Consumer complaint received 2021-05-04
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX, FL XX/XX/2021 Dear Consumer Financial Protection Bureau representative, By means of this document I would like to express my disagreement with Bank of America for a situation of a dispute that I filed on XX/XX/2021 about a fraud that was carried out on my credit card that I have with such bank which ends in XXXX and has not yet been fixed. 
Last XX/XX/XXXX, checking my online banking as usual, I realized that something was wrong in my account, the balance of my Bank of America credit card had been changed, and a balance appeared that did not correspond to my account. Before XX/XX/XXXX, my balance was for the amount of {$280.00}, however, when I checked, the balance increased suddenly to the amount of {$4700.00}. An amount of {$4500.00} had been added that I did not know the origin and the reason why that amount appeared in my account. When I saw this, I was alarmed and worried and I immediately made an online dispute ( XX/XX/XXXX ) protesting and claiming that I did not know the reason and origin of that charge, and that I did not accept it because it was not my responsibility. 
I contacted the Bank of America Fraud Department and they told me that this balance referred to a Balance Transfer in the amount of {$4500.00} that Bank of America had made from my account ( XXXX ). I told them that I had NOT requested or authorized any Balance Transfer. I understand that in order for a Balance Transfer to be made, the bank must have prior authorization from the customer and it also seemed very strange that the Bank had not contacted me, or warned me about this large amount of money, because a movement like that is not common in the account of a working class person like me and my wife. That was the reason for my claim and the objective of my dispute. Upon hearing this, they told me that an investigation was proceeding. 
After reviewing the bank statement for the month of XXXX, I realized that on XX/XX/XXXX they had removed the {$4500.00} charge from my account. I was happy to see this and I thought that everything had been clarified and finally we returned to the normality and get my account back with the actual balance. 
But, on XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from Bank of America where they said that they could not approve my claim of the dispute and neither remove the amount of the Balance Transfer because they had determined that this Balance Transfer had been made by me from the Bank of America app on my mobile device or tablet.

This claim by the Fraud Department is absurd, false and difficult to understand because I do not ( and did not ) have the Bank of America app installed on my cell phone or tablet. All my online banking operations are carried out through the Bank of America website, using my desktop computer. 
Another reason for my claim and dispute is that I had no need to request a balance transfer of any kind, because, fortunately, I have all my bank accounts up to date and with no debits. The Bank of America account ( currently ending XXXX because suspecting possible fraud or hacker activity they changed my account number ). 



ARGUMENTS I DO NOT acknowledge, I do not accept, I do not approve and I am not responsible for the Balance Transfer ( {$4500.00} ) that I am disputing. 
1. I had no need to request any balance transfer.

2. The Bank of America Fraud Department has not cooperated with me sufficiently and responsibly in providing me with details of the information they have, I mean that they, as a bank, have the details of the movement that was made, and can perfectly identify the account of origin and the account of the final destination, that is, who is the recipient of that amount of money. I think it is not difficult for them to disclose the destination of the balance transfer. Im pretty sure that the destination of those {$4500.00} were not any of my personal accounts previously verified with the corresponding banks.

3. Bank of America 's Fraud Department tells me that, in their investigation, a credit card appears that ends in XXXX XXXX only that information they provided ) and that this account was the one that was used to carry out the balance transfer. Of course my answer was that I dont have any card with such account number. 
4. Bank of America 's Fraud Department tells me that this balance transfer was sent to my account in XXXX, which is not true since I already checked this information with XXXX and in my personal records they did not find any balance transfer for {$4500.00}, not even by mistake. 
5. They asked me to send them a clarification fax explaining in detail all the facts ; I did so and sent it to them that immediately.

6. I called the Bank of America Fraud Department to see if there was any solution after sending the fax, and they asked me if I had recently traveled to XXXX, Georgia, to which I answered no. During the last year I have not traveled anywhere. 
7. The Bank of America Fraud Department asked me if I had any idea how they hacked my card or account? And my answer was no, of course.

8. The Bank of America Online Banking Department informed me that on XX/XX/XXXX they had detected that someone tried to access my account, so they temporarily blocked it. 
9. I would like to mention that in one of my last calls to the Bank of America Fraud Department, I told them that, since Is not seeing a clear and definitive solution from Bank of America regarding the situation of the evident fraud, I was going to be forced to go to a higher instance that responsibly focuses on carrying out the pertinent investigations to solve the problems that the account holder has and defend their rights against corporations, companies and businesses in general. 
10. It is important to clarify that the bank sent me a last letter dated XX/XX/2021 informing me that as required by the regulations governing my account, they have contacted consumer credit reporting agencies to add a comment to my credit file indicating that I disagree with the bank 's decision regarding my claim. 
11. Currently reviewing my credit history ( FICO ) I realized that it dropped 13 points, so I need to resolve this situation that is hurting me a lot. I have never had any negative financial situation, all my payments have been made on time. This unpleasant and clear fraudulent situation with Bank of America is the first one to disrupt my credit history.

12. When we consumers are victims of bad work by financial institutions, companies, stores, etc. and we are unable to resolve issues or situations with service providers, we always have the valuable help of specialized and responsible agencies to carry out the in-depth investigation and clarify situations like the one I am presenting at this time. I need you to once again defend consumer rights as you have always done and for which we are grateful. 
13. I attach all the documentation that Bank of America has sent me and what I have recorded from the Bank of America website such as account statements, and screenshots that I am sure will help you a lot in your work. 
Thank you in advance for your help.

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