Consumer complaint received 2018-08-06
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: UT
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I received a check from XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) for {$4900.00}, this was a relocation fee check since I was going to start working at the company 's offices in XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I tried depositing the check on my Bank of America ( BoA ) account through their mobile app. Over that weekend I stopped having access to my online account Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX I called their customer service and after talking to at least 3 different persons I was told that my account was in the process of being closed because I had tried depositing a " counterfeit check ''. The next day I went to a small BoA office in XXXX, FL to talk to them and explain them that the check was in fact real and that I needed to get this sorted out because I wouldn't start working until at least two more months and I was moving to a different city. There the person was extremely rude and told me that she couldn't do anything and gave me a phone number to call to, right after leaving the office I called and was told that there was nothing that either them or me could do to get the issue sorted out, that their risk department had deemed the check to be a counterfeit and that they were closing my account and reporting me to financial institutions. 

XX/XX/XXXX, I went to a bigger BoA office in XXXX to talk to someone else, there the person called their closure department and informed me that they were holding the money until XX/XX/XXXX, here I asked for an explanation and was told that they were holding the money because it was the first big check that I tried depositing and they wanted to make sure it cleared before making the funds available to me, and that if the check cleared I shouldn't have any issues, but if it didn't they would return the funds to the sender. On XX/XX/XXXX I went back to the BoA office and I was told that the check had bounced ; immediately after I left the office, I called XXXX  and made the accounting department aware of the issue, they told me that this had never happened before and to return the check to them if I still had it and that they would check if there was any problem with it. 

Almost a month later, on XX/XX/XXXX, after an exchange of emails with XXXX   accounting department and being told that the check was in fact in perfect condition and that I shouldn't have had any issues, I went to my new bank to try to deposit the same check I tried depositing in BoA and I was told the check did not have positive pay, which I informed to XXXX  right away. On XX/XX/XXXX, after XXXX accounting department investigated the issue and tried stopping the payment on that check, I learnt that the checked showed that it was cashed on XX/XX/XXXX. After replying to the accounting department that I hadn't receive any money from BoA regarding that check they went into a deeper investigation and on XX/XX/XXXX the XXXX   accounting department confirmed that they had received a copy of the endorsed check from their vendor. That same day I called BoA to figure out what had happened, and learnt that they were still holding the money, regardless of the fact that I was told that the check had bounced. After talking to XXXX about this, I went to a BoA office in New York on XX/XX/XXXX and they told me that I needed to get a notarized letter from XXXX  where it stated that the check was valid and for me. 

On XX/XX/XXXX the XXXX accounting department explained me that the check was a normal paycheck and it wasn't normal procedure to issue those kind of letters, so on XX/XX/XXXX I called BoA again and explained them that I needed another solution and a real explanation on to why the check was deemed a counterfeit and why it was being held ; on this occasion they passed me to a supervisor who did not give me reasons but told me to give him the phone number and name of the person in the accounting department that they needed to contact to validate the check, and to call back in two business days to follow up. On XX/XX/XXXX, after the accounting department told me they hadn't received any phones calls, I called back and asked to talk to a supervisor, who told me that they had tried reaching out without success and again asked me for the phone number and name of the person in XXXX  they needed to contact. On XX/XX/XXXX, after the accounting department told me one more time that they had not received any phone calls, I called BoA and they very rudely told me that if XXXX   wanted the money released they needed to file a claim to Hold Harmless, and that the accounting department should know what this meant. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, the accounting department told me that they did not know what that was and that I should call BoA back and file a complaint to the CFPB.

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