Consumer complaint received 2024-03-18
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Cashing a check
Company: SUNCOAST CREDIT UNION (FL)

I have been banking at Suncoast Credit Union for around 10 years and have maintained a good bank account with them with no problems. I do XXXX XXXX where I get paid by echecks and also have a XXXX XXXX XXXX and a partner for my team. 

For several years I print off my XXXX XXXX pay check via echecks and deposit it using the remote deposit app at the bank. Never had a problem. My business partner scanned a check and emailed it to me for payment in the amount of {$4000.00}. I printed the check off. Since I was running errands near one of the local Suncoast Credit Union branches I stopped in person on XXXX to deposit the check instead of just use the remote deposit app like I could have just done and have done many times for my XXXX XXXX pay checks. The teller at Suncoast Credit Union in XXXX XXXX, FL located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, FL said he was unsure if he could deposit the check because it was not a check but instead a print out of the check. He said he needed to check with his manager XXXX XXXX. XXXX slanderred me saying the check was fraud because it did not have a watermark on the back of it and I was the one depositing it. I explained to her I do XXXX XXXX and get paid all the time by echecks that do not have a watermark on them and it is legal to get paid this way. Echecks are not printed on check stock with a watermark instead on plain white typing paper. She refused to allow me to deposit my check. 

I deposited my check paid to me by my business partner using remote deposit. When I did the bank immediately made {$1000.00} of it available like they always do. Normally they make {$1000.00} available right away and within 2 days release the rest of the check. The next day when I logged into my online banking I noticed the bank was holding all my funds from my check. I called corporate in XXXX and was told by their worker they are holding my funds for 7 days and now restricting my bank account for 6 months because they didn't like how my check looked. Again a real check written to me by my business partner. Suncoast corporate said for the next 6 months they are not allowing me to deposit using the ATM or remote deposit because they didn't like a real check I need to cash and deposit. 

I went to another Suncoast branch on XXXX in person in XXXX XXXX, FL and tried to deposit a physical check with a watermark on it from my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX A company that has paid me over 100 different times around the middle of each month never having a problem. Now the bank told me they are going to hold that check 7 days and all checks 7 days because they didn't like the one check my business partner paid me for {$4000.00}. I did not deposit the new check because I can't afford for the bank to hold my pay checks 7 days since I need to pay bills. When I called XXXX corporate office for Suncoast back to ask why they are trying to hold my other real physical pay checks 7 days now the worker told me becuase they didn't like the 1 check I was paid by my business partner so they are going to restrict my account for the next 6 months. The worker told me they now are going to hold the check until XX/XX/2024 even though my bank account is not a new account and is around 10 years old in perfect standing and the check is a real check from my business partner trying to pay me. 

I asked the manager in person at the XXXX XXXX, FL location on XXXX how can I fix this when I have done nothing wrong. He told me if corporate is refusing to release the funds to your check even after it clears I could have my business partner go to his XXXXXXXX XXXX and get a letter from them on bank letter head stating the check has cleared and showing a copy of the check front and back showing it has cleared. He said with proof the check has cleared the other bank Suncoast should release the funds. 

When I called Suncoast corporate back a 3rd time to try to resolve this the worker told me when the check clears they will release funds to me right away and not hold my check for 30 days. I told him I had already reached out to Florida Office of Financial Regulation to file a formal complaint with them against the bank and I was also filing a complaint on the Federal Leverl with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I asked the worker if Suncoast will return my banking to normal once they see the check clears because it is a real check. I was told I would need to call back and ask/beg their Risk Department to take me off a 6 month restriction when I did nothing wrong and simply tried to cash a real check paid to me. This whole situtation is ridiculous and if the bank tries to keep my pay from a check paid to me for 30 days it makes me wonder if they are doing so to make money off my money instead of allowing me to use my pay from a check paid to me. I need both the State and Federal government to step in and make sure I am not being mistreated and abused by Suncoast Credit Union when I have never been arrested once in my life and have been a customer in good standing with the bank for around 10 years.