Consumer complaint received 2021-10-27
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: PA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2021, my husband 's car window was broken, and the car was stolen/ driven away. My purse was inside which contained, among other items, my Bank of America credit card. As soon as I realized my credit card I had been stolen ( within a matter of hours ), I called Bank of America to shut down the card. During that phone call, the representative I spoke to asked if I had made a {$1400.00} charge at XXXX XXXX XXXX or a {$16.00} charge at XXXX XXXX. I told her no and said that was fraudulent. We also called the police and filed a police report. Bank of America also sent me an email around this time notifying me that there were suspicious charges on my account. I responded in that email that I had NOT made the charges and that they were fraudulent. On XX/XX/2021, these two charges were removed from my account/bill. However, shortly thereafter I received a letter in the mail indicating that my fraud claim had been denied, and by XX/XX/2021 these charges had been added back on. 

After receiving this letter, I called Bank of America to appeal the decision and understand why my claim had been denied. The person I spoke to said there had been a mix up because another charge ( that I did not identify as fraudulent ) had been marked as fraudulent. She said she would clear it up in the system and assured me the issue would be resolved. It was not. I received another letter with a denial. Again, I called back. This time I provided the police report number as additional evidence. Again, I was reassured the claim would be reopened and resolved. It was not. The charges continued to stay on my account. I called Bank of America several more times over the coming weeks, each time attempting to resolve the fraud claim. I received another letter on XX/XX/2021 from Bank of America indicating that my their " decision to decline your fraud claim for this transactions ( s ) has not changed. '' The reason cited was, " While you personally didn't make the charge ( s ), we confirmed it was made by an authorized user on the account or someone who had permission to use the account. '' This is false as the person who made the charges was a person who had stolen my credit card. 

After receiving this letter, I called Bank of America a fourth time regarding my claim on Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX ( which was the second time I provided the police report number ). During this call, I requested to speak to a supervisor. I was told no supervisor was available. Then, I requested that the claim be escalated. The person I spoke to assured me that I would receive a callback within 24-48 hours because I had requested an escalation to the claim. I did NOT receive a follow-up call, so I called back a fifth time on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX. The fraud person I spoke to this time claimed that the police report number had not been entered into the system ( despite the fact that I had provided this on two previous occasions ). He said that the claim would be reopened and within 1-2 days the charges would be taken off the account while the claim was under investigation. I provided the police report number for a third time and two employees I spoke to during the course of being transferred told me that they were filing an internal complaint. 

Today is Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX. The charges are still on my account as they have been since XX/XX/2021. The claim is listed as closed on my online banking message center. I am exasperated as I have been trying to resolve this with the bank and have called the fraud department five times now over the past two months. Each time, I am promised a reopening of the claim and resolution, and each time Bank of America has done nothing to resolve it.

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