Consumer complaint received 2024-03-05
Product: Prepaid card — Government benefit card
Issue: Unexpected or other fees — 
Company: U.S. BANCORP (KS)

You recently closed my previous complaint because I did not respond fast enough. This is an extension of complaint XXXX. I spoke with a representative at the CFPB today and before she hung up on my phone call very rudely, she informed me that there is in fact an enforcement action against US Bank issued by the CFPB. I read about this at Consumer Affairs and they summarized the enforcement action as " CFPB has ordered U.S. Bank to pay nearly {$21.00} XXXX for keeping out-of-work consumers from accessing unemployment benefits {$5.00} XXXX of that going directly to consumers harmed by its actions. Separately, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ( OCC ) fined XXXX XXXX XXXX {$15.00} million. The CFPB and OCC coordinated during their investigations into U.S. Banks illegal conduct. '' This is relevant here because I have filed many complaints against US Bank for their illegal conduct. 
I first filed a complaint with you in XXXX or XXXX XXXX XXXX  about US Bank and how they ruined my life. I contacted US Bank countless times between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX because they had frozen my wifes account without cause and denied access to the funds in the account. I was out of state at the time US Bank froze the account and when they did this, I became stranded in Kansas although my home is in Colorado. Without access to the funds I had no way to return home and as a result I lost my home, my possessions, and eventually my Colorado residency. To this very day I am still stranded in Kansas where I do not want to be, and it is all because US Bank froze the funds in the account. US Bank refused to release the account funds every time I contacted them over a period of XXXX months. After filing the complaint with the CFPB US Bank cooperated and they sent me a letter which I will attach. In this letter they claim that the only reason they did not release the funds from the unemployment account was they wanted to verify my ID. At no point in this XXXX month period did US Bank ever ask me for ID verification, until the CFPB got involved. As mentioned, the result of your intervention was this letter I received. In the letter US Bank apologizes for the hardship they caused me. US Bank then expedited a check with a tracking number to my mothers address in Kansas in the amount of {$2600.00} and they acknowledge the delivery of the check was successful. This all sounds like the issue was resolved, however it still has not been. That check that US Bank issued me was returned as rejected after depositing it in my bank account elsewhere. The check that the CFPB stepped in to contact US Bank about, regarding US Banks illegal withholding of the account and the funds, the very same incident that left me homeless and penniless, was returned by US Bank upon deposit. US Bank may have pretended to apologize and issue the funds but after the CFPB had no more role to play, US Bank went back to their illegal practices. I am still owed the funds in that account in the amount of {$2600.00}. I am owed for all the hardship that their illegal practices have caused including the loss of my home, possessions, and my state residency. This issue needs resolved still. This all relates to my mention of the enforcement action the CFPB issued US Bank because US Bank froze the account, " keeping out of work consumers from accessing unemployment benefits, '' just as the enforcement action was made to remedy. The frozen account has not been remedied and they have had years to do so. By rejecting the very check that US Bank claims to have issued to me for resolution, they have only exacerbated the problem even farther and I am livid about this. It is far past time to do something about this and hold US Bank accountable. The letter they sent me is evidence of their deceptions and an admittal of their deceptions. It is for these reasons that I qualify to receive a portion of the settlement that was ordered by the CFPB and the OCC. I am owed settlement in the amount of the check {$2600.00} and I am owed for the hardships that were created by US Bank and the hardships that continue still to this very day at the hand of US Bank. The CFPB needs to do more than just order an enforcement action the CFPB needs to actually enforce the action. US Bank has failed to follow through with what was ordered and they rejected their own check they sent to me. 
US Bank now claims that they can not find information about the frozen account of my now XXXX  wife, XXXX XXXX. I have attempted to contact US Bank at the email address they instructed me to use, XXXX, yet I have not received a single correspondence in return from US Bank. US Bank claims that " if '' I am determined eligible for a refund that I would receive communication from them. I have not received any communication since then. I know for a fact I am eligible to receive compensation for these things because US Bank admits to me in the letter I possess that there was fault caused by US Bank, and they apologized for creating the issue. That letter proves I am eligible for settlement claims not only for the STILL frozen account and funds in the account, but for the hardships created by it, which they also address and admit. So there is no question " IF '' I am eligible, it is a fact that has been agreed upon already by both parties. The issue now is, who is going to hold US Bank accountable to follow through with the enforcement action? They did not follow through with their claims in XXXX XXXX XXXX as was directed by you, they know very well I am eligible for the settlement claims now because they admitted their fault to me then already, so what is the delay? Why is it that an enforcement action is made but not actually enforced? The term enforcement loses all meaning when it is not actually enforced, and it becomes more of a gentle suggestion or thought.

