Consumer complaint received 2021-10-29
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: GA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I deposited a handwritten check for {$40000.00} into my business acct using an ATM in a branch. Unexpectedly, a deposit hold of 7 business days was placed until XX/XX/XXXX. To avoid the same problem, my client issued the second payment for the same amount, {$40000.00}, as a cashier 's check which was deposited on XX/XX/XXXX with a teller in a branch. A portion was supposed to be made available at XXXX XX/XX/XXXX and the remainder at XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. The handwritten check I deposited on XX/XX/XXXX cleared my client 's account on XX/XX/XXXX. Bank of America said that they had not received the funds and the reasons I was given for the funds not being available to my company to use, did not make sense, and were not consistent with my understanding of Title 12 or Regulation CC. I was left to feel as though I was being racially profiled and filed such complaint in good faith on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX a bank representative followed up with me, promised to investigate and committed to calling back within 24-48 hours. I have since learned that the next day, on XX/XX/XXXX the bank decided to falsely classify the cashier check I deposited on XX/XX/XXXX as counterfeit and are using the false information as the basis to close my business account. When the cashier check was presented to the issuing bank it was not returned, the funds are not in my client 's account, and there is no evidence Bank of America has of it being counterfeit. Yet they have made this false allegation and are refusing to provide me access to the funds. Furthermore, I am unable to access the funds that were deposited on XX/XX/XXXX, debited from my client 's account on XX/XX/XXXX, and the deposit hold released on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I entered a branch to request a cashier check for {$40000.00} and was denied. On the same day I attempted to withdraw {$800.00} from an ATM and was denied. It is my perception that the decision to falsely classify the check as counterfeit and to close my company 's account are in retaliation for my good faith reporting of a XXXX profiling concern. As of XX/XX/XXXX my online banking account shows the funds as available but there is some flag deeper in their system that is stopping any debits from being processed. They said they were going to close the account on XX/XX/XXXX, then XX/XX/XXXX, and today they have now changed the date to XXXX. I have made repeated requests for official notification that is compliant with Title 12 and Reg CC for funds availability and been told that they will not do that. I have been lied to repeatedly by multiple Bank of America employees, to the extent that they make up their names and associate IDs. I have been given the run around and asked to do work that should not be required of any banking customer. The only representative with who I have spoken that made any sense said that because of the ( false ) counterfeit finding the bank had no intention of returning the funds to me, rather they would be put into an Unclaimed Funds account and the only way to retrieve them would be for my client to submit a complaint with their bank, their bank to forward it to BoA, for BoA to investigate and should there be a favorable outcome they would return to the original bank to credit my client who would then have to issue another payment to me. The same representative disclosed that there was no evidence of the check being counterfeit, just a flag in the system that could not be substantiated. As of the date of filing this complaint the bank has held my company 's funds for ten business days and reportedly intends to for a minimum of three more business days on XXXX, unless of course they change the account closure date again.

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 monetary relief