Consumer complaint received 2018-05-04
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NY
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with balance transfer

Complaint:
Hello, I am writing today about a problem I am having with Bank of America Corporation ( BofA ). This problem involves a balance transfer as well as a credit limit reduction. I have very carefully managed my credit over the years with FICO8 scores consistently in the 700s. I have never missed a payment, or been late. I will explain in more detail below, but I believe BofA has engaged in a bait-and-switch business practice and I would like help resolving this, if at all possible. 

On both XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, I took advantage of an offer that BofA had advertised on both of my accounts for a 0 % 12 month promotional APR balance transfer with a 3 % balance transfer fee. My intent was to get some relief from credit card debt and work to pay off my balance over the year. I took out balance transfers that amounted to ~49 % ( including the 3 % fee ) of my available credit limit with the bank. For the next 3-4 months, I redirected funds to pay down other higher interest debt. I still have never been late on a payment or missed one and do not intend to ever. 

On or around XX/XX/XXXX, I received a notice from XXXX credit monitoring that my credit limit had decreased on one of my cards - this was my first BofA card. I immediately checked my online account to find that BofA had cut my credit limits by more than 50 % and that I now had only ~ {$100.00} of available credit on each card. My utilization on both cards had spiked to 95 %. I immediately called the bank to verify this change and request a reinstatement of my credit limit but was told this would result in a hard inquiry and opted against it. 

Wary that this may spark a chain reaction with other financial institutions at a critical junction in my financial recovery, I realized I must pay this balance down almost immediately. FICO   models do not provide a history of utilization and any financial institution that saw a 95 % utilization would possibly take the same steps. I spent the next week figuring out how to pay down my cards with BofA and borrowed on a line of credit I have with my credit union at 10-11 % to do so. In total I had to pay down approximately {$4500.00} of my balances 7-8 months earlier than I was expecting to. 

After this had settled, I resolved to contact BofA on/around XX/XX/XXXX and request a partial refund of the balance transfer fees that I had paid ( {$310.00} total was paid ). My reasoning is that I was promised 12 months of 0 % APR financing in exchange for a 3 % fee. At no point did BofA revoke my 0 % APR, however, if I had not paid my balance down I would potentially have incurred significant financial harm with my other financial institutions. I had no choice as a responsible user of credit but to pay the balance transfer back. As such, I did not receive the full value of the 0 % APR as promised. The phone representatives at BofA attempted, but the computer system did not permit a reduction in this type of fee. 

I understand that Bank of America is normally within their rights to reduce credit limits. My complaint is that the timing and severity of the reduction, coupled with the consistent marketing of 0 % offers results in a deceptive practice that amounts to essentially a bait-and-switch for all those who care about their credit. 

Best, 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