Consumer complaint received 2026-03-09 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: GA

Complaint narrative:
CFPB Complaint Narrative USAA Debit Card Security Lock Company : USAA Product : Debit Card / Checking Account Issue : Account Restriction / Card Declined While Traveling Location of Incident : XXXX XXXX, XXXX Date/Time : Approximately XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) I am a long-time USAA member ( XXXX years ), a retired XXXX XXXX veteran, and rely on USAA as my primary financial institution. On the evening of XX/XX/year>, while traveling for work in XXXX XXXX, XXXX, my debit card was unexpectedly declined at a convenient store ATM and hotel despite having approximately {$42000.00} in available funds in my account. Concerned that fraud may have occurred, I immediately contacted USAA. During my call with multiple customer service agents, I was informed that both my debit card and my wifes debit card had been restricted due to suspected fraudulent activity. However : We never received any fraud alert notification from USAA ( text, email, or phone ). There were no suspicious transactions visible in the account. We had not reported any fraudulent activity. Each customer service representative advised that only the fraud department could resolve the issue. I was told the hold time would be approximately XXXX hours. After waiting on hold for approximately XXXX minutes, I was finally connected with a representative in the fraud department. That representative then informed me the issue was actually being handled by XXXX Security Department and that it would likely take up to XXXX hours to resolve. At that point I explained : I was currently traveling for work out of state My primary debit card had been disabled without warning I was willing to verify my identity by any means necessary I was calling from my registered phone number and had already completed identity verification using my USAA security PIN. Despite this, the representative advised that nothing could be done, and the only option was to request a callback from the security department within XXXX hours. This situation raises several serious concerns : XXXX. USAA froze access to my funds without any notification to me. XXXX. USAA could not provide immediate verification options to restore access. XXXX. USAA left a traveling customer without access to funds for potentially XXXX days. XXXX. Frontline support staff had no authority or ability to escalate the situation. Financial institutions have a responsibility to protect customers from fraud, but they must also maintain reasonable access to funds and provide timely customer support, especially when customers are traveling. In this case, USAAs process created a situation where a customer with sufficient funds was effectively locked out of their account with no immediate remedy and no prior warning. I am requesting that USAA : XXXX. Provide a full explanation of why both cards were restricted without notification. XXXX. Explain why no fraud alert was sent prior to restricting the cards. XXXX Review and improve their customer escalation procedures for travelers who are locked out of their accounts. XXXX. Ensure that customers have immediate identity verification options available to restore access to funds in urgent situations. As a veteran and long-time member, this experience was extremely disappointing and represents a significant decline in the level of customer service USAA historically provided.

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