Another problem, identical to the last one I just addressed is a rejected check issued to me by US Bank. This check in question was in the amount of {$1200.00} written to me from US Bank. This check also was rejected by US Bank, and was written by US Bank. That makes XXXX checks, upon deposit, in which the issuing bank was also the rejecting bank. These check funds were written to me by US Bank and I am still owed these funds from US Bank totaling {$3800.00}. I held a meeting with a branch manager on XXXX XXXX, XXXX and US Bank told me that these XXXX checks were still good regardless of the issue date and that I would be able to cash them. I was assured, and yet they rejected the funds they owed me. I want the CFPB to order the re issuance of these funds. US Bank can send XXXX new checks in the same amounts or combine them into XXXX check totaling {$3800.00}. 
One main complaint I have is that they did nothing about replacing the funds that were stolen at an ATM using my unemployment government benefits payroll card. These funds were stolen from me and were protected under the " electronic funds transfer act. '' The CFPB has done nothing to enforce the laws that protect me as a consumer in this situation. US Bank did not offer provisional credit or follow the laws they are supposed to follow. You have sat idly by and let US Bank operate illegally and without any accountability. There is an enforcement action against this bank because they are acting in illegal ways. They continue to act in illegal ways. When is someone going to actually do something and make them follow through with what they owe??

As of today, US Bank owes me {$3800.00} for the amount of the frozen closed accounts that has not been paid. US Bank owes me for the funds that were stolen from my unemployment benefits card at an ATM that were protected by our agreement and the EFTA in the amount of {$3900.00}, if memory serves me correctly. This leaves a total of {$7800.00} that US Bank has stolen from my family. This leaves an amount of {$7800.00} that I have reported to the CFPB in dozens of complaints I have filed with you that you have not enforced. US Bank pretended to issue payment in the amount of {$3800.00} using XXXX checks, but then denied them. US Bank never once issued provisional credit for my protected government payroll benefits card theft nor did they repay the stolen amounts. 
I have had it. This bank owes me these funds and a great deal more from the years of hardship they created. I want them to pay what they owe and I want the CFPB to actually enforce their actions from start to finish. The CFPB needs to order this payment and not leave the issue alone until I have cashed the checks successfully, and then you need to ensure that US Bank is not allowed to operate in the manners they have been illegally acting for years now. Shame on the CFPB because I have filed over a dozen complaints about this and you have not done a thing, and you are every bit as responsible for the crooked practices of US Bank as they are because you are allowing it.

I want these funds paid to me asap, I want additional paid for the years of hardship, and I want to be paid in the settlement for the enforcement actions issued by the CFPB and OCC. I request that an administrative adjudication be filed against US Bank by filing a Notice of Charges alleging a violation of a consumer protection statute. This is my notice again to the CFPB, these are the charges US Bank needs to face, and the judge needs to order my funds be paid to me since the CFPB is not enforcing the enforcement actions. Why you leave it up to US Bank to determine eligible recipients for receiving settlement payment makes no sense what so ever. If they are acting in a criminal manner before getting caught and still acting that way after getting caught and being " enforced '', why would you allow the criminal business to be in charge of determining eligible recipients? They will clearly lie and act in a criminal manner then as well. I want this notice of charges for US Banks violations acted upon.