Consumer complaint received 2019-01-10
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TN
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
This is my first complaint directly to CFPB on this matter. It is also a response to a received from XXXX XXXX, Resolution Specialist, Regulatory Complaints with Bank of America ( BOA ), copied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ( OCC ) ( Case No. XXXX ) on XX/XX/XXXX. OCC had involved you directly ( complaint XXXX-XXXX  ) ; however, Bank of America did not respond to you. You told me to write directly to you if the matter was not resolved. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, unknowingly at the time, I was a victim of fraud by a lending entity that held itself out to be XXXX XXXX. When I say the term, " unknowingly, '' it is because that was true at the time. It has taken me until now to put all the facts together. XXXX XXXX, itself, is a loan company. I am an XXXX. At the time, I had experienced several very slow months of business. It is true that, at times, I had a negative balance in one or more Bank of America accounts ; however, I always made them up and for 3 years received no complaints. At the time, I had five accounts with BOA. Two were personal checking. Two were business. One was an XXXX Trust account. 

I received a phone call in XX/XX/XXXX from someone that purported to be a BOA representative or employee. The call was at XXXX XXXX. The person told me that they had shut down all of my accounts, turned me into XXXX, and that I was to bank with another institution. 

I did not believe it was real. However, days later, I received letters purportedly from BOA with copies of checks that were supposedly deposited into one or more of my accounts. The checks were counterfeit. One was from the U.S. Department of Treasury. The others were from various lending institutions in various states in the United States of America. I called BOA 's regulatory complaint dept. days later. They gave me an address to write a letter to. I did and copied it to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX  ), the OCC and the Federal Reserve Board. BOA told me that the checks were deposited via " mobile banking. '' I had never used mobile banking before. I did not have an app or even understand it. After subsequent research, I found out that you could take " pictures '' of the front and back of checks and " deposit '' them. Right now, the letters and copies of the backs are on file at my office ; however, I will get them to you. The signature that was supposed to be mine was a computer generated signature. BOA has my signature cards. Although I personally know all managers and most employees at BOA 's locations in my areas, and they know that I only have one mobile phone number, absolutely no investigation was made. 

Ms. XXXX and I played phone tag for a couple of weeks. When we talked, all she did was tell me what I already knew, as described above. I told her that I did not use mobile banking and, as a XXXX  XXXX XXXX, did not know how to generate such counterfeit checks. I told her that BOA is a large, sophisticated bank, and they should know from what numbers the checks came from and that they should be experienced with phishing. I told her that I had verified with XXXX and XXXX, two online lenders, that they request online user IDs and passwords and that BOA has a relationship with them and had been allowing this for years. Accordingly, there is a precedent that BOA allows you to disclose online user IDs and Passwords to online loan companies. By process of elimination over the next few weeks, I discovered that the only institution that I had given this information to was XXXX XXXX ( or whoever pretended to be them ). See attached. I told her that I understood that they closed down my accounts to protect BOTH myself and them. However, I told her that she could cite no reason why I was personally turned into XXXX. She wrote the above-referenced letter to me ( copied to OCC ) and indicated that BOA 's actions were " proper. '' I have a business account with XXXX XXXX XXXX. I went to XXXX XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX to fund the account. I tried to open up a personal checking account. The manager was very sophisticated. She told me that, according to her records, BOA had shut me down so tightly with XXXX that there was no way they could do anything. I explained the situation. I want to use them for credit card processing too ; however, I told her that I would wait until everything cleared up. 

I wrote XXXX a letter ( see attached ) on XX/XX/XXXX, which was a complaint. I also submitted an online request for their report on me. They wrote back and said that I had not given enough information to identify myself in the letter. They said that BOA had never contacted them. However, I did receive their report, and BOA is not mentioned on it ; however, XXXX XXXX XXXX is. 

BOA has still not closed down my XXXX trust account. I suppose that I need to close it. 

I'm confused. If BOA told me that they reported me to XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX confirmed this, then why is BOA not listed on my XXXX  Report ( see attached )? Why did BOA not investigate my signature? Why did BOA not investigate where the checks came from? Why can BOA not determine that I have never used mobile banking? Why can BOA not find out about phishing in XX/XX/XXXX? Why did BOA not investigate my local BOA offices? 

I decided to pursue this with CFPB before filing a lawsuit. ( Nota bene : As of XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, I just discovered that all of my files except the XXXX order form are over 10 MB, so I can not upload them. If you give me an exact address, then I will send them to you. ) ( Nota bene : I just discovered that there is a reference on the XXXX  Report that BOA submitted me to them for fraud. )

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