Consumer complaint received 2021-07-20
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: VA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
I deposited XXXX XXXX XXXX money orders, all purchased at XXXX grocery stores on XX/XX/XXXX at an ATM outside of the Bank of America branch XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXXXXXX XXXX  XXXX, VA XXXX. The ATM accepted the money orders, and the transaction finished. It e-mailed me the receipt, which is attached. The total amount of the deposit was {$16000.00} The next day, a document was uploaded onto my online account saying that 32 of the 34 money orders were rejected, because Bank of America ATMs don't accept money orders. This document is attached. This doesn't make sense, of course, since it accepted two of them. The accepted amount was {$990.00}, so I was missing {$15000.00}. Within the document it had a scan of 19 money orders, saying those will be returned. However, those 19 only added up to {$9400.00}. 13 others were missing, or {$6200.00}. 

I called Bank of America, and they said to wait for all of the money orders in the mail. A week later, I received the XXXX reflected in the online document, but I was still missing XXXX of them, totaling {$6200.00}. They advised me that the ATM was not serviced by Bank of America, but rather an outside company since the ATM was NEXT to a Bank of America branch, not INSIDE a Bank of America branch. Therefore, they said the branch would not be able to help. 

The next week, I received a letter in the mail, with a blank page and no money orders attached. 

I spoke to Bank of America on XX/XX/XXXX. They initiated another service request. The next week, I again received a letter in the mail, again with a blank page and no money orders attached. 

I spoke to Bank of America on XX/XX/XXXX. They initiated another service request. This time I spent one hour on the phone with a supervisor named XXXX, who notated the exact money orders I was missing. It seemed like she would be able to resolve it. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received another letter in the mail. It had copies of only two money orders, the only two that had already been successfully deposited from the beginning. 

I spoke to Bank of America on XX/XX/XXXX, explaining I had now been missing {$6200.00} for more than 30 days. This agent said they could initiate another service request, but clearly it wasn't working. Now they said I should go into the branch and ask them. 

I went into the Bank of America branch at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, VA XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke with the Branch Manager named XXXX XXXX. She was not sure she could help me, but said she would investigate and get back to me. 

I have spoken to more Bank of America phone agents, plus XXXX XXXX many more times since. No one has been able to resolve this. 

In summary, I have been missing {$6200.00} since XX/XX/XXXX. Bank of America has made numerous attempts to fix it, but have been unsuccessful each time. I don't believe they are taking this issue seriously enough. {$6200.00} is a lot of money for a bank to hold onto, and blame their own confusing systems for not returning the money to me. 

I am writing the CFPB because enough is enough. This is too much money for me to be missing for too long. 

I would like to note that there is a process by XXXX XXXX to request copies of the lost or stolen money orders. However, because there are 13 missing, this would cost {$15.00} per money order, or {$190.00} total for me to recover the money orders. In addition, this process would take 30 days. So if I requested them today, that would mean I would be without my {$6200.00} for more than 60 days. 

This does not seem legal. I am requesting the help of the CFPB.

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