Consumer complaint received 2024-07-10
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem using a debit or ATM card
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION (GA)

On XX/XX/year> I noticed that we had XXXX transactions for the exact same amount of money taken out of our bank account totaling about {$2400.00}. Immediately I knew it wasn't us. I called Truist and reported the fraud. They told me they would send a claim form in the mail for me to complete, when asked if they could send electronically they told me no. 

Now at the same this fraud took place I also researched the company that took the money from our account and contacted them. The company is named XXXX XXXX. Upon speaking with XXXX their fraud department told me that they regularly take payment by phone for concrete orders and if it goes through, they deliver their product and keep moving. I asked them very specifically about our situation and they were able to locate the orders relatively quickly. While they validated my husband 's card number as being the card that was used to buy, when we validated the name the fraudster gave they had changed our last name to something different. I told XXXX that i had filed the fraud with the bank and they told me I would have to deal with them directly to get my money back. They went out to tell me that they would be sending a letter to us AND to the homeowner where their product was delivered threatening a lien on the other parties house for the money as they knew Truist would recover the funds from them. 

Back to Truist, I diligently called and followed up with Truist to get the documentation I needed to be able to submit the claim. It never came so in one of my many calls I told them I wasn't taking no for an answer and it magically was emailed to me. I completed their form and wrote a letter of sorts detailing all that took place and provided them with names and phone numbers for the people I had already spoken too at XXXX Concrete. In my mind the more they knew the faster the investigation would go. After submitting the claim I consistently followed up with their fraud department and they never had an update or status. I went from crying in frustration to losing my mind in anger that literally NOTHING was being done to help us get our money back. We had to think of something else. 

My husband decided to go to a local branch here in town on XX/XX/XXXX and ask them for help. We hoped an in person plea might help them see that we are serious and that {$2400.00} was a lot of money to just let go out of a customer 's account without a prompt or phone call, especially when we NEVER spend like this or order things like this. The man he spoke too said he was sorry and understood our frustration but that the fraud line was a waste of time as those people just intake information and don't follow up or do anything beyond what they had done for us. He also told us that the fraud department team that we had dealt with had not filed the claim properly. He told us it could take up to XXXX weeks to get our money back. My husband insisted he call someone at the fraud department and ask what's going on. The man obliged and Truist said they had not received the forms that I had sent a week earlier but once my husband called me and got the date I sent they were able to locate. We received our XXXX provisional credit back after this visit but were told the whole amount should be resolved in the next XXXX to XXXX days. The man my husband spoke with that day also said he had now signed us up to receive text messages when activity outside of the normal stuff hits our account so we can be in the know faster. No such texts have ever been received. 

A week passes, no money, no updates, no phone calls. At this point I call the police and report the fraud so that we would have record of what has happened to us. I submitted the police report to Truist as well so that they would continue to stay in the know on what we were doing to get our money back. It made no difference. Still no phone calls, no updates, no more of our money back, and the investigation continued. I called and checked in constantly for an update. Weeks went by with no change and for the most part thinking there is no way we are getting our money back at this point. Then I received a letter in the mail stating that they had denied the XXXX transaction that XXXX XXXX made because it was a DUPLICATE charge. I was floored. If the first one was fraud then how could it be that the second charge wasn't too? 

At this point I went into a different local branch and spoke with a banker and told them what was going on. Brought all of my documentation with me so she would have in front of her. Told her what happened and she immediately called the fraud department with me in her office. They get on the line she explains that I'm with her, I'm upset, I have all of these documents and we still denied the claim. I hear the lady on the other line state " we never received any documents from the client showing it was fraud and it appeared to be a duplicate so we denied the payment. '' The banker made clear that that was not the case and that she personally would send over ALL of the documents that I had sent so many times previously. The fraud department reopened my case and by the end of the week the provisional credit for the second charge was back in our account. 

Before I left the bank that day I filed an official complaint for how long the process took and how poor the communication was. I was told someone would be in touch with me in the next few days. They never called but I did get an email stating someone would be calling and to this day I haven't heard a word. A random {$50.00} credit from Truist did show up in an account but I don't want their money, I want customer service and MY money back that THEY allowed to be taken from account. 

Throughout this time I did receive a letter from Truist stating the first provisional credit they gave would remain in our account and that the fraud claim was approved. While I have received a provisional credit for the second amount I still haven't been given the final approval that the money will remain with us and they have closed out the investigation. This money just came back to our account a week ago. So XX/XX/year> to XXXX to get {$2400.00} back that I never authorized. I have HOURS of my life I will never get back advocating for my money while Truist consistently did NOT communicate and lost paperwork that was sent in to the link THEY wanted me to use. It feels as if Truist has created a circular system that never gets you anywhere but puts them in a position to exhaust a consumer so that they go away and forget the funds they lost. It's truly felt 100 % intentional that they are not interested in helping and are content to keep your money once the fraud has been established. 

Now, as if all of the above wasn't enough, I logged in to our checking account on Friday XX/XX/XXXX to pay bills and I see a charge to XXXX for {$600.00} that I know we did not make. The only card we have associated with out XXXX account is a credit card with XXXX XXXX. I immediately call the fraud line and report and I asked them to please stop the money from leaving the account as it was still in a 'pending ' status. I was told they could not. I told them I needed them to open the claim and send me the fraud forms so I could start this ridiculous process over. The lady said " well there's a chance it won't go through so we can't do a claim unless it goes through. '' I asked her how it " might '' go through and again, why couldn't she stop the pending payment. She didn't have an answer that made any logical sense. She went on to say that once the payment posts I would have to call back into Truist fraud and get the claim number and then they can send the paperwork. So here I go again jumping back in the pool of chaos to get our money back for a charge we did not make or authorize. I had them validate how they accessed our account this time and it was confirmed it was my debit card this go round. They canceled my card and are sending a new one out. I will have to start the process of the claim, etc today and I'm dreading every second of it. 

For the record I did reach out to XXXX about the fraudulent charge and asked them to please search our account for the amount that was charged and if they would please see if they could find a transaction under my card number that was used. XXXX was not successful in finding any information for this charge so they will be XXXX help for us too. 

As a XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX for a XXXX XXXX  it's baffling to me how Truist XXXX would allow any of their customers to be treated in this way. I understand Fraud is complicated, I deal with it daily in the mortgage industry. There is no way a person without a finance background would know what's acceptable and what's not in a situation like this from a service perspective. We were fortunate that we had money to cover us until it was resolved but what about consumers that don't? What about the hard working family that was counting on the {$2400.00} to pay rent, a mortgage, feed their kids, buy a home... XXXX weeks is a lot of life for normal every day people and {$2400.00} is not a drop in the bucket either. And now I'm staring down another {$600.00}.