Consumer complaint received 2021-11-28
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Personal line of credit
Issue: Problem with the payoff process at the end of the loan

Complaint:
I am reaching out to you because of a very badly managed situation with Bank of America and my PPP loan forgiveness application. 

I applied for the PPP loan and received it through Bank of America. Prior to receiving it, I called and spoke with a representative because I had a question regarding 'employees. ' I informed them that all of my payroll went to independent contractors who work for me, as enrichment artists in afterschool programs. I specifically asked if they were considered employees and they said yes. I had already sent in my paperwork from XXXX and my 1099 's that were sent to the XXXX They then asked for my personal returns and a copy of my Schedule C. All of this was sent in and they processed my loan of. I then applied for forgiveness in XXXX of 2021 and again sent in all of the necessary paperwork. Well months went by and all I got was an email saying it was in review. I called twice a month to see what the hold up was and nothing. Then finally in late XXXX I got to speak with a real person and they saw where I had asked for 'escalation ' numerous times and no one returned the call. This person put me on hold and did some research. Much to my surprise, my application was sitting in a 'Que ' and had not been assigned. He then advanced my loan to XXXX years instead of XXXX. Finally I got a call from Bank of America asking for a XXXX payment in early XXXX. The representative told me I was past due and had to remit payment asap. I told her that I had just received a notice saying it was still in review and I informed her that my loan was now for XXXX  years. She asked who I spoke with and I gave her the case code and the person 's name. It wasn't showing on her screen, and she is in collections and didn't handle things like that. I was transferred to someone else and told once again that they were once again putting my application in 'escalation ' and that it was not assigned to anyone yet. Several days later in early XX/XX/2021 I got a call from a representative who told me that my application was denied. I asked why and she said that the rules had changed and that 'Independent Contractors ' were now considered expenses by XXXX XXXX I asked if XXXX denied me and she said XXXX is now considering 'Independent Contractors ' as expense and not payroll. I asked why they didn't process my application before the rules changed and she had no answer. I then asked if this rule was in effect when I initially applied for the loan and she had no answer. I then asked, if this rule was indeed in effect when I initially applied for the PPP why did they give me the loan? I told her about my initial conversations and who I spoke with along with the day and approximate time and asked if she could go back and listen to which she had no response. 

Now on XX/XX/2021 I received a loan repayment bill for $ XXXX. I called and asked what was going on? I was told that my application for forgiveness was withdrawn on XX/XX/2021 by Bank of America. They said that they would be sending me an email with a link to reapply. I am so unnerved by this. 

I read on XXXX 's website that they had a portal to apply directly to them for loan forgiveness. Bank of America conveniently opted out of this in order to have their own review process. 

Now they are also charging XXXX % interest compounded daily on the loan. 
I thought this was supposed to be a XXXX  % interest loan. 
It's crazy! 

I know this is a gross miscarraige of justice and this was handled and is being handled so egregiously wrong. 

I took the time to apply in a timely manner and submitted all necessary paperwork and through no fault of my own, my application just sat there for XXXX  months and I feel that I should be held to the rules that were in place when I applied for forgiveness. I can't even appeal, because my application never even made it to XXXX. 

Trying to bring to light this craziness.

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