Consumer complaint received 2023-01-30
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: DE
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:
My name is XXXX XXXX, I have been a customer with Bank of America for over 14 years, I have never been late on any of my accounts with Bank of America or any of my banking relationships. In XXXX of XXXX, I received a letter from Bank of America indicating that the bank was taking adverse action my account ending in XXXX due items reported to a credit agency. I was alarmed because I was unaware of any delinquency that might have been present on any of my accounts. 

I immediately researched my account and identified that my XXXX which I set to a fixed amount of {$150.00} which was above the minimum amount due to the lack of an option within the bank to choose minimum + an additional amount as allowed at other banking institutions to allow customers to pay the minimum and add an additional amount so that minimum is always covered. I performed a balance transfer, and did not recall that the fixed amount was set might be below the new minimum payment. 

The XXXX continued in the months of XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX at an the amount of {$150.00} which was initially {$28.00} dollars below the amount due. We received no notification from Bank of America that the autopay was not set to cover the minimum amount due. During the course of the period Bank of America assessed fees totaling {$140.00} and the first mailed letter we received was a letter indicating that my credit line was lowered from {$20000.00} to {$18000.00}. My other account was lowered from {$7000.00} to {$2800.00} ( Account ending in XXXX ) and subsequently our other account ending in XXXX that did not have a balance was later closed on XX/XX/XXXX. I subsequently checked my credit report and I identified that I was reporting as past due on my account ending in XXXX which deeply hurt me as a customer as I had was not aware that the payment was not covering at least the minimum due. 

Upon receipt of the letter we immediately made a payment of {$500.00} to fix the payment error. I then called Bank of America customer service and spoke to several staff and managers within customers service and the credit analyst team that were unwilling assist with me any reasonable resolution to the errors that were made on my account and the lack of notification. 

Bank of America did not take the proper steps to notify the customer that the account was past due, collected fees that were due an unfair, deceptive payment process where customers are not provided targeted notice of past due accounts, and customers who elect to setup automated payments for amounts greater than the minimum payment are penalized for doing so. 

The practice of not providing an option for customers desiring to pay down accounts sooner creates an opportunity for the bank to profit off of customers because it encourages customers to stick with minimum payments in opposition to adding additional to pay down balances. As the above was not indicative of the an intentional non-payment but rather an lack of an appropriate option provided to the customer, and the lack of notification of Bank of Americas part, the negative credit reporting and subsequent lowering credit limits associated accounts was not appropriate, and I am requesting that the negative reporting be removed as it was an unfair and deceptive practice by the bank and as a 14 year customer that was not experiencing a hardship of a sort that always pays more than the minimum.

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