Consumer complaint received 2018-02-07
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: OH
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
In XX/XX/2017 I received a check from a close friend of the family who I call XXXX XXXX. The check was in the amount of roughly {$750.00}. Once I received the check I did what most people would do who receives a check from a loved and trusted one, I deposited the check into my personal checking account. Later I found out that my accounts ( a business and my personal ) had been closed. After inquiring about the reason why the bank ( Bank of America ) stated that I had committed check fraud. I in no way even knew what they were talking about because the thought of fraud was so far fetched to me. So they stated that I deposited into my account a check from my aunt that was from a closed account. I immediately called my aunt who was in a total uproar because she stated that she would never do such a thing. Honestly the bank closing my account I began to accept because I felt that they always had other issues that I never liked anyway so I was like maybe it was meant to be that my account be closed because of all the hassles that I had with BOA in the past. Nonetheless my aunt had me call the bank on several occasions with her on the phone explaining that she was a platinum account holder at her bank and that they must have made a mistake. We went through several channels but still got no resolve. My aunt checked with her bank because she was not understanding what was going on. She ended up finding out that she in fact wrote a check from her old checking account from the same bank that she still currently banks with. She had failed to discard her old checks and since the checks looked the same because they were from the same bank she grabbed the wrong checks. Innocent Mistake. Then one day my mother went to her bank to put me on her account ( because my parents, like my aunt, are all elderly ) and her bank told her that I was in XX/XX/XXXXXXXX for Bank Fraud! Now I am upset! This was so embarrassing to both me and my parents. I own a business and this could damage my reputation as a business owner. Now I have a sense of urgency because I do not have a personal account and will not be able to open one and I am afraid that I will lose clients behind this. I got back on the phone with the banks and explained my situation and several people were very understanding of the problem. They told me to submit a letter stating what happened and to get a notarized letter from my aunts bank stating what happened and that everything should be alright be because there was no money lost. I got the necessary documents and verified the address with BOA and sent the documents off. After a period of time I contacted the bank back asking if they received my documents. They gave me the run around telling me that I sent the documents to the wrong address and that they had no idea where the address that I had was located. Then I would call another day and they would say that I sent them to the correct address and they had no idea what the new address that I had been given was for. They told me that there was no way that they could check with the receiving department in order to find out if they had received the documents at all. Finally someone told me that there was a time frame that they had to investigate and for me not to panic until that time frame has lapsed. I waited a few days after me calling and being bounced around then all of a sudden I receive a letter in the mail stating that the were keeping things the way they were with me staying in check systems and some other negative consumer company ( I can not remember their name ). I refused to sleep on this because I have been wrongly accused of fraud. My aunt says if their had been any fraud committed then why wouldn't they come after her since she wrote the check. I am highly offended as I am a reputable women who spent years working for XXXX XXXX actively XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I feel like I am being defamed and I really want this resolved.

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