This is now how I feel about banks.
Has this happened to anyone else?
I have a bank account at a super regional bank (we will call this Bank 1).
They sent me a letter, offering me credit card account with a 21 month interest free period, including on balance transfers with a 3% fee on balance transfers, but no interest on that balance for the remaining interest free period. (apologies for the initial mis-statement on balance transfers on this credit offer).
I thought, “Great, I’ll pay that balance on my existing card off early and save about a $1,000 in interest, yay!”
On January 29, 2024 I took them up on the offer and completed it online. Including entering my existing card number for the balance transfer to pay (at what I will call Bank 2).
Card Services from Bank 1 sends me a letter early in February saying Welcome and it may take a couple of billing cycles before you see the transaction (meaning a balance on the new account).
So I wait, patiently.
Finally in mid March I get curious and call up Bank 1 (the number for Card Services on the card) who is sending the balance transfer and inquire as to what is the status.
That’s when I find out the bank issued a payment, by paper check, to the wrong bank. A bank I have no credit card with.
The person says, okay, we'll stop payment on the check. I ask “What if they already cashed it?” The person says I don’t see that has happened yet, I’ve sent the request for stop payment AND I’ve initiated the payment to the correct bank.
So I wait.
Today, I open the mail to see that the check Bank 1 sent to Bank 2 was cashed clear back on Feb 27th. Long before my call and being told it was sent to the wrong bank.
So I call Bank 1 member services to talk to them about the issue, again.
The first person who I spoke to told me that since the check was cashed, I will have to contact Bank 2 and explain the problem and ask them to send the money back.
Like it’s my fault and responsibility to cure an error on the part of Bank 1.
I say, do you have a supervisor I can speak with?
Who basically tells me the same thing, so I ask for their supervisor.
That person, after I tell them that this was an error 100% on the part of Bank 2, that I have the letter they sent this week with a photocopy of the check they sent to the WRONG bank and it has the card number for the account I have with Bank 2 printed above my name, and why in the world would they be asking me to contact Bank 3 (the one they sent the check to in error) and try to get $2,200 dollars back them them. I didn’t make any error, Bank 1 made the error, it is up to them to fix it.
So now, I’m waiting for a callback from a supervisor at Bank 1, to discuss them doing a “Backoffice” action will take about 90 days to cure this problem.
Has this happened to anyone else?
I thought credit cards were unique, that the billions of variation on the 4 blocks of 4 numbers ensured that the card number you have is unique. That inputting the card number should show the associated funding entity.
As of today, I have a new $2,200 debt owed to a bank because they paid the wrong Bank in a balance transfer. So instead of reducing my debt and getting some relief from interest payments, I am further in the hole.
I am outraged, to say the least.
Now that I think of it, I may just contact the www.consumerfinance.gov and see if they can help me out with this outrageous error on the part of a bank, who has tried to make me fix the problem they caused.
UPDATE:
I truly posted this story to find out if I am a unique snowflake which drifted out of a calm blue sky, or if this situation has happened to anyone else.
I know how to approach this problem, and have started it by demanding an escalation to their first level and then 2nd level actions (which come from a matrix, I’m sure).
Should I get no relief in a timely fashion (7 business days), I know the avenues open to me for further escalation.
1) I file a complaint at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau using this URL https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/
2) I call up my sister who is a VP at one of the banks in question and ask for her assistance with the internal department at her financial institution, which deals with processing/transaction issues
3) I contact my State Banking Commission and file a report on the problem, with the documentary evidence in hand, supplied to me by Bank 1 (as noted in my story)
What I was hoping for was at least some idea of whether or not this is a common problem today for consumers, with Balance Transfers between credit card issues, or if was a weird series of unique events that has only happened to me.
Thanks for reading, and please, if something like this HAS happened to you anytime in the past two years, in any state, please leave a comment and let me know?
UPDATE 2:
I’m adding the content of a comment, as it is particularly on-point to the issue and I will be following their recommendation as of Monday.
thank you Edge PA
I have worked in Customer Remediations for a Major Bank.
File a complaint with
www.occ.treas.gov/…
The OCC is who regulates banks.
The call the bank who made the error. Say “I want to make a complaint. I have filed a complaint with OCC. I want a tracking number.”
This will get your case escalated ASAP.
They are responsible for making you whole. Any fees, interest, etc they owe you. (Get paper receipts of any outside costs).
Ask for the interest you incurred from the time the check was cashed until it gets applied to the correct account. (I am not positive but fairly sure you are entitled to it).
Ask for compensation for “Loss of Use of Funds”. This is the opportunity cost of funds.
Good luck.
UPDATE 3:
Because I’ve seen the question asked a number of place now about the bank that got the check and cashed it, even though I have no account there. This is my response in the comment to one of them:
The fact that the receiving bank just cashed it without an account to attribute it to? That will probably (but not surely) instigate a contact to bank that sent the funds saying “Help, we don’t recognize this account and this name as valid, did you mean someone else’s account?”. Something which likely occurred without any human activity attached, other than opening the envolope and sending it to be scanned for processing.
and the corollary question on Naming and Shaming the banks involved:
Thanks again for reading the story,
- angie
