Consumer complaint received 2023-02-06
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: U.S. BANCORP (CA)

On XX/XX/2023, I opened a new XXXX Account with US Bank through their website and funded it with {$25.00} through my debit card. 

On XX/XX/2023, I visited the US Bank Branch at XXXX XXXX to deposit three ( 3 ) Paid Family Leave XXXX XXXX  checks from the XXXX XXXX Department directly with the Bank Teller. Each check was for an amount of {$3100.00} with the deposit from the checks totaling {$9400.00}. I also made a CASH DEPOSIT for {$640.00}, for which I have the receipt too, making the total of my deposits on that day {$10000.00}. 

The female banker who helped me mentioned that the checks could take anywhere from 1 to 5 business days to fully clear depending on how fast they could verify them with the government agency, and mentioned that {$220.00} were made available on that day, providing me paper receipts for each of the deposits I made that day, which I keep with myself in case they're needed as proof. 

On XX/XX/2023, I logged into my US Bank online account through their Mobile App on XXXX, and noticed that the three checks I had deposited the previous day were already cleared and ready to use, which I confirmed because I was able to do three transactions using my debit card on that day. 

On Thursday, XX/XX/2023, I visited the US Bank XXXX XXXX to get a cashier 's check for {$8500.00} to give as a down payment for the purchase of a car. The banker at the branch was not very helpful, because he didn't want to provide me with the cashier 's check I requested because he said he didn't feel confident enough that the funds from the check would clear, which was an ambiguous response since technically, the checks had already cleared because the funds were available on my account. 

I requested to speak with his manager and he reluctantly accepted. Her manager reviewed the case and wasn't able to help either because, as per her words, even if the funds from the checks I deposited were made available the day after I made the check deposits directly at the branch, the clearing of the funds was an error on the US Bank system ; so she made the decision to call a higher level manager on US Bank 's back office to review the case, and the person on the phone asked me to wait at least until Monday, XX/XX/2023 to make the withdrawal so they could make sure the funds from the checks were collected. 

I wasn't able to give the downpayment for the car I wanted to purchase that day, making all the hits to my credit score that occurred due to the credit applications worthless, and my experience with the bank very disappointing just three days in as a customer. 

After that my bank account stopped functioning properly. That same day ( XX/XX/2023 ) during the night, I tried to use my debit card to put gas on my car and the debit card was declined at the pump. I called US Bank 's customer support and they mentioned that my card was working fine. I kept trying to use it and the card was declined every time for at least 4 different times. I called US Bank 's customer support for a second time and, after a long time on hold, the banker told me there was a hold on my account put by the branch I had visited earlier, and that to remove it I would have to visit a US Bank Branch in person. 

The following day, Friday, XX/XX/2023, I visited the US Bank XXXX XXXX branch in person to request help from the bankers to review my account. The banker, XXXX, went above and beyond to help me, and he confirmed that there was a hold on my account, not by the branch, but by US Bank 's Back Office, and that there wasn't an ETA available for when the hold was going to be released. 

Even when I showed him deposit receipts and check stubs from the XXXX CA government agency, the hold was still on my account. 

Today is Monday, XX/XX/2023, and there's still a block on my US Bank Account, and I have no access to the {$9600.00} that I have deposited in there, which is affecting my day-to-day because part of those funds are used for my personal expenses like medical visits, groceries, etc. I called US Bank Customer Support to confirm, and they confirmed the hold, however, weren't allowed to provide me with neither information nor an ETA for the hold to be released.