Consumer complaint received 2023-04-15
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Traveler's check or cashier's check
Issue: Lost or stolen check

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I visited a Bank of America branch in order to redeem a treasury bond I had which matured, I had plans to purchase a new vehicle and was in need of the funds to make the purchase. Upon visiting the first branch, I was informed that while they could redeem it, it would have to be deposited and the funds would subsequently be made available the following day. This constituted a problem because I had an appointment to purchase the vehicle that evening. Despite being told the funds were not available until the next day, in my online bank account the total amount of the bond was listed in my available balance. I visited another branch to try and make a withdrawal and they informed me that despite the balance being available I could not access the funds. I successfully sent a XXXX transaction for XXXX meaning the funds were available. Treasury bonds are only redeemable in full, they can not be partially redeemed, by making XXXX available, the entire amount should have been made available to me. To make matters worse, I visited another branch hoping to redeem my second and last bond, it was at this point I was racially discriminated against and the branch manager took it upon himself to steal my bond from me while threatening to call the police and accusing me of having a bank account that was only open for two weeks. I answered all the branch managers questions about my bond and despite attempting to prove to him my account was older than 2 weeks old he informed he was not going to go back and forth with me and that the police would be on their way. As an XXXX XXXX  male in this current social climate, the thought of a bank branch manager calling the police on me at the bank is terrifying. I felt I had no choice but to leave the branch. It is my contention that he thought I was uneducated as to bonds and that he saw this as an easy opportunity to steal the bond from an unsuspecting minority who more than likely lacked the resources to combat the injustice. I asked multiple times what his reason for keeping my instrument was and he failed to provide me any information pertaining to that. Government bonds are considered secured funds and i should have had immediate access to those funds, though i chose to leave the branch after attempting to show him my account was clearly opened for nearly 20 years, to which he accused me of being a liar and told me he was not interested in going back and forth. This exchange was disrespectful, hurtful, and Im upset to know that branch managers feel that they have the power to unilaterally make decisions in regards to the redemption of a members bond with their prejudices and ulterior motives in place. Ultimately, after making the balance available, the bank claimed that they wouldnt be able to honor the bond because it did not contain my middle initial, despite passing all the verification processes. My second bond like I mentioned was stolen by the bank manager, if he had any issue with the bond, the proper protocol would have been to direct me to take the bond to the treasury and allow them to exchange it, instead he threatened me, slandered me, and made me feel incredibly unsafe. I dont know how Bank of America can even begin to fix this situation but I hope they know just how poorly some of their management functions and that I plan to see this through until the end.

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