Consumer complaint received 2023-07-07
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
I started to deposited a check for {$2200.00} through the Bank of America mobile app on XX/XX/, but when it said there would be a hold until XX/XX/XXXX I decided I would try to deposit it at the bank to hopefully get it available sooner. When I went into the BofA branch located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, OR XXXX to deposit the check on XXXX  I was told by the teller that it would be credited in full the next day. 

Instead, when I checked my account online later that day, I say that a hold had been put on the check until XX/XX/XXXX. The hold was on 100 % of the funds. I called the bank to see what could be done about freeing up the funds, but the agent told me there was absolutely nothing that could be done. When I asked why it had been put on such a long hold, the agent made some very vague statements about how the funds needed to be verified at the other bank, and basically let me know that she didn't understand how it worked, but that there was nothing that could be done. 

Even when I told her that I was in danger of missing my child support payments and that my daughter is facing food insecurity ( according to my ex-wife ), all they could say was " I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do. '' I tried again the next week to call customer support because my ex-wife was desperately pleading for money, but I got the same response. 

Then, on Thursday XXXX my brother, who is a credit union auditor for the State of Oregon told me that according to Regulation CC, a bank has to credit at least {$200.00} of any deposit immediately. I looked it up and found it was {$220.00} as of XX/XX/. I called the bank again, ( bear in mind that each of these calls took at least an hour, most of which was spent on hold listening to repeating adds for credit cards ), and spoke to another agent. When I asked her about the Regulation CC requirements, she had no idea what I was talking about. 

I asked her to escalate me to someone who was responsible for dealing with such issues, which she did. After another extended hold, I asked the next person to explain to me why : 1 ) I did not receive my {$220.00} according to the requirements of Reg CC 2 ) I did not receive any kind of explanation as to why this check was being held for such an extended period of time.

She also seemed to be unfamiliar with Reg CC. She put me on hold for another 5-10 minutes to go look it up, and when she returned, she said that according to her research it only applied to checks from business accounts. Her lack of certainty prompted me to look it up myself. I got on ChatGPT and asked the question : " Does Regulation CC requirement to credit {$220.00} immediately apply to personal checks, or only checks from businesses? '' The response was : " Regulation CC does not differentiate between personal checks and checks from businesses when it comes to the requirement to credit {$220.00} immediately. The regulation sets rules for funds availability and the timing of when deposited funds should be made available to customers, regardless of the type of check. According to Regulation CC, the first {$220.00} of a deposit, regardless of the check type, must be made available the next business day [ [ 1 ] ]. '' When I ran this by the agent, she defaulted back to the vague references to systems and processes beyond our knowledge or control. I told here that she needed to escalate this to whoever needed to resolve it, and that if I didn't have either the funds in my bank by today and/or a clear, reasonable explanation as to why Reg CC doesn't apply here, I would be filing a complaint with the CFPB. 

As of this time ( XXXXXXXX XXXX on Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX  ), I have not been credited with any funds from that deposit, nor have I received an email, phone call or text message regarding it. 

I am not an expert in Reg CC, but from everything I can tell, Bank of America is ignoring this consumer regulation with impunity. They bank has caused a great deal of stress to me and my ex-wife, not to mention forcing me to waste hours of time trying to access my funds.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation