Unauthorized monies taken directly out of my bank account
Complaint
Bethany Kent
Country: United States
Smart Step Insurance called me repeatedly in 2007, saying that they were affiliated with Bank of America (my bank) offering me insurance for 20 dollars a month with the first two months free, no obligation as long as I cancelled within two months. I cancelled well before the two month time period at which they started drafting my account the 20 dollars. I called again, telling them that I had already called within the two month period and cancelled. I told them to not draft my account again. This was in 2007. About a month later I became pregnant & had morning sickness 24-7, to which I let several things fall to the wayside (I was to sick). My son was born in May of 2008 & is now 8 months old. I am a single mother & have not had time to do much of anything except care for him. Today (1/24/09) I called & did check my account activity at Bank of America & found out that Smart Step Insurance has continued to autmatically draft 20 dollars out of my account even though I called them twice in 2007 to cancel before the two month time period. As a single mother, I really need that money back. Is there anything that anyone can do to help me? Is that legal for them to have done & continue to do that?
Comments
In addition, disputing the charges with BofA might get the last month or two returned. You better close that account number to prevent future unauthorized charges, since as you have seen, you can't count on them to honor a cancelation.
Here are a number of complaints against them.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/smart-step-insurance-springfield
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/smart-step-insurance-c116931.html
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/378/RipOff0378817.htm
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/399/RipOff0399398.htm
https://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/8668790179
It appears that BofA is passing customer information to them to use for telemarketing. There are many reports that their telemarketers have signed up customers for automatic deductions from BofA checking accounts for this supposed "life insurance" without authorization. Additional reports of problems cancelling unwanted policies.
File complaints with FTC, your state AG, and OCC (for BotA's violation of its fiduciary duties towards its customers in this scam).
Reports of fraudulent charges in connection to this company continue to the present. Be sure to close your account.
http://chicago.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=46&bbb=0654&firm=31000449
Note that although BBB rates them "Satisfactory", for responding to BBB disputes, the reasons for complaints are consistent with your claims.
Out of 60 complaints in the last 36 months, 50 (83%) are in categories indicating the consumer alleges they did not agree to the billing terms, which may include failing to cancel, or billing with no authorization.
"...
25 billing or collection issues
10 refund or exchange issues
15 sales practice issues
..."
They have a long record of similar complaints of fraud from other consumers, including complaints of repeated charges never authorized, failing to cancel, falsely claiming to have phone recordings of authorizations, and producing apparently doctored recordings.
Dispute the charges as fraudulent with BofA IN WRITING. Close that account to prevent additional fraud.
If you get anything but a quick refund, file fraud complaints with FTC, your state AG, and your local District Attorney. If BofA interferes with you getting your charges refunded (they sold your information), file a complaint against BofA with OCC.
Notify BofA (and all financial institutions you have accounts with) to block passing your information to ALL affiliated and third party marketers, as provided for in GLB.
I want my money back.
Ironically, Intersections claims to be in the business of selling services to protect consumers from "id theft".
There are numerous reports from BofA customers of charges starting after refusing repeated solicitations, as well as with no contact at all. The only protection against fraud is supposedly recorded telephone "authorizations", but there are also a number of disturbing consumer reports of doctored recordings, as well as deceptive telemarketing scripts, including claiming the consumer is just agreeing to have "information sent", after which the charges start anyway.
BofA has provided enough information to Chartered Marketing for them to start charging customer accounts without any further information provided by the consumer. This has long been recognized as a recipe for telemarketing fraud.
File a complaint against BofA with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Go to www.occ.gov
Links to other complaints are here:
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/tYc4K1wNsACmMAjLZ-BuTg
Note that most of the largest banks have been involved with selling their customer information to similar telemarketing scammers to various degrees. Some, such as Citibank and GMAC, have required consumer disclosure of date of birth, instead of recording authorization, indicating that they were aware of the opportunities for fraud if the consumer did not actually provide any information the telemarketer didn't already have. This has resulted in reports of telemarketing scripts altered to deceptively elicit disclosure of date of birth, for example, as part of collecting "information for your free insurance".
Remember those "privacy notices" you keep getting? They are the result of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known for repealing part of the Glass-Steagall Act and setting up our recent banking fiasco.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm-Leach-Bliley_Act
GLB gives you the right to opt-out of sharing of your private information by your bank with other companies. Take advantage of this right to block all such use of your information by your bank. Otherwise you might be fleeced.
Also, consider establishing a banking relationship with local banks or credit unions, since they don't appear to be as involved in these scams.
if they've scammed and continue to scam so many people, how are they still allowed to do this?
Is it legal? Why hasn't anyone sued them over this or something?
Many similar complaints against this and similar companies can be found through Google searches, involving customer information sold by most of the major banks. Most of the reports show up on the sites that track phone numbers tied to Do Not Call violations. When a lot of such complaints indicate heavy telemarketing activity involving bank customer solicitation, you often see either reports of unauthorized charges tied to the same telemarketing numbers, or of callers attempting to deceptively obtain replies that might be represented as "authorizations".
The reports of unauthorized charges usually correlate with telemarketers employing phone recording "authorizations", which can be fabricated, doctored, or just lost, while reports of fishing for identity information correlate with attempts to use pretexts to obtain birthdate information as proof of "authorization". Different banks have apparently required different forms of verification.
The style of telemarketing deception is similar to common small business directory scams that employ deceptive telemarketing and phone recording, except that since they already have account numbers suitable for setting up monthly charges, they don't have to employ the phony "bully collection agency" tactics used by the directory scammers. They get to hide behind the bank's cloak of legitimacy, while the customer is stonewalled.
"Authorization" may be fabricated via pretexting, through false claims that the customer is being offered "free" insurance, that they just want "recorded authorization" to send an "information packet" that the customer can review, that the customer has already signed up when they did no such thing, or that they are just calling to verify some information, which doesn't even need to include account number since they already have it.
Often the program is authorized as a "free trial" that the consumer can cancel with no charge within a period of time after reviewing the plan information, but since the "information" never arrives, the customer assumes no account has been opened so no charges will be made, and has no way to contact them anyway to cancel before charges do appear. That is the reason for the "free trial" offer, to create a "negative option" agreement that would require active consumer cancellation, which they can block, deflect, oversell, or ignore.
Main thread.
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/tYc4K1wNsACmMAjLZ-BuTg
BBB serving Chicago & Northern Illinois
Business Info: Intersections Insurance Services Inc.
P.O. Box 890
Arlington Heights, IL
60006-0890
847 797-8500
Location Involved: (Same as above)
Consumer's Original Complaint :
(Please note that this entry has been translated from Spanish to English on behalf of consumer filing this complaint) This company (a.k.a. Start-Step Protector Insurance, a.k.a. Level AD Insurance) makes predatory enrollment solicitation calls to their victims by posing as Bank of America representatives and through deceptive practices and high pressure sales tactics, they fraudulently authorize reoccurring charges on their victim's bank accounts. On 01/**/09, a telemarketer from this company called and with my limited English I told him that I was not interested, yet since that time I have been continuously charged $20 a month without my consent. I never gave them my bank account and some how they are able to charge my checking account every month even when there is no money in the account. I had my daughter call and request the service cancelled but they refused to refund the money they STOLE. They sent a copy of the "enrollment" phone call which is ridiculous because you can clearly hear me struggling to understand what the representative was saying and in the recording you can hear me explicitly saying with my limited English repeatedly, that I was not interested. I want them to put back all the money they stole from my bank account.
Consumer's Desired Resolution:
I want a full refund.
BBB Processing
08/23/2010 web BBB Complaint Received by BBB
08/23/2010 web BBB Member or MIP Complaint Validated by BBB Operator
08/23/2010 Otto EMAIL Send Acknowledgement to Consumer
08/23/2010 Otto EMAIL Inform MIP Member of Complaint
08/24/2010 WEB BBB RECEIVE BUSINESS RESPONSE : Dear Ms. Tooks,
Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding Ms. X. In response, the following information is provided.
According to our records, Ms. X enrolled in the SmartStep Protector Insurance Program on 01/**/2009 via a telemarketed solicitation. The Accidental Death Insurance coverage included an initial trial period until 04/**/2009, at which time the monthly premium of $20.00 would be automatically debited from the Bank of America DDA Account. During the enrollment, the future premium collection and timing were reviewed.
Because she was not satisfied with this program, we are refunding all premiums that were paid for SmartStep. She should receive a credit to the DDA account shortly for $320.00. This represents all premiums paid from April 2009 through July 2010.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Crandall
Policy Services Supervisor
08/24/2010 OttO EMAIL Forward Business Response to Consumer
09/01/2010 WEB BBB CONSUMER SATISFIED- WITH LETTER : (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I will accept the response from the business but only because they have agreed to refund the money that they deducted from my account without my knowledge or approval. I am not being "credited" for not being satisfied with the program as they claim but in reality they are returning the money that was mine in the first place. They should review their practices and understand that when a customer is not interested in the service, it is not okay to proceed with enrolling them in it.
*****************************************
STEPS TAKEN PRIOR TO FILING REPORT WITH BBB:
Draft Level AD Insurance
(also Smart Step Protector Insurance)
PO Box 890
Arlington Heights, IL 60006
1-866-879-0179 - Customer Service
847-797-8617 - Fax
* Cancel by phone & get confirmation number to stop future charges ...also request "Refund Inquirey" and request "Proof of Enrollment" (audio CD will be mailed with recording of you agreeing -or not, to enroll) **Please note that if the audio recording of the predatory enrollment solicitation call does not have you explicitly saying "NO, I do not want to be enrolled..." they may use this against you because under their terms, a lack of a "NO" response is a default "YES" to authorize payment transaction using the account information already shared by BoA with them.
Also contact BoA to "OPT-OUT" from allowing the bank to share your personal information including but not limited to your account number to third party vendors such as this one. Link to opt-out --> https://www4.bankofamerica.com/privacy/Preferences.do
My name is Amir Salehi, and I represent several Bank of America customers who have filed suit against Bank of America for unauthorized charges to their accounts for SmartStep (also known as Level AD) Insurance. I am looking to speak with other Bank of America customers who have experienced these unauthorized charges to their accounts, and from your complaint, I understand that you have noticed charges to your account that may be unauthorized. If this is the case, any information you provide regarding your experiences could be important. Please contact my staff at www.salehiclassaction.com, or 310-820-3366 if you would like to discuss your experiences with Bank of America and SmartStep (or Level AD) Insurance. Thank you, and have a great day.
My name is Amir Salehi, and I represent several Bank of America customers who have filed suit against Bank of America for unauthorized charges to their accounts for SmartStep (also known as Level AD) Insurance. I am looking to speak with other Bank of America customers who have experienced these unauthorized charges to their accounts, and from your complaint, I understand that you have noticed charges to your account that may be unauthorized. If this is the case, any information you provide regarding your experiences could be important. Please contact my staff at www.salehiclassaction.com, or 310-820-3366 if you would like to discuss your experiences with Bank of America and SmartStep (or Level AD) Insurance. Thank you, and have a great day.