Consumer complaint received 2018-10-09
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: CD (Certificate of Deposit)
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX, my parents informed me they had discovered a XXXX XXXX certificate of deposit ( CD ) in my name, forgotten for decades in their bank safe deposit box. The CD document indicates that it was opened by my grandmother in XXXX, Florida, on XX/XX/XXXX with an initial deposit of {$10000.00}, an interest rate of 4.88 %, and a 48 month term with automatic renewal. The CD shows my name and social security number as the primary account owner, with my grandmother listed as the secondary owner and her mailing address in XXXX. 

On the same date, my grandmother also opened three other CDs in the same amount for her other three grandchildren ( my two brothers and our cousin ). My grandmother died less than a year after she opened the CDs, leaving the paper original CDs for me and my two brothers with my parents, as we were all minors at the time. 

It's now 25 years later, and XXXX XXXX has since been acquired by Bank of America. After speaking to a Bank of America representative in XXXX ( where my grandmother originally opened the CD ), I was informed that I should go to a local BoA branch so they could check my identification and redeem the CD. 

I visited a BoA branch on XX/XX/XXXX to redeem the CD. The branch representative was unable to access any system containing a record of the CD and so was unable to redeem the CD. She tried looking up accounts under my name and social security number, as well as my grandmother 's name, and she was unable to find any information about what might have happened to the CD. She opened a research request and case number for another team at BoA to try to track down records of my CD. She said someone at the bank may need to look at physical archives somewhere to find the CD, since their current electronic systems do not contain data from the XX/XX/XXXXs. 

The BoA research team responded within two business days, saying they have no records of my CD. They said their standard policy at the time would have been to send abandoned property to the state of Florida within seven years of the account being marked abandoned. However, since the bank does not keep records older than seven years, they also said they have no documentation showing the CD was turned over to the state. In fact, they can not provide any further information about what may have happened to the funds. 

I contacted the state of Florida Division of Unclaimed Property ( XXXX XXXX XXXX  ), using both their website and their phone customer support. The state has no records of funds in my name, my grandmother 's name, or either of my brothers ' names being turned over to the state at any time. BoA suggested that perhaps the funds might have been absorbed into a state fund without beneficiary names, but the phone representative at XXXX said this is not the practice in the state of Florida. If funds were in fact turned over to the state, they would still exist in their database under my name. Since there are no funds in my name, that would suggest the bank never turned the funds over to the state. 

I have additionally checked the unclaimed property registries in other states where I have lived more recently, but I have also found no property in my name from BoA or XXXX XXXX in the unclaimed property registries in those states. 

BoA representatives have been unhelpful in providing any next steps to myself or my brothers, who have separately made inquiries on their own behalf. Each inquiry has ended with the representative referring us to claim our funds from the state of Florida, despite us having told the representative clearly that the state has not received funds in our name. 

The Bank of America case number from XX/XX/XXXX regarding my inquiry is XXXX. That case number has the scanned copy of my paper CD ( front and back ) attached.

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