Consumer complaint received 2024-12-13 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed
Company: NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
State: IL

Complaint narrative:
Every month I have an automatic payment set up with another financial institution. They submit two payment requests to Navy Federal to be paid at the beginning of each month. This has been done successfully for 6+ months, without issue. However on Saturday, XX/XX/year>, I checked my account and noticed there were three payments for the exact same amount deducted out of my account. Two of them had the XXXX labeling as previous months, so I knew they were my automatic payments. But the third one, deducted on XX/XX/year>, did not. Also, Im previous months, the two automatic payments were deducted on the same day. This time, one auto payment came out on XX/XX/XXXX, one fraudulent transaction XX/XX/XXXX, and the other auto payment on XX/XX/XXXX. I called Navy Federal on XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX XXXX  ( central ) and stayed on the call for 55 minutes. After some investigation with several departments, I was told that there was a problem with one of my auto payments for XXXX, and the back office had to force pay it. They said the issue was that the original auto payment request was fulfilled from someone elses account. So in order to rectify it, someone in the back office deducted the amount from my account in XXXX. However, my bank statement for XXXX shows that both automatic payments were deducted just fine on XX/XX/year>, so the information they were telling me was a lie. They then instructed me to call the company who set up the auto payments, find out their error and call Navy Federal back on Monday to talk to the correct department who is responsible for processing these payments request. I then contacted the company at XXXX XXXX  ( central ), and was told that they successfully received both payments from XXXX, and they only received TWO payments in XXXX. They also stated there were no issues with any of the payments or the payment requests. So, I called Navy Federal back at XXXX XXXX  and stayed on the phone for 42 minutes. I spoke with a different representative and they told me a COMPLETELY different story. They stated that Navy Federal couldnt read the encoding on one of the payment requests from XXXX, so they couldnt pay it. Instead they were able to figure out a way to force pay it in XXXX. Again, my question to them was, if thats the case, then why are there FIVE deductions from my account for XXXX and XXXX instead of FOUR. She couldnt answer and told me to call back on Monday. So, on XX/XX/year>, I contacted XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXX  ( central ) and stayed on the phone for 1 hour and 17 minutes. Again I was shuffled around to different departments and then ended up with a Supervisor. He informed me he understood my issue, he couldnt figure out what actually happened and so he created a case for it. He told me he would follow up with me the next day if the issue had not been resolved. I never heard from him again. On Wednesday XX/XX/year>, I received a letter in the mail from Navy Federal dated XX/XX/year>. It stated that one of my automatic payments made it possible for a third party to inadvertently gain access to my account information. They stated they were offering me RapidResponse Credit Monitoring at no charge for two years. I was and still am COMPLETELY confused as to what they are talking about. This was the first time I heard anything about a third party gaining access to my account. If this was the case and there was fraud, why was I not told during the many conversations? It simply doesnt make any sense. On Thursday, XX/XX/year>, I contacted Navy Federal again at XXXX XXXX, and stayed on the phone for 45 minutes. I was told that the back office was still in the process of forwarding my issue to another department and they still did not have any information for me as to where my money went and what actually happened to it. They also could not answer why I was sent the letter from Navy Federal. I eventually got in touch with a Supervisor, who began chatting with someone name XXXX in the back office. The Supervisor requested for XXXX to give me a call so they could explain to me what was going on, XXXX refused. XXXX then informed the Supervisor that my money would be credited back to my account by the end of the business day. It is XX/XX/XXXX, my money is not in my account. I have reached out again the the payee of my auto payments to make sure they did not receive an additional payment, they confirmed they only received two in XXXX and two in XXXX. 

I believe someone in the back office at Navy Federal fraudulently gained access to my account and stole money from me. I believe Navy Federal is aware of this but they arent interested in disclosing this information to me. So instead they are dragging their feet and hoping this just goes away. There is no other explanation since money is missing from my account. It was not paid out through normal means. It was not distributed to an outside company affiliated with me and no one can give me a straight answer. The alleged fraudulent claim that they stated in my letter was correct. The part they left out was that it wasnt a third party, it was one of their employees. Im sure Im not the only one this happened to and based on the negative reviews of this company, I dont think they care one way or the other. I want my money back and I want a full written explanation of what happened to it.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief