Consumer complaint received 2022-04-19
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — Government benefit card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer — Charged for a purchase or transfer you did not make with the card
Company: Conduent Incorporated (GA)

As part of the GA Child support organization, our child support payments were changed from automatic direct deposit to debit cards with the GA Eppicard Program. On XX/XX/XXXX, I discovered that all of my child support payment funds totaling over {$10000.00} was stolen from my Eppicard account. I immediately contacted the Fraud Department and they informed me that my money had been slowly drained from my account starting in XX/XX/XXXX and that there were hundreds on hundreds of transactions that appeared to be from hackers due to the nature and consistency in the charges ( {$1.00}, {$2.00}, {$110.00}, {$220.00}, {$3.00}, so on so forth ). We immediately locked the card and had a new one issues. Because there were so many charges, we had to break the claims into 6 different claims. I received 4 letters from the Eppicard Department ; 1 letting me know that the merchant returned the money in one claim, and the other 3 that after their investigation, those were closed in my favor and they returned the money. Here lies the issue, the above case ( claim ) number is for the biggest claim that they denied totaling around {$9600.00}. The reason they stated, ", the reason for denial for the transactions under this claim number is : According to Federal Regulation E, which governs Electronic Funds Transfers, and your Terms of Agreement, A customer must report an unauthorized electronic funds transfer that appears on a periodic statement within 60 days of the financial institutions transmittal of the statement to avoid liability for subsequent transfers. They issue is that this part of my claim was from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, and the entire claim should not have been denied. I should have been paid back at a minimum from XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, because that portion was within the 60-day window. Since filing the claim, I have did everything they asked me to do, from filing police reports, to writing letters, making lots of calls, and everyone told me to do something different. 

Then finally on the last call to them, I was told that I would not be getting my money back nor will they be re-opening this particular claim number because the investigator, closed the claim as being outside of the 60 day window, even though majority of those transactions were well within the 60 day window. When asked if there was something else that I can do to get reconsideration for this improperly closed claim, I was told no and that I should get a lawyer if I wanted to fight it. The confusing part is that they threw this regulation at me but they gave me all the money back from the first claims dating XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX. If this is the case, why didn't they deny my entire claim. If I was outside of the 60day window, why give that money back? These are questions that I asked every representative that I spoke with, and they couldn't tell me. 

I even requested the investigation paperwork on all the claims, and they would not give it to me. Finally one representative forwarded me to the level 2 help desk, where the agent went line my line with me on this particular claim to let me know the dates and transactions amount. that is when I realized that in claim, this was the bulk/majority of all the money that was stolen, and they are simply trying not to pay that much money back, which is why it was so easy for them to give me back the small amounts from XXXX XXXX, when in all actuality they were not. Based on this information and the date that I reported all unauthorized use on my card from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, anything between or around XXXX XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, according to Federal Regulation E is within the 60-day window. Therefore, the reason for denial is not justified and my claim in total should not have been denied. 

I did speak to legal for advice and was told that because it was a federal agency, I would have to reach out to my state representatives for help. This is a lot of money that was taken from be because the Eppicard website is not secure. They have no systems in place to let the customer know that there are issues on the account, nor do we receive statements of any kind. The only way to check balances is by calling the XXXX number or the website, which I never had access to after signing up. When calling the XXXX, you can hear up to 10 transactions, but because I had sooooo many, during the times I did call, I was only hearing the tiny amounts like {$1.00}, or {$2.00} all which I thought was maintenance fees. 

When I received the new card, I was told that my account will always be locked for online account services due to this situation, and in this instance again I am left vulnerable not having access to my account.