Consumer complaint received 2021-08-10
Company: UNITED BANKSHARES, INC.
State: VA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I checked my bank account that I have with United Bank because I wanted to eat out and I noticed that a transaction was being sent through XXXX in the amount of {$720.00} to someone named XXXX XXXX. I immediately called the bank because the money was moved from my savings account to my checking account while I was accessing my account and I told the bank representative that this was happening as we spoke and I was not the one making the transaction. I first watched my money move from my savings to my checking, I tried to move it back and I got a message stating that " I was not allowed to transfer any money, '' on my own account! So I immediately called the bank. By the time I got the bank on the phone, the transfer went to a XXXX payment and while speaking to the bank representative, my money was transferred out. I told the bank that this is happening as we are speaking right now and its not me that's sending this money, otherwise, I would not be calling them. I do not know anyone named XXXX XXXX and I would not have sent this person my rent money. I was told that whomever was doing this was in my account, at the same time I had the bank on the phone, and making it appear that it was me making the transfer but it was not me, I was on the phone with the bank trying to get the transfer stopped. They told me that they could not stop it and they sent everything to their fraud department and that I needed to go into the branch to make a dispute. I called my local branch, told them what happened, they immediately froze all my accounts. The bank manager, told me that the person who hacked my account and stole my money used United Banks headquarters address in XXXX, VA as their personal address, which should have told them that this is some type of fraud, either by one of their employees or by someone other than me since their address was used as this persons address. And after doing my research on XXXX, you don't need a physical address to send money but this person did put in a physical address and they used an address that belongs to the bank. I went into the branch on XX/XX/XXXX, filled out the paperwork for the dispute. I informed them that on XX/XX/XXXX, I have a direct deposit coming in, I was then told that I had to come in on the XX/XX/XXXX to change all of my accounts. I did this. I've done everything that they asked me to do BUT they can not or will not give me any answers on my dispute and they will not tell me if I will get my money back. I was able to borrow money from a friend to pay my rent but my other bills, such as my light bill, my water bill, etc. are behind. I called the bank again this morning to see if they had any updates, I was told no, the fraud department has not contacted them at all since XX/XX/XXXX about my dispute and it now can take 3-4 weeks before I could hear anything about my money because their entire fraud department works from home and they got an email stating that they were behind on disputes BUT when the dispute was submitted, the branch manager received a call from the fraud department asking about the details of my dispute. I have no answers at all about what is happening with my account. I've been a loyal customer of theirs for almost 4 years, now. Had I not checked my account before trying to order food, I would have never known until the next day or so that someone stole my money! I do not think its fair to penalize my twice by making me wait to receive my money back because their employees are behind. If I had and overdraft or something on my account, I can assure you that they would not wait to charge me their bank fees.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief