Consumer complaint received 2016-09-09
Company: NEW YORK COMMUNITY BANK
State: NY
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Making/receiving payments, sending money

Complaint:
I had a checking account with New York Community Bank ( NYCB ) with a small balance of {$0.00}. On XXXX/XXXX/2016 I made XXXX transfers into my NYCB from another financial institution for {$50.00} and {$3000.00}, bring my balance to {$3000.00}. This was for XXXX checks for {$25.00} each as well as a {$3000.00} payment to a credit card. The funds arrived in my XXXX checking account on XXXX/XXXX/2016, and I scheduled an EFT to my credit card company for XXXX/XXXX/2016 in the amount of {$3000.00} using NYCB 's online banking service. The EFT went through on XXXX/XXXX/2016 as requested, bringing my account balance down to {$50.00}. For some reason, NYCB then proceed to make another {$3000.00} EFT payment to my credit card on XXXX/XXXX/2016, causing my account to have a negative balance of - {$2900.00}. This second EFT payment was not authorized, requested or transacted by me ( I can only speculate that this was caused by a transient fault in NYCB 's computer systems ). XXXX called my home on Saturday XXXX/XXXX/2016 and left a message on my answering machine as I was not at home. When I attempted to call back Saturday afternoon the branch had already closed. At this point I had no indication that there was any problem. I logged onto the NYCB online banking website, saw the unauthorized second transaction, and immediately called NYCB 's XXXX Customer Contact Center and spoke to a NYCB representative. The representative insisted the transaction was legitimate, NYCB could not reverse it, and I would need to contact my credit card company to recover the funds. I then called my credit card company and was informed that they issue refunds by paper check only. I asked them to send me a check refund. The following Monday, XXXX/XXXX/2016, XXXX reversed the transaction, despite the representative 's insistence that they could not, bringing my account balance back up to {$50.00}. However, NYCB also charged me a {$36.00} insufficient funds fee, bringing my balance down to {$14.00}. At this point, XXXX of my XXXX checks for {$25.00} was presented to NYCB, which was denied as I now had insufficient funds due to the first insufficient funds fee. This incurred an additional {$36.00} insufficient funds fee to me, as well as a fee to my payee from their financial institution for the returned check. My balance was now negative again, - {$21.00}. Despite my calls to XXXX informing them I did not initiate or authorize the second transaction, NYCB then proceeded to attempt payment to my credit card company a SECOND time, resulting in a third insufficient funds fee of {$36.00}, taking my account down to - {$57.00}. 

My attempts to deal with NYCB and get this matter corrected have been a comedy of errors on NYCB 's part. On Saturday, XXXX/XXXX/2016, I visited NYCB 's branch located at XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, NY. After speaking briefly with a customer service representative, I worked with XXXX, the Assistant Branch Manager to get this resolved. XXXX collected all the pertinent information, including my description of events as communicated above. He promised to call me during the week XXXX/XXXX/2016 to XXXX/XXXX/2016 to update me on the status. I did not hear back from XXXX and subsequent phone calls to the branch resulted in notice that XXXX was unavailable or not in. During this time I had been receiving daily letters in the mail ( sometimes multiple letters in a day ) from NYCB demanding I rectify the situation. I visited the branch a second time Saturday, XXXX/XXXX/2016, after receiving a letter from a collection agency. Upon visiting a second time, I was informed that XXXX is no longer employed with NYCB, and no one was aware of my situation. I spoke with the Branch Manager, XXXX, repeated the description of events again, and was assured by XXXX that this would be rectified and he would call me on Monday, XXXX/XXXX/2016. It is now XXXX/XXXX/2016, and i have not heard from XXXX. As before, I am told XXXX is not available when I call the bank branch.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation