Consumer complaint received 2023-05-10
Company: Block, Inc.
State: GA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
( Y'all need a " save progress feature. ) In XXXX of 2022, my Cash App account was suddenly closed for " activity not in the terms of service '' or something. It was closed a few hours after I paid a legitimate and licensed business for my nose piercing. I later realized that I never switched over the bank account I had attached to it after I switched banks, so I presume that is why they closed it. However, this has not been confirmed, because they have never told me why they closed, despite multiple exchanges with them. However, I was able to cash out the money left in my account. 

However, my son, XXXX XXXX , opened a " sponsored '' account, with me as the sponsor, due to him being a minor at the time. Upon closing my account, my son 's account had over {$100.00} in it. They would not let him transfer his money to anyone, because they would not allow him to conduct any financial transactions without his account having a sponsor. They also would not let anyone else over XXXX years old act as his sponsor. They also would not let him transfer the money to me or into my bank account, because my Cash App account was closed and he was not listed on my actual bank account. Many exchanges with Cash App via phone, the chat feature, and email, have been fruitless and a bunch of non-answers and run around. 

Eventually, they stated that they were going to " escalate '' the issue, and gave me various bogus " reference numbers '' that serve me literally no purpose, because they have designed a system that prevents me from speaking with anyone regarding the issue, regardless of whether or not I have a " reference number. '' They have also occasionally sent random emails to stating that they have " escalated my issue, '' and then have not responded when I have mentioned that it has been " escalated '' multiple times over the past several months, Well, now it has been a year. ( My initial recollection was that this all started last XXXX, not last XXXX. ) My son has now turned XXXX years old, of legal age to conduct his own financial transactions. Guess what?? You guessed it! They still will not relinquish his money and continue to give us the run around. He attempted to complete a transaction in his Cash App account, and it is requiring him to verify his identity. Fair enough, except it keeps giving him an error message when he attempts to do so. So, he reaches out to Cash App via the chat, and they state that since he has a " sponsored account, '' the sponsor of the account needs to reach out and request that the sponsorship is ended. So, I do so, and they tell me that, since he is XXXX, they can not tell me anything about his account. Then, they tell us he needs to open a new account that is not sponsored, and that his existing funds that have been sitting for over a year will not be transferred. Then, they revert back to the " this matter will be escalated via email '' line that they were using last year. Meanwhile, he has no access to his money, that he EARNED, and they continue to earn interest off of it, while maintaining convoluted policies and procedures designed to take advantage of people who do not know how to advocate for themselves.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation