All articles tagged with #frozen accounts
The abrupt shutdown and bankruptcy of financial middleman Synapse has led to the freezing of tens of thousands of U.S. bank accounts, affecting both businesses and consumers. Synapse's collapse has disrupted services for its fintech and bank partners, including Evolve Bank & Trust, causing significant issues for customers. The situation has raised concerns about the fintech business model and its regulatory oversight.
U.S. Bank has been fined a total of $36 million by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for freezing access to unemployment insurance benefits during the Covid-19 pandemic. The bank blocked access to accounts and demanded excessive paperwork to regain access to frozen benefits, affecting thousands of consumers. While the bank prevented fraud amounting to over $375 million, it failed to provide a reliable method for consumers to access their funds. U.S. Bank will pay $5.7 million in redress to consumers and a $15 million civil money penalty, with the OCC penalty going to the U.S. Treasury.
Customers of Green Dot Bank, a billion-dollar US bank that offers banking and debit card services to Walmart shoppers, are reporting difficulties accessing their funds and having their accounts frozen for days and weeks. The bank initially blamed a payment processing partner for the issues but now claims that its systems are fully operational, despite ongoing complaints from customers. The web outage tracker UpDownRadar also indicates a possible outage at Green Dot Bank. Affected customers, such as Sara Morgan and Mary Cannon, are facing financial distress and are unable to access their money. Walmart has not yet commented on the situation.
Thousands of retirees are unable to withdraw their savings invested in firms controlled by indicted financier Greg Lindberg, as accounts worth $2.2 billion are frozen while legal battles continue. Lindberg claims to have offered a solution that was rejected. This has caused financial distress for many retirees who are now unable to access their funds, leading to unplanned-for catastrophes in retirement.