Consumer complaint received 2017-10-23
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low
Sub-issue: Overdrafts and overdraft fees

Complaint:
I am writing this email to file a complaint to your company for excessive overdraft fees and misleading on-line banking information as it resorts to available balance information. 

I recently opened my account with Bank of America I am a small business owner and I wanted to establish myself with a bank that will support my efforts to grow my business. Bank of America is very supportive to small business owners and women entrepreneurs. Alo my very first job was at Bank of America back in 1999, so what better place than Bank of America to build my banking relationship with. 

As a small business owner I am VERY busy building my business and I rely heavily on the convenience of on-line banking and the mobile app to help me manage my funds and stay on top of my finances. 

To my surprise I have been told by several of your banking representative that your online information is not accurate. For instance when I log online to see my available balance and transactions that have taken place the information I am looking at may not reflect the correct balance information therefore leading me to believe that I may possible have funds available that are actually not available. 

Now my issue with that is .... upon logging online it says available balances include recent activity. I can actually see the most recent charges that are pending and the balance " supposedly '', reflect all pending charges per your online banking. 

However on numerous occasions I have been charged NSF fees and return check fees when it clearly shows ALL my pending transactions and available balance that reflects I indeed had adequate amounts of funds to cover the charges. On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX check XXXX was returned NSF when it clearly indicated the funds were available. To have a check bounce was very embarrassing and not to mention frustrating. I had to pay the Bounce check fee to the person in whom I wrote the check to not to mention Bank of America charged me a XXXX NSF fee. 

Again on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX I was charged three XXXX NSF fees for three charges all under XXXX when my account clearly indicates the funds are available. Based on your on-line banking services it shows your three XXXX NSF fees are what put me in a negative account balance. 

I tried to download a bank ledger app to do a check and balance but what I found out was the app only reported the same information that was on my on-line banking. 

I find your online banking service and online banking app to be inaccurate and misleading. I find it difficult to believe that out of the MILLIONS of dollars Bank of America has that your company can not find a more accurate online system. I have banked with other institutions and I have NEVER encountered this sort of issue. 

I do believe that Bank of America has put this system in place in a effort to wrongfully charge your customers excessive overdraft charges. I do not mind paying an overdraft fee if I have been negligent in having funds to cover transactions I believe the overdraft feature is great to help in those situations. However that has NOT been my practice. I have been responsible with checking my account consistently also I even went the extra mile to try and download a ledger app to help compensate for the shortcomings of your online service. 

I am a small business and it strongly affects my bottom line numbers when I am paying hundreds of dollars in excessive overdraft cost. 

I am requesting the five overdraft fees be reversed due to misleading account balance information on your online banking app and your online banking feature on the computer. 

Furthermore is Bank of America doing anything to correct this issue with your online banking service? At this point I see this being a HU issue for me going forward. I need the convenience of online banking it 's important to my business, if I ca n't rely on the information on your online service to be accurate I may be forced to consider a more suitable banking option. 

This is extremely disappointing because I chose your institution because of convenience. Bank of America is EVERYWHERE, the online check deposit feature is great, ATM accessibility and your wonderful small business opportunities makes Bank of America a great choice for me, but if banking with Bank of America is going to charge me unfair excessive fees I feel I am forced to reconsider my decision.

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 monetary relief