Consumer complaint received 2019-09-17
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: VT
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: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
Amounts of USD {$210.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and amount of USD {$280.00} on XX/XX/XXXX were wrongfully charged to my account. 

I filed the first fraud complaint to Bank of America ( BoA ) in XX/XX/XXXX and again repeatedly almost every month since XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. 

I spoke with the BoA fraud department and credit card department at least once per month since XX/XX/XXXX to try and urge the bank to conduct a proper and thorough investigation. They promised me several times that they would contact the store where the card was used to make the fraudulent transactions ( the only information BoA gave to me was that the card was used in person to buy furniture from a chain department store specifically located in XXXX on a date that I was not even in that city, at a store that I had never heard of and had never stepped foot into, certainly I had never bought furniture as a I was a tourist! ). Bank of America closed my fraud case on three occasions stating that they had no proof that I had not made those payments, but without providing me any proof from their supposed 'investigation ' findings ( despite their promise to do so ). Had BoA actually taken steps to conduct a thorough investigation, they could have easily requested the security tapes from the department store which would have shown who made these payments ( since BoA did have information, they told me, that the charges were made using my card and in person at the store ). Clearly BoA did not conduct any significant investigation, else they would have information to share with me about the fraudulent activity, and they would have found evidence that could have protected me, proven that it was not me, and helped ensure my trust in the bank which I have been a loyal customer of for more than 15 years! 

Also, my card was blocked by BoA and only after several months I reported the fraudulent activity many times, did I receive a replacement card in the mail, still it has not been secure for me to use my credit card, especially since BoA did not conduct a thorough investigation and did not provide me with any information about what happened nor information about how I could set up more security to protect me from any potential future fraud on my card ; and thus I have had to suffer from not having the option to use my card -very important for my security in making payments while travelling ( ATM withdraws are very dangerous in XXXX due to the high rate of ATM scams and robberies ), which is difficult as I am a tourist traveling in XXXX XXXX all these months. I asked BoA to put some extra layers of security on my credit card so that we could try and prevent future fraudulent activity but they said to me that there were no options to do so, not even placing a pin number on the card! 

I conducted my own research and found several potential reasons for this fraudulent activity on my credit card : ( 1 ) perhaps my card was cloned by someone unknown when I had used it at a restaurant or store to make an authentic purchase previous to the date of the fraud activity ( I hear that this has happened in XXXX ) ; ( 2 ) I had requested BoA to send me new credit and debit cards in the mail last fall previous to the incident because my cards ' chips were scratched and not able to be read in swiping for payment in card readers -BoA was supposed to send me a replacement card and I hadn't received it, so I called to complain last fall and I think what they did was maybe send another card after my complaint but in the meantime maybe the first replacement card they sent was not cancelled by BoA and then maybe arrived to some location in XXXX without my knowing. I had asked BoA to cancel their first replacement card sent, and to send me a new one with new security details ( with a new credit card number ) so that it was not a 'replacement card ' / 'copy ' but rather a new card with a new number, but I think BoA failed to make this security assurance and perhaps two cards arrived in the mail to XXXX with one being stolen by some other person.. ; ( 3 ) perhaps this was part of a larger BoA scam from within the company. Regarding this last point, I am not accusing BoA of frauding my account, but it does not rule out the possibility of this happening. I looked at the consumer complaint database on the CFPB website, using the filtration system, I searched for complaints against BoA for credit card fraud / wrongful charges on customers ' credit cards, and found about 200 of 1,384,105 reported complaints similar to mine. This said I would want CFPB to conduct an investigation to find out why so many customers of one of America 's largest and important banks all experienced the same thing? 

On top of all of this, BoA made me feel like a criminal as they accused me of making the fraudulent payments when I called them on the phone on several occasions. 

I had to undergo extreme financial stress as I didnt have access to using my card all those months, I underwent emotional, psychological trauma and in consequence personal problems in my relationships and this also affected my ability to work. I also underwent financial and time loss as I had to call BoA and wait for hours on the phone, I was consistently disconnected and had to call again and again waiting for 40 minutes each time to reach a representative, then disconnected when transferring me to different departments.. It was a living nightmare of 8 months that I experienced because of BoA 's negligence, accusatory behavior, failure to be organized and take seriously a fraudulent case against one of its loyal customers, failure to help a customer set up security and prevent fraud. 

All this while I have been in a serious semi / permanent health condition suffering serious injury to my XXXX and I told BoA on the phone each time every month that I had to wait and struggle with them, that all this stress was causing my physical condition to worsen, but they did not give me any care for my XXXX by speeding up the process or taking extra care to reduce my pain and stress. I have suffered further from my injury because of the disrespect of BoA towards me in failing to put care into my case. 

I first filed a complaint against BoA with CFPB in XX/XX/2019 and BoA responded to CFPB 's letter to BoA regarding my case with refunding me the money. However, this is only half justice, I suffered so much for 8 months because of BoA incompetencies and maybe corruption against its customers. I am writing to CFPB asking for help with the following : 1. please write to / contact BoA to give them the chance to do right on their wrong towards me in not providing me with information from their investigation findings that shows evidence on what exactly happened with the fraud case on my card. I was promised by BoA that they would do this and inform me of findings, but they never did so and never communicated any findings to me. They simply accused me of making those payments without any proof either way..

2. I want to file a suit against BoA and know that CFPB does not provide legal advice in any way, however, I would ask CFPB if it could provide any further information about those 200 cases of consumer complaints against BoA, all of which were for wrongful charges on their cards, just like mine. I would want to know when exactly those other credit card fraud cases happened ( were they during similar times as mine -I put in a filter on timing ranging dates similar to those I experienced fraud ) ; I would also want to know more about those cases, whether they received refunds, whether the banks gave reason and proof /evidence from their investigations.. If there is just cause, I would want to file a class action suit against BoA.

Thank you and I appreciate your further help in ( 1 ) trying to get BoA to provide details about what happened in my fraud case, and ( 2 ) help provide me any information about the other cases of reported credit card fraud / wrongful charges on BoA customers as filed on your customer complaint database.. 

I hope you received this mail and would be happy to speak with you soon. Feel free to reach out to me at your soonest availability. 

I have all evidential documents and can provide you with anything you want upon your request. 

Regards XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX currently in XXXX, number : XXXX NOTE : you are welcome to publish my description above but please do NOT publish my personal information or contact details. Thank you!

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