Consumer complaint received 2024-03-07
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Opening an account — Unable to open an account
Company: REGIONS FINANCIAL CORPORATION (TX)

The parties involved with this Complaint are XXXX XXXX, branch manager, and XXXX XXXX, banker, and an employee named XXXX, team lead that was briefly involved before the branch manager became involved. The substance of the Complaint concerns Regions Bank and XXXX XXXX, who was rude, uninformed, and genuinely uninterested in helping a prospective consumer. Conversely, XXXX XXXX exhibited great customer service and patience, and mitigated what would have been a wholly unpleasant experience with the bank. 

I received a solicitation from Regions Bank regarding opening a business account for my new small business. I am a managing member and registered agent ( and attorney ) for the company. The solicitation offered up to {$700.00} for opening a new business checking account. The terms of the promotion simply required me to set up an appointment to open the account, make a {$100.00} deposit, and have XXXX debit card transactions within 60 days to qualify for {$350.00}. Per the instructions, I set up an appointment at the Regions Bank located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, Texas. 

My initial appointment was for XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX. Neither the Regions Bank website nor the solicitation identified items needed to open a business account, so I brought the Articles of Organization, Certificate of Filing with the Texas XXXX XXXX XXXX, IRS EIN info, and my identification. My initial meeting was with XXXX XXXX. XXXX was extremely pleasant and walked me through the process. Early into our conversation he explained to me that he was new to the process, and that it may take some time for him to go through the account opening process. I appreciated his honestly and transparency, and told him that was fine. 

About half way through the process, XXXX told me he had an issue in which he needed to speak with his manager. The business has XXXX members, but the Articles of Organization did not indicate each members respective ownership interest. XXXX told me that in speaking with his manager, the process would require something indicating each member 's respective interest so that Regions could know who needs to be on the account. I asked if I could forward him the filing information from the Texas XXXX XXXX  XXXX showing the members ' information. The information was sent to XXXX, but he could not open the attached zip link from the XXXX XXXX  XXXX that contained the documents. I told XXXX that each member had a 20 % interest and asked if we could amend the Articles to include this equal ownership. XXXX told me that could work and asked me to schedule a follow-up appointment. 

XXXX also informed me that the Bank may need a utility bill with the company 's address on it. I told XXXX that the company uses a po box for our mailing address, and the physical address for me as the registered agent is the location of the property we purchased. I told XXXX that the company did not have a physical location which would have/need a utility bill. Because XXXX said the utility bill was to prove our association with the physical address, I offered to produce a deed with the physical address on it showing that we owned the location. XXXX said he was unsure if that would suffice to establish our affiliation with the location, but offered for me to email him my company documents so that he could review and let me know if anything additional was needed before our next appointment. I told him that would work and appreciated his candor and assistance. 

After leaving the bank, I called the other members, and we were okay amending the Articles to simply add that the XXXX members each had a 20 % interest. I signed the document as the Organizer ( consistent with the original Articles ) and emailed it to XXXX, along with the Regions Bank offer letter, IRS EIN information, XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX Certificate of Filing, and an Certificate of Fact from the XXXX XXXX XXXX containing the company 's registered addresses and myself as the registered agent. I previously sent XXXX the link from the Secretary of XXXX with the formation filing, and I also sent a copy of the recorded deed from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX showing that the physical address was owned by the company. 

My follow-up appointment was on XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX with XXXX. During the meeting, XXXX informed me that the bank could not accept the Amended Articles because it was not signed and notarised by all members agreeing to the amendment adding the respective ownership interest. I told XXXX that because the Articles organises the company, I as the Organizer ( and registered agent ) signed the document, as was done with the original Articles. Feeling that this was pre-textual, I asked XXXX for the legal or Regions Bank policy that necessitated all members sign and notarise an Amended Article or all physical appear before it was a legal business document that Regions could accept. XXXX then involved the branch manager, XXXX XXXX. 

XXXX told me that the bank relied on the XXXX XXXX  XXXX formation information. XXXX said that they required all members to be present and verify the Amended Articles, because " [ she ] didn't know them '' and " can't say that they authorised the change. '' I told her that I was the organizer/registered agent/managing member/attorney, and as such, had legal authority to open the account and otherwise sign on the company 's behalf. XXXX told me that my being registered agent was solely for the XXXX XXXX  XXXX, and did not indicate I had the ability to transact banking business on behalf of the company. I told her I disagreed, and that my roles did allow me to create an account and otherwise transact business on behalf of the company. I then asked for Region 's consumer policies that identified what documents and items were needed to open a business account. XXXX informed me that the word " policies '' only applies to employees/associates, and as such, she could not show me any policies regarding the matter because I was not an employee. I again asked for the policies or where it was written by Regions to consumer what type of documents were needed for a business account, and she said there were no policies and that she didn't agree with how I was using the word " policies. '' I told her that didn't make sense. XXXX said Regions can only use what was listed in the XXXX XXXX  XXXX formation document from the XXXX XXXX  XXXX website, which I reminded her identified me as the registered agent and a managing member. She said because the XXXX XXXX  XXXX website listed other members, all members were needed to indicate their approval of the Amended Articles and open the account. I reiterated my request for where the policy was written down, and that what was requested was not pre-textual. XXXX then handed me a 51-page Deposit Agreement ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and told me it was in there. I asked her where specifically I could find the relevant information, and she told me to consult the Table of Contents and that she " didn't have time to go through it with me because she had an upcoming call. '' ( The conversation continued for about another 10-20 minutes and she remained with us the entire time. ) XXXX again reiterated that they could not proceed with opening the account without all members present because she didn't know the other members nor know whether they consented to the change adding the respective membership interest, and " she could be the registered agent '' and that doesn't mean she could transact business on the company 's behalf. I again told her that didn't make sense. I also reminded her that the XXXX XXXX  XXXX formation documents that she reviewed identified me as the registered agent and a managing member. After XXXX repeated her position about not knowing or being to prove that the other members authorised the opening of the account or the Amended Articles, she also told me that the recorded deed was insufficient to establish the company 's relationship to the physical address. She said that the bank screen would only accept certain documents, like a utility bill, and therefore I still did not have everything I needed to open an account. I told XXXX as I told XXXX the previous day about not having a utility bill for the property, but XXXX reiterated that it was required to have such documentation ( or similar ). 

I then asked XXXX for whom in the Regions corporate office I could speak with regarding the policies for documentation needed by a consumer to open a business account. She again disagreed regarding the term " policies, '' but instructed XXXX to send to the Legal Department " just the documents [ I ] provided '' to see if they were sufficient to open an account. I told XXXX that was fair, and asked him to have the Legal Department contact me directly regarding this matter. XXXX interjected that the Legal Department would not contact me, and would only respond back to XXXX since they " don't engage with the public. '' I told XXXX that was fine, and that once I heard back from him regarding the sufficiency of the documents, I would go from there in locating contact information for the Legal Department if a follow-up was needed. I thanked XXXX for his great customer service ( even in light of what happened ), and told XXXX she was wholly unpleasant. 

Despite XXXX 's unwillingness to direct me to where in the Deposit Agreement I could find applicable policies regarding business accounts, I did review the Agreement. Per Pages 23-24, Paragraph 27 addresses Business/Oranization Accounts and Authorised Representatives . The section acknowledges that one party/representative of the company can open the account and serve as an authorised representative. Per the second paragraph of the section, " An authorised representative also may be any person reasonably believed by [ Regions ] otherwise to be authorised by the business or organisation to act on its behalf or any person who may have capacity to act on behalf of the business or organization under the law of agency. '' The Agreement does not establish documents or items needed to develop a " reasonable belief. '' The section goes on to address how Regions will defer to the business to resolve issues regarding disputes about authorised representation, and will simply freeze the account if there is a problem. 

It is unclear to me why from the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX Certificate of Filing, Secretary of State Certificate of Fact, XXXX XXXX XXXX  Formation Filing identifying me as a managing member and registered agent ; IRS EIN record identifying me as a member, ( Amended ) Articles identifying me as a managing member and Organizer, and XXXX XXXX Real Property Record deed showing our company 's affiliation with the physical address, Regions Bank ( and more specifically, XXXX XXXX does not " reasonably believe '' that I am authorised to transact business on behalf of the company, including opening a bank account, and/or that we have sufficient ties to our physical address. Based on the information from the Deposit Agreement, it appears that it is subjective and discretionary as to whether Regions Bank " reasonably believes '' a consumer has authority to transact business with the company. The fact that XXXX was unwilling to provide any official, objective written material, policy ( XXXX ), and/or other information regarding the need for ALL members to be present to open an account leads me to question the interaction and whether it was pre-textual in nature.