Consumer complaint received 2023-08-03
Company: Comerica
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I was honestly discharged from the XXXX XXXX after 5 years of service as an XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX After my discharge I struggled reintegrating back into civilian life and I filed a claim with the VA and I started receiving a 60 % XXXX rating for compensation for XXXX XXXX XXXXt. And unfortunately on XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and on XX/XX/XXXX of XXXX I was sentenced to XXXX  for a term of 5 years 8 months after I was sentenced I released my personal property to my then girlfriend XXXX XXXX. I released all my personal effects my pants my sweatshirt my hat my wallet because they destroy the property once the XXXX  if you don't have money to mail your stuff home. 

About 2 months into my sentence my girlfriend quit writing me and answering my phone calls about XXXX of XXXX. I was released XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX of XXXX I called my bank that received my federal benefits Direct Express to access the funds I had assumed I had accumulated during my sentence I could not access my account because I did not know my 16 digit debit card number cuz I've been some years since I've seen it. I then contacted my ex XXXX XXXX and asked her about my PIN number and my 16 digit card number which miraculously she still had. She then gave me the information I called Direct Express and I access my account I had {$0.00} in my account. I then requested Direct Express to send me the last two years the bank statements which they did after they arrived in the mailbox I opened them and read through them it was appalled at what I found someone had spent every single dollar that was deposited into my bank account both VA checks and my stimulus checks. For a total of {$18000.00} I didn't immediately called Direct Express and filed a dispute about the theft. 2 months later I was denied due to some federal law stating that I had 120 days to file a dispute of the transactions in question well I was XXXX XXXXXXXX  I wasn't receiving my bank statements I wasn't in any position to manage my account and know what exactly was going on with it. But yet they denied me even though I sent them a copy of my XXXX order stating that I was in XXXX  for that time frame. Needless to say I was pretty upset and confused on how they could deny me so I escalated my claim and was denied a second time and the reason for denying me a second time was apparently my ex or somebody put {$200.00} on my inmate welfare account and apparently it was from my account. I sent them 16 months of disputed transactions and they denied me for a transaction on there that I didn't do for my own account and they said that I am benefiting from the fraud because I had received {$200.00} I'm just building XXXX and they denied my claim for {$200.00} that I didn't even know was put on my books for my own account? Needless to say I am beyond upset with Direct Express. When you get money put on your books in XXXX  they give you a receipt saying the amount they don't tell you the person who put money on there they don't give you the account number they don't tell you you know had I known that she'd use my card I would have stopped it immediately which in fact I did try to stop it halfway through my sentence because I figured something was off because she quit writing me and answering my calls I then wrote Direct Express explaining to them that there's a possibility somebody is accessing my account and I wrote them multiple letters from inside the XXXX  which they never responded to. So I feel that it's on them for allowing someone to access my account even after I had explicitly wrote them letters saying to put my account on hold until I can be sure that nothing is going on in my account. The bottom line is nobody had a permission to use my card to use my bank account. The money was stolen for me and the right thing to do is to have it returned to me I have now exhausted all the means I have with that company and I am trying different avenues in order to resolve this.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation