Consumer complaint received 2023-03-08
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MO
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Can't close your account

Complaint:
I have found Bank of America to be a corrupt bank with inept and non-communicative representatives. This bank has given us multiple instructions which, when we attempt to execute them, do nothing to solve the problem. Our conclusion : this is a foul, corrupt bank which is doing anything it can to hold onto our money in spite our desires. 
The context : we discovered that my mother, XXXX and the bank client, was not paying her credit card bills. The Bank of America credit card had assessed a fee. My mother was in a short-term rehab facility. I called the bank to try to get the fee removed. I was told to get the 3 numbers off the back of the card. When I called back with these numbers, the next person would do nothing to help us. This initiated a long series of calls attempting to solve the problem. Below is a summary of what we were told to do, something different one time after the other. 
We were told to get my mother on the phone : she has to talk to the bank about the credit card. They told us to have someone with a cell phone there with my mother, calling. We had a friend who was visiting my mother in the rehab center call the bank several times, on different occasions. My mother was right next to her. The bank refused to verify her because she did not own her own cell phone. We tried this over and over and over. I was never with my mother, but it would not have made any difference. IT IS INANE THAT A BANK CAN NOT FIND A WAY TO VERIFY A XXXX XXXX XXXX CLIENT WHO DOES NOT OWN HER OWN CELL PHONE. This part alone was a horrible abuse of our time. 
During one call, my friend was told by the rep that there was suspicious activity on the account and that I should call the police. I called the police and spoke with a police woman. She told me that she knew that Bank of America was a terrible bank. She told me that she could do nothing about possible fraud. And she told me that, if the bank had power of attorney papers, the bank would try to make me prove that my mother was indeed not capable of making decisions ( which is not the case ). 
During this time I tried to call a local bank, thinking that if I spoke with a local person, things would be better. How wrong I was! I tried to call 3 different branches a total of about 15-20 times each ( ie a total of about 40-60 attempts to reach a real person ). EACH TIME THE CALL ENDED WITH A RECORDING SAYING THAT NO ONE WAS AVAILABLEAT ALL 3 BRANCHES. My conclusion : Bank of America has their system set up so that no one can call into a bank and receive help. 
One rep told me that there are 1,000 people working at Bank of America, that he had put notes into the computer, and that if my friend called back with my mother present, the person should verify my mother. If not one, then another rep should do it. I got the impression that one had to keep calling to get the right rep to get help. This is abusive and ridiculous. 
During one call my friend was told to take my mother to a bank with 2 IDs. On XXXX XXXX, my husband dragged my mother, who can hardly walk, to a bank. She told them she wanted me to be allowed to manage the credit card. The rep at the bank told my mother and husband that she could not find the fee assessed on the credit card. My mother and husband left thinking that the primary issue was resolved : that I would manage the credit card. 
I emailed this rep with questions and waited for a response. I told her that I wanted to shut down the credit card. NO RESPONSE WHATSOEVER. I emailed again. NO RESPONSE. So they dont answer the phone at the bank and they dont answer emails either. 
I kept calling the bank ( XXXX number ) and found out that the fee had been reversed ( the bank rep didnt even know this! ). I found out that there was no suspicious activity on the account ( the rep who told us that was wrong ). I tried to shut down the card. We were back to the beginning : I must speak with your mother. Then, of course, I knew that they would refuse to verify her. I was not going down that road again! My mother IN PERSON had asked that I be in charge, and she left the bank thinking this was taken care of. THE BANK REP DID NOT DO HER JOB. 
So at this point, after weeks of harassment by this bank, on XXXX XXXX, my husband dragged my mother to the bank again in order to tell the rep that she wanted the credit card shut down and the savings account closed. The rep told my husband that my mother didnt need to go into the bank. WHY WOULD SHE SAY THIS? MY MOTHER WAS THERE TO SHUT DOWN THE ACCOUNTS. THE REP COMPLETELY WASTED MORE OF OUR TIME, TELLING MY MOTHER TO STAY IN THE CAR. 
THIS BANK HAS NO RIGHT NOT TO HONOR THE INSTRUCTIONS OF A CLIENT. MY MOTHER IS THE OWNER OF THIS CREDIT CARD. SHE HAS THE RIGHT TO CLOSE IT. MY MOTHER IS NOT UNABLE TO MAKE DECISIONS AND THIS BANK CAN NOT PROVE THIS. 
I find Bank of America to be a foul, corrupt bank which attempts to take any steps possible not to honor the instructions of a client with the goal of keeping money, which is not the Banks, as long as possible. They should not be allowed to do business in this country.

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