Consumer complaint received 2025-01-20 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Banking errors
Company: PNC Bank N.A.
State: PA

Complaint narrative:
I setup autopay with PNC bank to withdraw {$200.00} per month from my personal checking account and send it to XXXX XXXX. The settings are arranged to take the payment once per month for XXXX months. The first payment was due to be sent to XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I noticed that the payment of {$200.00} was listed twice in my pending withdraws. I only scheduled and authorized XXXX payment of {$200.00}, so I called PNC to tell them there has been a mistake and XXXX of the pending payments needs to be cancelled. They refused to help me, and XXXX customer service representative insisted that I will have to wait until after the funds are taken from my account and then file a dispute with XXXX XXXX. This seemed absurd since XXXX XXXX did nothing wrong and they have absolutely nothing to do with the problem. I pleaded with several PNC customer service reps to stop the XXXX payment from going through since I did not authorize them to spend my money. They insisted that it was impossible, and I must wait for the transaction to occur and then fight to get my money back. 
I did as they said and on XX/XX/XXXX, after the {$400.00} was taken from my checking account and sent to XXXX XXXX, I called PNC to figure out how to get my money back. I filed the dispute per the instructions of XXXX XXXX, Case XXXX, Retail Support XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX said that there was no explanation for why the payment was processed twice and was a technical error made by PNC. She said she would try to expedite the return of my funds. I didnt hear anything by email, phone, or snail mail, so after 10 days I emailed XXXX XXXX ask if there was any progress on my case ( XXXX ). XXXX called me later that day and informed me that PNCs solution was to contact XXXX XXXX and ask them to return {$200.00} of the {$400.00} that was received by XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX understandably said no. So, XXXX told me that there is nothing else to be done. I explained that PNC does not have the authority to spend my money without my authorization and their error resulted in PNC stealing {$200.00} from me. I let her know that simply dropping the case and saying nothing else can be done is simply not acceptable. XXXX explained the on the day before the transaction occurred, someone entered my account and made changes. She cant tell me who that someone might be, but if it was anyone other than me than it surely wasnt legal because I am the only person who gets to make decisions about how my money is spent. 
During a previous conversation with XXXX, I asked her the following hypothetical question. What if I lived paycheck to paycheck and their error of doubling my payment caused an overdraft, costing me an overdraft fee and prevented me from putting food on the table for my children. XXXX seemed to understand that this would be a dire consequence and that it is not okay for the bank to take money from people without their permission. Despite voicing her understanding of what I was telling her she still refused to return my funds. 

XXXX offered to have her XXXX call me since she was unable to convince me to accept that my {$200.00} is gone and I need to stop demanding that PNC return the money that they stole. I informed XXXX that if PNC continues to refuse to return the {$200.00} they stole from me during this conversation I will be filing a complaint with CFPB. She then offered escalation to another department. I chose escalation because it was apparent that resolution of this problem is above the authority of her department. I am not confident that the next department will be of any help either, so I am asking for the CFPB to step in and force PNC bank to return the money that they stole from me. 
Within the next XXXX days I received a call from XXXX from the PNC XXXX XXXX ( XXXX. ) She let me know that my issue was escalated to her as a result of mentioning my plan to submit my complaint to the CFPB. She told me that there were a lot of notes on my account and she hadnt read through them before her call, so she allowed me to summarize the situation for her. She again confirmed that someone made changes to my account the day before the transactions occurred and the duplicated withdrawal was a result of the changes that were made. Her explanation was generic and without any details of the changes or who made them. I confirmed with her that even if I was in my online account on that day, I did not authorize XXXX payments through automatic bill pay. XXXX informed me that she will look into the matter and get back to me by XX/XX/XXXX if not before then. She let me know that her office is the highest escalation and there is no one above her who can address this issue. She confirmed that she will investigate the issue and that if I still want to file my complaint with the CFPB I have the right to do so and that she is not trying to interfere with my rights as a XXXX citizen. 
Although it is not relevant to my complaint, I want it recorded that if I didnt tell XXXX XXXX I was filing a complaint with the CFPB, I would not have been offered the option to escalate to the PNC XXXX XXXX XXXX Its dirty corporate policy to simply expect their customers to accept that the bank made an error and the customer cant do anything about it. Spending money from my checking account without my authorization is equivalent to stealing my money. Im out {$200.00} and they just expected me to accept the loss and stop fighting for the return of my funds. If the bank made an error in the amount of {$200.00} then they need to correct their mistake and take the {$200.00} loss. It is not appropriate that I take the {$200.00} loss as a result of their error.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation