Consumer complaint received 2018-01-31
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I checked my checking account balance to find that we were negative {$1900.00} when I knew that we were supposed to have around {$20.00} in the account. It showed there was a " Pending Debit/Hold On XX/XX/XXXX ''. I immediately called Bank of America and asked what was going on. The representative I spoke with said that there was a lien on the account from the State of Texas. They gave me the number to call to find out what it was for and stated that it may be because of the co-owner of the account ( my husband ). She also told me to get things figured out as soon as possible because if we could get the release of the lien they would have to receive it no later that Friday, XX/XX/XXXX because the legal documents department ( that handles these issues ) does not work on the weekend so we need to get it so we can get our money. I called the number it and was the child support division that placed the lien for past due child support that my husband owed ( he went through a 9 month unemployment period while I was on doctor ordered bedrest due to complications with my XXXX last year, but recently started working again and his new job is working on implementing the garnishment to pull his monthly support directly from his paycheck ). I asked what could be done since I was now without any funds to buy food for my children, put gas in my car for work, or pay any bills and that my paycheck of {$930.00}, which was scheduled to be direct deposited on XX/XX/XXXX, would not be enough to get us out of the negative balance the lien had us in. The child support office said that if we agreed to pay {$200.00} they would release the lien. Of course we agreed to that amount and the child support office jumped through hoops to get me the agreement, my husband and I both signed the necessary paperwork saying we agreed to pay {$200.00}, and returned the signed agreement to the child support office. They confirmed with me that they received the documentation and then confirmed that they sent the release of the lien over to Bank of America so they could get us our money. I called Bank of America again Thursday evening to see if they had received the release of lien paperwork from child support yet. They said they didn't see it yet, but because it was so late to call first thing Friday morning. The rep again reiterated that I had to make sure they received the release of lien Friday morning because the legal document department didn't work on the weekend. She also told me that once the legal department had the release they would be able to expedite the process to get us our money. At XXXX on Friday, XX/XX/XXXX I started calling Bank of America . At this point my paycheck had been deposited and we were showing negative {$980.00} dollars. There was an automated message saying they had a higher than normal call volume and I could receive a call back in 11-15 min. I agreed. I received my callback 15 min later and it connected me to another associate. I had to explain EVERYTHING to her again and she told me she understood and that she needed to place me on hold to contact the legal documents department to see what was going on. She placed me on hold, after almost 10 minutes on hold, it disconnected the call. I called Bank of America back again and this time was told I could receive a call back between 19-22 min later. Nearly 20 minutes later I received the callback. I had to explain everything to the new representative AGAIN. She told me she understood completely and that she had to place me on hold again to contact that department. She placed me on hold ( for a long time ) and when she finally came back she stated that the legal documents department did, in fact, receive the release of lien paperwork from the child support office. She stated that under normal circumstances it takes 3-5 business days for them to process the release of lien paperwork. I adamantly explained to her that have a XXXX year old, a XXXX year old, and a XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX at home that I literally had no food for and that my husband and I were both almost out of gas in our vehicles. I asked if there was any way she could speak with the legal team and ask for the process to be expedited to release the funds that same day. She placed me back on hold and was gone even longer. When she returned she stated that the legal team agreed to expedite the process and that my funds would be available to us within 24 hours. I asked her multiple times if she was absolutely sure the funds would be available within 24 hours because the next day was Saturday and not a business day and I had already been told that the legal team didn't work on Saturday or Sunday. She promised multiple times that yes, the money would absolutely be available Saturday morning. I said ok, I would be able to make it through the night. Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX I logged into my bank account app ( on my mobile phone ) and was still negative {$980.00}. I immediately called Bank of America back. I had to explain everything again ( including that the rep the day before had PROMISED, multiple times, that my money would be available Saturday morning. The rep said that although she understands my frustration and my fear of not being able to feed my children, that there was likely nothing that could be done because the legal department wasn't there on the weekend. I told her I knew about the legal department already, but that I was specifically promised, multiple times, that the funds would for sure be available in the account Saturday morning. She placed me on hold saying she would try to see if there was any other group that could release the lien. She came back saying there wasn't. I ended up asking to speak to a supervisor. I was on hold for over 30 min waiting for a supervisor to pick up the phone. When a supervisor finally picked up, she introduced herself as XXXX ( ID : XXXX ). I had to explain my situation again. After going back and forth with her, she started getting an attitude with me ( and yes, I was VERY upset during this situation, but that should be understood given the circumstances ), she basically told me there was nothing that could be done and I would just have to wait until they processed everything. I asked how to file a formal complaint. She said she had already escalated it to corporate and send the information to the representative 's manager ( that I spoke with Friday that made the promise ) for coaching. I told her that team member either put me on hold just to make up a complete lie about my money to get me off the phone, or she really did contact the legal department and they told her a complete lie. I also told her that forwarding the issue to the direct manager did me absolutely no good when I had no food or gas for an entire weekend. I asked her how I file a formal complaint because this needed to be brought higher up. She said well any formal complaint has to be in writing. I then had to ask for the address for her corporate office. She told me to write to : Bank of America XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, FL XXXX She then went on to end the call by saying sorry, while not sounding very sorry at all. I literally had to call my parents IN XXXX and they were able to order us an electronic giftcard for a local grocery store so that we could get enough food to get through the weekend and a little gas in the car to get us through the first day or 2 of the next week. Monday, XX/XX/XXXX came and now we were negative {$1200.00} because my car insurance payment was pending and Bank of America still did not process the release. They also did not contact me with anything they needed from us. My husband and I thought that surely, after all of the promises from the bank and all of the phone calls, Tuesday morning the situation would be resolved. At this point we were also behind on paying for daycare because we had no available money to pay. I logged into my bank account first this Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX and now we were negative {$1200.00} because Bank of America had assessed a {$35.00} nonsufficient fund fee because of the car insurance payment that posted to the account. They posted this fee even though the lien is a " pending '' transaction and not a " posted '' transaction so no fee should have been applied. I tried getting through to someone at XXXX, but they were once again experiencing a high than normal call volume and I was at work so I could not wait. I checked my account continuously throughout the morning hoping the money would be made available and the {$35.00} NSF fee would be returned to us, with no luck. At XXXX I called and once again received the " higher than normal call volume '' and offered a callback in 10-15 minutes. I received the callback at XXXX. I spoke with a rep named XXXX and had to explain everything AGAIN. She said she would make sure the legal department received the release of lien. I told her that was already confirmed, I needed to know why it wasn't completed on Friday ( for Saturday ) as promised and when my funds would be available. She placed me on hold for a long period of time. When she came back she told me that the associate in the legal documents department told her that they were waiting on us to submit signature cards to them because they didn't have any on file and could not verify our signatures on the lien release agreement that the child support department sent them. I asked her why I had not received a phone call about this and why when I had been calling Bank of America since Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX no one mentioned to me that they didn't have my signature or my husband 's signature on file and they would need them in order to process the release of lien. She told me she didn't know. I also stated that I found it odd they didn't need my or my husband 's signature to put the lien on the account, but now needed it to remove the lien? She didn't have an answer. I asked what I needed to do now. She stated that now ( even though we have very little gas in our cars ) my husband and I need to both go in to one of their financial centers ( a branch office ) and sign signature cards, the branch would have to fax it to the legal documents department, and once they verified the signatures they could expedite the completion. I had to take time off from my job to drive to a banking center ( my husband had to meet me there ). We spoke with the branch manager at the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, TX XXXX location. We had to again explain what was going on ( even though XXXX stated she would notate the account, but per the manager we spoke with she said they can not see the same notes that the call center reps can see. This is incredibly inefficient ). The manager was helpful, verified our identities, printed out signature cards that my husband and I both signed. She then went to fax it to the legal document department and I returned to work. My husband stayed at the branch until he received the confirmation print out that the fax was sent and the manager called and confirmed that the fax was received. She also asked that they now expedite the process as we had been promised it would be last week and again this morning. My husband returned home and called Bank of America again to validate again that they received our signature cards and to get an exact timeframe that our money would be available. He was told that it would be an additional 3 to 5 business days before they would process the release of lien. Even though we were promise it would be expedited, even though we had been working on this since XX/XX/XXXX. The rep he spoke with was incredibly rude and continually told him that this was our fault because it was his child support and that we only turned in the release today. He continually told her that he understands his child support obligations and that this no longer had anything to do with child support since they had ensured the bank received the release last week Thursday and he told her that we had made sure the release was there last week ( and had confirmed this over multiple phone calls ). She was incredibly rude and disrespectful to him and when he said that this was unacceptable she told him he would have to accept it. Even though my husband continuously told the rep that Bank of America had received the release of lien paperwork last week and what they received today was the signature cards ( that no one had informed us they needed until I called today ), she continued to say this is our fault and that they would not be expediting it. Since they are refusing to release the lien my parents had to XXXX XXXX us {$500.00} to cover the cost of daycare and ensure that we had food and gas the rest of the week, and because of this they had to pay {$49.00} to get the money to us. I just checked my bank account again at XXXX and now we are negative {$1000.00} because they decided to not honor our car insurance payment ( so that money was put back in our account, but they are still charging us the $ XXXXNSF fee ). Now I have to worry about my car insurance being cancelled even though I technically have {$900.00} in my account. They should have never does this. They have now continuously harmed my family, have been completely rude and disrespectful, and are refusing to make this right. Now my family is potentially without our hard earned money ( from my paycheck ) until Monday or Tuesday of next week ( XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX ) which means I will also have to pay my rent late have excessive amounts of late fees levied against me. I have already informed Bank of America that once my money is available to me I will be withdrawing all of it and going to a different financial institution. I will also be moving my direct deposits and as soon as I am clear of this bank, I will be closing my account with them that I have had for several years now.

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