Consumer complaint received 2025-12-04 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem accessing account
Company: Dave Operating, LLC
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
Im sure I speak on behalf of millions of US consumers who have the displeasure of having to be reduced to banking with apps such as XXXX  or Dave, when I say how much we all wish there was some rule or law or regulation in place to keep these business from out sourcing ALL of their customer service phone centers to foreign countries where we get stuck having to trust our money matters into the hands of somebody who we cant even understand nor can they us. On XX/XX/2025 I called Daves customer service line, wanting to dispute a couple of automatic transactions from XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, for charges that were never disclosed to me nor that I received any product or service for. The disputes with Dave are # XXXX and # XXXX. The representative from Daves fraud department was almost completely unintelligible throughout the whole conversation. 1st off, her broken English prevented her from being able to comprehend that I was trying to explain to her that I recognize the merchants and that I did in fact connect my Dave Checking Account with those merchants but that these particular charges they took without my knowledge or consent. One way or the other Daves internal procedures should not cause for me to be locked out of my account instantly in order for them to conduct their investigation into my disputes. They make the claim that anytime theres a dispute regarding an ACH transfer, even though I clearly stated that i was the one who did in fact authorize XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX authorization deposit and withdrawal, Dave must temporarily block my access to my own account for my security. Not only is this not standard practice by typical US financial institutions but in the few cases where a bank does insist on this protocol, they must disclose this clearly to the consumer and make sure that the consumer agrees to it, prior to initiating this account freeze aka account lockdown. Even the email that they send, already after the fact, isnt written in a way that any normal consumer would understand what on earth it exactly means, it states simply, your account will now be secured, which could mean any number of things, but in this instance it meant that Ill be locked out of my account for an erroneous amount of time. I called them on XX/XX/2025 and requested that the disputes be withdrawn because access to my direct deposit from work, which just arrived in that Dave account this past evening, was more critical to me than disputing these {$37.00} in combined transactions. This morning, on XX/XX/2025 I received emails from them confirming my withdrawing of the disputes but with no mention of giving me access back to my account or when that might happen. So Im stuck locked out of my account that is holding hostage the only money I have to my name that I desperately need ASAP and its for absolutely no good reason other than me simply trying to voice my disagreement with a couple transactions I felt were unfair and Daves XXXX XXXX staff not only not knowing how to speak English but also their inability to communicate clearly what they are legally obligated to communicate to me and wait for my clear and concise approval for. It seems like they take locking honest costumers out of their own accounts as a joke. I am writing to you to help in any way you can for me to get access back to my stupid Dave account ASAP so I dont starve to death. Thank You.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation