Consumer complaint received 2016-04-15
Company: TCF NATIONAL BANK
State: MN
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problems caused by my funds being low

Complaint:
On XXXX XXXX I was contacted by a woman via text message who found me on XXXX, a babysitting site, saying that she wants me as a nanny for her son, XXXX. She said that she would like me to work Saturdays and Sundays only and was willing to pay me $ XXXX/hour for up to 7 hours each of these days because she wanted quality care for her son. In total, I would be making {$420.00} per weekend. XXXX said that she is an XXXX and is currently living in Texas as a single mother with her son XXXX and would be relocating to XXXX XXXX, Minnesota for 8 months for a project that she was assigned to for work. XXXX said XXXX specialist advised her to get him a powered wheelchair and she asked me to help her with this process. She said that she would be sending me a cashier 's check for {$2800.00}. {$2400.00} of that check would be going to the wheelchair business and {$420.00} I was to keep for myself and would be used as my first week pay in advance. On XXXX XXXX, 2016 I received the cashier 's check for {$2800.00} in the mail via XXXX. XXXX asked me to go the bank and deposit the check. After depositing the cashier 's check into my TCF bank account, XXXX asked me to withdraw the {$2400.00} and take that cash and deposit it into the wheelchair person 's bank account, which is an account at XXXX XXXX. After making this deposit and with the new {$420.00}, I now had {$1700.00}. The man at the XXXX counter that cashed my check said that the check right away went through and he cashed it for me. I also went online later that day to check my balance and it said the same thing, that I had {$1700.00}. For the next couple days, I use my debit card for a total of 5 times and on the sixth time that I try to use it, my card got declined. Not understanding why my card got declined, I go online to check my balance and it said I have $ -XXXX The reason why my balance was negative was because I finally found out that the check that the woman sent me was fake. Instead of contacting me immediately saying that this check was fake and that I have a negative balance, TCF decides to mail me a letter which I do not receive until a week later. They also decide to charge me {$37.00} for each time that I used my card when I had a negative balance. In total, they are charging me {$180.00} in overdraft fees. I filed a report at my local police station about the check fraud and they told me to contact my bank ( TCF Bank ) and the bank of the scam artist ( XXXX XXXX ). When I talked to XXXX XXXX, they told me to file a fraud report with my bank and to have them immediately contact XXXX XXXX so that they can put a block on the scammer 's bank account. I then go to my bank, filed a check fraud report, and asked them to contact XXXX XXXX so that they can investigate the scammer 's bank account. A week and a half later I receive XXXX letters in the mail from TCF. The first letter says that they are unable to consider this a check fraud, the second letter says that they are sending my $ -XXXX to a collection agency. When I called the TCF Bank Fraud department to discuss their decision, the lady was very rude to me and told me that she is not going to contact XXXX XXXX. Here are my formal complaints : 1 ) I found out later that TCF Bank was not supposed to cash my check in the first place because I did not have matching funds. The check I was cashing was worth {$2800.00} and I had far less in my bank account originally. Had the banker followed the rules and not cashed it from the start, it would have saved me a lot of trouble. 2 ) TCF Bank NEVER contacted XXXX XXXX or made a report to them in an attempt to catch the scammer or help me get my money back. 3 ) They charged me {$180.00} in fees when I was using my card without being aware that I had a negative balance. 4 ) Instead of helping me at all, they hurt me further by sending the $ -XXXX to a collection agency.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief