Financial Institution Knowingly Broke Numerous Laws

[YoonYoungJo]

In a nutshell, on 9-6-2011, I noticed odd charges on my account. I contacted the financial institution on 9-7. For the next two months I contacted the financial institution numerous times to get the required dispute forms I needed to investigate the issue. As they informed me on numerous occasions that they would not do anything without their specific dispute form signed and returned. For two months and dozens of calls took place trying to resolve the issue. The financial instruction would claim they sent the forms but none of the forms ever arrived. The odd part was they cancelled and reissued my debit card on two occasions. So during this two month period two debits cards and two pin codes all arrived without issue. Also I made attempts to request the financial institution to mail the forms via certified mail. The first time I made the request they said it had been done, and it never was. The 2nd time I made the request for certified mail I was told they couldn't do it. I have a mountain of evidence of deception, failure to follow Federal Reg E (as I understand it), knowingly committing deception (I have evidence of this and evidence of them trying to alter dates). The final straw was the financial institution freezing my account on 9-7-2011 which caused my investments to lose 10's of thousands of dollars in value. They never notified me my account was frozen at anytime. I only discovered it when a check bounced.


****Further Detailing of my case****
On 9-6-2011 I noticed odd charges on my brokerage account (the firm is a large financial instituition).Contacted brokerage firm to begin dispute. On 9-7-2011 brokerage account was frozen (never notified and something I was unaware of for a significant amount of time). Over the next two months the brokerage firm continued to inform me that they had indeed mailed the proper dispute forms. Dispute forms (these EXACT ones) must be submitted before they would take any kind of action. During these two months numerous calls were made to customer service regarding the status of the dispute forms. Every time I was told the required dispute forms had been mailed and every time they were suppose to arrive they didn't. The biggest issue for me was the fact numerous other pieces of mail all arrived on time (verifiable). On 4 separate occasions (2 cancelled and redistributed debit cards arrived and 2 additional pieces of mail containing the pin codes) all arrived without issue. Finally on 10-20-2011 I drove to a branch office and demanded the proper dispute forms. After hours of waiting and listening to the receptionist tell me they couldn't find the proper dispute forms, I finally got my forms. Afterwards it took the financial institution over a month to notify me of my account status. There was never an explanation as to what was going on. I lost over 15K from various investments due to account being frozen. No inquiry or investigation was ever done on the merchants. In fact after I was notified my account was to be closed around 11-20-2011, they informed me at that time, through someone from the Department of Financial institutions they were willing to assist me in investigating the merchants. This is only a very brief (and sloppy) explanation of the case. I can provide a more detailed timeline upon request. Do I have a case? Would a lawyer take my case on "Contingency"? If so, where would I even find a lawyer to take the case on contingency?

[YoonYoungJo]

My question involves a consumer law issue in the State of: Washington

Basically my issue involves a financial institution knowingly violating banking/consumer protection laws. On 9-6-2011 I noticed odd charges on my brokerage account. I contacted the financial institution to report the charges. I spent the next two months and numerous calls to the financial institution to rectify the matter but only got a plethora of deception's and lies. The primary issue involved the financial institutions request I sign and return their special dispute forms. It was made clear to me in the beginning that these special dispute forms were required before anything could be done with my account. The main issue involves the financial institutions claims they mailed these dispute forms to my residence on multiple occasions. They would claim they mailed the dispute forms and yet none ever arrived. On a couple of occasions it was suggested, first by customer service then by me, the dispute forms be sent certified mail and overnight mail. The first time the forms were supposed to be sent by certified mail was unsuccessful. The financial institutions customer service claimed it was entered in their system, and for some mysterious reason, no one could understand why it hadn't been sent. The second time I made the request, for the forms to be sent by certified mail, I was told they could not do it. The financial institution's customer service initially suggested the overnight mailing option. Yet now all of a sudden it couldn't be done and it was something they don't do. The biggest discrepancy to all this was the fact, during a two month period, other pieces of mail from the financial institution arrived without issue. Most notable are four pieces of mail I received during the dispute process. Twice the financial institution cancelled my debit cards and reissued them to me. On two separate occasions I received the reissued debit cards. Along with two more pieces of mail containing their respective pin codes. All during a time period when my numerous requests for their policy required dispute forms failed to arrive.
In the end the financial institution denied all my claims. Even though many of the merchants voluntarily refunded my money. One thing of note is the fact many of the merchants issued refunds voluntarily weeks before I managed to procure the dispute forms. I never contacted the merchants to request a refund. Nor did I at anytime imply to the merchant's I was going to request a refund or imply any intention of disputing any charges. Prior to placing a dispute with the financial institution I considered asking the merchants directly for a refund. Unfortunately, due to the sheer complexity and confusion of the charges, requesting a refund from the merchants directly became impossible. In the end my claims were denied by the financial institution and I was notified by letter. The letter provided instructions on how to request an explanation of their decision. The same day I received the denial letter I signed and faxed the request for an explanation. They have never provided me with an explanation of the denial. Another major issue was the bank freezing my account the day after I placed my dispute. Something I didn't discover until weeks later when a check bounced. I don't know if banks are required to inform customers about changes to their account status but I thought I should mention it. If there is a lawyer out there who is willing to take the case or at least look at the evidence I have please email/contact me. I have a ton of evidence for "everything" I mentioned. My family (especially my children) have suffered severely due to the financial institutions belief they are above the law. I and my family really need some help.

[Mr. Knowitall]

So... you complained to a financial institution that fraudulent activity was occurring on your account and they responded by freezing the account to prevent further fraudulent activity? And you supposedly lost tens of thousands of dollars during the couple of days it took you to realize that the account was frozen? And you wanted a form of some type, they were slow to send it to you and... what?

It's not even clear at this point that you have a viable case. If you claim only $15,000 in damages, it may be possible to convince a lawyer to take the case on contingency to try to get a settlement, but litigation against a financial institution would quickly eat up that kind of money. You would find a lawyer in the phone book, by seeking a referral from a bar association, etc.