Consumer complaint received 2023-11-28
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Prepaid card
Sub-product: Government benefit card
Issue: Unexpected or other fees

Complaint:
My unemployment benefits were stolen from a Bank of America prepaid debit card. I am a victim of identity theft. My personal information was taken without my knowledge to activate and use a debit card sent to me by Bank of America, which held my unemployment benefits. I applied for unemployment and was unaware that I had been approved due to not receiving any notification of deposits. My bank card, other mail, and personal information were stolen from my mailbox. After research, I learned that my unemployment benefits were approved and used. I reported the issue to unemployment, and I was told to contact Bank of America. After contacting Bank of America, I was advised to file a claim. I filed one claim with Bank of America, and the claim was split into two claims. One claim was for {$320.00}, and the other claim was for XXXX. Bank Of America denied the larger claim of XXXX but approved the smaller claim of {$320.00} and returned those funds to my account. I am currently appealing the denied decision as I am responsible for the XXXX that I did not receive nor did I authorize anyone else to use. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, Bank of America denied my claim of XXXX yet again with no explanation. 
I have requested security footage again from the atm or any camera service used for any of the fraudulent transactions. 

Bank of America provided the following review : " During our research, we found that there were undisputed card present transactions after your card was lost or stolen. As a result, your claim has been denied. You have the right to request the documents that we relied on in making this decision. '' I provided Bank of America an Identity Theft report and also a police report to this matter.

This reason alone make no sense, as BOA are the ones who split the claim into two claims. I reported all transactions as one claim. This is a lie and BOA made up this verbiage and it violates consumer laws. 

XXXX XXXX of Resolution Specialist Regulatory Complaints at Bank of America XXXX ext XXXX CTR XXXX did not address any of my concerns. In fact, all she did was send me a package through mail, repeating the information that had already been obvious in previous letters from Bank of America. I was still not given one legit reason why 1 claim was approved and 1 ( the larger ) claim was denied. Clearly XXXX did not ready my complaint. If my identity was stolen to use, and activate my benefits, and all transactions are fraudulent, because I never recieved the cards in general to even activate them myself, then why would one claim be approved and not the others. I spoke with XXXX, a supervisor at Bank of America who actually found and manually filed 2 other claims owed to me because the other BOA representative did not either listen to me or do enough research to include them. There are a total of 4 claims filed. I have left messages for XXXX to call me for 2 weeks now and her phone goes straight to voice-mail with no returned communication. My issue has not been resolved. This is clearly a case of stolen identity, as scammers have taken millions away from people during this past pandemic. I have asked several times for atm footage with no results, and I've also sent BOA my own identity and all documents as requested. 
Bank of America seems to skip over the fact that my identity was STOLEN and used to activate and access my benefits. 

On Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX, I was also informed that my email had been hacked by a person named XXXX XXXX XXXX. I have added this in the police report with XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

My claims/case has not been taken seriously and has been denied 3 times due to lackluster investigations. I have also filed a complaint with the XXXX XXXX XXXX and will continue to fight for my rights as a victim of identity theft.

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