Consumer complaint received 2025-07-15 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: ARVEST BANK GROUP, INC.
State: AR

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX a deposit of {$3200.00} showed up on our transaction history. A day later a withdrawal of {$4500.00} appeared. We didn't see this until the XXXX or XXXX. My wife called and notified them that this wasn't our doing. She told them that we were both here in our city of residence in XXXX  XXXX. The deposit and withdrawal came from XXXX, XXXX. At this time, both transactions were still pending. The bank agreed to put a hold on both. I even got mail from the bank stating that the hold was placed on the XXXX. Circumstantially, on the XXXX, my wife was payed her bi-weekly paycheck which was close the the amount missing. 
A few days later, the deposit of {$3200.00} disappeared like it never happened and the withdrawal of {$4500.00} went through, putting us in the negative by over {$4000.00}. If both transactions were on hold, as I was told, then this should not have happened. As soon as we noticed this, I called customer service and told the woman on the phone about it. She was able to quickly reverse the charge and bring us back into the positive. But the matter of the difference of {$1200.00} was still missing. If you deposit {$3200.00} and withdraw {$4500.00} there should be money left over if the charges weren't mine to begin with. The woman on the phone at customer service did not seem to understand this. I had to remind her of the basic rules of mathematics. I was told to wait for the investigation to complete before I could possibly recover those funds. 
During that investigation, my wife got a call from the fraud department asking if we were ever in XXXX. We were not. The next day another call asking her to send a picture of her ID. She did. 
We hadn't heard anything else by the date I was told it would be completed by ( XX/XX/XXXX ), so I went in to our local branch. It was there I was given by a very helpful employee, the information that our claim was denied. I also found out that it was a check written out to my wife 's name, in the amount of {$4500.00}. The check was dated XX/XX/XXXX. It was not endorsed, but there were names on the check. Apparently they tried to deposit a check of {$4500.00} and get cash back, leaving {$3200.00} left over. There was a security photo attached to the file which was of a woman in a XXXX branch trying to deposit/cash the check.At the same time, my wife is on camera at her job in XXXX  ( meaning we can prove it wasn't my wife ). 
While I was in the branch in person, the helpful employee realized immediately, without an investigation might I add, that this was fraudulent. Given the claim was closed and we were denied our money back, the helpful employee added extensive notes to the closed claim, as well as adding a new claim with more notes. I was told that from here, we wait for the response from the fraud department. A notable side issue, while there was a photo of the alleged fraudster, there was no photo of my wife 's ID in the file, after she was asked to send it in. There was no photo of my wife 's ID attached to the checking account, even though it was scanned to OPEN the account. 
I contacted a lawyer and was told to file police reports, both locally and in XXXX. I asked the bank to collect any and all items related to this debacle. All transactions, all communications, all findings, etc. I went by the branch today to pick it up. While there, I was told that the funds SHOULD be back and available soon. I signed a notarized affidavit of unauthorized withdrawal. I have yet to receive the funds. 

On a side note, a year ago, my wife 's car was broken into. Her purse stolen as well as wallet with all ID and important financial cards, to include her debit card. By the time we found this out, the thieves had already done an ATM withdrawal, which we immediately called and told the bank and filed a police report and stopped ALL access to the account. The funds were eventually returned and deposited into a new account that we had opened since the original was compromised. A week or 2 later, the people who stole her card entered a branch 30 minutes away with my wife 's stolen ID and the CANCELED CARD FROM THE CANCELED CHECKING ACCOUNT, and was able to get a cashiers check and liquidate our account. This took a while and was very infuriating, but it was eventually resolved and any and all negative charges related to this fiasco were reversed. We let it go as a fluke. Now this happened and we aren't sure if they are related, but it shows a history of negligence throughout this company. Their security/fraud dept. has dropped every ball at every stage of these issues. All of them could have EASILY been avoided if they took seriously their jobs.

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