Consumer complaint received 2025-10-21 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Banking errors
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: KS

Complaint narrative:
On XXXX XX/XX/year>, I submitted a dispute regarding a transaction with USAA by calling its Customer Service number. The dispute was of a transaction for {$1600.00} with my ATM/debit card. During that phone call, I provided a detailed explanation of what occurred. Essentially, I hired a man, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, to repair an ice maker in a refrigerator that I own. He requested that I pay him up front in advance of the service. I agreed to do that because I had hired him previously for service/repair work on appliances with no problems. I paid him on XXXX XX/XX/year>, but the transaction cleared my account on XXXX XX/XX/year>. XXXX XXXX never completed the work or returned to my residence. I sent several text messages to him between XXXX XXXX - XXXX XX/XX/year>. He provided varying, contradictory explanations as to why the work was never completed centered on ordering the parts and if they were available. After 6 weeks of him not completing the repair, I requested a refund through text message. On XXXX XX/XX/year>, USAA issued a provisional credit of {$1600.00} to my checking account. I never received a phone call for additional information from USAA and anticipated that if any additional information was necessary, then the investigator would call me. On XXXX XX/XX/year>, I received a generic response that USAA resolved the dispute not in my favor. The generic response provided no explanation why USAA came to that outcome. I then called Customer Service on XXXX XX/XX/year> and made a Second Dispute of the transaction. During that phone call, I screen captured the text messages that I had with XXXX XXXX and uploaded them to the dispute page online based on the guidance of the Customer Service Representative during that phone call. These text messages showed that XXXX XXXX acknowledged that he had not completed the job, that I requested a refund from him, and that he provided contradictory explanations about why he had not performed the work centered on parts being available. I asked the Customer Service Representative if I needed to prepare a sworn statement and he said something to the effect of, I could do that if I wanted to. On XXXX XX/XX/year>, USAA provided me with a statement from XXXX XXXX XXXX along with an invoice and an " Activity Feed '', which appears to be a business record. The activity feed document clearly shows that the last status of the job -- according to the Merchant was " Job Unfinished ''. In summary, the merchant alleged that he needed to order replacement parts ( a door ) to do the repair but that they were backordered. Please note that I specifically asked him through text message if the part for the repair was backordered, and he told me that it was not, that it had shipped, and was being ground shipped. He then changed his explanation a month later and said that it never shipped and was backordered. I provided screen shots of these text messages to USAA on XXXX XX/XX/year>. On XXXX XX/XX/year>, USAA reversed the provisional credit on my account that was issued for {$1600.00} while the investigation was ongoing and had been pending for 48 days. This caused my account to have a negative balance and for USAA to send me notifications that I would be charged fees for the negative balance. On that same date, XXXX XX/XX/year>, USAA reordered transactions on my account that I had made on XXXX XX/XX/year> and reversed the provisional credit on my account and then listed my weekend transactions after the reversal so that my account would be overdrawn. In distress, I summarized what occurred again in a written document and uploaded it to USAA 's portal for my open dispute. I also called the USAA customer service number who refused to assist me and just basically read me the same information that was available on the USAA website. I reviewed the documentation that the merchant had provided and I created a detailed analysis using the text messages embedded into the document showing how their decision was illogical and cited the Federal Trade Commission 's regulation, 16 C.F.R 435, that prevents a merchant from charging a customer for an item that does not ship within 30 days. This federal regulation requires the merchant to allow the customer to cancel the order at or after 30 days. I had purchased a service of a repair to my refrigerator from XXXX XXXX XXXX, but the merchant was trying to allege that I needed to wait indefinitely for backordered parts that may never ship and work he has not performed more than 3 months later. All of the documentation and evidence, along with the federal regulation makes it clear that I was entitled to the dispute being resolved in my favor. I called USAA again today and notified it that I had provided even more detailed information in writing and that I would like the dispute resolved promptly and for the money to be placed back in my account. The banking specialist told me that I had gone above and beyond and that it seemed pretty straight forward, but that I would have to wait up to 90 days for this dispute to be resolved and that USAA had no mechanism to apply a provisional credit to my account.

I am filing this complaint with CFPB because USAA 's decision making violates FTC regulation 16 C.F.R 435, they did not complete an adequate investigation of the transaction, and they are not complying with Regulation E, they reordered transactions to cause my account to be overdrawn. If the USAA representative had completed a proper investigation or even reviewed what the merchant provided, then it would be clear that he still had not provided the service that I paid for 3 months prior. I also located a recent XXXX Review ( within the last month ) where another customer describes the same things occurring to him where this merchant was hired to perform a repair, then made numerous contradictory statements about repair parts, and then never completed the work.

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