Consumer complaint received 2020-12-19
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: FL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Can't close your account

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, my mother, XXXX XXXX XXXX, was granted full guardianship of her brother, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( a 30 year XXXX veteran ) due to XXXX based XXXX and his inability to manage himself and his personal property by the Superior Court in the State of XX/XX/XXXX XXXX County. Additionally, I was granted Standby Guardianship of my uncle at the same time by the same court. We moved my uncle to XXXX XXXX, XXXX  from XXXX XXXX,XX/XX/XXXXXXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX, my mother and I applied to XXXX XXXX Court for Co-Guardianship of my uncle in XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, my mother and I were appointed Co-Guardians by the court. 
Unfortunately, XXXX XXXX XXXX passed away on XX/XX/XXXX due to complications of XXXX. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I went to the Bank of America location in XXXX XXXX, XXXX   ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXXXXXX  XXXX ) to start the process of reassignment of my uncles guardianship account from my mother to myself. I sat down with a bank associate, XXXX XXXX, explained the situation. He asked me for the documents related to my mothers passing and the XX/XX/XXXXXXXX. At that time, I provided an original death certificate for my mother and copies of theXX/XX/XXXX He immediately froze the guardianship account. He then called the Bank of America Law Department and was informed that I needed the original court documents of the Guardianship for my request to be honored. I went back to mothers home and located the originals. On XX/XX/XXXX, I returned to the bank and provided Mr. XXXX with the original court documents. He then phoned the law office and could not get anyone to answer his call. He then informed me that they were probably gone and would not be back in the office until XX/XX/XXXX. He then also informed my that these documents would no longer be honored by Bank of America after XX/XX/XXXX, since they would be one year old at that time. He also seemed to take great satisfaction in telling me this. These court documents are legally in affect until XX/XX/XXXX, and it is stated so and signed by the judge. Mr. XXXX informed me that Bank of America will not honor the judges directive in any regard. In any regard, I had provided the required documents to the bank before this one-year issue had arisen. I still dont understand why a bank is allowed to subvert a judges legal order. At this point, I decided to wait until I received the guardianship from XX/XX/XXXX and resolve the account situation. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the Co-Guardianship approval from the XXXX Circuit Court Judge. I then went to my local XXXX XXXX Branch in XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX to open a new Guardianship account. After consulting with their legal team, they said that they couldnt open a new account since the other guardian was deceased. I then contacted the court to explain my situation. They told me that I would have to contact my attorney to have an amended order filed to change the Co-Guardianship to a Guardianship naming me as the sole Guardian. I received the certified amended letters of Guardianship signed by the judge on XX/XX/XXXX. I returned to XXXX XXXX who then contacted their legal department. The legal department then said that they required the Order of Guardianship signed by the court. I then contacted the guardianship attorney, who was surprised at that requirement since the entire point of the letters signed by the court is to eliminate having to carry around the orders. I received the amended order of guardianship on XX/XX/XXXX. 
I then returned to XXXX XXXX and was able to complete the opening of the new guardianship bank account. I immediately went to the local Bank of America office ( XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX, XXXXXX/XX/XXXXXXXX ) to arrange to have the funds from the frozen guardianship account transferred to the new account. I went into the bank and sat in the waiting area. The bank manager approached me and asked what I needed. I explained to her my situation and also told her that I have been unable to pay my uncles bills, including his rent due to the guardianship account being frozen. She then told me that I would need an appointment. I commented that I did not need an appointment when they froze up the funds, and why do I need one to get them unfrozen. She then reiterated that I still needed an appointment. She arranged an appointment for me to meet with XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I then reiterated that I needed this issue cleared up so I can pay my uncles bills and was there anyway I could have this appointment earlier. She flatly said no. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I met with XXXX XXXX. I again explained the situation to Mr. XXXX and explained the urgency. XXXX expressed his condolences for my loss ( first time anyone did at Bank of America ). He then took my paperwork, scanned it in to their system and phoned the Bank of America Law Office. The Law Office approved the documents. He then filled out a form to get the unfrozen funds to me. He told me that the estate unit would have to send me a certified check and it would take 5-7 business days. I again explained the urgency and that my uncles bills could not be paid because Bank of America had all his funds tied up since XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX said it was out of his control and I would simply have to wait. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I still had not received the funds. I phoned Bank of Americas Estate Department and they said that they were waiting on Mr. XXXX to complete a form. I then made an appointment to meet with Mr. XXXX ( the first available was the next day at XXXXXX/XX/XXXX ). I then called Mr. XXXX, to which there was no answer, and I left a message for him to call me. I then phoned back the Estate Department and asked them to contact Mr. XXXX directly. They did and instructed him to call me. Mr. XXXX then called me. I again stressed the urgency that he needed to fix this. He assured me he would and would also call me back with an update before the end of the day. Im still waiting for that call ( i.e., Mr. XXXX never called me as he said he would ). 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I went to the Bank of America office to meet with Mr. XXXX for our scheduled appointment. He had me wait in the lobby until about 10 minutes after our scheduled appointment. He then told me that I would have to wait at least another two weeks because the Estate Unit was backed up because of CoVID 19. I told him that was unacceptable and was no excuse for not doing their job competently and honestly. I also reiterated that my incapacitated XXXX Veteran uncles rent hasnt been paid in two months and he was incurring significant late charges that he could ill afford. I then demanded that he get the Estate Unit on the phone immediately while I was there so I could directly understand what the problem was. Mr. XXXX informed me that it was not possible for the three of us to get on a call together. I then told him to direct me to a phone and the number to call. 
Mr. XXXX gave me the number and directed me to a cubicle with a phone. I phoned the Estate Unit and spoke with a XXXX. I fully explained to XXXX my situation. She expressed her condolences and asked me to hang on for a few minutes while she researched the case. After a couple of minutes, she explained to me that Mr. XXXX incorrectly filled out the account disposition form to release the funds and if he filled out a new one there was no reason that the bank could not release my uncles funds to me that day. I asked her if she should could explain to Mr. XXXX what needed to be done. She was very agreeable. I then called Mr. XXXX over to the phone, which I had on speaker and XXXX then explained what needed to be done ( while the three of us were all communicating ). Mr. XXXX then informed me that he needed to call the Estate Unit back to help him complete the task at hand and I could wait or he would phone me back. I explained that I had a couple of errands to run and would wait for his call to return. Within fifteen minutes I received a call from Mr. XXXX explaining that the funds were available and I could pick them up within thirty minutes and that I should simply go to a teller to get the funds. 
I returned to the bank in thirty minutes, waited in a fairly long line for a teller. Neither Mr. XXXX nor the bank manager offered any assistance. When it was my turn, I explained to the teller what I was there for, she took down my uncles name, social security number and my mothers name. She then called over the bank manager for assistance, since the amount {$29000.00} was over her limit. After a few minutes, the teller was able to give me the certified check that the bank manager had signed. I thanked her and wished her a nice day. The bank manager failed to express any regrets to what I had experienced. I then went over to the XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX and deposited the check in my uncles guardianship account. I was able to pay his over due bills the next day. 
From my perspective, Bank of America handled this situation in an unprofessional, uncompassionate and dishonest way. Outside of XXXX from the Estate Unit, there was no assistance or adequate focus to solve this issue in the manner and time that it needed to be solved. The frontline personnel at Bank of America are either not sufficiently trained or knowledgeable to properly manage their customers funds. Their lack of compassion and unwillingness to address this customers urgent needs was unforgiveable. At the very least, they should be ashamed. Even the manager of the branch showed a complete unwillingness for me to get my uncles funds unfrozen. There was never an apology from any of these folks on their failure to properly handle releasing my uncles needed funds. XXXX did apologize to me for the bank putting me through this ten plus week ordeal.

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