Consumer complaint received 2022-07-12
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Closing an account — Company closed your account
Company: PNC Bank N.A. (PA)

My husband and I have a joint Checking and Savings account with PNC bank for over 2 years. 

On XX/XX/2022 we obtained 4 {$16000.00} checks from a relative to 4 different family members as a gift, we deposited the checks into our bank account with PNC. The checks bounced due to insufficient funds as an error on our relative 's behalf due to a deposit on his end not yet clearing. The checks were sent back to us from PNC via mail. 

On XX/XX/2022 we re-deposited the EXACT same checks that we received in the mail now knowing there was sufficient funds. 

On XX/XX/2022 at XXXX an automated e-mail from PNC alerted us to the fact that there were {$0.00} funds available in our accounts. We immediately called PNC to clarify, they stated they could not tell us why our account was now frozen and we are unable to access any of our funds. We expressed our concerns due to no one making us aware of any issues and that I was paid by my place of employment that morning and have no access to my funds to pay bills. We were instructed to call the fraud department which was closed at that time. 

XX/XX/2022 My husband took time off from work to arrive to a bank 's physical location and spoke with bank manager at the XXXX location. He was made aware that the checks could not be deposited due to an inaccurate/ missing signature which triggered a fraud investigation. He was informed by PNC the only way to resolve this issue was to receive certified checks from our relative in order to un-freeze our account and that this was the only way to access our money. He was told that our money would remain " on hold '' until we provided the checks and we needed to tell PNC exactly when we would arrived with the checks. 

XX/XX/2022 My husband took more time off from work to arrive at PNC bank with certified banker 's checks from our relative 's bank ( XXXX XXXX ), all in the same amounts as previous ( 4 checks, {$16000.00} each to all the same family members ). We were informed that PNC needs 1 business day to process a certified check and because it is Friday we will not have access to the entirety of our funds until Monday XX/XX/2022. 

XX/XX/2022 My husband received a call from PNC and informed they will need an additional day to open our account. We were informed that money can come into our account but no money could come out of our account. My husband expressed many concerns of bouncing checks and late fees that we are now incurring due to the delay. He was told we are not allowed access to any funds until the certified checks are cleared. 

XX/XX/2022 We were again called by PNC and informed they will now need until this coming Friday XX/XX/2022 due to it being " under review '' to open our accounts and we will have no access to our funds until the " fraud '' investigation is completed. 

We questioned why the signature was rejected as this is a relative of ours and has been signing checks the same way for 50 years. We informed PNC that our relative 's name is a junior and his father is a senior with identical names and asked if there any way PNC possibly confused the two individual relative 's signatures thereby causing this issue. PNC denied any speculation. 

We requested to withdraw our funds at this point. We were told we could " only '' access funds in our savings account approximately {$3600.00} and not our checking account where the majority of our funds are placed ( well over {$60000.00} ) even though certified checks were given on XX/XX/2022. We again stated that they only required 1 business day to deposit a certified check and are now stating they need 5 business days to open our account and will only do so on a Friday leaving us powerless to do anything of value if anything goes wrong with the impending weekend. We expressed many concerns about multiple bounced checks at this point, late fees and MOST importantly how this would affect our credit. We were told there is nothing we can do to access the majority of our funds but sit and wait. We requested the entirety of our funds ; however, we are only able to receive approximately {$3600.00} from our savings and are withdrawing it today as this is the only money we will have available for us to pay bills and live off of until the rest of our funds are released. Additionally we will not have access to any money or paychecks that get automatically deposited into the account leaving us in a further difficult situation with bills and automatic payments.