Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
Mr Staatz,
My name is Greg Walsh and I am a member of the State Employee's Credit
Union of Maryland (#620992). I am writing you this open letter to express my recent
disappointing experience with SECU and my growing frustration
with SECU's loss of customer focus.
On September 12, 2014, I was looking over my credit card transactions
and noticed two charges that looked unfamiliar. One for about $50 and
one for about $45 (I will explain why I can't tell you the exact
amounts.) Both were charges at Five Guys restaurants. If you are
unfamiliar, Five Guys is a fast food chain that specializes in
hamburgers and cheeseburgers. I immediately contacted SECU to report
the fraudulent charges. When I talked to the customer rep and
mentioned that I've been to Five Guys but never spent that much, his only
resolution was for me to go to the Website and download the forms for
a Visa Debit and Credit Dispute. I asked him why it was a dispute and
not fraud and he replied that because I had shopped there before, it
was probably a dispute, but, if I felt more comfortable calling it
fraud, I could. I asked if we could get new cards because it appeared
the ones we had were compromised. He said that yes we could and that
the other ones were now inactive.
This was disappointing because your rep did not seem to be concerned
about fraud on my account. After following up with Five Guys
corporation, I learned that the card was used in Baltimore at the
Pratt Street location and the Manassas, Virginia location. At this
point, my card was being used in multiple states. I (We--SECU and
myself) were lucky that the criminals had only used it for a
relatively small amount and at the same chain of restaurants. What's
disturbing was what appears to be your corporate policy to not act on
fraud or take it seriously. How much damage could have been done had
the criminals used the credit card numbers at a Wal-Mart or Best Buy
or somewhere else with "big ticket" items? Thousands and thousands of
dollars is how much damage.
After this, I logged back into my account the following Monday to see
if any more charges had come across and to see what happened to my
payment that was made the previous week. Unfortunately, the credit
account was unavailable and I could not log back in to my
statements. When I called SECU again, I learned that my card wasn't
just canceled but my entire credit account was closed and a new one
was being opened. I lost all access to the previous account (which is why I
don't have exact charge amounts at Five Guys for this letter). The rep
was very nice and confirmed there were no new charges and my payment
had been applied.
This is frustrating because it seems as if SECU can't actually provide
real credit card services to me and instead just outsources it to a
3rd party. When I had Citibank as my credit card provider, any inkling
of fraud was treated seriously and quickly by deactivating a card. A
new card was issued but I didn't have a new account. Instead, I kept
my account number and access to my spending and records but different
card number were assigned over time. Because I have a member number,
it would make sense that was my account and the credit limit,
transactions, and statements were tied to that and the credit card
number was just linked. Not being able to provide that level of
accountability and account access worries me about your ability to
provide services to me and my family.
This "new card/new account" confused me, so, I called back the next day to talk to
someone, preferably a manager, to explain what was going on. I also
wanted to ask about my credit report receiving a credit inquiry. This led me to
believe that not only was I getting a new card and a new account, but
was also being credit checked. Unfortunately, no one was able to speak
to me but a rep took my name and number down for the manager to call
me back. No one ever returned that phone call.
I would have gone to my local branch at the State Center office
building on Preston Street in Baltimore, but, you replaced all of the
office staff with video screen tellers that are about 3ft away from
other people conducting their bank business. I didn't think it was
appropriate to go there to explain my problem to a TV screen while
holding a phone handset.
I hadn't heard anything so I made a final call on Friday, September 19,
2014 to talk to anyone about the problems I was having. When I
asked the rep who I could talk to about solving this problem, he was
very confused. Then I asked, who would be able to take a complaint
since they would at least listen and possibly give me some answers. I
was placed on hold and when he came back, he explained that he could
take the complaint or I could write a letter. At this point, I was
extremely frustrated because my goal was not to complain but was to
get answers as to what was going on. I then relayed this story.
All of our banking is done at SECU: our checking account, savings
account, credit card, and car loan. My children's accounts are at SECU
as well. At one point in time, I felt like we were members of
something and that we mattered. Now I am under the impression
that your goals of growth and trying to appear large (Towson University Stadium)
have ironically eroded your strengths of being customer focused. Do
you know that no reps say the word "SECU" anymore when answering the
phones? Instead, they say "member services" as if they are some large
corporation that goes by many names or not even SECU employees. If you called
Citibank, Wells Fargo, or American Express, they all identify
themselves immediately as being part of that institution.
In all of my dealings over these fraudulent charges, I have never felt
like anyone actually cared...no one cared there were fraudulent
charges, no one cared that no one returned my calls, no one cared
enough to say what bank they worked at, and no one cared
that I just wanted answers and instead was told by someone (who was
told by their supervisor) I could write a letter.
Well Mr. Blaine, here is that letter. It is an open letter so anyone
can read this on the Internet. Perhaps the invested money in
sponsoring Towson's football field or the conversion of human tellers
to television screens will yield benefits for SECU members someday, but for
now, I feel like they have soiled a once meaningful brand. Your lack
of customer focus and your inability to provide financial services that are on par with peer
institutions has encouraged my family to begin shopping around for a new credit union.
In closing, I would still like to know why a new account has been
opened instead of just a new card number issued? It seems like a waste of time and effort and reduces accountability.
Thank you for your time,
Dr. Greg Walsh