Consumer complaint received 2019-04-28
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX around XXXX  I went to the XXXX CA branch of Bank of America on XXXX XXXX to use my ATM card, inside the bank at the teller window to get {$500.00} in cash. I told the male teller that I was there to get some cash from my checking account. I remember thinking the teller seemed overly nice. I swiped my card one time per his direction and waited to get my {$500.00} in cash. After a short amount of time, he said there was a problem and I needed to swipe my ATM card again. I thought this was strange and asked him if I would be charged {$500.00} twice. He said I would not be charged twice. I swiped my card again and input {$500.00} for the second time as the amount I wanted to withdraw from my joint checking account. When he asked me how I wanted the cash, I believe I told him four 5s, four 10s and the rest 20s which is how I usually got my cash at the bank. He gave me {$500.00} in cash and one receipt from this {$500.00} transaction. I didt think about this anymore until I went to balance my monthly bank statement on XX/XX/XXXX and I saw back-to-back withdrawals of {$500.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. Initially, I didnt remember doing back-to-back ATM withdrawals of {$500.00} each. I thought about this and realized it was a mistake so I went to my local branch of BOA in XXXX XXXX, CA and met with the manager. Upon talking to her, I remembered my experience at the XXXX branch and relayed it to her. She assured me every transaction was video taped and if the teller stole money from me ( {$500.00} ), he was foolish because it would show up on the video tape and he would not get away with it. She called the XXXX branch of BOA and talked to a manager there. When she hung up, she was frustrated because the manager was not helpful at all. In fact she said she was rather rude. The XXXX manager told her the teller I went to at her bank balanced at the end of the day and indicated he had given me XXXX XXXX XXXX dollar bills. I was dumbfounded and sat with her for at least 1 1/2 hours filing a claim with the Check Fraud Department with her assistance. She said a temporary credit of {$500.00} would be made to my checking account. She also told me to call the Fraud Department weekly to find out the status of the claim. She was confident this would get resolved. I left feeling hopeful. As she had instructed me to do, I called the Fraud Department a couple of weeks later and after waiting on hold for quite a while, I was told the information I was given was incorrect. I should not call weekly. He said it would take at least 60 days to get a response from the Fraud Department. 

In early XXXX, I received a letter from BOA saying they had completed the research of my fraud claim and since I swiped my ATM card twice and used my PIN they were NOT honoring my claim for {$500.00} and were reversing the temporary credit of {$500.00} on my checking account on XX/XX/XXXX. I was very unhappy about this outcome and my husband and I decided to close all of our accounts at BOA and move our banking elsewhere. We knew this would take time to do, would be inconvenient and had to be well planned to make sure there were no checks outstanding, etc ... 

We talked about how to resolve the problem with BOA and decided they were too big for us to fight for our {$500.00} and it would cost more than {$500.00} to hire a lawyer. We moved our accounts after banking with BOA ( and the previous banks that they were ) since XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, a friend told me about Consumerfinance.gov and said I should file a complaint. 

If you need any documentation, please let me know. I have the Customer Receipt, the bank statement, my notes from XX/XX/XXXX when I filed the Fraud Claim and the letter from BOA Fraud Department saying my claim was denied.

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