Consumer complaint received 2019-03-14
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CT
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I deposited a check in the amount of {XXXX  into my Bank of America account from a business in New Jersey. The bank held the funds until the next business day which was XX/XX/XXXX. The funds became available and were deposited into my account on XX/XX/XXXX. That morning XX/XX/XXXX I went to the bank and sent transfer in the amount of XXXX to an individual for services performed on my behalf into their also BOA account. I also made a wire transfer in the amount of XXXX to a XXXX XXXX account for services performed also on my behalf. On this date, XXXX I find that my account has been overdrawn by more than XXXX which included the transfer, the wire and a couple of personal payments in addition to the wire fee for the amount that was wired. The original deposit check in the amount of was at that point put on hold only after I made transfer and the wire. I called the bank to inquire about the issue and I was told that there was a problem with the original deposit check. I called the company that sent the check and I find out it was a fraudulent check and that the company is doing an internal investigation because over XXXX people called the company about a similar issue. They apologized but apparently someone got a hold of one of their blank checks to reproduce. When I went to the bank to relay this information, they told me that it was basically my tough luck that I spent the money from my account. I asked them why the check was not put on hold for several days pending the availablilty of the funds and their reply was that because I had a good relationship with the bank so they went ahead and released the funds not even knowing if the funds were going to clear on the other end. Bottom line, they said I am out of luck because they can not recover the funds from the fraudulent check and that I am now responsible for the now considered debt of of XXXX. My argument that the check as it was a large amount should have been on hold for several business days before I was allowed access to the funds. The bank insisted that I should have waited several days before withdrawing the funds for any purpose. They have froze my account. I am losing my funds from my paychecks and no longer have any availability for the funds that are going to be deposited through payroll. And they also informed me that because it is too late to stop my payroll from entering my account that it was too bad and that they will use my payroll against the overdrawn balance. I have no access to funds now and can't even open another bank account elsewhere until I borrow some cash to go an open another account and have everything transfer into the new account. I walked away in tears. They also informed me that at some point in time they can garnish all my wages from payroll and my social security to pay off the debt.

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