Consumer complaint received 2024-11-17 00:00:00
Product: Prepaid card — Government benefit card
Issue: Trouble using the card — Problem using the card to withdraw money from an ATM
Company: Comerica
State: AL

Complaint narrative:
XXXX XX/XX/year> I received a letter from the " Fraud Service Department '' stating that my card is frozen because of fraudulent activity, and that I must call the Customer Service XXXX to resolve the matter. 

I called the Customer Service number several times, as it is practically impossible for anyone to answer the phone. 

Dates that I called : XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX On those occasions where someone answered the phone, they would refuse to give me any information regarding what suspicious activity that they so-called detected on my card. 

No investigation report, no dates, no location, no time, nothing. No information whatsoever about their " suspicious activity. '' If they found such activity, it should have been stated in the letter. Furthermore, they are legally not supposed to be freezing people 's funds especially since they have not properly handled the fraud investigation within 45 days.

Electronic Funds Transfer Act I have had no suspicious activity on my card. It was not lost or stolen. I am the only one who uses it for years and years. 
My card was working completely fine, on a routinebasis until Direct Express invaded. 


How is it that you have my address, I received the letter, followed the instructions, answered all the numerous security questions and they refuse to tell me any information as to why they have frozen my funds.

Answering the security questions ( Name, Address, Phone, DOB, Social Security number, Direct Express Card number ) and reading the letter they sent to my own address on file, should more than suffice. 

But no. In their effort to criminalize me, they required ID to be sent electronically. This is not an easy process. It is time-consuming and invasive. 

So next they said, " We have to verify your ID before we can tell you any information about your card. '' Here are the dates where I communicated with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX, several times. I sent in, Birth certificate, Social Security Card, and Marriage License Their response was : " We have received your ID ( XXXX ) submission, and it has been approved. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused but it was necessary for the security of your account. Please call the number on the back of your debit card. '' Nowhere in any correspondence does it say that there are only 5 days in which the ID is valid. 
Nowhere does it state that the ID verification Department is incapable of unfreezing the card. 
In fact they state, " If your account needs have not been resolved within 24 hours, please call us back using the toll-free number on the back of your card. After entering your card number, you will be transferred directly to one of our agents that can assist you. '' This is implying that the once the ID verification is approved, that they can resolve your account. If the account is not resolved, then call the useless number.

Expecting to receive a letter that the account had been resolved, or expecting them to have unfrozen my card by now. 

I called back XX/XX/XXXX after I had not heard anything. I also continued sending emails asking for my card to be unfrozen. 
The emails were ignored. 

What is the point of approving ID if you do not resolve the account and do not answer the phones? 

Once I got in touch with someone on XX/XX/XXXX, he stated that the ID, my government documents, were no longer valid. How is that even possible? 

How can my government ID, regarding my own Social Security, not be VALID?

What right do they have to put a timeline on government ID Verification, especially since they never mentioned that there was a timeline in the XXXX place. 

Direct Express, with no names, no email addresses, nothing to identify them, have a right to put a time limit on a social security card, birth certificate and marriage license? 

Documents they should not even be legally able to request! 

He mentioned that other forms of ID must be submitted and only then will they send a verification code to an email address that has been on file for a year. Or to a phone number that has been on file a year. 

Nowhere along this process of ID verification, did their writings say anything about a verification code. Now when the guy mentioned a verification code back in XXXX, he said he could not send it because I needed to set up an email account and link it to the ID verification account with my documents. 

I did. 

Then he said, in that email, make sure I include the case #, a current day contact phone numbers since the original phone number on the account had changed. 

I did. 

So then, in XXXX, another person says the Email and Phone number have to been associated with the account for an entire year? Absolutely absurd. The old phone number was a landline. Phone numbers change all the time. 

The audacity to keep moving the goal line and making up information that is not in writing. And furthermore the information in writing, is not honored by the people on the phone. 

XX/XX/XXXX, I tried to file a formal complaint : " To file a formal complaint regarding your Direct Express Card with the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, please send an email to XXXX. This email address should be used for escalated card holder assistance and formal complaints only. This email address should not be used for general card holder assistance regarding the Direct Express card. For general inquires please call the Direct Express card toll free Customer Service Department number on the back of your card or visit web.usdirectexpress.com. '' And I get an automated message stating to call the Customer Service number and that no response to the email will be accepted and that frankly, the email formal complaint can not be honored. It said go to the website for general information or call the Customer Service number who won't tell me anything of course. 

I furthermore filled out a complaint form using the Direct Express website, and again, they say that no personal card information can be handled, and that I have to call the customer service number. 

They have {$1500.00} dollars of money that Social Security says is mine. It's in my name, it's my money. And yet, they are telling me because of some phone number and email that they can hold on to all my money for a year until the amount reaches close to {$7000.00}. 
Over email? Since when is email more legit than government ID? 

Email is not even needed to sign up for Direct Express. And it's certainly not okay to lock someone out of their own money over an email address. 

And phone numbers change. My address and social security stayed the same and that should be more than enough to prove my identity!! My birth certficate, marriage license, and non driver photo ID, which these people have no right to access! 

I am livid and exhausted, and I know that whoever these people are, they are corrupt to the core and enjoy stealing from XXXX  and XXXX people with minimum access to confusing technology and limited ability to head down to the social security office and wait for hours, and limited ability to wait on the phone for 30 minutes. Limited ability to never have social security answer the phone This is a disgrace and the Social Security Administration needs to stop referring people to Direct Express, and Social Security bears responsibility here because we trust Social Security but they have put our lives in the hands of fraudsters.

Thank you Consumer Finance for trying to help

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief