Consumer complaint received 2020-07-24
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NJ
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
On Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX afternoon I accidently transferred {$2100.00} from my Business Account ( Business Name XXXX XXXX XXXX Bank of America account to a wrong account of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Bank of America account ending in XXXX ). The transfer was done online ; it was an ACH transfer. Transfer no. XXXX. 

Immediately within 15 minutes when I saw the mistake I called Bank of America online services and informed them about the wrong transfer, I spoke to XXXX XXXX, an associate and she said she will help me to reverse the transfer, she spoke to her manager and they both told me that it has been approved and we will reverse the transfer but unfortunately since it is a Saturday afternoon they wont be able to reverse it at that time because the recall team is not available and they assured me that the money is on hold and will be reversed on Monday XX/XX/XXXX morning, provided I call the recall team early in the morning to be able to get it recalled. I asked them if it was a sure thing and Ms. XXXX XXXX told me that it was documented and her supervisor or manager has already approved it. The ticket number was XXXX XXXX. 

Following Monday Morning at XXXXXXXX XXXX. I called the recall team number given to me by XXXX XXXX XXXX. ( XXXX ). But the associate there told me that they can not do anything until the processing of the fund is cleared. I spoke to couple of associate asking them to recall my transfer and they all said nothing can be done until the processing status is changed to posted. 

On Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX around XXXX XXXX. The transfer changed status from processing to posted. Immediately I called Bank of America, but I was told that at that point they could not process the reversal until they have permission from the receiver to deduct the amount from his account. I was asked to register a claim and then they will investigate and let me know of the outcome. I registered a claim ( claim no.XXXX ) with the recall team. They said it would take up to 45 days to get an answer. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from Bank of America ( letter dated XX/XX/XXXX copy attached ) stating that they are unable to approve my claim because they were not able to contact the receiver. And they suggested that I call the person myself to get him to return the money. I told them that I have been trying to contact the person but he is not responding to my calls or messages. They transferred me to re-appeal department I filed for reconsideration of the claim. They said that the reconsideration time frame would be XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. They also told me to make a police report which I did on XX/XX/XXXX. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I messaged the guy to return back the money but he did not respond. 
On XX/XX/XXXX the guy answered my call but pretended to be someone else not XXXX. He denied being XXXX. When I called again he just started singing out his last name loudly so that he could annoy me. Later thru my brother in law i found that he works for XXXX company in XXXX, NJ XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX, NJ XXXX XXXX my brother in law requested politely via email for him to return back the money then he replied saying it is banks problem and I should contact the bank and resolve with them and not bother him. and also said that i was calling him on the phone and disturbing. point is if the phone is not his then how am i bothering him. but i did not want to call him again and disturb so i stopped calling because clearly he was not willing to return back my money. 
I received a letter from bank on XX/XX/XXXX, ( letter dated XX/XX/XXXX ) that my reconsideration was not approved too for the same reason that they are unable to contact the receiver. But when I called the bank they told me that the reconsideration claim is still open and they did not send any letter regarding it. The letter was for the first claim and nothing to do with the reconsideration. The associate assured that the reconsideration was ongoing I need to wait for them to come back with a reply. 
On XX/XX/XXXX received a call from BOA at around XXXX XXXX. XXXX the Manager of Bank of America Investigation team called and asked me if I give the authorization to deduct {$2100.00} from my personal account to my business account. I was surprised by this I told them that I am the one who made the claim and you need to call the guy XXXX and not me on that. She said that the claim was written wrong by their employee and that the claim was written for me by me. ( that's ridicioulous, why would i claim money from myself ) they make this mistake in writing their complaint all the time and this was so annoying. I had to make her understand the claim all over again. Claim no. XXXX. They made me run around in circles to make them understand this. That the claim was reconsideration and not new. Very rudely she said that she can not do anything more because she tried to call the person and he did not answer. It can not be true because she actually called me thinking I am the person. I am having hard time with Bank of America staff. They dont want to help me on this and the guy does not want to return my money which was sent to his account by mistake. I really need this money and can not afford to loose this {$2100.00}. I would very much appreciate if your office can kindly help me on this. 
I only have his Telephone No. XXXX XXXX XXXX Bank of America employees gives wrong information that the money was on hold, also not document correctly what they say to the customer this causes a lot of mess and waste of customer 's time.

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