- Jurisdiction
- Oregon
Our bank accounts are Oregon US bank. But we moved to Washington and have been using a US bank branch in Washington closer to where we live. We had a checking, savings and another savings for our granddaughter. When my husbands parents passed away last year, my husband was executor of the estate so a separate account was opened to deal with that. After that was almost done and monies were dispursed there was still an outstanding accountant bill so the estate account was still left open. There was $80,000 still in the account. One morning (the 7th of September) my husband went onling to check our accounts. It had been about a week singe he checked the account. The estate account was empty. Then we checked our other accounts and someone had done a bunch of debit card purchases in Nevada and California with a card number we had never seen before. Someone also did a $1500.00 transfer from our regular checking over to the estate account. (As if the $80,000 wasn't enough!) We found out from the bank that someone had called in and cancelled my husbands card and ordered a new one and went in and picked up a temporary card. My husband hadn't used his card so didn't realize it was cancelled. We received the replacement card in the mail the day after we reported the fraud to the bank and we called and reported that to them also. They actually went in to several banks in Nevada and California to get out the 80K. All of the withdrawals were about 1 hour apart, They got a cashiers check for $40,000 along with a $10,000 cash withdrawal at one bank and 2 $10K cash withdrawals and 2 $5K cash withdrawals at 4 other banks. All of these transactions were on September 1st. We noticed the problem on September 7th and called US bank fraud department and reported it immediately. We had not loaned or lost our pin numbers. The only activity was with my husbands card only. My card had not been accessed. The same day we reported the fraud, US bank emailed my husband affidavits to complete and he completed them and mailed them to them. A few days after that my husband called to make sure they received them and they said they did and would now start the investigation.(9/11) On 10/27 we received a letter in the mail stating that our claim was currently under review but to further proceed with the claim US Bank requires further documentation or action. They wanted the estate account closed and needed a copy of my husbands ID. It said if these items weren't addressed within 30 days of the date on the letter the claim would be considered resolved and the claim would be closed. So the account was closed and my husband emailed a copy of his ID to the address they provided. We received a confirmation from US bank that it was received. A couple of days later we called to make sure everything was received and they had what they needed to proceed. We were told they did not receive the copy of his ID. They said resend it and call back in 2 days. So we resent it and again received a confirmation from them. Called in 2 days and they said they were waiting on his ID. Again we were told resend and call back in 2 days. We resent it again and got a 3rd confirmation of receipt. Called back again in 2 days and were told they didn't have it and then they asked if we had put the claim number on the email. The first 3 times they mentioned nothing about doing that. So for the 4th time, we resent it with the claim number on it and called back in 2 days. They finally got it and said they would now start the investigation. It is now 11/ 24. It has been over 3 months now. We need our money.
What can we do about this? They also used the debit card they got somehow and all of those charges we given back immediately. Prior to this, US bank has shut our cards down for small charges that they perceived to be possibly fraudulent. We had to call them before we could access our account again. So I don't understand why all of those large withdrawals that were done in 2 different states (that we are not residents of) at different banks all on the same day would not send up a huge red flag. I do not think that they exercised due diligence. Can they be sued for that? Also is there a time limit for an investigation? You would think that this would be a pretty quick resolve since these people went inside the bank. As far as we are concerned, this is a huge mistake on US bank. At this point any advice that could help expedite this would be greatly appreciated.
What can we do about this? They also used the debit card they got somehow and all of those charges we given back immediately. Prior to this, US bank has shut our cards down for small charges that they perceived to be possibly fraudulent. We had to call them before we could access our account again. So I don't understand why all of those large withdrawals that were done in 2 different states (that we are not residents of) at different banks all on the same day would not send up a huge red flag. I do not think that they exercised due diligence. Can they be sued for that? Also is there a time limit for an investigation? You would think that this would be a pretty quick resolve since these people went inside the bank. As far as we are concerned, this is a huge mistake on US bank. At this point any advice that could help expedite this would be greatly appreciated.
