Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  07/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I received a letter in the male with a statement for what looks like a savings account that was opened 4/1/2023 of this year for $1. I did not open this, its under my maiden name and I was not even in the country during this time. The statement shows the date 06/30/2023. I tried to call and was prompted that there were after hours call Centers and called that and it was still unavailable. I have nothing in my emails that state the account being opened, no phone calls, no login, just this letter and the last 4 of my member number. Its showing I have a share of something but I dont know what of.

  

  Business response

  07/10/2023

  Hi ******;

  It was great speaking to you today.  I believe I answered the question you had regarding the origin of your account with **********************.  Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any additional questions.

   

  Thank you,

  *******************

  Chief Risk Officer

  **************

• Initial Complaint

  05/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Main checking account card frozen for possible fraud alert. Called to verify I made the charges and card unfrozen. Went to use card and it declined. Called back to unfreeze card. Double checked after unfreezing card to make sure purchases and payments would go through. I was assured they would. ******* cell phone automatic payment with card was declined and another attempt made automatically was declined. This resulted in my phone lines being turn off and I had to pay late fee of $45 and reconnection fees per line totaling $200 for 5 total phone lines. **************** could care less about my fees incurred after I was assured my payments and purchases would go through. It is ridiculous that I did my due diligence by calling them to unfreeze the card multiple and to make sure my payments would go through and was told by customer service that everything would be fine and falsely reassured by the associate. I have never run into this issue with any other bank used and would highly recommend any one needing a bank or credit union to join another establishment. I understand safety and fraud as most people do but this was an error on achieves behalf that cost me a lot of headache and unnecessary penalties. I want to be reimbursed for the money they cost me.

  

  Business response

  05/31/2023

  Dear April;

  I investigated the account activity for your Debit Card.  Your card was actually blocked 3/19/23 due to a suspicious transaction that was authorized on your debit card.  (4) notificiations were sent to you on 3/18/23:  (2) SMS messages, (1) email message successfully delivered and (1) phone message attempt (mailbox was full and a message could not be sent). When you did not respond to the notifications stating the card was blocked, it stayed in that status until you notified us on 5/26/23 to lift the block. 

  Please let me know if you have any other questions.

  *******************

  Chief Risk Officer

  Customer response

  06/13/2023

   
  Complaint: 20120659
  
  I am rejecting this response because: not true. I called and had the card unblocked and was told by a representative it would work so that is when I set up automatic payments. One of your representatives contacted me and said she would get back to me regarding the phone calls I made and no one has called me back. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

  

  Business response

  06/15/2023

  April;

   

  We researched our interaction phone log and did not find an inbound or outbount call from your phone number from 2/3/23 -5/30/23.  I contacted our **** Services provider and submitted a workorder to search for a call from your phone number.  This is their reply:  06/04/2023 09:00:54 EDT - We were unable to locate a call for the cardholder with the timeframe, phone number or card number provided May 1- 30.

  Please let me know if you called from a phone other than the phone number we have on file.

   

  Thank you,

  *******************

   

  Customer response

  06/15/2023

   
  Complaint: 20120659
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  I called from ********** and spoke to a representative on the phone who said she was unblocking my call. My husband was with me and can verify this phone call was made. It is disappointing now knowing that care was not taken with me as a customer and that the representative did not make notes and your system is not able to find the call. This negligence has led to difficulties with me being able to make transactions and incurring fees since payments were not processed. 
  

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

• Initial Complaint

  12/01/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  1-They misplaced sensitive documents with my SSN 2-They tried to overcharge my car payment 3-They would not tell me how to pay the correct portion of my car payment and instead just kept saying itll be resolved in a few weeks which caused a late payment while I waited on them to fix their mistake 4-There staff called me about a different payment needing to be paid that was already paid 5-They were rude even though the delay was caused by their error

  

  Business response

  12/08/2022

  Dear ************;

  I contacted you by phone to discuss the complaint and thoroughly investigated each point of the complaint and provided a response on 12/8/22.   The insurance carrier never submitted the policy to the branch and no information was misplaced; rest assured that insurance policies do not contain personal identifying information. We discussed the increase in your payment due to collateral protection insurance added to your loan.  When the carrier submitted evidence that there was no lapse in coverage, the collateral protection insurance was refunded that same day. I believe these items are now resolved.  We appreciate your membership with Achieva Credit Union.  Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any additional questions or concerns.

