Consumer complaint received 2022-12-31
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Government benefit card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Sub-issue: Card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase or transfer

Complaint:
I originally filed a claim with Bank of America back in XXXX of XXXX. I received a letter in the mail saying that my claim was denied. About a year later I received a letter in the mail saying that if I had any questions about my claim to call Bank of America at the number that was on the paper. I called the number and they informed me that my claim had been reopened by them. I thought this was strange because I have never heard of a bank reopening a claim, usually it is the consumer who is the one that reopens a claim. I asked them why my claim was reopened and they gave me some vague answer saying that something had happened ( they didn't want to tell me what that something was ) and that alot of claims were being reopened and looked at more closely to determine whether or not they had reached the correct decision. 
This had made me quite curious so I decided to do a little bit of research on the topic. I had come to find out that Bank of America was illegally denying claims using a computer to make the decision to approve or deny the claim. The claim was automatically denied if it met 1 of 3 different criteria. An investigator never even looked at these claims that were denied by the computer. So an investigator never denied my claim. A computer did. It is illegal for a claim to be denied without being investigated. My claim was never investigated. 
This is why my claim and thousands of other claims were reopened, Because they were illegally denied. So my claim was reopened in XXXX of XXXX. About once a week from XXXX all the way until now XX/XX/XXXX I would call Bank of America to check the status of my claim. They tell the same thing everytime. It's still pending. They say that since my claim has been reopened. Meaning it was already denied. That there is no time limit for the investigation. I don't know how this is legal. There is no time limit for there investigation on reopened claims. Even though my claim was denied illegally. They still have no time limit? They just keep putting me off. Who knows how long they are going to keep doing this. It has been almost exactly a year since my claim was reopened. I find it hard to believe that it would take this long to come to a resolution for my claim. 
I have provided Bank of america with all of the documents that they have asked of me to help support my claim. Faxed them a copy of my identification card, a written statement saying that the transactions were unauthorized, a copy of the police report that I had filed for when my card was stolen including the authorized version by the XXXX Police Department. I have filed complaint after complaint with bank of america regarding my claim but nothing ever comes of it. They tell me that they are escalating the matter every time I call but nothing ever comes of it. I have spoken to supervisor after supervisor and they just tell me that I have to wait until they reach a decision. And they can take as long as they want to come to that decision. 
Please stop bank of america from treating people like this. There should be a time limit on reopened claims. And claims that have been found out to have been denied illegally should be considered as open not reopened. Then they would have to provide provisional credit to the consumers and would have a time limit, like there is suppose to be. I don't know how these people are still getting away with this. Please help me. My money was stolen from me 2 years ago and I have not seen a dime of it back from bank of america. I thought they were fdic insured? Why will they not pay me my money?! Please help!!!!

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