Consumer complaint received 2017-07-23
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account — Transaction was not authorized
Company: U.S. BANCORP (WA)

On XX/XX/XXXX, the company XXXX XXXX, parent company of XXXX, processed against my US Bank checking account ( # XXXX ) three charges on behalf of XXXX in the amounts of {$73.00}, {$73.00} and {$73.00}. These figures also correspond to amounts my account was CREDITED by XXXX XXXX/XXXX on three separate occasions on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX, for merchandise I RETURNED to XXXX for credit on my US Bank checking account. AT NO TIME did I authorize any purchases/charges from XXXX XXXX/XXXX corresponding to the charges put forth against my account on XX/XX/XXXX. US Bank deceitfully claimed in a phone conversation and by email that authorization for these purchases was granted, weeks earlier, essentially at the exact same time as the returns. AT NO TIME DID I AUTHORIZE PURCHASES, ESPECIALLY AT THE SAME TIME I WAS MAKING RETURNS?!? That is ridiculous and makes no sense. Furthermore, US Bank can put forth no evidence that such authorizations ever took place. No pending transactions/holds ever appeared on my account, and thus I question whether these purported hidden UNAUTHORIZED authorizations ever existed. Merchants do not, in complicity with US Bank, get to hide purchase authorizations for weeks from bank customers. Furthermore, it must be pointed out that there was not even money in the account to cover the charges on XX/XX/XXXX, and thus the charges should never have been allowed to go through by US Bank to begin with, which also is why there is strong incentive for US Bank to now be lying in this matter and claiming that there, somehow, were authorizations for these purchases, somehow hidden from me, that were granted to XXXX XXXX/XXXX weeks earlier when there was money in the account. Lastly, the items I returned to XXXX XXXX, in the legally separate transactions, are in the possession of XXXX XXXX/XXXX and, obviously, at no time did I authorize a repurchase of the items, a point that will touched on again below. When I contacted US Bank I was told, apparently based upon nothing but speculation, unless US Bank was further involved in the matter earlier, which I will also address below, that somehow the transactions were, in the end, an even wash, as US Bank could not find an earlier purchase history of the items returned that were credited to my US Bank Account. I have been a US Bank customer for much of the past ten years. There is a very lengthy transaction history. US Bank either did not look at the transaction history in any detail before making the snap judgment that the items had no US Bank purchase history or US Bank was lying and had looked at the purchase history earlier and was very complicit in the subsequent, ultimately legally fraudulent, charges against my account, that it also claimed, as discussed above, were somehow mysteriously, and hidden from me, authorized weeks earlier PURPORTEDLY AT THE EXACT SAME TIME I WAS RETURNING THE VERY SAME ITEMS FOR THE VERY SAME AMOUNTS NOW BEING TAKEN FROM MY ACCOUNT. US Bank self-perceived justification for its deceit being its conclusion that somehow unauthorized charges could be placed against my account to balance out earlier returns that, together with XXXX XXXX/XXXX, US Bank was determined to undo on behalf of XXXX XXXX, who I suspect was upset at the volume of my returns. In conclusion : ( 1 ) I never authorized purchases or charges of any kind against my account. ( 2 ) US Bank can present no evidence for the self-serving assertion that somehow authorizations were granted weeks previously. ( 3 ) US Bank can present no reason for why these purported authorizations were kept hidden from me AND AT NO TIME were shown online to be pending, or granted, purchasedauthorizations. ( 4 ) XXXX XXXX can present no evidence, absent forgery, that I authorized any purchases or charges against my account. ( 5 ) XXXX XXXX/XXXX is in possession of the items I returned and, it goes without saying, at no time did I authorize a repurchase of the items, ALSO STILL IN XXXX XXXX ' POSSESSION. There is strong evidence that US Bank is lying in multiple instances in this matter to protect a course of action it took together with XXXX XXXX/XXXX that was illegal on its face. US Bank has been the subject of litigation in the past over its interactions with banking customers, and the manner in which it addressed this situation involving my account demonstrates that there are almost certainly a host of reasons for which US Bank should against be examined closely as it relates to its interactions with banking clients. Lastly, I tried to address US Bank 's fraud in an extensive series of emails and few phone calls with XXXX XXXX, US Bank Case Processor, Phone : XXXX, Fax : XXXX, and ultimately, among other things, had her laugh at me and tell me I could address my complaint with the President of US Bank. I have that statement in writing.