Consumer complaint received 2022-01-17
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account — Transaction was not authorized
Company: Lending Club Corp (MT)

" Have peace of mind knowing that the financial institution that issued your XXXX won't hold you responsible for unauthorised debit card use '' is a central part of XXXX 's zero liability protection. 


I own a small business and I am the only owner/employee. I have a business checking account with Lending Club Bank formerly known as XXXX XXXX ( I chose Lending Club as the company name when filing this complaint as neither Lending Club Bank nor XXXX XXXX  came up as being registered to receive your complaints ). The business checking account is coined " Tailored Checking '' by the Bank and on the Bank 's website it is specifically targeted to small businesses such as mine and prominently advertises its affiliation with XXXX and offers its customers a Business XXXX debit card with the Bank 's insignia and XXXX 's logo on the card and words Business Debit Card all on top facing half of the card. 

As I started this complaint with above, XXXX provides all consumers and small businesses zero liability against fraudulent or unauthorized charges if reasonable care by the cardholder is followed in the use and handling of the card and the loss is immediately reported to the issuing financial institution. XXXX 's website also specifically targets small businesses and advertises the zero liability promise and even includes in its Master Rules " Rule 6.3 '' which includes language that limits the liability of cardholders and affirmatively includes protection for business debit card purchases. 

This caveat and the inclusion of small businesses is central to my situation and generally it's especially important as XXXX does not extend zero liability to commercial cardholders and not all banks are eager to provide protection for fraudulent or unauthorized transactions when its a business debit card that is used ( recognizing also that Regulation E only pertains to consumer debit card transactions ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I used my Lending Club Bank debit card to pay for audio repair and installation for a vehicle owned in my business 's name at XXXX XXXX in XXXX, WA. The maximum agreed price for the project was agreed upon as {$1000.00} prior to the work starting. The work was finished in less than four hours and I was promised a receipt and warranty information for the work by email. 

The next day was XXXX XXXX, Monday XX/XX/XXXX, and I still had not received the aforementioned email with the receipt. The following day I checked my Lending Club online bank portal and realized that XXXX XXXX  had charged my business debit card in the amount of {$3100.00}. I immediately called XXXX XXXX  for an explanation and demanded the charge be reversed or otherwise refunded based on the {$1000.00} cap or maximum we had agreed upon. I also demanded an itemized receipt. It took two more days before I received a receipt and the {$3100.00} total was largely justified by line item charges that didn't explain or justify the charge and an exorbitant labor line item charge given the project was finished in under four hours. In short, the store refused to refund any money despite our agreement on what the charge would be before the worked commenced. 

I immediately contacted Lending Club Bank and provided them with facts and asked them if they could assist in helping me recoup the funds that were not authorized but charged by XXXX XXXX. There was a flurry of initial back and forth emails and calls between myself and XXXX in Lending Club Bank 's customer service department. I don't have a history in this sort of thing and at the time had little knowledge on what if any remedy existed except for the general sense that through XXXX my bank provided some level of protection and certainly that I could trust its employee and their expertise to guide the matter in the right direction. 

This didn't occur. XXXX decided that the best course ( in fact, the only course ) of action would be to initiate a chargeback against XXXX XXXX for {$2100.00} which is the amount over the {$100000.00} agreed upon price. I asked about a timeline. XXXX from the beginning made it clear that since I was using a business debit card that normal chargeback rules would not apply but indicated that he would stay in contact and keep me updated. 

That also didn't occur. It's now been over four months since I reported the matter to Lending Club Bank. Not once has anyone from the Bank ever called me, returned a call, or initiated any correspondence by email. On occasion they have responded to emails of mine often times it taking several emails from me and weeks to get a response. The responses are usually anonymously signed by their " Customer Service LendingClub Bank '' tagline. I do not have a point of contact and despite many requests for a return call or to be transferred to a supervisor I have never been able to communicate with anyone at the Bank except what appear to be customer service employees. 

This matters because XXXX informed me a month after the chargeback was initiated that their bank would not be providing me with any credit for any dollar amount since Regulation E only protected consumers. By then I had researched both the law and what is customary within the banking world as it relates to liability for unauthorised business debit card transactions. I was aware that Regulation E was not in play. I was also aware that nonetheless I was protected by XXXX 's zero liability guarantee that my bank would not hold me responsible for debit card charges I did not authorise. 

There is an evident lack of training in Lending Club Bank 's customer service department in this area. I can not necessarily blame the customer service workers who can not point me to any language in any of the bank 's disclosures that warn its potential small business customers that their funds are not protected. It's not their fault that the Bank has failed to include anything that would put a customer on notice that each time they use their debit card that all their money is at risk. But the employees have been firm in their response that I will not be credited any of the missing money since I was using a business debit card ( one employee labeled my account a commercial account when I told him that my small business was protected ). This only speaks to the lack of training since in no scenario would my one man shop of a business need or be given a commercial account and the Tailored Account that I do have is clearly labeled as a business account in the literature, on their website and in form and function. 

I have repeatedly inquired about XXXX 's zero liability protection. No one has acknowledged that it actually exists or protects me in this situation. I'm still uncertain if its by design or not but its highly suspicious that they are not acknowledging that the zero liability kicks in no matter what and instead that the bank has led me down a chargeback recovery path knowing my chances of recovering that way were slim since I was using a business card. But I don't even know for certain if a chargeback was filed because I've never gotten any feedback on XXXX XXXX response other than XXXX telling me months after he chose the chargeback route that XXXX XXXX didn't have to respond since it was a business debit card transaction and if they chose not to respond that was the end of any chance of me being made whole. 

I last talked with XXXX before XXXX and he feigned any familiarity with the zero liability pledge that XXXX promotes and said he would follow up on the next step if any. He never did follow up. Last week I asked the bank in writing that they return the {$2100.00} to my account pursuant to XXXX 's zero liability protection and that they were wrong for trying to frame this as a chargeback where I was only protected if the merchant agreed to refund me money. There response was that I was not protected by Regulation E!

So I'm here filing this complaint and asking for some assistance from CFPB in getting Lending Club Bank to honor its card network agreement and XXXX Rule on unauthorised debit card transactions. It's been four months of little to no action and zero forward movement on the matter coupled with me no longer trusting that their employees are telling me the truth or are even trained to understand card network policies. Even more troubling is that this matter would be long forgotten and my money not protected but for the quite obvious fact that I've had to personally be involved in the matter at an unprecedented level. I shouldn't have to worry that my bank isn't telling me the truth when they say they are doing everything they can to get my money back. And they need to return it. 

My {$2100.00} is still missing and I have anything but the " peace of mind knowing that the financial institution that issued my XXXX won't hold me responsible for unauthorised debit card use ''. 

Thank you, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX am including much of the correspondence between the bank and myself as it was largely done over email. There are six attachments and each begins with a number 1 through 6. Unfortunately, they didn't populate in the correct order. Please read them in order... for example, Attachment 1 should be the first few emails beginning in XX/XX/XXXX and each attachment in sequential order ( 2 then 3 then 4 and so forth ) should follow with subsequent emails in order as they were written through XX/XX/XXXX as seen in Attachment 6.