In general, I just feel like my previous decisions to use services because they ostensibly would simplify my life have lead me down a road that is seemingly impossible to reverse. Trying to balance books is a nightmare because all the transaction entries on these ledgers have 16 character descriptions, and just suddenly interrupting services is also problematic because I realize that one key piece of information is on a service I rarely use.
I feel like, for example, BBVA's execution of a transfer from my account with them to Banks are covered by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, but what about other abuses? Like a SaaS company continuing to charge you despite cancellations. Does FTC cover consumer protections that aren't financial services specific?
Credit card chargback is the most logical solution to this.
2. Letter on lawyer letterhed
This kind of thing, where the consumer is screwed and the richer party wins is not unique to these neo-banks... It's companies and politicians in general... or in other words, rich people in general.
You can see other pain points in any industry in our society that match your experience:
- People going through mountains of paperwork and getting dropped calls to the unemployment office, waiting for their life-saving covid checks (some people haven't even received the first one yet)
- People getting beaten and screwed over by cops. Citizen complaints are dropped and officers never punished. Screwed over people don't even get their compensation back if they are wrongfully put in jail for a few days, the system just shrugs and says too bad. Only in the serious cases where a scapegoat is needed to cops get punished (ie, George Floyd, but no lasting permanent change in law to change cop behavior)
- Insurance companies, Verizon/Comcast, Wells Fargo, etc all screw over consumers with ridiculous rates, incorrect charges on billing statements. What can the consumer do, other than to connect with a customer service agent from a foreign country that just reads a prewritten script? Has anyone here fought with insurance? Takes months just to get anything acknowledged and rectified... The whole process is designed to make consumers give up and pay than fight back.
- PIP (see Amazon's hire-to-fire policy), abusive toxic teams, sexual harassment, etc that regular workers face every day... who do they get to report that to? Generally if someone speaks up they get fired in at-will states almost immediately (also, think about how at-will employment came about... hint: companies lobbied for it).
- Government/corporate whistleblowers get screwed over. Despite the fact there is a great monetary reward given by some entity (ie, IRS for tax whistleblowers), has anyone actually looked at how difficult it is to get that reward paid out? A few people have gotten it, but most people just get screwed over and their life ruined. This is by design.
- Pharma companies that buy and increase prices on life-saving drugs for no reason other than to make money. What recourse do people have, other than to beg their insurance to help cover the new cost, or die?
- What protections does the consumer have when their flight is delayed, or their suitcase is lost? You're gonna maybe get some cash, but your vacation is ruined... you'd have to spend a day or two just shopping to rebuy all the things you lost like your toothbrush, shirts and underwear, etc... Your hard earned PTO that you worked a year or more for just gone to waste.
The problems... are just everywhere. And honestly it's all by design and I'm not sure if it can be fixed without solidarity from the people. If you look closely, you'll see that in the end it's all about preserving the cash that the rich people are making. Trying to get it back from the rich, they make it exceptionally difficult, but possible. And that's the key, from their descriptions on return policy, and whatever to get your money back, it seems reasonable on paper. The common theme is in practice, it's pretty difficult. The king of france didn't get his head axed by one person... but how would you organize people such that they don't get pounded by big media with fake news that support the rich people's agendas... since you know, they kinda own the media outlets. Just stuff like that... it's hard to answer your question OP if you're looking for permanent, lasting change that's beneficial to the end consumer. And with the recent gutting of the FCC and other consumer-friendly arms of the government (who do you think did this?), even your filings with these entities will probably go unnoticed. Leaking to the press is probably your best bet if you're looking for an effective solution in the present moment.
Good question though.