‘Don’t Think She Believed It Was My Money’: Ameris Bank Teller Freezes Black Woman’s Account After Debit Card Request. Now She’s Fighting Back
A Black woman entrepreneur who went to renew a business debit card at Ameris Bank in Alpharetta, Georgia, walked out with a frozen bank account and a feeling she had just been racially profiled. Now she and her attorney are demanding that the bank make it right. In a 9-minute TikTok post, an exasperated Alexis Vaughn, who runs an insurance technology firm with her husband, Marvin Vaughn, explained that she went to the bank branch in Alpharetta the day before Thanksgiving to replace a debit card that wasn’t working. Alexis Cierra Vaughn expressed her outrage at learning her bank account was frozen on TikTok on Dec. 8, 2025. (Photo: Alexis Cierra TikTok screenshot) The service she received from the teller for this routine request took much longer than usual and included odd inquiries, Vaughn said. As she waited, the teller, who was white and “who I felt was disrespecting me — she looked me up and down,” Vaughn said, seemed to call the bank’s corporate office to verify information about her account, including her balance. Then the woman told Vaughn she had also looked up her business on the Georgia Secretary of State website. ‘Going to F_ck You Up!’: Ohio Deputy Pummels and Tasers Black Man Who Ran Red Light As He Screams for Help, Body Camera Video ShowsVaughn has been a customer at Atlanta-based Ameris Bank for 10 years and has four accounts — two business accounts, a personal account, and a trust account for her oldest son, according to a statement from her attorney James L. Walker, Jr. “So, they know who we are,” she said.Vaughn provided multiple documents, including her ID, LLC filings and employment identification numbers for her business to satisfy the bank, Walker said.When she asked the teller why she was taking these unusual steps to renew a debit card, the teller did not answer her, but after about 45 minutes, did issue Vaughn a new card. @alexis.cierra PSA: I was a victim of #racialprofiling at #amerisbank at the Windward Parkway branch in Alpharetta, GA, watch the video for details, #tag them, and #share ♬ original sound - Alexis Cierra But when Vaughn tried to use it on Thanksgiving Day, the debit card didn’t work. A few days later, she went to her regular Ameris Bank branch in Acworth to find out why, and was shocked to learn there was an “SOS flag” on her account, meaning her funds were frozen and her account was subject to closure. The Acworth bank manager, who knew Vaughn well, told her the debit card issued at the Alpharetta branch had been deactivated shortly after she left the bank. She said she would override the account closure recommendation. “I just remember standing there in shock,” Vaughn said, and then said to her husband, ‘I told you, I knew I was being racially profiled. I wasn’t crazy,’ she told 11AliveNews.“I feel like she did this because I was a Black woman,” an outraged Vaughn said in her TikTok video upon leaving the bank. “I had a whole bunch of money in my account and I don’t think she believed it was my money legitimately.” Noting that she was wearing “a cute little pink Victoria’s Secret sweatsuit, my hair was pulled up in a bun, looking pretty and natural,” Vaughn said, “It wasn’t like I went in there looking ‘hood or anything. … I don’t like being disrespected. I just needed a new debit card. Just know I ain’t gonna rest until I have that woman’s job. I do not play about my business and my money. … They will not ever, ever, ever allow one of their tellers to be racially profiling. ‘Cause I know I’m not the first person. I’m just the first person to do something about it.” Walker is now representing Vaughn and her family along with attorney Gerald Griggs, who is the state president of the Georgia NAACP. “So basically, they profiled her, put her through layers of unnecessary scrutiny, triple-checked the legitimacy of her company, and still deactivated her card the next day,” said Walker. “This is totally unacceptable," he said, adding that other people have since reported a similar profiling at the bank. "This must stop immediately.” The president of Ameris Bank, Lawton Bassett, personally called and apologized to Vaughn, expressing remorse as to "how she was treated as a longstanding customer," Walker said. Vaughn said she appreciated the CEO's apology, but she wants “to make sure that I put us in a position to where it won’t happen to another business owner.” Walker sent a formal letter to Ameris Bank on Monday demanding a full explanation, an apology from the local bank branch employees involved, corrective action, and implementation of diversity training and sensitivity programs for its employees, "especially those on the front line," he said."We want three things: We want them to train better, to apologize to Ms. Vaughn to make her feel better, and for them to terminate this individual who mistreated her," he said. Depending on how the bank responds, Vaughn and her attorneys will decide whether or not to pursue civil litigation and monetary damages for "the humiliation she's been put through," Walker said. “We have seen this happen at other banks, and it is appalling that in 2025, conduct like this mirrors what we saw in 1955,” said Walker. “We have notified the bank and expect answers, accountability, and a commitment to ensuring this never happens again.” When asked to address Vaughn's complaints, Ameris Bank Communications Director Katie Lopez sent this emailed statement to Atlanta Black Star: "For privacy reasons we are not able to discuss the details of any individual customer’s situation publicly. However, we take all customer concerns very seriously, and we are committed to providing excellent service to all our customers. We do not engage in racial profiling and certainly did not do so in this case." Meanwhile, Vaughn’s TikTok tirade continues to gather attention, with 52,000 views and more than 3,500 comments.Among them, Simply Ang wrote, “I just don’t understand why these people think black people don’t have money.”MS BOSSDIVA JENE’ replied, “Okay! Let them keep thinking while were getting rich in their face ♥️💯”
