SULPHUR, Louisiana (KPLC) – A Sulphur woman has been a loyal Capital One bank customer since 1969 and has never had any problems, but now the story is different.
“I’m beside myself. I can’t understand what’s going on here, why they’re not giving my granddaughter the money so she can pay my bills,” said Shirley Utley, the 93-year-old woman from Sulphur.
Utley’s granddaughter Ashley Dickerson began helping her grandmother with her finances in July after Utley was hospitalized with a broken pelvis.
At first, Dickerson had no problems accessing her grandmother’s bank account, but that changed.
“One day we had to take her to the hospital. We found out she had a broken pelvis and it didn’t look good,” Dickerson said. “She was trying to transfer money into my account so I could have full access because at that point Capital One had locked her online account. Whenever we tried to call, they told me since I wasn’t in the account, they had to remove my phone number and block me from accessing her account. Then she went on the app and tried to wire money into my account so I could continue to pay her bills while she was in the hospital.”
The transfer was canceled by the bank, so Utley wrote her granddaughter a check to cover the costs. According to Utley and Dickerson, Capital One made sure there were no problems. Two days later, the check was canceled and Dickerson’s account was frozen.
“I waited a few days to see if anything happened, but nothing did,” Dickerson said. “We called back and I asked them to maybe unfreeze my account because I had bills to pay as well. They told me they would unfreeze my account, but I would be responsible for the negative amount. They even told me verbally that they had reviewed the check and it was not fraudulent, but that they had already canceled it, so the check was no longer valid and they would make all the overdraft fees and everything else my responsibility.”
Due to health issues Utley was struggling with, she decided to give Dickerson a power of attorney, allowing Dickerson to act on Utley’s behalf. However, this was not enough and the bank denied the power of attorney.
“We call almost every day to try to unlock her account, and they always tell her she needs to verify her identity,” Dickerson said. “(That is), even though she gives them her social security number, her full account number and her date of birth every time she calls to verify that she is who she is. They want her to go to a branch. I explained to them that she is in a nursing home with a broken pelvis; I don’t know how we can get her to a branch. It’s very contradictory because they told me they couldn’t help me at the branch with the power of attorney, so I’m not sure what they could help her with if we could even get her to the branch.”
When asked what she wants Capital One to do, Utley says she only wants one thing.
“I want them to release my funds to you (Dickerson) so you can pay my bills that are due, my electric bill, my water bill, my sewer bill,” Utley said.
Dickerson is angry and frustrated with Capital One and feels like they could have handled this situation very differently. She hopes Capital One resolves this issue soon.
Capital One has provided us with the following statement on this matter:
“We appreciate and understand caregivers’ concerns for their loved ones. While we cannot comment on individual customer accounts, we are committed to providing comprehensive access to authorized account holders while prioritizing the security of our customers’ accounts.”
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