Consumer complaint received 2018-03-06
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: GA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted Bank of America to report a fraudulent transaction in our checking account of {$1900.00} from XXXX XXXX XXXX. The transaction had been charged on XX/XX/XXXX using the XXXX payment function. I informed the customer service representative that neither my husband nor I had authorized the transaction. While talking to the representative, I checked the Banks app on my cellphone and spotted that XXXX XXXX XXXX was listed as a payee by XXXX. Not only did I not add this company, I had never used the XXXX function. 

The representative was helpful, stated that XXXX XXXX XXXX appeared to be some sort of cryptocurrency, closed down the checking account, and instructed me to go into a bank branch and open a new account. In addition, he reset my login information and told me the bank would investigate and refund the money within 10 business days. A couple of days later, I had to call back to customer service because every time I tried to login, I was prompted to reset my password. I was informed that was because I was making multiple attempts to login using the wrong password. As that was not the case, the conclusion drawn was whoever had hacked into my account was trying to access it once again. I changed the login information to something dissimilar to the previous two names and that problem was resolved. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from Bank of America stating the money would not be returned because I had authorized the transaction. I called customer service and stated that I did not authorize this payment and was then told that I had been alerted via text about the transaction and had not responded. The representative stated that I could request the case be reinvestigated and suggested I should file a police report, which I did the following day. At the conclusion of our conversation, I checked my text message history and all texts from Bank of America related only to suspicious credit card transactions. 

I picked up the report from Georgias XXXX County Police Department on XX/XX/XXXX and provided the case number ( XXXX ) to the Bank. I was told I would receive a response within 10 business days. In addition, when I informed the representative that I had not in fact received a text alert, this time I was told that the Bank did not send a text and only does so for credit card transactions. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called again and was informed that for reinvestigations the Bank does not have to respond within 10 business days and they may have completed the investigation by XX/XX/XXXX. I received an email on XX/XX/XXXX stating that the Bank will not be returning the money because [ t ] he transaction was authorized by you. If at any time you give your Online ID or Passcode to someone, personal or business, that person or entity is authorized by you to perform that transaction. Youre also authorizing the person or entity to perform any future transactions unless you notify us, in writing that they are no longer authorized, or you change your Online ID or Passcode so the person or entity no longer has access to the account. The only people who had access to the Online ID and Passcode were my husband and me. Neither of us shared this information with any other person or entity. 

XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX hacked into our supposedly secure account and stole this money yet Bank of America is absolving itself of any and all responsibility. We have opened a new checking account with XXXX and will be severing all ties with Bank of America but believe they should be liable for this fraudulent transaction and immediately reimburse the funds.

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