Consumer complaint received 2023-12-27
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NY
Product: Credit card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX On three separate occasions, I was given misleading and deceptive information by Bank of America ( BofA ) phone and chat support representatives regarding how credit card payments are allocated for my Visa credit card account. As a result, my payments were not allocated in the way I expected based on information that was communicated to me by BofAs support which benefits their credit company to capitalize on a remaining credit debt balance at a much higher interest rate than I expected to be paid off. Had I been given more truthful answers, I would have had the opportunity to make other payment arrangements before a 0 % promotional interest rate expired on XX/XX/XXXX. 

For context : Bank of America Visa Acct XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX My credit card debt balance as of XX/XX/XXXX ( only promotional balances on account ) : 0 % APR ends XX/XX/XXXX, offer XXXX, remaining bal. {$1800.00} 0 % APR ends XX/XX/XXXX, offer XXXX, remaining bal. {$10000.00} 1.99 % APR ends XX/XX/XXXX. Offer XXXX, remaining bal. {$13000.00}. 

History of communication with BofA credit card support representatives : XX/XX/XXXX I called Bank of America ( BofA ) credit card phone support and also had a separate chat support session for clarification on how credit card payments would be allocated for my credit card balance. With two credit debt balances with a promotional APR of 0 %, due to expire on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I wanted to pay off the balance for the promotional rate 0 % debt balance before the interest rate is raised to 17.24 %. During the two separate phone and chat support sessions with the BofA representatives, I was assured and told that The minimum payment will be applied to the promotion that is ending first. If there is only promotional balances on the account then payment will be applied to the promotion ending first. 

Based on the information from support, I made payments to pay down the two 0 % promo APR balances due to expire on XXXX XXXX, XXXX as follows : XX/XX/XXXX ref # XXXX {$1000.00} XX/XX/XXXX ref # XXXX {$5000.00} XX/XX/XXXX ref # XXXX {$5500.00} Total paid : {$11000.00} During the XXXX phone call, I requested a document to be sent to me supporting BofAs statement that all payments would be allocated to the balances on expiring promotional balances of 0 % ( offers XXXX and XXXX ). I was told they would not be able to email me the document immediately ( why not?! ) and that they only could send it in paper form 7-10 days later through traditional postal mail shipment. The documents I received in the mail days later omitted the statement/promise of payment allocation that was aligned with my phone support conversation with BofA, and I had already made payments in good faith based on the phone support conversation assurances of how the payments would be allocated to pay down the debt associated with the expiring promotional rate ( attached ). Also, during the chat session, I requested a transcript of the chat so I had written proof that all payments I made before XXXX XXXX, XXXX would be applied to the expiring promotional rate balance, but the chat rep claimed she could not send me the chat history of our conversation. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I reached out again to BofA credit card phone support to confirm that there was no credit card debt balance remaining for the two 0 % promotional APR that was due to expire XX/XX/XXXX so that I can avoid an interest rate increase to 17.24 % ( offers XXXX and XXXX ). I was told by support that there was still a remaining balance of {$1000.00} for promotional APRs 0 % XXXX and XXXX to be completely paid off, so I made two additional payments as follows : XX/XX/XXXX ref # XXXX {$290.00} auto-payment XX/XX/XXXX ref # XXXX {$750.00} -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - Total payments made : {$12000.00} XX/XX/XXXX : I called BofA support for a fourth time to confirm once again that there was no remaining balance for the two promotional APRs of 0 % that have now expired XXXX ( offers XXXX and XXXX ), and now that the promotional rate had expired two days ago, I was told a completely different story. I was told that I was not given the correct information in my previous phone support calls by their support representatives before the promotional APR expired and that the recent payments I made totaling {$12000.00} were not applied towards paying off the remaining balance before the expiration of the 0 % promo period rate on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and instead was applied to the 1.99 % promo balance which is due later in the year in XX/XX/XXXX. I now still owe {$11000.00} at the higher 17.24 % APR and all of my efforts to pay off my credit balance before the higher interest rate took effect were for nothing and I no longer have additional cash funds to pay off the remaining balance with the 17.24 % interest rate. 

I was deceived. BofA should not be allowed to have their phone support representatives, the only people we can communicate with for what should be clear, truthful, and transparent information about our accounts to run a deceptive switch -n- bait scheme. Had I known that they would not apply my payments towards the credit debt balances on the expiring promotional rate offers, I would have had time to make alternative payment arrangements. The result of damage to me of being misled and lied to by BofA is that {$11000.00} of my remaining credit card balance is now subject to a significantly higher interest rate of 17.24 % after the 0 % promotional rate expired on XX/XX/XXXX when it should have been completely paid off.

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 non-monetary relief