Consumer complaint received 2017-07-19
Company: SUNTRUST BANKS, INC.
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
At the end of XXXX, I got a call from the bank saying that there is suspected fraudulent activity on my account. When I called to verify the charges, I informed them that they were not authorized and that is what led me to the knowledge that my wallet was missing. I filed a frud report through the bank and as the weeks progressed I learned that someone had stolen my wallet, with my debit card and pin number with it, and deposited checks, that had actually been written out to other people, into my account before making withdraws- all from Suntrust ATM 's in the XXXX , GA area. When I made the fraud claim I requested that all charges made after XX/XX/XXXX be denied and included in the fraud claim. The exact dates that everything had happened on are hazy and the bank will not send me the papers from the case for me to have for my records and have denied me access to the account to see the dates for myself. I do know that My husband dropped me off in XXXX XXXX, GA on a Monday and returned to XXXX and boarded a flight to go back to work- the charges were all made after the return of the car and after my husband was already in flight. I did not find out about the charges until the bank contacted me days later. I had not left my apartment after returning home and did not need my wallet for anything. I also knew that my account was either at XXXX or in the negatives and did not have any money to spend anyways. We closed the savings account where most of the fraud took place and planned on closing the checking account as soon as we got my husband 's direct deposit set up with our new accounts. We also placed a confidential status on the new accounts so that we would be more protected from fraud in the future. We lost our fraud case and filed a rebuttal. We lost once again. We decided to give up on the case and just move on with our lives- I was XXXX and had spent time in the hospital and did not need the added stress. XX/XX/XXXX I tried to use my debit card and it was declined. When I tried to log on to my banking app it denied my access. I called my husband and had him try to log in and use his own card and he was denied as well. We were in the middle of a cross country move and my husband was elsewhere in the country for work and therefore we called the bank to try to figure out what was happening. They informed that all they could say was that my account was under investigation for " Suntrust Rules and Regulations '' and that if it was going to be closed we would receive a check in 5-7 business days after the closure and if not, we could access our account after the investigation was over. Because of the confidential status they could not give us any more information. I was hundreds of miles away from a Suntrust and seven months XXXX at the time and was unable to make it into a branch to resolve the issue- especially seeing as I had no access to my money. My husband immediately took off from work and drove over 14 hours through the night to make it to the branch to get answers. After speaking with different people at different branches for three days he was finally told that this was stemming from a fraudulent check that was deposited into our old account XX/XX/XXXX. One of the checks that was actually part of our original fraud claim. My husband then explained that neither of us were located near a branch and that we needed to remove the confidential status from our account so that we could get information as we needed. They told him that since our accounts had been frozen that the confidential status could not be removed. We were both told over the phone that were not allowed to use our debit cards but that we could make a teller withdraw but he was denied this option within the branches as well. We asked for the option to take all but the {$300.00} that was under investigation out of our accounts and wait for everything to settle and they told us no. We were denied the opportunity to talk to the investigators. When we asked when we would have the chance to speak on our own behalf to clear our names they told us that was not an option and that the investigators would figure out themselves. XX/XX/XXXX, I made a car payment using the bank account- three days before the freeze was placed on our account. The loan company contacted us a couple of weeks later informing us that the bank reversed the payment on XX/XX/XXXX- three days after the freeze. XX/XX/XXXX I received a statement in the mail that informed me that as of XX/XX/XXXX my account balance was {$900.00}. XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter informing me that my checking account was closed as of XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX, I received a letter stating that I was over drafted {$930.00}. This really confused my family seeing as I have a statement saying that since my account has been frozen and we lost the ability to access our account in any manner, that we somehow lost {$1800.00}. Especially since this all over a {$300.00} check. I called customer service and the automated service did let me hear my recent transactions, just with no description as to whom the money went to. The transactions made after the freeze was placed on my account- since the statement from the XXXX if XXXX are as follows : {$36.00} overdraft fee on XXXX XXXX, {$900.00} debit on XXXX XXXX, {$900.00} closing debit on XXXX XXXX, {$1.00} debit XXXX XXXX and {$1.00} debit on XXXX XXXX. I may not understand how it is possible but the charges from XXXX are no concern to me. I am angry that after my account was closed and the closing debit was made that another debit in the exact same amount was made. AFTER the account was CLOSED- and then I got an overdraft fee on top of that. I still have not received a check for the closing debit even though it has been over two weeks. I called customer service and my former local branch and was told by both that they could not tell me anything over the phone with the confidential status on my account. I am angry that we could not remove it when my husband was in the branch over a month ago. We live 500 miles away from the closest branch and are not able to just go by a branch when we need to talk to someone. I was told that the charges do not sound like they should be there but with my account on confidential that they would not be able to do anything about it unless I was in a branch. I informed multiple people that there were bad charges on an account- something that the all but confirmed after looking at it and yet they said the charges would stick unless someone came into a branch and that I would be sent to collections unless I fixed it. An issue that we obviously could not be responsible for and that the bank is aware of. We have done everything that was asked of us from the beginning and yet the longer that this goes the more that we are told that we are responsible for more charges that are the fault of other people. One more thing- the confidential status is only on the checking account opened in XXXX NOT the old checking or savings accounts, nor the new savings account. The fraud case opened against us at this time is from our old savings account and they still refuse to communicate with us about it.

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