Consumer complaint received 2018-06-19
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
My name is XXXX XXXX. I am XXXX y/o ; I am US citizen and my elderly mother lives in XXXX, XXXX ; I traveled there to visit her and apparently accessed two weeks ago my bank account in Bank of America while there ; Bank of America had my account arbitrarily frozen. They say that this is because I " operated '' my account from XXXX and the international sanctions require this. This is not true. 
I contacted Office of Foreign Assets Control ( OFAC ) U.S. Department of the Treasury and asked them if this was true that I am forbidden to do banking in XXXX. 
They responded today. Yes, XXXX is under sanctions, but they say " Fortunately, OFAC has issued a general license ( General License No. 4 ) authorizing US persons to send and receive funds to or from the XXXX region of XXXX or for or on behalf of an individual ordinarily resident in the XXXX region of XXXX in cases in which the transfer involves a noncommercial, personal remittance. In short, personal remittances to XXXX are authorized so long as the transaction meets the criteria of the general license. '' But Bank of America told me that The Supervisor made " final decision '' that I need to present myself at the BoA branch holding papers for them to see and thn they will remove the hold! My explanations that I am abroad and BoA are only in US does not move them ... 
Now, this is my only money I had access to. This is the only money I have ; My mother needs operation and I can not transfer the money to pay for operation. I am left with no money in a foreign country because BoA ... wait, I can not even understand the reason why they are holding my money! 
I spoke to BofA at least 6-7 times ; Second time I spoke to them, the representative told me all they needed was copy of my passport and that they would remove the hold on account ; Three days later the account was still on hold, I called and spoke to somebody else who told me that they would not restore the account and implied that this was because I was rude to the representative that called the first time ; I spoke also to the manager, XXXX XXXX XXXX ( if he gave me the true name ) who would not tell me even the reason the account was blocked. 
Their position now is basically this : the don't have to explain anything to me, manager made final decision that I need to go to BofA branch in order to restore the account ; my explanation that I am abroad and s But today they called again and said that now they want to close account all together and want to send me a check. I informed them that I am traveling and banks in XXXX do not take checks. I instructed them to not send check to my old address ; It is very difficult to speak to them. 
Their reps speak broken English, hide their names ; fake bad connection when they don't know what to say ... Pathetic ... I am not sure they even understand what I tell them ... 
How can a Bank behave like this? They can solve this in a minute but would not ... 
If they needed to identify myself, why me coming to their branch? They have a number of ways to check if this is myself, I can send them my passport, the Embassy can wouch for me etc ; They just want to show they have power and a client does not -this is how it seems ... Because.The.Manager.Made.Final.Decision ... 
It appears from the Office of Foreign Assets Control explanation that the reason BoA provides can't be a valid reason. They don't reveal the real reason. They just want to show who is the Boss. Never thought a bank could do this! 
This can not be legal ... I did not violated sanction regime because I am a private citizen and can get funds from US in XXXX according to explanations I received from Office of Foreign Assets Control ; If it was legal we all would be in danger to loose our money because somebody in the bank did not like us or just had a bad day ... 
I am not talking about the fact that now I am abroad without any money because this is the only bank account I have capable to send money to XXXX ; They blocked the only debit card I have. I need money for medical expenses and to buy ticket home and I was counting with the money I entrusted to Bank of America ... 
What do I do now? I wrote letter to the member of BofA board but not sure this would help ... 
Thanks in advance, XXXX

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 non-monetary relief