Consumer complaint received 2015-11-10
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
BofA misrepresented and breached the terms of a debt relief agreement. 

According to BofA, I provided a personal guaranty on a credit card account ( the " Account '' ) for a company that went out of business. On or around XXXX XXXX, 2015, in an effort to resolve the balance on the Account, I contacted BofA to seek a payment plan with interest rate relief. BofA representative XXXX went through a series of financial questions with me and then indicated that I had been approved for a payment plan and interest rate relief. 

Per the new payment plan, my interest would be reduced to 4.5 % and require monthly payments of {$420.00} for five years ( the " Payment Plan '' ). In exchange for the Payment Plan, I was required to ( i ) get current on the card, which required payment of {$990.00}, and ( ii ) authorize BofA to auto-draft the XXXX monthly payments from my personal checking account. I agreed. 

On XXXX XXXX, BofA initiated the withdrawal of the monthly payment of {$420.00} from my account as agreed. However, BofA had not yet reduced the interest rate on the Account. This meant the monthly minimum payment for the Account ( roughly {$650.00} ) was higher than the $ XXXX monthly payment. So the debt continued to rise rather than decrease. 

On XXXX XXXX, I emailed my local BofA branch representative, XXXX XXXX, to see about getting the interest rate on the Account corrected. She advised that I call " Card Services. " On XXXX XXXX, I called Card Services and spoke to manager XXXX XXXX. After briefing her on the situation, XXXX XXXX indicated that BofA would not honor the terms of the Payment Plan and that no interest rate relief would be provided. She said that the Payment Plan had not been approved by the BofA credit department and, so, never went into effect. 

This was a curious assertion, given that BofA had already withdrawn the monthly payment from my account per the Payment Plan terms and had given no prior indication that it had rejected or cancelled the Payment Plan. 

On XXXX XXXX, 2015, XXXX XXXX and I called Card Services and spoke to manager XXXX XXXX. After recounting the events to her, XXXX XXXX confirmed that interest rate relief at 4.25 % APR was indeed noted on the Account. She agreed to call me with a resolution no later than XXXX XXXX, 2015. 

XXXX XXXX did not contact me on XXXX XXXX, 2015. In fact, she never contacted me again. 

Instead, while I waited to hear from XXXX XXXX, BofA withdrew, over my objection, another $ XXXX monthly payment from my checking account, and applied it to the Account. BofA still did not reduce the interest rate as agreed. 

On XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX contacted XXXX XXXX again on my behalf. She spoke to manager XXXX XXXX, who indicated that BofA had decided not to honor the Payment Plan terms -- this, despite BofA 's continuing to take money from my checking account per the very terms it simultaneously disclaimed. 

BofA represented, both in word and action, that the Payment Plan was in effect, when in truth it had no intention of honoring its terms. Insofar as the Payment Plan terms are to my benefit, BofA disclaims them. On the other hand, those terms that benefit it, BofA embraces. To this day, BofA continues taking the $ XXXX monthly payments from my account, just as if the Payment Plan were in effect, yet denies me the benefit of the agreement. 

BofA 's intentionally misleading, deceptive, false and unfair conduct violates the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Promising debt relief as a ruse for collecting payments is also a violation of the Fair Debt Collection, among other common law principles.

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation