Consumer complaint received 2020-06-30
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem using a debit or ATM card
Company: UMPQUA HOLDINGS CORPORATION (TX)

A year ago last XX/XX/XXXX I moved from Oregon to Texas for health reasons. Unfortunately my health did not improve. My previous caregiver in Oregon hired a woman to help me here in Texas. She began working for me on Mothers Day XXXX. She mainly purchased groceries and other essentials. She suggested we used a XXXX XXXX to pay her wages and she helped me set it up. Later on when I looked at my bank statements she was using the XXXX XXXX to pay herself large amounts of money. She booked XXXX 's for me using my email. She began making unauthorized withdrawals of my debit account in XX/XX/XXXX. She also was receiving my mail which was being forwarded to her by my caregiver in Oregon. By the end of XXXX I checked my balance and it had gone to half of what it was in XXXX. I called the Texas caregiver and told her about my balance and she didn't have anything to say. 
By the end of XXXX my account was down XXXX. I know I had not spent this much money. Then on the XXXX of XXXX I got very sick and had to go in the hospital for 10 days. A friend from Oregon came down to help out. I told him about my suspicions regarding my debit card and he suggested I call the bank to get some bank statements. I called the branch manager of Umpqua Bank in XXXX, Oregon. He emailed me XXXX through XXXX 's transcripts around the middle of XXXX. Because of my health recovery I wasn't able to look at them until towards the end of the month. 
I was stunned to see she was somehow using the XXXX XXXX to take extra money for herself. This XXXX XXXX was set up for me to pay her wages only. Then she began using the debit card for any where from XXXX to XXXX XXXX dollars a month. These transactions are all documented on statements from the bank. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I called the branch manager in XXXX and told him what I had discovered. He said, " I will freeze the account immediately and chop the card. '' About XXXX week to XXXX days later I had a question for him. I called him and was somehow rerouted to another branch in XXXX, Oregon. The woman who answered said she could probably help. She brought up my account and said, " this account is active and the card has not been deactivated. '' At that point she said, " I have to freeze the account and chop the card. '' She transferred me to the XXXX branch and I spoke to the manager. I was angry. I told him what she had said that the card was active and his only response was, " I don't know how that happened. '' He would not address the situation any further. I was extremely agitated. 
At that point I began the long struggle of trying to get access to my funds. The manager said that I had to have a bank account in XXXX  in order for him to send my remaining funds. My rent was due and very begrudgingly he sent me a cashiers check for XXXX XXXX dollars. My Oregon state ID and my SS card had disappeared so I had to accumulate new ID which took a long time. Thankfully my friend had ID and was able to cash a cashiers check for me. I talked to the woman at the bank where we cashed the check and she said it sounded like this " caregiver '' had my information very early on even before she was using my debit card for groceries. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I called the XXXX XXXX  XXXX Police to file a complaint. A XXXX came to the house he looked at the transcripts from the emails and took some pictures. 
I received another cashiers check for XXXX XXXX dollars and after that was spent on housing I had to call the bank for more money. I was denied. I told them I would be broke in a week. I had two nights left of lodging. The third day I became homeless. A caregiver helping me for no pay was told to take me to the XXXX Police XXXX which she did. I was given some peanut butter and some canned food with no can opener. I was driven to a motel which was filthy dirty with dust and moldy things that make me very sick. I lived on the peanut butter for two days. The motel was filled with drug dealers and addicts and I was told not to speak to anyone. Someone called Adult Protective Services and they agreed to pay my rent there for XXXX days. I had no way to do laundry and no money to buy food. My friend had returned to Oregon and he would send me money so that I could eat at XXXX 's across XXXX XXXX. 
I had accumulated my ID. A woman from a local Church took me to the XXXX to get my Texas State ID. By the first week of XXXX I received the XXXX XXXX dollars remaining in my account. I had stayed in touch with the Lieutenant and he kept me up to date on the investigation. He requested the bank send him the statements from XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. He went over the statements and found XXXX XXXX XXXX dollars had been stolen. I had to return to the motel as it was all I could afford. I received the news that same month in XXXX of XXXX that this " caregiver '' had been arrested for theft.