Consumer complaint received 2022-08-10
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
This serves as a formal complaint on Bank of America for their violation of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act ( EFTA ) and Regulation E in their AutoPay Payment Options. 

On XX/XX/2022, I enrolled in the Bank of America AutoPay Payment Option using their mobile application for payments being made on my Bank of America credit card. I selected the XXXX XXXX Option to be paid on the Due Date. The first AutoPay was scheduled to happen on XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/2022, I received an email alert from Bank of America which indicated my account was past due. I immediately contacted the customer service department at XXXX and explained that I had setup AutoPay and the payment was not drafted as scheduled. The representative advised me that sometimes their system does not work properly and it appears the AutoPay did not draft as scheduled. The agent reviewed my account and agreed to waive the interest and late fee because I have never been late. I made a payment that day in the amount of {$4300.00} which covered my previous statement balance and I cancelled AutoPay because I did not want to have future issues. 

On XX/XX/2022, I made another payment of {$4700.00} to cover my current statement balance which was due on XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I get a notification alert from Bank of America that my scheduled draft in the amount of {$8900.00} was processed. This amount was the total of my previous and current statement balances which have been paid. I immediately looked at my account online and the AutoPay was not cancelled and Bank of America drafted the {$8900.00} from my bank account and that amount was not even owed. This draft caused other payments to be returned by my bank. This draft should have never happened because there was no statement balance due as I had just paid it a few days before. This violates Reg E.

That same day, I contacted Bank of America and explained what happened. The representative said she is not sure why AutoPay was not turned off. I requested the {$8900.00} be reversed back to my bank account as its a large amount of money and I need it. She reviewed the account and said she would place a request to refund the money back to my bank account and would take XXXX business days. This was on a Friday. 

On Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, I checked my bank account and the funds were not in there. I waited another day. 

On Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, the money was still not back in my bank account so I contacted Bank of America again. I spoke to a representative from XXXX NM. I explained the issue all over again and he said that the refund had been processed but it is under investigation and would take XXXX days for me to receive the funds. I immediately asked for a supervisor and I spoke to XXXX. She was very blunt and said there is absolutely nothing they can do and I have to wait 10 days for the review to be completed. 

I advised XXXX that the amount they are holding is very large and I need those funds back. I then asked to speak to someone above her that can expedite the investigation. I told her that if we needed to contact my bank to verify that the payment had cleared by bank they would are willing to speak to her in a conference call. She refused and said there is nothing they can do. I asked to speak to her Supervisor, I was placed on hold without being told and then the call was disconnected. 

On Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX, I checked my bank account again and the fund are still not there. I called Bank of America again and spoke to XXXX in Tennessee. I explained the situation and he was very empathetic and was very sorry this was happening. He understood that this was a very large amount of money they are holding and I need it back. This is not a fraud payment. The funds were withdrawn from the same bank account all other payments have been made from and all payments have cleared by bank account. XXXX said he would reach out to his supervisor to see if this can be escalated and someone would call me back. No one has called me back as of yet and I need 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 monetary relief