Denver woman recovers $7,363 after bank account robbery despite bank’s refusal to help

Opening up your bank app, or checking your balance at an ATM, and discovering your account has been mysteriously drained of a huge amount of money is many people’s worst nightmare.

But that’s exactly what happened to Megan Holt, who had to fight with SoFi to avoid losing nearly $7,400 overnight.

Bank rules transactions legitimate, no sign of hacking

When the Denver resident opened a high-yield savings account with the online personal finance company, she decided to use it for that purpose only. However, one day she woke up to 19 outgoing transactions, friend-to-friend transfers between $100 and $900, amounting to a total of $7,363.

SoFi itself called Holt to discuss what it saw as suspicious activity, which she denied authorizing. Logically, the account owner then assumed the bank would protect her, but was horrified to discover that wasn’t the case.

Following an investigation, SoFi concluded the transactions were legitimate and there had been no clear sign her account had been hacked, despite its initial doubt.

EFTA to the rescue after unauthorized transactions

Luckily for persistent Holt, she got in touch with the federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA), which opened a case against SoFi, eventually leading to her getting her money back.

Speaking to 9News, Denver-based consumer protection attorney Dan Vedra explained what consumers' rights are when something like this happens: “The law says that the consumer is not liable for unauthorized electronic funds transfers. The financial institution is liable for an unauthorized electronic funds transfer”.

Verda believes the sheer number of unauthorized transactions that take place each day means some cases, like Holt’s, get overlooked, which is where the EFTA comes in when banks refuse to help.

However, it should be noted there is a strict 60-day window to dispute fraudulent charges. If the fraud is reported to the EFTA within two business days, the consumer is usually only liable for up to $50 of stolen funds, which rises to $500 if reported between three and 60 days. Once that window has passed, though, banks aren’t required to return stolen money.

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