Complaint Review: Canvas Credit Union - Denver Colorado

Thursday, April 24th, 2023, I attempted to get gas by paying at the pump with my debit card. My debit card suddenly wasn't working. I checked the Canvas credit union phone app to discover that my checking account had disappeared. I didn't understand what was happening so I rushed to an ATM in an attempt to withdraw what was left of my money which had been moved into my savings account. When I attempted to use my card at the ATM, I received a receipt stating that my card had been stolen. I had never reported my card stolen. I called Canvas Credit Union. I was passed from one employee to another. No one seemed to know what they were doing. I finally spoke with someone who told me that they had charged off my business account in March. I never received any notice that this had occurred. They also informed me that they'd already contacted a collection agency and a law firm. I again, received no notice of either of these actions taken by Canvas. Then, today, they charged off my personal checking account even though I had sufficient funds in the account. They apparently charged off my personal checking account as punishment for the balance owed in the business account. I am quite frankly astonished at this ridiculous over reaction to such a small amount of money. Canvas took all of these actions against me over a minuscule $80 overdraft. I told them, I was working on paying it off. They gave me no opportunity to do so. I had to allocate my other funds to pay for bills. The action Canvas has taken against me has put me into a very difficult financial position. I do not know how I am going to pay my car insurance now as the month is almost over and I cannot access my checking account funds. I can't withdraw the funds from my savings account because they shut off my ATM card. I'm really disappointed. I switched to Canvas several years ago after having a terrible experience with Bellco Credit Union. At that time, Canvas used to be called Public Service Credit Union. Canvas was highly recommended to me by others who had had similar negative experiences with Bellco. Once they changed from Public Service to Canvas they became very vindictive when it came to overdrafts and will threaten you with litigation almost immediately without giving you the time or an opportunity to pay it back. I was forced to transfer the disputed $80 from the only $158 from my Canvas savings account, which is apparently now my only account. I have had a lot of financial difficulty over the last several years due to an injury I sustained. I am a former federal government employee. I worked for the United States Census Bureau in 2020. In December 2020, I sustained a severe back injury that left me totally incapacitated for the entire year of 2021. I couldn't get medical care because the hospitals were overwhelmed by the COVID crisis. Despite having X-Rays, MRIs, CT scans all of the so-called doctors told me, "we don't see anything." Meanwhile, I was in agony. It felt like I was being shot in the back with a flame thrower and a sand blaster. The only way I got any relief was to lie flat on my back on a hard wood floor pushing my back against the floor until I'd cut off the circulation so that I didn't feel the pain any longer. The only other thing that occasionally worked was to alternate with a heating pad and an ice pack. The pain was unbearable. I could barely walk, and I could not sit down at all. I had to stand up to eat, I could not drive therefore I could not work. All I could do was lie there flat on my back on the floor in excruciating pain completely dependent on others for help. I was prescribed medications that I never should have been given. Two of them were steroids. The medications were affecting my mind and ruining my stomach and digestive system. I lost a ton of weight because I could not eat. In May 2021 I had a nervous breakdown in the emergency room at University Hospital. I was given a shot of atavan to calm me down. I was taken to a psychiatric hospital called Highland Behavioral Health and placed under a 72 hour hold. Although my stay was only supposed to be for 72 hours, they kept me there for almost an entire month of May 2021. They kept prescribing me different psychiatric medications, none of which I should ever have been given. It wasn't until my final few days there, after I had repeatedly told them I'd been placed on steroid medications, that they realized that my breakdown had been caused by serious reactions to steroid withdrawals. Once they realized this I was finally released. Doctors still kept dismissing my claims of a back injury. Once I was finally able to walk and sit down again I started swimming as a way of rehabilitating my body. I was so devastated by my injury. Prior to my injury I had been involved in yoga classes, martial arts training, and had planned on starting to lift weights. Once I got hurt, I could not do anything. I would force myself to at least walk despite the pain. When I started swimming, I was happy at least that I could do something physical without pain. I was hoping it would make me strong enough to start my other activities again. In January 2022 I drove all the way to Castle Rock to see a doctor about my testosterone levels. I assumed they had dropped since I had almost no physical activity for a whole year. I told the doctor my story and he was nice enough to examine my back for free. He discovered I have a herniated disk. He said that my injury wasn't severe enough for a surgery, but he said I might need injections and he referred me to a place called Colorado Pain, but I never went, I was too busy trying to find work. Then, as if all of this wasn't bad enough, my grandmother passed away that same month, January 2022. Because I had been hospitalized I barely got to see her, except for a few weekends before she passed away. I continued to rehabilitate myself since no one else would help me. I was finally able to return to my hot yoga class on Sundays. I figured it would probably help me with back pain relief. Then, I had hoped I could return to my martial arts training. It was something I'd always wanted to do. When I signed up again, I had mistakenly put my business account debit card on file instead of my personal account. I had completely forgotten about it because after feeling back pain again, I had discontinued my training for a few months. It is this account that caused the overdraft. I had been planning on switching the card to my personal debit card, today in fact, only to have all of this happen to me with Canvas. I barely make any money. After I got injured, nobody wanted to hire me. I have applied for multiple federal jobs using the USA jobs site, only to be denied repeatedly. I had assumed with some federal jobs work experience with the Census Bureau, that this would give me an advantage when applying for another federal job, apparently I was wrong. Once people find out you have an injury or disability they don't want to hire you for anything because they think you are too much of a liability. So, my only choice was to go back to working in the gig economy. I do gig work and I rely on the ability to cash out to my debit card in order to buy gas and pay bills. Since Canvas shut off my debit card and checking account, I cannot now, do either one. How exactly did Canvas expect me to pay them back the $80 draft when they've literally destroyed my livelihood? Things weren't always this way for me. I am a former Staff Writer for Seventh Native American Generation Magazine. I am a Fellow of the First Nations Development Institute LEAD Fellowship for Native American nonprofit leadership. I am a Fellow of the Center for Progressive Leadership political leaders fellowship. I served four years as a Commissioner on the Denver American Indian Commission for the Denver Mayor's Office of Human Rights and Community Partnerships under both Mayor Hickenlooper, who later became Governor and later Senator, and Mayor Michael Hancock. I was part of the Arts Subcommittee. I helped launch the first Red Rocks American Indian Art Show and the First ONE Gathering Skate for Life event. I was a fully Credentialed Delegate to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. In addition, I am a Native American business owner. Every year I design and print the designs for an all Native American basketball tournament. I donate 20 percent of my sales to the All West Native American Youth Association every year. In April 2016, I received my largest contract offer. I made over 20,000 in only one month. It was the greatest opportunity, that I had ever had. Unfortunately for me, a jealous person found out about our contract and deliberately sabotaged my company. It was all downhill from there. Then COVID happened and my company barely managed to survive, then, my back injury happen, and again, my company barely managed to survive. At one point, during the pandemic, to save money and save what was left of the company, I left my apartment and my former office/workshop we had leased and was literally living in my car and operating my business from my vehicle. Every time, I fought back, and I am fighting back now. I attempted to explain this situation to Canvas, they don't care. They'd rather send an injured Native American business owner to collections and threaten litigation over only $80. I may not be on top right now, like I was back in 2016, but as I said, I am a fighter. When I am on top again, I will not forget the way I was treated by your bank. 

I have not spoken with any of my former political contacts about all of the things I've gone through, but I'm prepared to do so. I'm also prepared to share my negative experience with Canvas Credit Union on all of my social media accounts, one of which has already almost 10 thousand followers.