Consumer complaint received 2021-07-20
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NC
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
I own a small business in XXXX, NC called XXXX XXXX 'XXXX  XXXX. 

During COVID, I was contacted by Bank of America to let me know that I can apply for a PPP loan. I applied in XXXX. I was required to provide documentation of my XXXX pay that I sent to the IRS for all my XXXX employees. Based on these amounts in these documents they required, Bank of America approved my loan for {$76000.00}. Loan number XXXX. Loan approval was XX/XX/2020. 

I was sent an email by Bank of America that in order to qualify for forgiveness, I needed to pay out a certain amount of money by a certain date. I paid over half of it to my 1099 employees by XX/XX/XXXX, and the remaining amount of the loan in paychecks and covered expenses over the 8 week period. I did exactly as I was directed to do. 

When forgiveness came about, I was contacted by a Bank of America representative saying that forgiveness got super simple and only required answering a 10 minute questionnaire online. I filled it out, and waited months while Bank of America continued to send me weekly emails that they are still deliberating. 

More than a year after approving my loan amount based in the documents they required, Bank of America finally informed me that they wanted to retroactively change my qualification and not approve me for the amount they approved. There is a phone number in the email from Bank of America. 9 out of 10 calls is dropped after a long wait and before I am able to be connected with a representative. I was given one representative, and whenever I do call to talk to someone, they refer me back to my one person I'm allowed to talk to. She has no idea what's going on, why or how they retroactively changed my qualification, or what to do about it. It is completely ineffective to talk to her, but I'm not allowed to talk to anyone else. 

I have been prodded by her every time I talk to her to just accept the changed forgiveness qualifications, as I have a short time to apply and be forgiven. Since I know what is going on, and I have to talk to someone and get things sorted out correctly, this is bad advice. In all of the waiting around for Bank of America to make decisions, however, I am effectively being robbed of my time to apply and be awarded forgiveness. 

I contacted the local SBA office and I talked with XXXX XXXX Senior Area Manager - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX North Carolina XXXX XXXX U.S. Small Business Administration Work ( XXXX ) XXXX Cell ( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX He informed me that Bank of America has been pre-screening forgiveness, and they are not allowed to, as that is a duty of the SBA. So Bank of America has wasted months of my forgiveness time making me wait around for them to pre-screen my loan, when they aren't even supposed to be doing it. He also sent me the information in which he showed me that Bank of America is in the wrong. 

I was awarded my loan on XX/XX/2020. 
I paid out my required amount by XX/XX/2020. 
The guidelines were changed on XX/XX/2020. 

He sent me documentation of the Rules and Regulations that show that my loan is held to the regulations that were in place during the time my loan was awarded. Bank of America is not only pre-screening forgiveness illegally, but also not following the Rules and Regulations in place to do so. He sent the information to Bank of America and requested they stop their actions and allow the SBA to do it's job. His email was sent almost 2 weeks ago and I have not been contacted by anyone from any agency on the matter since. His email was as follows : Dear PPP lender, Please allow XXXX XXXX XXXX to submit for full PPP loan forgivenessthe lender is not suppose to prescreen the PPP loan forgiveness application. SBA is the authority and place where PPP loan forgiveness is decided not at the lender level. 
Please see attachments and guidance below that states early in the PPP loan process 1099 pay was allowed in calculating PPP loans and that the later guidance does not apply to these early loans ( see FAQ # 17 below ). 
Sincerely, XXXX I have all of the documentation he sent me showing that Rules that were set in place by the SBA, and information regarding those loans that were put in place before changes were made. I am attaching those documents for your viewing. 

You can contact me at XXXX. Thank you. 

XXXX XXXX

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