Consumer complaint received 2015-04-03
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
A couple of months ago I received a letter from USAA indicating that I owed some money and my account was past due. I called them to indicate that there has been an identity theft since I never opened the card nor was in possession of the card. Over the past few months I have called them several times to address the issue. Every time, it seems as though they are doing something about it but they arent and I find that they are simply having the collection agents harass me about the money. There is no mention of what they have done to investigate the identity theft and what their conclusion was. When I call identity theft department at USAA, they hear me out for a few minutes and either put down the phone or connect me back to collections. 
It is extremely unprofessional and I have not seen this with any of the credit agencies or banks that I have dealt with. 
At a minimum, i would have expected them to take note of the details, investigate it and get back to me on why they think that I was the one to open the account or atleast let me know the outcome of their investigation. I think there has been a presumption on their part to conclude without adequate investigation that I was the one to open the card. USAA I am told is typically open only to people either in the military or relatives of military. I have NO connection to the military and it seems like they did n't even bother to check this fact before issuing the card to whoever was impersonating me. 
I think the burden of proof should be on them to show me the documents to conclude that I opened the account. I even told them that I have a filed a police report and was willing to provide them with the report number. They did n't bother with it since they have pre-concluded without any investigation. I was told that the domain of the email address which was used to open the account was " XXXX ''. If they use a little common sense, that would be the first indication that it is a fraudulent account or atleast give me a chance to hear me out and take my complaint seriously. 
It has been extremely frustrating since they seem extremely unprofessional in the way they are going about this issue. I have been thrown around from one department to another and there is no transparency on what is going on. When I first reported it, they seemed to take down all the details but a few weeks later, they indicated no record of it and asked me to repeat the story again. I did and someone pretended to file a report and gave me a case number XXXX with the promise of some outcome in 5-7 business days. When I called them after a week with the case number, they simply were trying to transfer me back to collections. 
I feel I have no recourse as a consumer as I have no way of knowing what they are investigating and what they are concluding. I seem to be at their whim and they are holding me to ransom for their negligence in not verifying some basic credentials such as signature and proof of military. I think they need to be held liable for their negligence.

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