Consumer complaint received 2024-11-22
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem accessing account
Company: M&T BANK CORPORATION (PA)

To whom it may concern : I would like to file a formal complaint against M & T Bank ( M & T Bank, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 
In XXXX, my father, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, a loyal customer of XXXX XXXX XXXX ( formerly XXXX XXXX XXXX ) since XXXX, started to show signs of short-term memory loss. He stopped paying bills in XXXX of XXXX. At that point, my mother asked that I take over all finances, paying bills, household tasks, etc. I did so. Legal documents drafted in XXXX placed my mother as first POA for my father, and I was listed as second. 
Since XX/XX/XXXX, known to M & T Bank, I was logging in to my fathers account at the bank to do all online banking, paying all bills, insurances, taxes, etc. I did all their bookkeeping. M & T Bank was well aware that I had assumed all financial responsibilities for my parents as I communicated quite frequently through the online banking systems messaging feature. I always signed my communications as XXXX XXXX XXXX, daughter, or similar. 
At that point, I was not listed on this account with them. So when there was an issue where I needed to actually speak to someone due to a fraudulent charge, etc., I would have XXXX of my parents nearby to tell the banking individual that it was OK to let me communicate on their behalf ( they were in their XXXX ). 
In XXXX ( I think ), I finally decided to get both my parents into the bank ( my mother was wheelchair bound and my father had issues walking distances ). But I got them both to the main M & T Branch on XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I was added to both their checking and savings account. I also received a XXXX card, which I did not activate until XXXX. 
I continued doing their banking through my fathers log in, and continued communicating with various bank personnel logged in to my fathers account but signing my name on the communiques. For XXXX years, there was never an issue. 
During the several years I did their banking, I digitized everything. I used bill pay for every payment of every creditor, utility, insurer, etc. I entered XXXX creditors into the bill pay system, their addresses, account numbers, etc. I paid all bills through the bill pay system logged in to my fathers account. 
I resolved issues of fraud from when my mother was in a XXXX home and used an open network, in which her credit card information was stolen and used for fraudulent transactions. Although my mother didnt have a working log in/password, I was able to work with the bank and show them examples of where she was making purchases she didnt know she was making : purchasing XXXX corporate licenses from XXXX, simply for her XXXX tablet ; being charged by other similar companies to protect her tablet, but the software was never implemented. She, not being of sound mind due to heavy drugs, was making purchases that made no sense. When I pointed this out to the bank, they agreed with me and froze her credit card. I neither had the authority or ability to do this myself, but the bank personnel saw the fraud and crazy purchases and froze her credit card associated with the bank account. 
When my mother took my fathers credit card and began using it to make purchases ( again, fraud was being committed because she had no idea that she was giving the credit card information to bad actors ), I was able to log in to my fathers account and freeze his card. It worked. The fraud stopped. 
The only time I would unlock my fathers card was when a prescription needed to be picked up from XXXX XXXX ( which was several times a week ), or for groceries at XXXX XXXX XXXX, or health supplies or cheaper food items from XXXX. 
I was able to manage their finances under this system. I also had access to their line of credit when logged in as my father. As taxes became due, I was able to transfer money from their LOC to their account to cover the payments. My mother has had numerous ambulance calls, so I was also able to transfer from the XXXX to pay for those outrageous costs. Finally, my parents have caregivers coming to the house in the morning and the evening through an agency. Those expenses run $ XXXX {$900.00} per week. All those expenses exceeded their Railroad retirement. So, again, I would move money over from the XXXX to pay for these expenses. 
The week of XX/XX/XXXX, I received a notification from XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX Collector that my parents were delinquent in their taxes. I immediately logged in to the bank account and saw that M & T Bank did indeed debit the bank account for all tax payments. After further digging through the data, I saw that XXXX of the bank issued checks was never cashed by XXXX XXXX ; however, M & T debited the funds from my parents account in XX/XX/XXXX ( keep in mind, it was now XXXX and no one from the bank ever notified my folks that this check was never presentedwhich would have been a courtesy so my parents could have asked that the payment be reimbursed to their account and they could resolve the issue. M & T is XXXX of the banks that debits the money from the account whether the recipient cashes the check or not. Elderly people have no idea this is happening because they dont know how to drill down into the data offered through the online banking to know this. 
