Consumer complaint received 2020-06-25
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
XXXX - Credit card statement from Bank of America of an elderly ( XXXX ) woman, my mother showed a negative balance of {$2000.00}. It was likely she had over paid as she was diminishing in capacity and was always good about paying her bills. In addition, I discovered some automatic orders from XXXX XXXX XXXX for which returned the merchandise and asked for refunds XXXX. These may have come in separately. 
XX/XX/XXXX - My mother passed away. 
XX/XX/XXXX - my brother discovers some unclaimed funds on the California state site and contacts me as the Trustee of the XXXX XXXX. We had not received any notifications from Bank of America though I had been managing her finances for the last two years of her life. 
XX/XX/XXXX XXXX approx ) - I contacted Bank of America and spoke with XXXX XXXX? ) who gave me a ticket # of XXXX and indicated a packet would come in the mail in about two weeks and I was to complete it and return it. None ever came. 
XX/XX/XXXX - I again contacted Bank of America and they indicated given the timing ( it had to be submitted by XX/XX/XXXX ) that I should go in person to Bank of America. They made the appointment with XXXX. 
XX/XX/XXXX - I arrived at the BofA Branch and XXXX was not there but after a wait, I was helped by someone totally unfamiliar with my matter. After over an hour and a half, in a COVID environment, including the person calling and waiting on hold to presumably the same people I had worked with the day before, she had me sign and she notarized, an affidavit, and I gave her all the documents she indicated were necessary. She made copies, and sent them by fax to the appropriate parties. I asked for copies of what I had signed and she said they were in the system and she had shredded them for security purposes. When I was concerned about the timing due to the letter I received, she indicated I was not to worry and though it takes 4- 6 weeks to process, it would not escheat to the state because I was now " in the system. '' XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX I received a letter from Bank of America warning me that if they didn't hear from me, the funds would escheat. Nicely it stated " We value you as a customer and want to ensure that you receive the funds that are rightfully yours. '' Right. So I called again. This time, bracing for another 2 hours on the phone. I also sent documentation in the mail in response along with the letter explaining what had been done so far. 
XX/XX/XXXX - I was excited to see letters from BofA. But it was short-lived. They stated the funds had been escheated to the State and I would need to go through that process. Really. 
XX/XX/XXXX - Called B of A again and got the same representative who reviewed all the notes in the system stating he had elevated it and would fight for me. Very nice person. 
XX/XX/XXXX - Received a call from BofA stating there was nothing they could do and I have to go to the state since the funds were gone. 
This is a bureacratic nightmare and all the times they stated they were " sorry for my loss '' does not even come close to putting balm on the the aggravation caused. I can only surmise that even though the amount in my case is only {$2.00}, XXXX, I can imagine multiplying the float of that and it might be real money to BofA even in low interest environments. All the sorry expressions for my lost will not retrieve the time and emotion it has caused. Instead of training on deescalating anger, BofA should train on competency of processing and having one area connect to the other. Disgraceful.

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