  Sincerely, 

  *******************, Chief Risk Officer

• Initial Complaint

  11/16/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On April 19, 2022, I refinance my federal student loans with Achieva Credit Union, which Lendkey is the servicer of this private consolidation loan. My first concern is regarding the payoff amount for the loan. ******* requested a payoff amount that was good for 30 days. It is important to note during the period of the funding of this consolidation; all federal student loan payments are suspended thru December 31, 2022. (see below)https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/covid-19/payment-pause-zero-interest ******19 Loan Payment Pause and 0% Interest In response to the ******19 emergency, we paused loan payments and set interest rates to 0% for eligible federal student loans. On this page, you can find out if your loans are eligible and how this relief affects your loans.Student Loan Payment Pause Extended Through December 31, 2022 Achieva Credit Union funded the loan by $5326.21 over the payoff amount, and the overpayment was paid directly to the principal balance. In August, I lost my employment. I submitted a request for forbearance, which was declined because there is a requirement to make (6) payments on the loan before I would be eligible for any form of tolerance. The servicer, Lendkey, told me they must adhere to the funder of the refinance, Achieva Credit Union. In addition, ******* has a power of attorney agreement as the loan servicer, so they must have all the terms of the refinance agreement. After this missed disclosure was neglected, I contacted Achieva Credit Union to gain access to all times of the deal I signed to finalize this loan. Achieve Credit Union directed me back to Lendkey. ******* also told me that the $5326.21 payment to the principal balance was not considered one of the six required payments to be eligible for forbearance, even though this amount was not refunded to me directly nor necessary to fund the loan.

  

  Business response

  12/07/2022

  Dear ********************;

   

  Lendkey is a private student loan provider.  This was disclosed to you at the time you applied for refinancing your federal loans to Lendkey.  Private student loans were not eligible for federal student loan forgiveness.  You submitted a forbearance request.  Unfortunately you did not meet the minimum repayment requirements of 6 full consecutive payments made prior to a forbearance request approval.  The terms and conditions were provided to you by Lendkey.  You agreed to the loan and the loan terms and a refund of payments is not warranted since all actions followed by Lendkey and Achieva were in accordance with the agreement you approved.

   

  *******************, Chief Risk Officer.

• Initial Complaint

  10/17/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On October 14th, 320 dollars was taken out of a joint account with one person and applied to a negative account with a different joint user. The account was negative due to Hurricane *** issues. You are not allowed to take a debt from a joint account and apply it to another unless all names are the same. This money needs to be put back.

  

  Business response

  10/26/2022

  Dear ****************;

  
  The Universal Account Agreement that regulates all consumer accounts states "...the Credit Union *** charge the amount of the negative balance against any other Account from which any of the Account owners is entitled to withdraw money or establish credit advance sufficient to satisfy the negative condition pursuant to any credit agreement with the Credit Union."

  We understand the Hardship caused by Hurricane *******  We do offer special loans that *** be available to you to assist with hardship.  Please let me know if you would like additional information that you *** find helpful.

  Sincerely,

  *******************

  Chief Risk Officer

• Initial Complaint

  07/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Recently there was fraud on my bank account and I lost $18,286.00 via unauthorized Zelle transfers and $178.00 via unauthorized debit card purchases. This started with a text message on 07/08/22 which asked If I made a Zelle Payment of $500 reply yes or No. I did not reply. I got a phone call after from a person claiming to be from Pinellas Park Achieva Credit Union which is My bank. She said she was calling from fraud department and there were unauthorized transactions on my account. She had all my information that she confirmed, also the number was the same as from the Bank. She said there was fraud on my account and that it will be blocked while they investigate. She sent Me a code to confirm that it was Me. I read the code to her. She said she will call me to follow up. She called me multiple times through Monday and sent me more codes. She also said that I won't be able to use my debit card. On Monday my wife said let's call the bank to see what is going on. I called on Tuesday and found out that almost $20.000 was stolen from my account. I closed the accounts and filed police report. Lisa from the Bank called me on 07/14 and said that bank is not responsible and will not refund me. I never authorized any transfers. There were 62 Zelle transfers anywhere from $25 to $750. Hacker transferred almost $20.000 from my savings to checking and from there to Zelle. They also changed my passwords ******** times and they changed one of Zelle contacts to make it look like the money was sent to that person. I have savings, checking, mortgage, credit card and car loan with Achieva. I trusted Achieva with all my money. They have one job, to keep the money safe and they did not do that. What If in a different scenario somebody kidnapped me and stole my phone and had all the codes what would happen then? I never asked for Zelle, it was added to my account. Achieva failed to protect my money and now they are blaming it on me. Achieva should have blocked these transfers.

  

  Business response

  07/20/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/07/20) */ Mr. *********; Achieva Credit Union has many controls in place to ensure our members' accounts are kept secure. There is no way for Achieva Credit Union to protect members who give their account authentication credentials or verification passcodes to fraudsters. The banner on our Zelle alerts that you saw state" Achieva Credit Union employees will NEVER ask for this code. Do not give this code to anyone." You saw this message and gave the code away anyway. You received an e-mail notification for every Zelle transfer that was made. You also received an e-mail alert when information was changed on your account. You also have the responsibility to monitor your account transactions whether online or in your statement. Achieva has sent out several e-mails notifying current fraudulent scams. We also have a FAQ on our website describing these types of scams so that members will not fall prey to these schemes. Unfortunately, you did not monitor the numerous email alerts you received and you gave the authentication credentials to a caller on the phone posing as an Achieva employee, We clearly stated on the text message that an Achieva employee would NEVER ask for. I'm sorry for your loss, but the fault does not fall with Achieva Credit Union security controls. Sincerely, Lisa S. CRO Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/07/22) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Ms. Lisa, I was scammed and tricked into giving these codes to a person pretending to be an Achieva employee. I did not give these codes just so a crook can steal my money. These were illegal, fraudulent money transfered which I never authorized. There needs to be more protection to verify an account instead of just sending the codes to the phone number to verify, which is not very secure. Under a 1978 federal rule called Regulation E, banks are required to make clients whole if their money is stolen from a consumer account through an electronic payment initiated by another person. Since Reg E was written well before payment apps existed, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last year issued guidelines saying that the law covered all person-to-person online payments. The bureau clarified that all unauthorized online money transfers meaning any payment initiated by someone other than the customer and done without the customer's permission were the bank's liability. When we spoke yesterday you Said that Achieva is working on recovering some of the money stolen that was transferred to other banks and is still pending. I really hope Achieva will do the right thing and return the money that was stolen. I will wait to hear from you on any updates. Thank you! Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2022/07/25) */ Mr. *********; The CFPB does not have jurisdiction to require a financial institution to repay for P2P transfers made when the member provided security authentication to an unknown third party. The transaction would have been unauthorized if a person set up an electronic transfer bypassing the financial institution's security controls. You personally provided the security control number to the unknown party who simply claimed to be an Achieva employee. Again, Achieva put up a permanent banner stating Achieva employees would NEVER ask for this number,do not give that code to anyone. You acknowledged that you saw the banner and yet still provided the number. The losses you experienced were not the result of faulty security controls and should not be passed on to the entire membership of Achieva Credit Union. Members are required to protect their private security codes along with their username and passwords. Lisa S., CRO Consumer Response /* (2000, 17, 2022/08/31) */ This complaint has been resolved now and Achieva refunded the money to me. I would like to mark it as resolved and say thank you To Lisa ***** CRO. Thank you !

• Initial Complaint

  04/25/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  15 U.SC 1681 section 602 A. States I have the right to privacy. 15 U.SC 1681 section 604 A Section 2 : It also states a consumer reporting agency cannot furnish a account with out my written instruction. 15 U.S.C 1692C Without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt.

  

  Business response

  05/18/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/05/03) */ Contact Name and Title: Lisa S. Contact Phone: ************ Contact Email: ******@achievacu.com Mr. *******; We received your approval to to obtain a credit report in conjunction with the loan application that was submitted for the purchase of an automobile. At that time you agreed to become a member of the credit union and signed agreement to the Universal Account agreement that documents the terms of membership. Lisa S., Chief Risk Officer

• Initial Complaint

  03/09/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Back in November, I was the victim of an online scam, to the sum of $2500 (I can provide paperwork, police report, etc) but basically Achieva Credit Union released the entire amount to my account, then days later, was told my account was overdrawn, and that I had 40 days to get the account back in order or they were closing it. They basically said since I was a 'valued customer', they released the entire amount immediately to my account (not partial amount like other banks do) I would think that my bank would be able to confirm another bank's identity/routing number/account number before realizing there was no such account. Thoroughly ******, I filed an immediate report with the North Port Police Dept. Achieva took absolutely no responsibility in releasing the money to me, and gave me 40 days to replace it. No retribution or anything.

  

  Business response

  04/13/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/03/21) */ Mr. *********; I understand the frustration caused by the online scam. Unfortunately, you authorized the transaction and the scammer withdrew the money as soon as the transaction was processed. We encourage our members to contact us prior to conducting transactions like this if there is any suspicion of potential fraud. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/03/24) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) This makes zero sense. No banking institution releases the full amount of an out-of-state check for such an amount without making sure the funds were available. Maybe - maybe $500 the first day, but never the full amount immediately. You have no idea what I've been through returning $2500 to my account. Even the detective on this case said out of the 5 cases he was working on at the time of me speaking to him, mine was the only case in which there was no retribution. He was just as surprised as me. Whether I was scammed or not, your business practice is unacceptable, as well as your response to this complaint. Blaming the victim is not a good look, and how dare you insult me like that? This is NOT resolved.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