Consumer complaint received 2024-11-11 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Closing an account — Company closed your account
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: IL

Complaint narrative:
Hello, My name is XXXX XXXX. I'm an asylum seeker and I came to the US two years ago. I was able to transfer my life savings from XXXX to the US to my friend 's bank account, because at that time I couldn't open a bank account by myself here in US due the reason I didn't have SSN. 

Once I got my SSN I opened checking and savings accounts within the Capital One. 

On XX/XX/year> my friend transfered my life savings from her bank account to my savings bank account within the Capital One. The amount of the transaction is {$220000.00}. 

Since that moment I earned around 4 % + APY in the interest rate and rarely used my savings bank account. 

On XX/XX/year> I decided to transfer my life savings to XXXX to get higher APY which was 5.5 % at that moment. I did several transactions due to limitation in XXXX, but at XX/XX/year> I had {$0.00} at my savings account within the Capital One. 

At summer 2024 I came to Illinois state and opened a trucking company and was going to buy a used semi-truck. I found a good truck and on XX/XX/year> I transfered {$35000.00} from XXXX back to my savings account within the Capital One. 

Unfortunately, the semi-truck seller didn't have a title and he told me about it at the very last moment, so I continue to search for another semi-truck and left {$35000.00} at my savings account within the Capital One. 

Since that moment I earned some interest rate and paid for my phone and my credit cards which I have within the XXXX  XXXX XXXX. 

I was surprised when on XX/XX/year> I received an email from Capital One where they say that " One or more of your Capital One bank accounts have had unusual activity. Your accounts have been restricted until we complete our review. '' and they asked me to call them back. 

Also, within the Capital One app I see the message " Your funds are currently not available for withdrawal. Please call us at XXXX. ". 

On XX/XX/year> I called Capital One. I was connected to an agent and agent asked me to wait until she will review my account. She returned back to me 3 or 4 times and asked for extra time for review. Finally, I was listening to the music around 40 minutes while the agent was revieving my account. I was asked no questions and at the very end she returned to me and told that my account will be closed and I'll receive additional email from Capital One and if I'm not wrong whe also said that I'll get back my money by check on my mailing address which I have on file or external checking account if I have any connected. I asked her what is the reason for closing my account, but she said that she can't say. The phone call was ended, because the agent could not answer my questions and until now I have no idea for what reason I was asked to call Capital One due to restrictions they put on my account if they didn't ask me any quesions and didn't answer any of mine and I only spent almost an hour by listening to the music. 

On XX/XX/year> I received an extra email from Capital One where they wrote " Weve completed an initial review of one or more of your accounts. Based on our current information, weve determined that the unusual activity we found is inconsistent with our expectations for account usage. 

Well begin a final review of this decision, and depending on the outcome of this review, your account ( s ) may be closed. 

If your account is closed, any remaining balance owed to youplus all interest earnedwill be transferred to your externally linked checking account or a check will be mailed to your address on file. '' I waited for a week and during this time I tried to connect an external XXXX  XXXX XXXX checking account within the Capital One, but Capital One app or website didn't allow me to do that. I tried to do that, because I was not happy with an idea of Capital One will mail me the check. 

One week later I called Capital One again and agent said that my accounts will be 100 % closed and I need to wait for the check with the refund and they need time to find out how much money they need to refund me. I asked the agent what is the deadline when I'll get my money back and she couldn't answer me and she was not able even tell me approximately when I'll get my money. She told me I can call them to find out the status if I want later. Also I told her that I was not able to connect my external checking accoung and she told me that I can't do that due the restrictions, but maybe Capital One will give me an options how I'll be able to get my refund by check, external account or maybe in person within the Capital One Cafe, but as I understand she was only guessing and I'll find it out later. 

Since that moment I didn't hear anything back from Capital One and didn't receive any new emails and didn't receive a refund and refund was not issued. Today is XX/XX/year>, more that a month later Capital One continue to hold my money hostage and I have no money to pay my bills or do my trucking business. I see the same message within the Capital One app and see my balance which is {$31000.00} now and I continue to earn the interest, but I do not have an access to my money and nobody tell me when I'll get it. 

I didn't do anything wrong and I want to get my money back ASAP. I didn't give a consent to Capital One that I'm okay that they keep my money hostage. I did not. And I don't want them to mail me a check, because it's a big money and I don't want to loose them or someone to steal my mail with a check. 

Please, help me. I'm unemployed and I have no money to pay the bills. Once I transferred {$35000.00} from my XXXX  account back to Capital One, XXXX put a restinctions on my account and once I called them and answered their quesions they told me that they're going to close my account and I'll get my money back to Capital One account in 120 days. I'll create another complaint for XXXX, but I want to say that I lost an access to all my saving at Capital One and at XXXX and that's why I have no money. I'm really surprised that here, in the US, in the country where we have laws you're as a honest person can loose an acccess to your life savings so easily and can do almost nothing with that and become homeless. That's ridiculous. These companies are ruined the image of a whole country by doing that. 

Thanks in advance, XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief