Consumer complaint received 2022-11-15
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
On Wed XX/XX/XXXX, I received a text message of a {$310.00} charge at XXXX. Since I am the ONLY authorized user of the card, I knew the charge be fraudulent. 
At XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX a call was made to the service center at XXXX XXXX, but after 11 minutes on hold, the banks system disconnected the call without ever transferring me to an associate. I was unable to immediately call back since I was driving home from work at that time. 
At XXXX pm on XX/XX/XXXX a successful call was place to your center and a dispute was placed for the previous mentioned charge. During the call I was asked if I had the card in my possession and I indicated that I had the card in my possession and it was in the desk I was calling from at my home. I asked that the card be re-issued with a different card number since the card had obviously been compromised. Your associate then issued a new card # XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter that my dispute had been denied since the card was protected with an EMV Chip. 
A call was place to your service center on XX/XX/XXXX and I explained to you associate that this was not possible since the card was in my desk the entire time and this was the only card that had been issue for that charge account. She indicated that it can go to a further dispute that would take 30 days. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter indicating that my 2nd dispute was denied and to let the bank know if I would like the copies of the research used to make the decision. 
XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I call your service center to request the documents used in the decision and was told that there were no documents. It was once again denied because the card issued was a EMV chip card. I again told the associate that this was not possible and asked if my only alternative was a legal dispute. She then transferred me to a manager who was equally unhelpful. He seemed convinced that someone in my household took the card and used it, the rushed home to put it back in the drawer that I keep the card in. He said that I should do the research, file a police report and resubmit the claim.. At this point I can only conclude I would get the same answer again. From start to finish this process took 43 days and NO reasonable research was made by the bank. 
Please be aware of the following based on my research XXXX. In recent history have only used the 5th 3rd card for fuel purchases 2. I have not shopped at the XXXX store that the fraudulent purchase was made at in over a year 3. I went to the XXXX store in question and received a copy of the receipt which has items on it that neither me or my family would have purchased 4. The XXXX employee, who was very helpful, said that the video surveillance is only kept for 30 days, so the delay in 5th 3rd doing any reasonable research on the the claim kept me from getting any video of the purchase. She also was surprised that the bank did not honor the dispute and she said this happens all the time 5. 3 people live in the household where the card is kept. I checked my XXXX alarm video and it revealed the following individuals entering the home around the time of the transaction. My wife entered at XXXX after getting the mail. At the time of the fraudulent purchase, she was recovering from torn knee ligaments and unable to drive, so it would not have been possible for her to make the purchase and return home in 2 minute since the XXXX in question is almost XXXX miles from our home. My son arrived home from work at XXXX. He worked until XXXX, which means he would have had to drive XXXX miles in rush hour traffic and get to the XXXX store in XXXX minutes to make the purchase, then drive another XXXX miles to get home. That would be a total of XXXX miles in rush hour traffic plus entering the store to make the purchase. I left my office at XXXX and would have had to drive XXXX miles in XXXX minutes to make the purchase. All 3 of these scenarios are IMPOSSIBLE. 

A letter sent to the corporate office at 5th 3rd bank was mailed on XX/XX/XXXX and has not been responded to. by 5th 3rd bank.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation