Consumer complaint received 2019-11-01
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MD
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:
I have a business credit card with Bank of America that I opened in XXXX. I use the credit card very infrequently and carry a XXXX balance or low balance. I set up an automatic draft payment to monthly debit my checking account with Bank of America to make regular payments on this credit card. This was something I called in and did over the phone with Bank of America because I was having trouble doing it on the computer. I thought that was a straight forward action that would guarantee that my payments would be made on time and that my account would not fall subject to default.

However, on XX/XX/XXXX, I was notified by a credit score check that I have in place with XXXX, that my credit score had  dropped. I looked into the cause of the drop and it was because Bank of America had reported that I was 30 days late on making a payment on my business credit card. I immediately made a payment on XX/XX/XXXX, when I received this notification, and paid off my balance of {$380.00} to XXXX. I have a credit line of {$14000.00} on this card. 
I called Bank of America 's customer service number later to inquire how this could have happened when I had set up automatic payment to happen monthly. They informed me that if you set up automatic payments over the phone, they will expire and stop happening after 6 months. They told me there was nothing that they could do to help me with this problem. 
I was never told that my automatic payments would cease to happen after 6 months of setting it the automatic draft. I told Bank of America this and also told them that they had never sent me any documentation for the rules and regulations for the payment schedule when I did that over the phone. I do not receive mail statements from them on this account either and they have not corrected this. I had absolutely no way of knowing that the automatic draft payment was no longer happening due to their rule. 
I find their behavior and this situation to be deceptive and not consumer friendly. They were not straight forward on their rules for setting up my automatic draft payment and I do not understand why they would make it only good for 6 months just because it was set up over the phone. I was never instructed that I would need to re setup my automatic monthly payment after 6 months. 
The major problem now is that I am currently in the process of moving and having to get a mortgage. This late payment on my credit report is hurting my credit score and impacting my ability to get an affordable mortgage because of the close proximity in time of the late payment. 
I feel as though a did the right thing by setting up an automatic monthly payment so that I would never have to worry about this exact thing happening. I tried to be responsible and ensure that any payment needed would happen regularly and I feel like I have been unfairly hurt by this. Bank of America was not straightforward and was deceptive about this and has not done anything to correct the issue. When I called customer service they were not helpful and bounced me around from one person to the next. 
I currently am carrying a XXXX  balance on the card and planned to close the account after I finished my home purchase and the process of getting my new mortgage. 
This situation and the negligence of Bank of America is hurting my family and I and are ability to buy a new home affordably. 
I am including a copy of the XXXX statement I got sent to me from Bank of America showing that I paid off the total balance of {$380.00} on the card on XX/XX/XXXX when I found out my automatic payments were not happening. I am also including a copy of my XX/XX/XXXX statement showing that there was an automatic payment draft in place for this card.

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 non-monetary relief