Consumer complaint received 2023-01-18
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Government benefit card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Sub-issue: Charged for a purchase or transfer you did not make with the card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2022, I went to withdraw cash from my XXXX Prepaid Visa card at the Bank of America location on the corner of XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX CA. Upon attempting to withdraw cash, I received an " Insufficient Funds '' message, which shocked me because I knew I had nearly {$11000.00} left in that account. When I logged in to my account to check the activity I discovered that over the course of 11 days, someone had fraudulently withdrawn the entire balance of my account starting on XX/XX/2022, and ending on XX/XX/2022. They also used XXXX XXXX ATMs to check the balance of my account on 4 separate days - XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX. 

Throughout this entire time, I had possession of my Bank of America prepaid XXXX Visa card and did not authorize anyone to use this card. I have no knowledge as to how they were able to both acquire a working card, and obtain my pin number which I have never knowingly shared with anyone, nor do I keep a written record of my pin anywhere. 

The following are the dates and amounts of the fraudulent ATM withdrawals. 

# XXXX XX/XX/2022 - {$1000.00} # XXXX XX/XX/2022 - {$1000.00} # XXXX XX/XX/2022 - {$1000.00} # XXXX XXXX {$900.00} # XXXX XXXX {$100.00} # XXXX XX/XX/2022 - {$1000.00} # XXXX XX/XX/2022 - {$1000.00} # XXXX XX/XX/2022 - {$1000.00} # XXXX XX/XX/2022 - {$1000.00} # XXXX XX/XX/2022 - {$1000.00} # XXXX XX/XX/2022 - {$1000.00} # XXXX XX/XX/2022 - {$880.00} I filed two claims with Bank of America as soon as I discovered this problem. The first claim was for {$11000.00}. This amount was actually incorrect, but I was in such a panic when I filed the claim that I accidentally included a few ATM withdrawals in XXXX and XXXX that I couldn't remember if I had made or not at the time. I quickly realized that I had made a mistake, and promptly called Bank of America to let them know to remove the incorrect transactions and that the amount of the first claim needed to be {$9800.00}. I also filed a second claim because I realized that I had missed the fraudulent withdrawal on XX/XX/2022 of {$1000.00}. 

Bank of America has a copy of my Drivers License and a copy of the police report I filled on XX/XX/2022 after my initial claim for {$9800.00} had been declined. 

After denying the claim once, Bank of America APPROVED the XX/XX/2022 claim in my favor on XX/XX/2022 and refunded that money to my account. The claim for {$9800.00} has been continually denied and has been ongoing for over a year now, and it doesn't seem like they are properly investigating this at all as they continue to deny this claim and I continue to refile it for them to investigate. They continue to say the following in their generic denial letters : " During our research, we found one or more transactions where your card was present and the chip on the card was read. In addition, you informed us that the card was in your possession. As a result, your claim will remain denied. You have the right to request the documents that we relied on to make this decision. '' If that statement is true then why did they refund the claim on XX/XX/2022? 

I don't know what to do about this anymore which is why I am reaching out and making this claim with 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 monetary relief