Consumer complaint received 2022-02-10
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TN
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Other banking product or service
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
Bank of America Fraud Claim # XXXX Time Frame XXXX to XXXX The Following is a Time Line of Events in the dealing of Bank of America and their handling of a fraud claim were my ex stole money from my Bank of America checking account through an app called XXXX XXXX. Also included with this is the Sheriffs Report taken for the Fraud use of the Debit Card through the XXXX XXXX  & the Messages sent from my ex saying that he took the money On XX/XX/XXXX at approximately XXXX am XXXX, I received text messages from my ex-boyfriend ( XXXX XXXX stating that he had taken money from my Bank of America checking account, via XXXX XXXX, without my permission. At no time did he ( XXXX ) have my permission to use my Bank of America debit card or account nor my XXXX XXXX account. At approximately XXXX hours, a report was taken from the local Sheriffs Office for the fraudulent use of my Bank of America debit card by my ex-boyfriend. 

On XXXX the XXXX, I contacted Bank of America and filed a claim with them for the {$800.00} that was stolen from me. I advised the representative that my ex-boyfriend did not have permission to take money and that there was a fraud report take by the Sheriffs Office. I also requested a new debit card be sent to me as well. After I got off the phone, I changed the passwords to all of my accounts. 

On XXXX the XXXX, Bank Of America returned the {$800.00} plus two {$35.00} over draft fines to my checking account for a total of {$870.00}. 

Fast forward to XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from Bank of America. The letter indicated that the claim submitted by me back in XXXX did not have enough evidence to conclude a finding in my favor. This was Approximately 53 business days after the claim was filed and 79 actual days since the claim was submitted. Between XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX, I was never contacted by Bank of America via email, their online messaging center, or phone for more information during their investigation. 

On the morning of XX/XX/XXXX, my current boyfriend XXXX XXXX XXXX and I called Bank of America to find out what additional information was needed and we talked to XXXX from XXXX. We were advised that the investigator reviewed the claim and determined that since the XXXX XXXX account was in my name the conclusion was that the {$800.00} needed to be returned to Bank of America along with the two {$35.00} fees. So my boyfriend asked XXXX that this was the conclusion even though a report had been filed with the Sheriff 's Office for the fraudulent use of my debit card. XXXX advised us that they did not know about the report and that the report needed to be faxed or mailed in so that the claim could be reopened. We also asked XXXX if the {$800.00} would be taken out on the date indicated on the letter, XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX stated the money would not be taken out till the conclusion of the case. Therefore XXXX sent in the report via fax that afternoon to ( XXXX ) XXXX. 

Then on XX/XX/XXXX, we called Bank of America for a second time to verify that the paperwork was received from the previous day. The woman was in XXXX and stated that she was not able to verify if the paperwork had been received or not at that time. She stated that it takes 4-5 business for the information to be sent and/or uploaded to the correct place. Then it may take another 10 business days for the documents to be reviewed by an investigator and the final decision could take up to a month. As the conversation continued her answers would contradict what she had previously said. 

Per my conversations from the previous week and the letter from XX/XX/XXXX, I decided to check my bank account on XX/XX/XXXX. Upon checking my account I was surprised to see that the {$800.00} had been taken out of my account by Bank of America. So my boyfriend and I called Bank of America for a third time and spoke to XXXX in XXXX. We explained to her the conversations with the two previous ladies and asked why the money was taken out of the account. She advised us that normal protocol was for the money to be taken regardless of the claim being reopened. We advised her that this dropped the account into the negative by {$450.00}. The woman advised us that because it was represented to us from a previous conversation with a representative of the bank that the money would not be taken out till there was a final conclusion. She stated that she would make a request for the money to be re-credited back into my account. The woman also notified us that the paperwork that my boyfriend sent via fax on the XX/XX/XXXX appeared to have not been received because the claim had not been reopened. Her advice was that I needed to resend the paperwork again incase the fax had been misplaced. Since my account was negative {$450.00}, my boyfriend went to a local Bank of America branch, located on XXXX XXXX XXXX, in XXXX, XXXX. He then deposited {$460.00} dollars into my bank account making my balance positive {$5.00}. While at the bank, my boyfriend spoke to two male employees about if they ( those working in the branch ) could fax paperwork to the proper department within their banking system if we need to go that route. Both men assured him that they could take care of that for us if need be. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I again checked my account to see if the money had been re-credited to which I discovered that an additional {$70.00} was taken out of the account, bringing my balance to negative {$65.00}. Once again my boyfriend and I called Bank of America now for the forth time speaking to a woman in XXXX. While on the phone with the Bank of America, my boyfriend drove to the same branch as the previous day to not only make another deposit but fax over the report from the branch. In the corse of driving, the woman said that she would be happy to wait for him to get to the bank so that she could get a code from the branch banker to credit the money back into my account. At the bank, my boyfriend had one of the men that he had spoken to from the previous day fax the report to the number we had been provided on the XXXX. While waiting for the confirmation, the woman that we were speaking to in XXXX hung up on us. So we immediately called back for a 5th time, as we wanted to make sure the report had in fact made it to the fraud department. When we finally got ahold of someone, the woman apologized for the previous phone call ending. She was able to verify that the first report had actually been received on XX/XX/XXXX. She also advised us that the claim was not reopened like we had previously been told, so she reopened it for us. She asked if I had any more proof my ex-boyfriend took the money and I told her that had text messages. She told me to submit the texts and gave me an additional fax number, ( XXXX ) XXXX, to send the messages too. So I went to the UPS Store and faxed the documents to the number as well as the original XXXX number I was given originally. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my boyfriend and I called back making sure to give enough time for the latest documents to be uploaded as well as check on the status of my claim. When we got ahold of the 6th person, she started to go over the claim, but before she finished she asked if we were on a 3-way call to which we replied, yes we were. At this point the 6th woman advised us that the she could no long go over the information because of it being Bank of Americas policy not to do so. We both advised her that this had not been an issue for the last 5 people we spoke to, so why was it an issue now. She continued to state that per the banks policy, she could not say anything to either of us even though I had given permission for my boyfriend to be on the call. At this point, XXXX and I asked to speak to a supervisor, now making this the 7th person we spoke too. After waiting for approximately 15 minutes, a supervisor finally spoke to us. I remind you that all we were trying to do was check that the latest documents had been uploaded and check on the status of my claim. The supervisor continued to state that per the banks policy, she could not speak to us via 3-way call. After several minutes of back and forth with the supervisor, my boyfriend finally asked for the legal department. To which the supervisor became extremely defensive and stated that during the conversation, she had only been addressing me. My boyfriend, knowing that their calls are recorded, stated that he had a conversation with her as well, to which the supervisor continued to say that she had only been talking to me the whole time. After several minutes the phone call finally ended but I still never got an answer about the documents or status. So we attempted to call two more times via 3-way the line would ring, we would make it all of the way through the automated prompt, start the hold tone, and then the call went silent both times. Therefore I decided to call again on my own for the 10th time and after waiting another 43 minutes, I finally got ahold of a lady in XXXX. This woman was very helpful to me and advised that all the paperwork had been received : the Sheriffs Office report, the text messages, and a full screenshot picture from the text messages. She advised me that a decision should be reached by XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I was sent a notification via their message center stating that the claim would not be paid out by Bank of America and that they would be keeping the {$870.00}. 

Now on XX/XX/XXXX, my boyfriend and I called Bank Of America again to see what the reasoning for the claim being denied for the second time was. We spoke to XXXX who stated to us that since the bank account and XXXX XXXX account were both in my name the claim was denied. Another reason was the amount taken out was exactly {$800.00} which was what was in my account at the time. After we where advised of this, we spoke to her supervisor, XXXX. He further explained that it was a matter of " Familiar Fraud and that was the reason that the claim could not be paid.

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