Is 3 Weeks Too Long To Wait For My Bank To Refund $1,200 It Took By Mistake?

Consumerist reader Josh is currently staring at a depleted checking account — and it could be several weeks before it’s back to looking healthy again — all because his mortgage lender screwed up some paperwork.

Back in 2011, Josh decided to refinance the mortgage he’d gotten from BB&T. All was fine and good until he recently received a notice saying the bank had learned he didn’t have insurance on the property, and it would take out its own policy if he did not immediately provide proof of insurance.

Problem is, Josh has insurance.

So he contacted BB&T and it was eventually discovered that the insurance documentation was still attached to his old mortgage. Josh says he was told that all was taken care of and he didn’t need to do anything else to resolve the matter.

Well, maybe he didn’t need to do anything, but someone at the bank certainly forgot a step.

Earlier this week, Josh looked at the statement for his non-BB&T checking account and found that a pile of cash had been siphoned off. Apparently, he tells Consumerist, BB&T had created an escrow account and used his checking account to fund half a year’s worth of insurance at $1,200.

Josh contacted BB&T again and was told — surprise, surprise — it was a “computer error” and that the money would be refunded.

However, he also learned that it would take up to three weeks for that money to be refunded.

“It is beyond me as to why a refund cannot be issued instantly or at least in a few business days,” he writes. “Is this an over reaction or is this just business as usual?”

We’ve written to BB&T asking why it would take so long to fix its own goof. If they reply, we’ll update this story.

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