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Home >> Accounts >> ATM/Debit Cards
OCC 'Suggests'; Bank Chooses its Own Option
I wrote to you earlier about my problem of ATM transaction fraud. My card and PIN was stolen and used for a period of five months. A huge amount was taken! The bank only paid back the amount in the last sixty days. We filed a complaint with the OCC and received their response back about ten days ago.
They said that the bank would have to prove that the transactions were authorized, through video or pictures and/or that this was a usual pattern similar to the usage before the theft. They said that they cannot make the bank do the right thing, they can only suggest. If the bank chooses to not do the right thing, then we should hire a lawyer. The bank has chosen not to do the right thing. We sent a copy of the response to them a week ago and today they had a lawyer call us to say that he is representing the bank. I know that you can not give legal advice, but do you have any suggestions. Doesn't the OCC's response make a difference?
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 The hard facts are that when a bank fails to comply with the regulatory requirements as the OCC has outlined them to you, it's often the case that the customer gives up, whether it is because the customer doesn't know where to go, or doesn't want to stir things up (dislikes confrontation), or can't take the time to push a legal case, or can't afford legal advice or representation. You appear to have stirred something up with your letter to the OCC, since someone claiming to be the bank's attorney has contacted you. You can try to press your case with that individual, arguing any and all of the points in the OCC's letter, and hope that he can understand what the bank's obligation is. You may actually get some satisfaction using that route.
A second option is to escalate your complaint to upper management at the bank, sending a copy of the OCC complaint and letter to someone higher in the bank's pecking order. Aim at the executive level. Find out who the bank president is and send your letter to her or him. Bank presidents don't like to receive personally addressed complaint letters, and often send them down the corporate ladder with terse suggestions that the matter be addressed. If those actions don't get you any relief, you'll need to think about bringing in an attorney to plead your case. You'll want to give the bank a short while to at least acknowledge your letters.
As for the OCC's letter: the agency's bank examiners will be aware of the complaint, and any others lodged against the bank with the agency, when they make their periodic visits to the bank. A pattern of inappropriate claim results could earn the bank a citation for a regulatory violation, and that can pack a sting or not, depending on its severity, but other than that, the OCC told you correctly that it can't force the bank to do the right thing.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 11/05/09
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