Consumer complaint received 2020-11-17
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: PA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Other problem

Complaint:
After recently checking my credit report I became aware that Bank of America had closed two credit card accounts without providing notice, as is required under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. 

This is an issue that began when my father, who has a similar name, passed away on XX/XX/XXXX. My parents had account relationships with Bank of America. As part of settling my father 's estate, my mother provided notice to the bank that my father passed away, removing his name from any joint accounts and closing his personal accounts. 

Some time in XXXX or XXXX, I can not remember exactly, I became aware that Bank of America had closed two credit card accounts I had with the bank and was reporting me as deceased to the credit bureaus. I contacted Bank of America to inquire about the matter. After conversations with the Bank they acknowledged that they had made an error and had confused my accounts with those of my father. I requested that the bank correct the error. The bank contacted me and indicated that the error had been corrected. 

I have been working to pay down my credit card balances for several years and have not been actively charging on the account. However, I do receive my statements electronically. None of my billing statements indicated the account was closed. In fact, each billing statement, including the one I received this month, reflect that I had available credit. 

When I recently checked my credit report I noticed that the available credit reflected on my billing statements was not being included for the purposes of calculating the ratio of outstanding credit to available credit on my credit cards. This was negatively affecting the calculation of my credit score. Because of this I contacted Bank of America. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I spoke with XXXX XXXX, who is a credit analyst at Bank of America. I explained to him my concerns regarding my two credit card accounts. He conducted some research and informed me that when the bank went to correct the issue that occurred when the bank mixed my accounts up with my father 's, they had only removed the deceased classification, they had not reopened my accounts. As noted above, since I was not actively charging on my accounts and the statements provided no indication the accounts were closed and the statements indicated available credit, I was unaware that the bank had not fully reinstated my accounts. 

I asked Mr. XXXX to please correct this ongoing error and reflect my accounts as open. MrXXXX XXXX indicated that he needed t do some additional research and that he would contact me when it was complete. Today, XX/XX/XXXX, Mr. XXXX contacted me and informed me that the bank was not going to reopen my accounts. Furthermore, he indicated that I would have to reapply for credit if I wanted to have the accounts reopened. 

I am sympathetic to the original cause of the issue when my father passed away. when made aware of the errors made by the bank, I worked in good faith to allow the bank to correct the errors. During this time I have been faithfully fulfilling my obligations under the credit card agreement. 

I am upset that the bank has decided not to do the right thing and reopen the accounts that they closed in error. Furthermore, the bank has never provided me the required notice of adverse action that is required when they close a consumers account. I also find the fact that the billing statements erroneously indicate that there is available credit on the accounts, when in fact, there is no available credit. And finally, I am maddened that the banks error and subsequent refusal to correct that error is negatively affecting my credit and credit score.

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