Consumer complaint received 2025-12-23 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — I do not know
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was result of identity theft
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MD

Complaint narrative:
My car was broken into at a park on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX the suspect ( female ) used my card to withdraw money from my Truist bank account ( {$340.00} ). She then deposited fraudulent checks into my account which were stolen from a different family that I dont know in Virginia XXXX She then withdrew the money from my account. My account was then negative $ XXXX at this point because of her. Why did Truist let someone withdraw those funds before they had even posted? I didn't have that kind of money in my account. I only had {$340.00}. 

Truist advised me to open a new checking account with them and that everything would be okay. However, a few weeks later, Truist took my paycheck from my brand new checking account ( from my job as an XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ), and applied it to the - $ XXXX dollars debt in my checking account. They called it a right of off-set. 

I have been working closely ( and sharing every new development with XXXX ) with my local sheriff 's office. They said that they are able to press charges against the suspect for stealing my {$340.00}, since that was legitimately my money. That is all I had in my account. The other funds, the sheriff 's office said, were not my money to begin with and that Truist is responsible for making it right since it was fraudulent activity done to one of their most loyal clients. I have been banking with Truist since XXXX. 

The real problem is why did Truist let this woman cash fraudulent checks from my account when I didnt even have that much money in my account to begin with? I only had {$340.00}. And now, all of a sudden Im negative thousands of dollars! No one from Truist has ever tried to speak to me or review my emails/ attached documents that I have shared. Instead they closed my account and sent it to collections! XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 

Truist wrote me saying that I benefited from the funds, when in reality it is the known suspect who is wanted for XXXX crimes of this type across the XXXX area. She is a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX girl, who put on a XXXX wig and makeup to look like my license picture. She had the nerve to go through the Truist drive through. And the Truist teller had the nerve to let her drive away with $ XXXX leaving me negative that much! 

Why didn't Truist ever investigate this beyond just saying, " oh that was you who deposited the fraudulent checks and benefited from the $ XXXX ''? Why did the XXXX XXXX XXXX have to submit a subpoena for video footage to the State Attorney 's Office? Why did my long time bank not give me the respect I deserve? 

I need my checking account restored. I need my paycheck that they applied to this debt. This is all wrong, especially during the holiday season. 

I have been wronged here by the suspect who broke into my car and used my bank information, put a wig on and went through the Truist drive through, endorsed fraudulent checks from an innocent family in Virginia with my signature and social security number ( I dont even know how she got that information! ). But further, Ive been wronged by Truist who wont listen to me, who wont update me, who wont believe me, who wont help me.

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 monetary relief