Consumer complaint received 2022-07-06
Product: Debt collection — Mortgage debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was result of identity theft
Company: TD BANK US HOLDING COMPANY (MA)

In early XXXX, when I was travelling in Maine to my daughter 's graduation, I received a phone call from someone claiming to be from TD Bank. She said " there was a problem '' with one of my accounts ( I think my family has five accounts there ), but would provide no other information, because, she said, it wasn't safe to do so over the phone. She suggested that I call the TD bank 800 number or contact my local branch office ( in XXXX, MA ) who would tell me what was going on. That, she said, would be safer for me. She made no attempt to get any account numbers or any other information from me. So, while it could have been a prank, it evidently wasn't phishing. 

I promptly called both the consumer line at TD and my local branch, but neither knew anything. There were no notes on my account, no withdrawals that I couldn't identify. So I figured it was a mistake or a prank and tried to forget about it. However, about a week later I received a letter in the mail from TD Bank telling me to go to my local branch, where my wife and I should close out an old line of credit we hadn't used in many years and replace it with a new one, since there had apparently been a suspicious withdrawal from that account ( though I couldn't see any such transaction at my account online ). So we did this, via affidavit, in front of the bank manager in XXXX, MA. 

I then assumed this matter was finished. But a couple of weeks later, I got a letter from TD, dunning me for an unpaid bill on this newly created account and warning me that they would report this matter to credit agencies if I did not promptly pay. I went back to the online bank site, and now saw a balance of about {$7100.00} on our long unused line of credit. We had not used this new account any more than we had the old one. That balance had apparently been transferred from our old account to this new one. I checked to see when any money came out of it : and found that it was indeed XX/XX/XXXX, a couple of days before I received the mysterious call in Maine. 

Outraged that I should be required to pay bills for a withdrawal that TD knew to be fraudulent, I naturally spent about half of several days talking/complaining to all the various people at the Loan Servicing and Fraud Units to whom I was transferred. Several people there were quite sympathetic : they were also astonished that I would be asked to pay bills to service loans for funds that TD knew quite well I had not received. But nobody could actually help me. One woman in the fraud unit told me that fraud investigations can take two or three months and that someone would likely be contacting me : she had no contact information herself to give me, however. So I can not contact them. This issue brought to mind that I had occasionally been getting calls from something my phone identified as " XXXX XXXX, '' and the people claimed to be from TD bank. But as those people always asked me for either my account number or my Social Security Number, I always told them I was not comfortable providing such info over the phone to a number that I couldn't verify publicly. And my reluctance on this matter seemed confirmed when I PMed TD bank the phone number through their online portal and received the response that they did not recognize it : so I was apparently right to be wary. 

One suggestion I did receive from the Fraud Unit was to go back to my local branch and see if they knew anything more. So, my wife and I went back there and again met with the manager. She still knew nothing, but called the TD HELOC department and eventually got through to someone who suggested that she email our questions/complaints to the person from whom her branch originally received the instruction that I close out my original account and replace it with a new one. She did this. But I have heard nothing since. 

In the meantime, I was counseled to pay the approximately {$75.00} charges I'd be receiving each month until the conclusion of " the investigation '' ( which, again, I may actually be holding up by not talking to " XXXX XXXX '' when they call me ). I suppose I should be glad that only about {$7000.00} was stolen rather than {$170000.00}, considering what my monthly minimum balance would be in that case. I was also assured by both this branch manager and the Fraud Unit that at the end of " the investigation '' I'd will be reimbursed for any money I paid for servicing this loan. Obviously, though, based on what's gone on so far, I have very little confidence in that actually happening. Also suppose " the investigation '' takes longer than the average 2-3 months. A year, perhaps -- maybe two! How much am I supposed to give them with so little confidence in ever being repaid for servicing a debt for which I received no funds? 

So, I'm looking for help from your agency on this matter. If TD Bank has no information suggesting that I received any benefit from this XX/XX/XXXX withdrawal, why can they require payments from me, assess penalties for non-payment, and possibly harm my credit rating? That institution seems to have known right away that this was a fraudulent transaction. They immediately froze the account ( something for which I'm grateful, of course ). But if that's the case, why am I required to service the debt? 

I hope you can help : I mean, if I could bill TD for the amount of time I've already spent on the phone or in the branch over this matter, THEY would owe ME a substantial sum. 

Many thanks for any assistance you can provide.