When I learned of this check that was never presented, I immediately called M & T Bank and asked them to put a stop payment on the check. Someone, I ended up being transferred to the Fraud departmentwho decided to lock me out of my fathers log in, even though I had been logging in and doing banking for XXXX years and M & T knew that. 
M & T BLOCKED my fathers log in, which meant I had no access to all the banking I had done for the previous XXXX years. M & T Fraud told me I needed to have my own log in. 
I created my own log in, and to my surprise, I had no access to pay bills, I had no access to transfer money from their LOC to pay their bills to keep them in their house and up to date with creditors. I had no access to all my communications with bank personnel when there was an issue and what the resolution was, I had not access to transfer funds from the savings account ( which I was added to the same time I was added to their checking account in XXXX ) And upon learning that there could be more checks out there that were never cashed by the recipient but were still debited to my folks checking account, I had no way to do a thorough investigation to ensure that all payments had in fact been presented. 
Nor did I have access to any of the XXXX creditors I had entered. I had no ability to do any banking for my parents. 
I contacted the fraud department and was told that in order to unblock my fathers account, I had to present him at the bank branch ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX  ) with proper ID and paperwork, and they would unblock the account. That was the only way they would unblock it. 
So I did. On XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX a.m., I took my father ( no easy task ) to the bank and we met with XXXX XXXX XXXX M & T Bank, XXXX XXXX | Relationship Banker, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. She brought someone else into the office ( a higher up ) and that individual stated they were not going to unblock the account for fear that I would continue to use it in the future to pay their bills. I pointed out that I had no access to all my communications with the bank, I had no access to bill pay, I had no access to borrow from the line of credit to ensure there was enough money in their account to pay for taxes, ambulance, et al. 
I also advised that I had yet to thoroughly audit the account to ensure that there were no other outstanding checks that M & T debited but that the recipient never presented the check for payment. 
And I reminded the bank that I had been doing this for XXXX years, logging in to my fathers account. 
So, I did what fraud department told me to do. Bring my father to the bank and his account would be unblocked. It was not. 
Then they added another hoop for me to jump through. They rejected the power of attorney form that was drawn up in XXXX that placed my mother as first POA for my father, and me as second. 
So, today, I presented XXXX XXXX with a Resignation of Power of Attorney, signed by my mother, XXXX XXXX XXXX, witness by an individual, and notarized by a Notary who came to the house. I took that document to the bank immediately ( in fact, I had XXXX drawn up for my father to sign as well, making me first POA for both parents ). The bank still has not unblocked my fathers log in username and password so that I have access to banking and all historical data since I took over banking in XXXX. 
At this point, I feel I am simply being harassed because I made a previous customer service rep in the XXXX Department angry because I stated that I wanted to continue using my fathers log in because thats where the previous XXXX years of my banking were located. It was after the call with her, the log in was blocked and I was told I had to present my dad at the bank to have it unblocked, which was a lie because they did not unblock it. They raised the bar. 
When I delivered the XXXX documents today, naming me first POA, I was told it could take several days to have legal review the XXXX. 
In the meantime, I have no way of paying my folks bills, no way of reconciling the account, no way of seeing whether more funds are needed, no way of ensuring that XXXX life insurance policies are paid by the first of XXXX. 
Its hard enough to be a caregiver, especially when I am still a worker ; I have my own company, my own bookkeeping Its to XXXX XXXX where M & T is simply harassing me and making the situation unbearable, and for a member whos been with the bank since XXXX. 
For XXXX years I used my fathers log in to do all banking. For XXXX XXXX M & T Bank knew this, as evidenced by frequent communication with my named signed at the bottom of the communique, and then just XXXX day they shut it all down and leave my parents ( me ) without the means to keep up their finances and have access to important past financial data. 
I would like this to be a formal complaint. 
Signed, XXXX XXXX XXXX POA for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX even did what the bank ask and created my own username and passwordLogging in as me worked on XX/XX/XXXX, but when I tried to log in on XX/XX/XXXX to try to do some banking ( to which none was available because there was no data or way to transfer funds from savings to checking [ which Im on both accounts ] ), I WAS BLOCKED. It wasnt until I called XXXX Department, and let them know that because their upfront message stated, This call may be recorded, and that I took that to mean I was allowed to record the call, which I did from start, that my account was unblocked. But again, it was useless as there was no data there. No creditors, no way to do a reconcile of payments, NOTHING.