Consumer complaint received 2023-09-05
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: OR
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
This complaint is regarding my treatment as a consumer at US Bank and their mishandling of my money. I have been with US Bank for nearly 20 years and I have had multiple accounts with them including most recently : one checking account, 5 CDs ( ~ {$10000.00} total ), a credit card ( {$18000.00} limit ), a brokerage account ( {$470.00} ), and a reserve line for overdraft protection ( {$2500.00} ). I am the sole account holder on all of my accounts. My mother lives about XXXX miles from my local US Bank branch and her address is my permanent mailing address. I live in the XXXX and moved here in XXXX  for school. I have had this bank for so long, it has been with me through many life changes. When I first opened my account, I was dirt poor, living in poverty and receiving state assistance. My bank has followed me on a long journey through many trials and tribulations of life, change, and personal growth. I worked my way through school, survived domestic abuse, and eventually moved to XXXX XXXX XXXX to attend XXXX University for my XXXX XXXX. I was so poor when I attended XXXX that for two years I rented a living room in a XXXX apartment, slept on the floor with no furniture and my belongings beside me, with sheets hanging from the ceiling to give myself a room. I was so poor that I did not leave the XXXX until I was XXXX XXXX XXXX, when I moved to XXXX for an internship after completing my XXXX XXXX. From there, I got a position as a US Department of Defense contractor and for the next several years, I worked at XXXX on XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I decided to pursue my XXXX  at the University XXXX XXXX in XXXX, XXXX where I excelled, and now I work in XXXX as a professor at a wonderful university. Before I left the US to pursue my XXXX, I put nearly all of my money into CDs for a rainy day or emergencies. My attachment to my bank and my bank account is a reflection of how far I have come in my life journey and though I moved to the XXXX, this relationship with my bank is not an easy one to part with and I decided to keep my US Bank accounts when I moved in XXXX. I have since decided to stay in the XXXX for the next long while since I have a permanent academic job now. 

I called US Bank on XXXX XXXX and candidly explained that I now live in XXXX and am applying for a mortgage for my first-time home purchase. In order to gather enough for my downpayment, I asked to early withdraw three CDs at US Bank totaling {$6000.00} that were yielding extremely low interest rates and far from maturity ( two at 0.15 % APY, and another at 0.74 % APY ). I asked for my remaining 2 CDs to be left alone as they will mature next year and while the interest rate is low for this market ( 2.1 % and 2.3 % ), I plan to renew them next year at a higher APY. I also explained that after this transaction of early withdraw on the XXXX CDs completes, I will need to do an international wire transfer from my US Bank checking account into my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX checking account. 

During my conversation of closing the XXXX CDs, the US Bank customer service representative on the phone explained the penalties and fees for my early withdraw and I agreed to all of them. I calculated that I will benefit more from a larger downpayment on my home, than leaving the CDs to mature at their interest rate. And, while the size of the CDs is modest, the fees and penalties do not really impact the final value in my view. He stated that it may take 1-2 business days for the transaction to complete. On the topic of an international wire transfer, he took down my XXXX phone number and said he would call me back to explain my options. 

On XXXX XXXX I saw that the CD withdraw and transfer to my US Bank checking account had completed but I did not receive any phone calls from the bank to discuss the international wire transfer. I called the customer service line to request information about how I can do the transfer. I also logged into my online banking account. Online, I was prompted to update my phone number in the system before I could access my accounts, but it would not accept my XXXX phone number. The phone number that had been on file was an old one that has since been disconnected. I asked my sister if she would allow me to use her XXXX mobile number and she agreed so I updated my phone number in my account to hers. At this point, from then on, any time that I called the US Bank customer service line -- even for information -- I was prompted for a one-time verification code in real-time before any agents would speak to me. My sister provided me with the codes that were being sent to her phone, though on several occasions she was not able to provide it to me fast enough which meant that I could not continue with my call to customer service. This resulted in me making many calls to US Bank customer service, some were to discuss my options and for informational purposes, and others were to attempt to make a transfer. Different customer service agents provided me with different information on each call. The inconsistency was confusing, not least because I viewed them as the authority about how transfers work, having never done one with this particular checking account before. For example, an agent would tell me that an international transfer over the phone is allowed since I am out of the country, but that my call would need to be transferred to another department. Upon the transfer to another representative, they would provide me with different information and options, leading me to tell them I would need to think about it and call back. When I called back, agents would tell me completely different information about transfers and how they work. This led to many one-time verification codes between my sister and myself I counted approximately 12 codes verifying me between XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX, several of which involved multiple verifications during single calls to customer service. 

