Consumer complaint received 2020-04-22
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with balance transfer

Complaint:
To whom it may concern : This is going to be a long letter and as painstakingly hard it will be for you to read it all it is that much harder for me to type it all as this will be probably the 100th time I have had to explain what has happened and is still unresolved. 

XX/XX/XXXX, I applied for two balance transfers ( {$3200.00} and {$3400.00} ) a total of {$6600.00} from my USAA credit card to my XXXX XXXX XXXX Credit card. The Application for balance transfer was approved by XXXX XXXX XXXX and on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX electronically transferred the money to USAA. ( I have the electronic transfer paperwork as proof ). 

USAA received the money to their insurance department ( not Credit Card ). USAA insurance department for some reason accepted the payment. Therefore, making it so that XXXX XXXX XXXX could now charge my credit card the {$6600.00} balance transfer. However, USAA applied my money to someones insurance account ( NOT MINE ). I dont even have an insurance account with USAA. Apparently, USAA figured out their mistake and took the money off that persons account. I was never informed about this happening until XXXX XXXX. 

Once USAA removed the money from the wrong persons account, they then wrote a check totaling {$6600.00} made out to XXXX to be sent back to my bank to be applied back to my credit card. However, the check that was sent back was endorsed by XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. ( I DO NOT BANK WITH XXXX  XXXX XXXX ). I dont have a XXXX  XXXX XXXX Account and I dont have a XXXX XXXX XXXX Credit Card. The money was sent to the wrong bank. USAA sent me a copy of the front and back of the check as proof. I noticed that USAA typed XXXX XXXX  XXXX on the memo line on the front of the check. I tried to tell them that I dont bank with XXXX XXXX XXXX and they brushed me off and said XXXX must be associated with XXXX XXXX XXXX in some way. I have confirmed with XXXX XXXX XXXX that they are not associate with XXXX XXXX XXXX. USAA claimed that they took care of the issue by sending this check, but I still do not have my money. 

In the meantime, USAA had been calling me threatening to send me to collections if I did not pay my credit card bill. I did not think I had a bill because I did a balance transfer and the money was reflected on my XXXX XXXX XXXX card. I kept trying to tell USAA that something is wrong. USAA credit card company didnt care they just wanted their money. They treated me like I was a delinquent payee and didnt want to hear my story. I have never missed a payment in my life from any bill, credit card or utility. They made me pay the minimum balance of {$150.00} on the account that should have been paid off with the threat of sending me to collections. I have since made another balance transfer, XX/XX/XXXX, to remove all of my money from USAA so I would stop getting the threatening calls. So, now I am accruing interest on money that is on my XXXX Credit Card that should not be there because USAA did not send them back my money. 

I have not been able to get anywhere with USAA on this. 

It is important to note that in the middle of all of this USAA changed my credit card number. There was no reason as far as I know to change my number. The card was not expiring and I did not report it lost or stolen. I also had not used the card and it has not left my desk drawer in over a year so the number could not have been stolen or used anywhere until it was taken straight from a USAA breach. USAA claimed that there was a concern that they were alerted to so they changed the card number. 

In addition to my issue above I have been treated like a nuisance every time I call USAA. Every time I call, I get a different person no matter how many times I request to speak to one person they tell me I cant speak to the same person. They tell me to call and have the rep that answers read my notes. There are so many notes that I am on hold for 30 to 40 minutes each time. Only to have them come back and have no idea what is going on, so I have to explain the story anyway. When I ask to speak to a supervisor, they say no they dont want to talk to you, and they dont have to. When I ask if there is a way, I can escalate the issue and talk to someone who can take care of my case, so I am getting the same person they tell me they dont do that at USAA. This is an ongoing issue that needs to be resolved. I have been dealing with this for 7 months now. I am XXXX weeks XXXX  and I have had to deal with this undo stress for my entire XXXX. Please help me resolve this before I have my baby. 


More Detailed Time Line : XX/XX/XXXX Filled out necessary paperwork to apply with XXXX XXXX XXXX in transferring my USAA credit card balance {$6600.00} to XXXX XXXX XXXX ( offering much lower interest rate ) I processed 2 balance transfers the same day because I thought I only wanted to transfer part of the balance and then decided to transfer the whole balance. 
I transferred {$3200.00} and then {$3400.00}. 
XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX payments of {$3200.00} and then {$3400.00} were sent electronically to USAA . 
USAA accepted the payment and XXXX XXXX XXXX applied the money to my XXXX credit card account. 
XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX Received phone call from USAA debt collector stating I was delinquent in my payment and he also informed me I had only 7 days to make payment in order for my credit to remain in good standing. I explained that this is not correct because I balance transferred that money off of my USAA card back in XX/XX/XXXX. I looked up my account to find the money was still reflected on my USAA XXXX XXXX as well as my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX card. It became clear to me the USAA debt collector could not do anything to resolve this error. To avoid any possible problems, I immediately made a minimum payment of {$150.00} to avoid being sent to collections. 
XX/XX/XXXX - Called XXXX XXXX XXXX ( spoke to XXXX ) to confirm they sent the money to USAA. XXXX provided proof of electronic payments being sent to USAA. ( I have documentation ) I called USAA to let them know and send them the documents from USAA as proof. I was also informed around this time that back on XX/XX/XXXX my money was accidentally applied to someone elses insurance account by USAA. USAA caught the error, removed the money form that persons account and wrote a check to XXXX sending it back to me. But I never received the money. 
I called and spoke to a USAA rep named XXXX XXXX letting her know I had proof of payment from XXXX  that needed to be sent to USAA. She gave me the fax number to send the documents. I asked her should I put Attn to : Ms. XXXX? She said, No, anyone in the office can receive this and upload it to your USAA documents. I then asked her if she had an extension so I could just deal with her and she said no but I could ask for her by name when I called. 
XX/XX/XXXX - I faxed the documentation to USAA proving the total of {$6600.00} was electronically sent to USAA from XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX in two separate transfers one for {$3200.00} and the other for XXXX. 
I called and left a message for Ms. XXXX at USAA to confirm that the fax was received. 
Days later : Ms. XXXX returned my call stating, The issue had been resolved and the money was sent back to me. I said, But I dont have the money. She said, It must be at your bank in the general ledger and I would have to call XXXX. Ms. XXXX proceeded to read the notes from the USAA computer to me and stated, Your money has been sent back to XXXX XXXX XXXX. I immediately said, Wait! I dont bank with XXXX  XXXX XXXX! Why was the money sent there? Ms. XXXX stated, Maybe this was a human error in typing the notes. She placed me on hold to contact a supervisor to confirm and came back on the line to say they will have to do more research. My response was, Are you kidding me? My money went to the wrong bank? Ms. XXXX then responded : Apparently, your bank must be affiliated with XXXX XXXX XXXX and that is why XXXX  XXXX XXXX endorsed the check. She asked me to contact XXXX to ask them if they or if XXXX is affiliated with XXXX XXXX XXXX and to have them look for the money on their side. I requested a copy of the check from USAA so I could send it to XXXX to see if they received the check and find out if XXXX was affiliated with them. 
Called XXXX at XXXX to ask if they are affiliated with XXXX  XXXX XXXX. XXXX researched ( took about two weeks ) with XXXX and they discovered there is no affiliation with XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX suggested that I once again call USAA and requested a copy of the check because I had not received it yet. 
Called USAA and asked for Ms. XXXX, but the rep said she couldnt reach her. I have never gotten to speak to Ms. XXXX again. I requested a copy of the front and back of the check be sent to me so I can give it to XXXX from the rep I was speaking to. I was told they would have to mail in to me. 
XXXX XXXX I still had not received the copy of the check from USAA in the mail, so I called and requested they upload it into my USAA documents. They were able to do so. Note : I never received the mailed copy of the check. I was never mailed to me. When I opened the copy of the check that was uploaded I explained to the USAA rep that it was endorsed by XXXX XXXX XXXX and asked why because I do not have an account with XXXX XXXX XXXX and my bank is not affiliated with XXXX. I also explained that I did not receive the money. They said to send the copy of the check to XXXX and they would know why. 
XX/XX/XXXX Called XXXX at XXXX and told her I had a copy of the check. She asked me to email it to her and I did while on the phone with her. She never placed me on hold and looked at it immediately and said she had no idea why it was endorsed by XXXX  XXXX XXXX and that it should have been sent to XXXX. 
Called USAA and the rep I received on the phone said everything is resolved. USAA stated to me, We sent the money back to you. I replied with, No, it has not been resolved, I did not receive the money. It was sent to the wrong bank. I am getting these responses from USAA reps because I never get to talk to the same person and have to start from the beginning of this long story every time I call. I explained the situation again and they said they would have a supervisor research it and get back to me. This is the response I get every time I call but no one ever calls me with a solution. 
XX/XX/XXXX USAA sent me a letter stating, Weve completed our investigation and determined that a billing error did not occur. Upon, reading this letter I am in tears because the stress of this situation is too much. FYI I am XXXX weeks pregnant and do not need this stress. I could not understand why they would close the investigation. The last time I spoke to someone they said they were looking into it and would get back to me and then I receive this letter. This means that with everything that has already transpired now no one at USAA is looking into where my money is any longer. 
XX/XX/XXXX Called USAA to inquire about the letter. I again stated to USAA, I do not bank with XXXX XXXX XXXX ; I did not receive my money back and the error that DID occur has not been resolved. 
Called XXXX at XXXX because I didnt know what else I could do. She suggested I may need Forged Endorsement Documents and informed me to ask USAA for the documents. 
XX/XX/XXXX I called USAA to request a Forged Claim Document. The USAA rep. stated that they would mail it to me XXXX and it would take 5 to 7 business days. 
On business day 8 I still hadnt received the document. 
XX/XX/XXXX Called USAA to inquire why I havent received this paperwork? The response was COVID 19 is holding up the mail but assured me the documents were sent. 
XX/XX/XXXX Called USAA to request a tracking number for the documents. The male who I spoke to stated that the Forged Claim Document was mailed XX/XX/XXXXXXXXbut there was no tracking number. 
XX/XX/XXXX - I had enough! I drafted a letter and emailed it to USAA Board of Directors and CEO XXXX XXXX. 
XXXX XXXX. Received a phone call from USAA insurance member advocate Ms. XXXX XXXX. Once again, I shared my situation with her. Ms. XXXX stated she would do some research on the Forged Endorsement documents and try to call me back by XXXX XXXX. I asked Ms. XXXX, How can I get someone from USAA to contact XXXX  XXXX XXXX to inquire into the check that was sent to XXXX? Her response was that she would have to start from the beginning and research everything. If it was a trainee who made this mistake, they would need to be informed so they could be trained properly. This response does not help me in any way. 
XX/XX/XXXX - Ms. XXXX did not call me back by XXXX XXXX At XXXX XXXX. I decided to reach out to Ms. XXXX no answer- I left her a message on her voice mail to return my call with an update. 
XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Still no work from Ms. XXXX. Left message for Ms. XXXX to return my call with an update on the forged claim documents. 
XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Ms. XXXX returned my call. She proceeded to tell me that her computer modem died on Friday and she could not do any research for me. Then she lost her power this am and couldnt call me. She said she would have called me on her cell phone, but she was not allowed. The update I was given from Ms. XXXX : She does not see in the system where anyone had put notes in on the Forged Claim Document Forms ever being sent to me on XX/XX/XXXX. She is not sure they were ever sent. This is UNBELIEVABLE to me because I called three times between XX/XX/XXXX ( when they were supposed to be sent ) and now and was told they are on their way and Covid 19 is holding up the mail. To find out they were never sent is appalling to me to say the least! I asked her if they can be XXXX overnighted to me because of the delay and she said she is not sure. She then said she would need to see if someone could take my case on the billing side of USAA because she cant access what needs to be accessed to help me. Why is someone calling me and assigned to my case who can not help me with my situation? I asked her to escalate the issue and she said she will talk to her manager, but billing is back logged with issues and she is not sure how quickly they will get to me. I explained I have been trying to get help with this issue for 7 months already ( my entire XXXX  ) and I would like this to be resolved before my baby is born. I explained to Ms. XXXX, I would think that an issue this big should be placed at the top because of how long I have been requesting this too looked into and no one wants to help me. She said she is not sure she can do that. 
XX/XX/XXXX - I am still waiting for this to be resolved.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation