the other while I was waiting on the phone for extended periods, they did nothing to resolve this matter. 
In some occasion, they will disconnect the call and I would have to call back. 
Eventually, I guess they decided to invent a lie and one of them told me that their bank does not receive wire transfer. ( I have a record of this phone conversation ) This staff told me that since he started working at PENFED this past one year, there has never been a wire transfer made from thee bank or into the bank because the bank does not do that. 
To this statement I was completely disappointed. There is absolutely no integrity with this organization and there is no length that they will not go to lie to their customers. 


Therefore, I requested to speak to a bank Director so that level of staff should tell me what this person had said. 
I stated to the staff that they need to reverse the rejected payment ASAP and make my account current as soon as possible. While I was waiting for this senior staff to speak to me, the call was disconnected. 

So, I went online and sent the email to a mailbox that the Chairman of PENFED had set up for complaints of this nature. I wrote everything about this case and I expected that the office will respond with along the lines of ethics and integrity, but nothing happened. 
This is the acknowledgement of receipt of that email I sent, pasted below : " PFCU Board Chairman XXXX Your message was received. 

Your satisfaction is important to us and we strive to make your experience with PenFed enjoyable and worthwhile. We will respond to your email as quickly as possible. 

No reply to this email is necessary. 

Thank you for giving PenFed the opportunity to serve your needs. 

Office of the Chairman of the Board '' THIS OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN NEVER RESPONDED TO ME! 

Thus, I was forced to call again, and that was when my call was passed to one of the operations managers by the name of XXXX XXXX. 
After I had had to repeat everything all over again. this lady responded that she would not accept any more payment for the account because one payment had already been sent back. She blatantly refused to help or resolve the situation and was so arrogant in her conduct. 
In their usual manner of acting superior to others, speaking in a deceitfully calm voice, veiled with condescension, an air of autocracy and blatant prejudice, this inept woman was telling me that she as the operations manager will not accept any payment made to pay for the negative amount. 

When I found that I was speaking to an uninformed mind, I sought a means to find an someone with some degree of accountability and responsibility to speak to me, but lo and behold, there seemed to be none in the entire company.

I requested for her manager and this XXXX XXXX again told me that the person is busy and that I should provide my phone number so that they can call me. 

At this point, I have to introduce another malpractice this company had committed and continues to do : 1. They have been pulling my credit without any valid reason or authorization.

2. They have been misusing and selling my data without my consent or knowledge of such being done. I found out about these things because of the controls that I had placed on my information so that companies attempting to steal and abuse my trust int hem to sell and trade in my personally identifying information ( PII ) can be exposed and disgraced. That was how I found out that this bank had been sneakily abusing my data. 

For the above reasons I never want anything to do with this bank in regard to my private information ever again! I also hinted at this allegation when I requested again that the manager should email me because I can not release my current phone number to anyone in their bank.

Then I said again that she should inform her manager to  send me an email. Period. 
She ( XXXX XXXX ) then stated that the manager will be sending me an email on this matter. That was over 12 days ago. No response had been received from anyone seeking to help resolve this matter at all. 
Meanwhile, during the time that I had attempted the wire for the outstanding balance to be sent from my bank in XXXX, and while I was waiting for this money to clear, there was this person who was always sending me emails on how to proceed ; how long a wire transfer can take and other issues like that ( I have attached that email thread to this complaint ). At no point did this staff member said anything to me about the So, there has been a history of such emails communications with this Bank, meaning that they can do so if they want to but if there is a staff member like this XXXX woman, that option can be denied the customer. 
I raised this matter with XXXX XXXX but she refused to acknowledge that. 

The email always comes with this header : To : XXXX ( Other Losses ) XXXX Subject : [ EXTERNAL ] Re : Penfed Account ( I have also attached copies of these email correspondence with this complaint. ) I am not sure who collects this information but when I reported this issue someone should have contacted me. 
So, I am not sure whether the CEO staff who handles that communication did not respond or someone like this XXXX XXXX is part of those manipulating the feedback process that will enable this Bank to address issues of this nature that my portend trouble for them. 
I also asked this XXXX XXXX that what is I send an ACH from my Bank in the US, she stated No. 
After my call with her, I called my XXXX XXXX - XXXX XXXX XXXX as this payment was very important to me and had them wire the amount again from their bank through a process called BillPay. The transfer was successful, and the money was scheduled to be delivered on XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX. 

However, I checked my account yesterday and was surprised that it was still in a negative balance. I called PENFED, and again no sensible explanation could be provided to me. Meanwhile, XXXX XXXX  stated that they have processed the ACH, since the XX/XX/XXXX. 
PENFED never credited my account. 
I have strong belief that this Bank is attempting to steal this money and pretend they never received it. 
Obviously, if I had sent the cashier 's check from the XXXX as they initially indicated, which would have been the most stupid thing to do, the check would have also disappeared, and they would have lied that they never received the check and it would have been hard to trace the mail and associated issues with that. 
I want the CFPB to investigate these issues because the failure of PENFED 's internal processes and operations to manage this issue had resulted in this public complaint of the Bank and may lead to potential lawsuits in the near future. 
This Bank had failed in so many ways and the way I was treated by this terrible staff- XXXX XXXX and others like her who are behind the scenes is disgraceful. 
Now, they have withheld a banks wire transfer in the US and  has made no record of the receipt of the payment. THIS IS FRAUD!!! 
A Bank is bound by rules and regulations and instituting correct procedures and good enterprise governance is imperative to avoid issues of this nature.

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