At the same time, I did an early withdraw of two CDs with XXXX XXXX  in the amount of {$22000.00}. I am the sole account holder on all accounts. The XXXX CDs were closed quickly and were deposited into my US Bank checking account on XXXX XXXX. 

To deal with the real-time verification codes, I therefore arranged to call US Bank at times when my sister said she would be available to help me to forward the real-time code verifications to me. Each time I called the customer service line, I candidly explained that the phone belongs to my sister, that I am living in the XXXX, I am calling from XXXX because its expensive to call the XXXX, that I have no ability to come in-person to a branch, that am getting my savings together for a mortgage downpayment for a home purchase in the XXXX, and that my goal is to ultimately transfer some of the funds in my US Bank checking account to my XXXX bank account. 

On another login to online banking, I was randomly prompted to reset my password. One of the options that the customer service agents gave me was to do an international wire transfer and that it was no problem- I could do it all at once. This contradicted information that I had been given earlier. Another option was to use XXXX but it is limited to domestic transfers only and transfer amounts would be limited to {$3500.00} per day and {$15000.00} per month. These limits meant that the soonest I could have funds in my XXXX account would be XXXX, which means I may need to delay my home purchase. Information about these options shifted depending on which customer service representative I spoke with. After being transferred to several customer service agents, and then calling back one additional time to confirm the information that the last agent gave me ( the inconsistencies were difficult to follow! ) I understood that it was against policy for me to initiate an international wire transfer over the phone. I called back to the customer service line to file a complaint with the first representative that I spoke with, and asked her to pass my complaint to her manager, that I have been given grossly inconsistent information and it has taken a lot of my time on hold to the bank to even understand that I was being given inconsistent information. I then called my local US Bank branch in XXXX XXXX, Oregon and spoke to the branch manager. I explained what I was trying to do and the difficulties that I was encountering. He said that I should write myself a check and cash it in my foreign bank. I did not bring US Bank checks with me when I moved to the XXXX, I asked if it was possible to send them to my XXXX address or if I needed to send them to my mothers address on file. Based on the information that I was given, it sounded like ordering new checks would take much longer than doing a transfer of funds, even with the XXXX option and having my sister complete the international wire transfer. 

Getting frustrated with the time it was taking me waiting on hold for so many calls to the customer service line, I decided not to pursue an international wire transfer at all. So, on XXXX XXXX, I ordered checks through the online banking system and had the option to specify either my address on file ( my mothers near the bank branch ) or an international address. I opted for the international address. I received an email confirming that I had paid for the new checks. I called the customer service to get more information about how long it would take to arrive and they explained that the order will likely be rejected because they cant ship checks internationally. To this day, the status online is just pending and I can not get any updates on the checks that I ordered. 

Also on XX/XX/XXXX, I arranged a time with my sister where we both sat on the phone together to do a domestic wire transfer of {$28000.00} from my US Bank checking into her XXXX XXXX checking account. First, I called the bank to confirm that this is allowed and possible, unlike the international transfer. The agent assured me that this was possible and would be quick. I then got on the phone with my sister and the bank to do the domestic wire transfer to my sister ( from US Bank XXXX XXXX XXXX ). We completed the transaction on the phone and I was told it would take just a couple of hours. Several hours later, I received a call from my sister that US Bank called her but were unable to say why. So I immediately called the bank back and was told that XXXX of my CDs on the early withdraw had a problem because the penalties could not be waived. I had never asked for penalties to be waived so I was very confused. I was then transferred from department XXXX department, ending up with a very aggressive customer service agent. He told me that he thought I was a criminal, that what I am trying to do is illegal, and that I need to be physically standing on XXXX soil in order to do my banking. I told him that I wanted to speak to his manager, but he said his manager was unavailable. So I asked to be transferred to someone else. He did not transfer me and I was put into the automated online system and asked to re-verify myself again by PIN, and at some point was disconnected from the phone banking system. I called back and explained that I was not happy with the way I was treated. The customer service representative explained to me that one of the three CDs that I was withdrawing had an issue and was credited back to my CD account, leaving insufficient funds for my transfer. She said she was not able to provide me with more details about the CD but said that it should automatically resolve after the XXXX XXXX weekend, with business resuming on Tuesday XXXX XXXX. Seeing that this transfer of funds was going to take much longer than 1-2 business days, I decided to try the domestic transfer to my sisters XXXX XXXX account XXXX the XXXX service available to me in online banking, and also XXXX. Keeping in mind the daily and monthly limits as I mentioned above, I initiated a XXXX transfer of {$3500.00} and a XXXX transfer of {$3000.00} to my sisters account. 

On XXXX XXXX, I called US Bank customer service to check on my CD and the two transfers. I learned that a hold had been placed on my account and that I needed to speak with the local US Bank branch. During the transfer, I was disconnected. I called back three times and was continuously disconnected. When I finally got through, the person at the local branch named XXXX explained that he thought my account looked suspicious and that he had placed a hold on my account. He asked me several verifying questions. I answered them correctly. I explained my situation to him, that this is for a mortgage downpayment and that I ultimately need to move the funds to my sisters account so that she can do an international wire transfer. He agreed to put a note in my account so that I could do several transfers each day ( XXXX XXXX and XXXX Transferwise ) until the desired amount of funds had been transferred to my sisters account. I then had to call back to US Bank customer service to discuss the CD issue, and the representative said she could see the notes on my account and she said that she completed fixing the issue with my CD. In other words, re-doing the early withdraw of my CD in the amount of {$2900.00}, except that since a couple days had passed, the amount was going to be instead {$2900.00}. I agreed to this. 

Both my XXXX and XXXX domestic transfers are still pending and my CD has not yet been fixed at the time of writing this. I am tired of being on hold with the bank, and its interfering with my health to spend so many hours on the phone when I have a full time job. In addition, the uncertainty of how long it XXXX take me to access my funds is postponing my application for my mortgage which is costing me money as XXXX interest rates are changing. If I can not retrieve my money from my US Bank account, I will be forced to do only a 10 % downpayment on my mortgage instead of a 24 % downpayment as I have planned for. This difference in the downpayment will cost me tens of thousands of dollars in interest and is difficult to recover from. Being treated as a criminal has had a severe impact on my well-being and the conduct of the representative that I mentioned above was beyond unprofessional it is mortifying, derogatory, and humiliating. I was poor when I opened my account with US Bank, and now, Im still poor after all of my years of hard work blood, sweat, and tears to make something of myself and be somebody. Not to mention my service to this nation. In all of my 6 years living abroad, I have never felt so alone, so far, and so disconnected from my own country as I did on XXXX XXXX when the customer service representative called me a criminal. My savings was for a rainy day or emergencies, and the thought that this still would have happened to me in a genuine emergency makes me so incredibly scared. Locking someone out of their hard-earned money is not security, it is a form of fraud. Giving me inconsistent information and then locking me out of my account is not security, it is criminal. US Bank has committed gross misconduct and should be held accountable for the impacts it has on the rest of my future. What is the point of having money? What was all of my hard work for? I'd rather be dirt poor again than feel the way US Bank has made me feel about myself. I bawled my eyes out on Friday night ( XXXX XXXX ) after that call with the agressive representative. I bawled my eyes out again tonight on the phone with the Consumer Finance guy who treated me like a human being. At this point, I bet there's so many flags on my account that even if I came to the bank in-person, I wouldn't be able to withdraw any of my money. And it's because your customer service representatives led me down a winding rabbit hole to XXXX. I'm not going to stand for this. Give me my XXXX money so I can buy a XXXX house.

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 monetary relief