Consumer complaint received 2019-02-10
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NC
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
1. On XX/XX/18 a person to whom I had issued a {$670.00} check tried to deposit it at XXXX XXXX XXXX using his mobile app. My bank, which is Bank of America, withdrew the funds from my account for transmission to XXXX XXXX XXXX, but XXXX XXXX claims that there is no record of the funds being received for deposit. 
2. When it appeared that the 1st deposit had not gone through, the payee I issued the check to tried to deposit it electronically. B of A declined the 2nd withdrawal attempt and sent a legal copy of the check to him saying, " Return to maker. '' 3. On XX/XX/18 I went to Bank of America with the person I had written the check to. We showed them the legal copy of the check, on which B of A had typed the following : " You can use it the same way you would use the original check. '' The computer system wouldn't allow us to cash or deposit it back to my account, because it identified the legal check as a duplicate. I had to withdraw {$670.00} to pay the person in cash, while the bank officer filed a research request to figure out how to return the {$670.00} check to my account. A day later a letter dated XX/XX/18 was mailed to me with this response : " For your not my item inquiry, we have completed our research and have determined no adjustment is necessary. '' It appears that only a superficial inquiry was done, with a " one size fits all '' response that in no way addressed the problem. 
4. Over the next 2 months I made 6 research inquiries through the B of A Call Center and also visited my local B of A Financial Center Manager numerous times. Each time the bank denied my request to return the check funds, using generic responses, no explanation of the reasons, and minimal effort to help me get my funds returned. At one point I was told by a call center employee that I would have to go to XXXX XXXX XXXX to resolve the problem instead. 
5. Because XXXX XXXX XXXX by law is not allowed to share confidential account information with me, the only way I could verify their record of transactions was to file a report with the local police department, which I did on XX/XX/18. A police officer met with the XXXX XXXX XXXX  supervisor and with the individual that I wrote the check to. His conclusion was that any claims against XXXX XXXX XXXX  and the person I issued the check to were " unfounded. '' However, the complete police report is only available to those working in an " official '' capacity. I was provided only a brief summary of the full report. The police officer did phone me with an oral explanation of his findings, saying that he had verified the bank records and could find no evidence to support B of A 's claim that XXXX XXXX XXXX was responsible for the missing check funds. I took the report to the financial center manager at my local B of A and she passed the police report info on to a person in B of A who researches customer complaints, but I was never informed as to whether they ever requested the full police report and what their conclusions from that investigation were. 
6. Even though the check in question has never been cashed or deposited and a police report has concluded that XXXX XXXX XXXX should not be held accountable for returning the lost check funds, Bank of America still has continued to take no action to return the {$670.00} to my account.

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