I didn't realize how corrupt American banks are until I wrote a check for a large sum of money to a person who did some work for me and the check was stolen and cashed by a third party. Since I mailed it via the US Postal Service it took over a week for me to find out that the person who I wrote the check never received it. Of course I immediately notified my bank, in this case Citibank, and the Irvine Police Department. I completed all of the reports required by the bank as did the person who was supposed to receive the check.
The bank claims that they are required by law to receive these reports by mail and they are prohibited by law from using email. I haven't been able to find this law, and I don't believe it exists, but the nightmare gets worse. The bank reps told me they would begin investigating immediately but I should expect at least 90 days and as many as 120 days, possibly more for them to complete their investigation.
How it can possibly take four months to investigate such a simple transaction is a mystery. With the communications technology we have today it seems to me that a person would have to be pretty incompetent to not be able to find out in a couple of days exactly what happened. When I called the so-called customer service number and complained about the wait time I was asked if I had any idea how big a problem check fraud is in America today. I don't so I asked her if she knew. She said she didn't know either, but it was a lot. So maybe if that's true the bank should either find ways to make it more difficult for a person with no identification to cash or deposit a check, or hire more investigators to keep up with the high demand.
When the Customer Service section got tired of me calling twice a day they referred me to the Executive Services section. The people in that office gave me the same song and dance. A few times during this charade I asked to speak to a supervisor and I was transferred after a few minutes being on 'hold' while they 'find' an available supervisor I was connected to someone obviously either in the Philippines, India, Pakistan, or some other spot in the world where people are able to work for a buck a day, who told me the exact same thing. They are all great at apologizing and explaining that they have 90-120 days to complete the investigation, but they were unable to provide any information regarding what, if anything, was being done to resolve my issue.
One person finally told me there was a note in my file that said the check had been processed by Wells Fargo Bank, but they didn't know which branch or which city processed it. When asked if it was deposited via cell phone photo or ATM they had no idea. Is that even possible?
After two months I was contacted by a man who said he was a senior analyst. He told me he was at the mercy of Wells Fargo. They were the people who cashed or deposited the check, and it was up to them to investigate what happened. He also said it would take 90-120 days for them to complete their investigation.
I filed a complaint with an agency that supposedly regulate banks and I received an email from them stating these investigations can take a long time and I needed to be more patient. I also received an email from Citibank that said they had been made aware that I had filed a complaint and they were sorry I was unhappy with the exceedingly slow pace of their investigation but they were doing the best they can and they were waiting for Wells Fargo Bank to complete their investigation.
They apologized for the inconvenience and assured me they were in regular communication with the investigators at Wells Fargo and they would let me know as soon as they learn anything more.
The bank gave away a large sum of money to a person without viewing any identification and the bank says they are terribly sorry, but it isn't their responsibility. They're claiming it is Wells Fargo Bank that cashed or deposited the check into someone's account and until there has been an investigation they can't refund my money. Ok, I understand they need to verify my story and the story of the person who whom the check was mailed, but I think two months is more than enough time for such a simple transaction. Someone cashed or deposited a check at Wells Fargo. We have computers now so look it up and let us know who did it. Then give us our money back. Three to four months? That is simply outrageous.
The money was stolen and Citibank is complicit in the theft. They need to make restitution for the loss then collect from Wells Fargo Bank for the mistake they made.
I've always been told that Congress has oversight of American banks, but apparently banks are regulating themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment