Consumer complaint received 2025-03-18 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: IA

Complaint narrative:
XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX USAA XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX for payment of auto and home insurance through USAA. This insurance had been set up around XX/XX/XXXX. I attempted to set this up at that time by answering questions to a man representing USAA on the phone at the time. He asked me questions about my home which I answered to the best of my ability at that time. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I went to pay my autoloan online but saw I was being charged an amount that was much higher than usual. As I did not know why, I attempted to call USAA at that point. The first woman I spoke to did not seem to be able to answer me about why the rate had increased. She transferred me to the billing department. I spoke to a second woman on he phone on XX/XX/XXXX who told me that I was being charged for my entire annual home insurance payment because the bank had not been responsive to them in making that payment. I agreed at that point to call my bank the next day on XX/XX/XXXX to figure out why the bank had not responded to USAA or made the payment. 

To that point, my understanding was that my home insurance was being taken out of escrow which I set up with the same man on the phone around XX/XX/XXXX. He told me at that time it would be set up and taken out of my bank for monthly payment. I did not have any reason to believe to this point that this was not the case. When I spoke to this female representative on XX/XX/XXXX, she told me that the bank must make an annual payment to them that was billed around XX/XX/XXXX and was due around XX/XX/XXXX but had not been received.She also took payment from me for my auto loan due XX/XX/XXXX which I have paid consistently every month I called my bank, XXXX XXXX, as I told USAA I would on XX/XX/XXXX and was transferred to my lender after explaining the situation numerous times. I was informed that my escrow account was only going towards my property taxes. This is something that had never been communicated to me directly by the bank since I switched insurance around XX/XX/XXXX. I was also told by the bank that they would not be able to pay this bill for insurance sent to me anyway because the bill was an inaccurate quote. My lender pointed out the amount I was being charged ( {$200.00} for auto insurance and around {$300.00} for home insurance ) was very high and most likely the insurer making the quote inaccurately to cover the entire building I live in. 

I live in a condo unit and I have an HOA that covers insurance for the outside of the building. When I called USAA back to tell them what was discussed with the bank on XX/XX/XXXX I told them firstly that the quote is inaccurate. The female rep I spoke to immediately asked me if I lived in a condo and not a townhouse. I told her this was correct. During this call she explained it is common practice for them to charge insurance for the entire building if it is a townhouse. This is information I was not aware of as I had never set up a home insurance policy this way before on the phone. At that time, the rep asked for me to pay USAA the amount due from the inaccurate quote for a townhome for 6 months. I told her I did not intend to because this was an error on the part of the male representative that made the quote in the first place. 

XXXX times during this call the female rep insisted that I pay them the amount for an inaccurate quote for 6 months at the rate of around $ XXXX {$300.00} per month, despite my making no claims during that period, despite myself and the bank never paying them once, despite the insurance company desiring an unnecessarily high amount based on an inaccurate quote. Each time I told this female rep I did not intend to pay for an inaccurate quote for this insurance as no townhome exists and so my condo could not have been insured. I asked this rep for an accurate quote for home insurance going forward so that I may have the correct rate and become insured with them. During the duration of this call, that female rep did not give me an updated or correct rate that they could charge me to start home insurance with them despite my asking a few times. She stated she could cancel the old policy and start a new one but that I would still owe them the money, ignoring my request to know how much it would even be accurately. 

Instead, during this time, the female rep stated she was on the line with her Supervisor who was listening to the original call where I requested a quote for insurance. She got back on the phone after numerous long pauses and being put on hold. She came back on the call and stated that I had told the rep during the quote that I lived in a townhouse. I told her this was not true as I remembered the conversation. I was of the impression during the call that the male rep was on a computer viewing the formal details of my home because this is what he told me. Everything I have seen online has shown that I live in a condo and I believed this rep was able to see that information. Despite that, during the call at one point the rep asked me if my dwelling was " like a townhome ''. As a condo, and my particular unit is very much LIKE a townhome, I said yes because I assumed he was asking me colloquially.

I did not know that this question was setting a basis for a certain rate that would be higher than what I really should be charged. Assuming he was doing his job, looking at the info online, and generally being responsible to be accurate with this quote ( that I presumed he'd done many of ) I chose to trust he was putting the information in correctly. I did not know this was not the case and would cause me these problems later on. Nevertheless on XX/XX/XXXX while on the phone with the female rep, it seemed she was accusing me of having told the rep intentionally that I lived in a different type of unit than I did. I assured her this was not the case and the above info, that I believed he had the correct information on his screen and that in line with other questions he'd asked me generally, that he was asking more about what my place looked like inside and what it was like ( connected in rows LIKE a townhouse, in structure and shape LIKE a townhouse on the inside ). At no time did I intentionally mislead the insurer. 

Aside from this, I told her I could be just as suspicious that this was intentionally put as a townhouse rather than a condo ( despite the accurate, official information that this is a condo being in front of his face on a computer screen throughout the duration of the call ), that the insurance company could have misquoted this or quoted it higher than they knew it may be in order to get more money from me that was not due to them. I remember the rep that I was looking for an accurate quote for an annual amount for home insurance for my place and that I could seek it elsewhere if she continued to be unhelpful, but the rep was not interested. She insisted that I would need to pay all of the inaccurately quoted insurance that she sent to my bank which never responded. 

I then told her that I was no longer interested in having any account opened with them for home insurance as she would not provide this, and as I felt they were being unreasonable in expecting this despite their own error. They were not apologetic, and did not intend to take responsibility for the mistake, and they did not communicate intention to inquire with the rep that made the erroneous quote about this. I told her that I would dispute their insistence that I pay this due to the reasons above and seek home insurance through another company with a rate that matched my needs to insure the inside of my home, and not the outside of the entire building. Needless to say, this is incredibly disappointing, not only because they never corrected the amount. They were not even insisting on a corrected amount which would be more like {$300.00} a year with the amount of stuff I own ( less than $ XXXX {$2000.00} total ), but that they were adamant I would need to pay for insurance rates for the entire building for 6 months. This made no practical sense to me, but appeared to be from a desire to make large financial profits rather than to find a solution to the problem. I then received by email, on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX a bill insisting that I pay them an amount for insurance I again have not yet ever had. 

I anticipate from the attitudes I've experienced from the company, that they intend to eventually complain to my credit or others that this was not paid to them while asserting it was due. While my understanding currently is that this is not owed or due to them as I have not ever owned the type of dwelling the quoted, based on a poorly-worded question in the context of poor communication, during this quote. I would like to report that this does not appear to be an appropriate or typical response.

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