My Current Aggravation: The Truist Transfer Part 1

Back in July, Nuria wanted to buy a car. She car-shopped and found a nice used Toyota Camry. It was a 2009 model in good condition. She decided to buy it. She had the money in her bank, but her bank was in Costa Rica (a central American country, not to be confused with the American territory of Puerto Rico).

The transfer of funds would require several days, which would probably throw a wrench into the auto buying transaction, so we decided that I would provide most of the cash and then she would reimburse me. So we went to the car dealer and I paid $14,367 on top of the deposit she had already paid. 

In September, Nuria flew back home for two weeks. While she was in Costa Rica, she went to her bank and got a cashier's check payable to me. She came back to the US on September 20, and on September 21 we went to my bank (Truist) and deposited the check. The amount was immediately credited to my account.

Two weeks later, I noticed that the same amount had been debited from my account. This was October 5th. So on October 8, a Saturday morning, we went to my bank and consulted a banker to find out what had happened. The banker said that the National Bank of Costa Rica had not transferred money to Truist.

Nuria called her bank and explained the check situation, and her bank said that the money had been allocated for transfer but that Truist had done nothing to transfer the money. My bank is pointing its finger at Nuria's bank and Nuria's bank is pointing its finger at my bank. Meanwhile, who has the money? It seems that the National Bank of Costa Rica still has it, though I wouldn't bet my life on it.

I trust that if I put enough diligence into this issue, it will be resolved. But I'm not sure. If the money isn't transferred soon, within another couple of weeks, I may have to involve lawyers. Maybe legal papers will get someone's attention at the bank. 

A final note: when I searched the Internet for Truist, I found a lot of problems with the bank. Truist is the result of a merger between Suntrust and BB&T. A lot of people have complained about Truist losing their money. This lost money has made me very wary of Truist and, in fact, wary of banks in general. I took a valid check—a cashier's check—to a bank, and now I don't have the money and I don't have the check. And Truist points the finger anywhere except itself, even though it admits to having problems as a result of the merger. For example, see this article, or Google "Truist bank complaints."

Frankly, Truist has lost my trust, and that's a bad thing for a bank to lose. If you have a problem with a business, here are some resources that might help:

Better Business Bureau

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Your State Attorney General