Consumer complaint received 2025-06-23 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: VA

Complaint narrative:
Issue : USAA Bank received IRS tax refund deposit but did not credit to my account Complaint Description : On XX/XX/scrub>XXXX XXXX both my federal and Colorado state tax refunds were issued via direct deposit to my USAA account. Unfortunately, due to an error on my part, the account number I submitted was incomplete, with me accidentally omitting one number, so for example, if my account number was XXXX, I inputted XXXX. 

My Colorado refund ( {$1000.00} ) was never processed, and USAA confirmed it was not received. Because of this, I received a paper check from Colorado for this amount. 

However, my federal refund ( {$2100.00} ) was successfully sent to USAA, but to the incomplete account number. Being that it was incomplete, I assumed it would bounce back to the IRS, as my state refund did. But it never did. The IRS provided me with a XXXX trace showing that the funds were sent via the Treasurys direct deposit system and received by USAA. Despite this, the funds were never credited to my USAA account. 

I contacted USAA, and they initially said that the incomplete account number was not valid, but later claimed the number could belong to another customer. They also confirmed that the funds were " posted as directed '' and told me they could not return or release the funds without a Letter of Indemnity ( LOI ) from the IRS. However, the IRS has stated they will not issue a Letter of Indemnity : stating : " Thats a legal document in which one party agrees to protect another party from financial loss or legal liability. Its essentially a promise to compensate the other party for any damages claims or losses that may arise due to special actions or circumstances. The IRS isnt going to provide that. You will not need to do anything further with us. This case is resolved, the refund was issued to the bank account and routing number given to the IRS by the taxpayer ; therefore, the case is closed. This will be a civil matter between the banking institution and the taxpayer. Please do not instruct the taxpayer to open a new case with us. There is nothing further we can assist with. '' This has left me stuck : USAA has my IRS refund but will not release or return it. If the incomplete number I provided does belong to someone, then I need to know that, but USAA will not confirm whether this is an active account number. 

The IRS refuses to assist further, And I am still without the {$2100.00} refund owed to me. 

I am requesting that USAA investigate this matter fully and determine : Where the federal refund was actually deposited ; Whether the funds remain in a suspense or error account ; And what steps can be taken to return or properly credit the funds to me. 

I have documentation from both the IRS and USAA and am happy to provide it. I am also requesting a full explanation from USAA on why funds sent to an incomplete account number were accepted and why they can not be returned to the Treasury or properly resolved.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation