Consumer complaint received 2021-02-23
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: IL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Wrong amount charged or received

Complaint:
Ive been trying to solve this issue for more than a year and filed several claims with no luck. 
As a XXXX gift ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I made a {$300.00} XXXX transfer from my BofA checking account to my mothers BofA account using her phone number. She received the text message alerting her that a deposit had been made to her account, however, when she called to check her account, the transaction had not posted. She waited a couple of hours, then a couple of days, and then weeks! The transaction NEVER posted to HER account. On my end, the funds were deducted IMMEDIATELY from my account. Where did my money go?!?! 
Upon calling BofA, I was asked to provide my mothers account information, along with other details. They were able to verify that the funds HAD BEEN deposited to an account that matched the phone number even though the names did not match. I filed a claim and after about 30 days I received a letter of denial. When I called back I was told that the account holder who received the money refused to give it back. My first thought was : Ok, its the XXXX season, some people are really struggling and this might have been a gift sent from above for a family in need. And since Ive been a BofA customer for more than 20 years I was Absolutely Positive that Bank of America would fix THEIR MISTAKE in no time ( I was wrong! ). Because of privacy policy, they werent able to say who they transferred the funds to. They were nice enough though, to give me the option of going through the trouble of getting a court order if I wanted to know who the funds went to ( what was that going to solve?! ) I said that my issue wasnt knowing the name of the person, it was having BofA FIX THEIR MISTAKE OF DEPOSITING FUNDS TO A WRONG ACCOUNT. And if the phone number matched the account.. why did my mom receive the text message but not the funds? 
I was of course given the option to go into a branch along with my mother and speak to someone there, however, my mom and I live in separate states! So my mom flew from XXXX  to XXXX in early XX/XX/XXXX for the sole purpose of going to a branch to solve this once and for all. The very nice personal banker seemed genuinely interested in helping us. She was able to verify that my mom had received the text message. When she called the electronic/claims department she was told that only one phone number could be registered to each profile, but in this case, my moms phone number was registered under her profile and under another Male customer and they couldnt explain why. 
Why? Heres why.. my moms phone number ( which shes had for many years ) was the other customers OLD phone number, but He never updated his profile with the new number with the bank! 
BofA told me that once funds are deposited to an account, it is now property of the account holder. And I agree. Had I entered an incorrect account or phone number.. its my fault.. but I entered the information correctly. And Im not mad at that customer for not wanting to give back the money.. it was the banks mistake! I know for a fact that if someone deposits a fraudulent check to their account, the bank is on top of it, ready to reverse the transaction, withdraw the funds AND report the account to XXXX ( Ironically, I XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX years ago! ) so Yeah.. I know it can be done if they really wanted to help. 
The personal banker that assisted us had the branch manager involved and it seemed like we were getting somewhere. The following days the manager and I communicated by phone and he requested more information. The times I called back he was unavailable so I had to leave several messages. 
To make things worse.. COVID-19 and the pandemic happened within days of me going into the branch. The branches were now closed ( and still are one year later ). I was never able to get through to the branch manager that was helping me. I called customer service to see if he had left any notes on my account ( because again, I worked at BofA and know for a fact we have to place detailed notes on the customers profile about their transaction/call so that the next representative that gets access to the account Can review it ) but I was told there were no notes. Ive probably made 30 more calls since then.. each consisting of about one hour wait times! Ive explained my situation to every person who has been in the other side of the phone. Some seem to care, some dont. Ive been transferred so many times and waited so many hours. My last claim about this issue was about a month ago and I just got the response by mail. Denied because the funds went to the account I provided. Again, I provided my moms correct and current phone number. she got the text message! 
My biggest question is : when Bank of America withdrew the money from my account and came across TWO profiles with the same phone number belonging to TWO completely different people ( They were able to tell me the other customer is a Male so its not like there was a confusion with two female names ) How did Bank of America determine WHICH account to deposit the funds to?! If this was a unique situation why didnt they call me to ask me who I was really depositing to before they took the liberty of choosing for me? Or why wasnt the transaction cancelled altogether since two profiles had the same phone number?! 
I truly believe that BANK OF AMERICA MADE A {$300.00} ERROR AND THEY SHOULD FIX IT! 
Why should a branch take the {$300.00} loss for an error made in a different department?!?! Most importantly, why should I, a long time customer, lose my money?! I work extremely hard for my money. I can do a lot with {$300.00}. Whats {$300.00} to the bank?! Its a mistake they dont want to fix. 
I have been a long time, loyal Bank of America customer because Ive liked their services. I XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  employee who left on great terms. I dont want one bad thing to overshadow all the good bofa has done for me. But I do want my money back. Kindly.

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