Consumer complaint received 2023-12-29
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem making or receiving payments

Complaint:
Today, XX/XX/ I submitted a XXXX transfer in the amount of {$120.00} from my BOA joint checking acct to my daughter 's BOA checking acct, as I've done several times in the past, and my transfer was placed on hold pending review. I tried another {$120.00} XXXX transfer from my personal BOA checking acct to my daughter 's BOA checking acct, and it was also placed on hold, pending review. The money was for my grand-daughter 's hair appointment. Since those two XXXX XXXX were pending, I did another XXXX in the amount of {$130.00} from my BOA joint acct directly to the hair stylist, and it was also placed on hold pending review. I called BOA on my lunch break and was on hold for XXXX minutes, so I hung up and went back to work. I called BOA again around XXXX cst and was on hold for a while until an agent finally answered. I explained the situation, and the agent promised to transfer me to a XXXX agent to try to resolve the issue. I was transferred about six times and was eventually told by a customer service agent that the hold happened because of an alert that I placed on my account. They also told me that I should have responded to the email notifications to either approve or deny the transfers. I told them that is not what the email states. Here is a copy of the statement from one of the emails : Bank of America has placed this transfer on hold so we can conduct further review. Upon completion of the review, we'll either process your transfer or contact you for more details. No further action is required from you at this time. If you didn't make this transaction, contact us The email does not tell me to contact them if I made the transaction, it says to contact them if I didn't make it. After receiving the run around from six different agents, the last agent ( who stated he was in Delaware ) promised me that he was transferring me to a XXXX agent, but my call was forwarded to customer service, again. Six times I was told that my call was being directed to the XXXX department and it wasn't. 

When I made it home, my husband tried to XXXX the {$130.00} to the hair stylist from the BOA joint checking acct. He setup a profile for her and sent the money... it was also placed on hold. So that's {$120.00} on hold from my personal acct, and {$390.00} ( {$120.00} + {$130.00} + {$130.00} ) on hold from the joint account. 

My issue is that there is NO reason for them to cherry pick which transactions they hold for review. There is no logic to it and it can't be due to an alert because in the past, I've XXXX transferred more than {$120.00} and didn't receive an alert or hold. This is bad business and poor customer service. No one could provide me with a logical explanation for holding my money. Something has to be done about BOA holding XXXX transfers. I'm prepared to take this to the next level, if needed. This actually happened a couple of months ago and I thought it was just a one off, but I see that it's not.

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