Consumer complaint received 2017-11-28
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I instructed XXXX XXXX Online via bill pay to send {$410.00} to XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX, DE XXXX. The payment came from my personal checking account to pay a general credit card bill, a XXXX 's XXXX card. 

On XX/XX/XXXX the electronic payment was made by XXXX XXXX. 

In the next month, when my XXXX 's XXXX card failed, I realized my error. I should have instructed XXXX XXXX to send the payment to : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, AL XXXX, ( XXXX ) XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I filed an inquiry with XXXX XXXX in reference to the bill pay payment and was assigned a case number. 

I was instructed by phone to contact XXXX XXXX XXXX to give permission for XXXX XXXX to represent me and work on my behalf and I did so, learning then, however, that XXXX XXXX XXXX represented Bank of America accounts, not XXXX. I understood through questions and answers that perhaps some Bank of America/XXXX/XXXX XXXX XXXX  sale/purchase had possibly occurred. 

On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX notified me it was attempting to solve the issue and would contact XXXX XXXX XXXX/BOA on my behalf, would initiate a conference call if necessary, and would send me updated information. XXXX XXXX said it was unable to stop the payment or have the {$410.00} in question refunded to my checking account. 

Also on on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX informed me it had refunded a late fee I incurred by missing my payment to XXXX. The amount was {$37.00} as reimbursement. 

Once I realized the long amount of time that had passed since my original error, I contacted, by telephone, XXXX XXXX, which indeed initiated a conference call on my behalf to XXXX XXXX XXXX. It lasted approximately 90 minutes or more with the XXXX XXXX representative saying she had talked to as many as seven XXXX XXXX XXXX  representatives and asked them to address my concerns. XXXX XXXX XXXX, aka apparently Bank of America, could not locate any account with my name nor any account with the numbers listed on the bill pay payment that was sent. XXXX XXXX XXXX refused to allow XXXX XXXX to send proof of payment then and would not provide a fax number to the XXXX XXXX employee representing me to fax such proof. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX informed me via email it had contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX and confirmed my payment had been received and that XXXX XXXX XXXX was in the process of refunding me the {$410.00}. XXXX XXXX wrote the following in that email : To assist XXXX XXXX XXXX in locating this payment, we have mailed them a proof of payment along with a refund request to Bank of America, Attention : Payment Research XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, TX XXXX. Please allow 7 business days to receive this request. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called XXXX XXXX to follow up because no repayment had been credited to my account. Additionally, I had understood on XX/XX/XXXX that XXXX XXXX XXXX, aka Bank of America, had not been cooperative and had refused proof of payment. XXXX XXXX initiated a conference call at my request on XX/XX/XXXX with XXXX XXXX XXXX/BOA. At that time, XXXX/BOA could not help me, the representative, XXXX, said because I do not have a Bank of American account with them. This representative said one of three supervisors would call me on XX/XX/XXXX before XXXX, which did not happen. 

Also on XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX XXXX representative recommended I seek legal action. Toward that end, I contacted the state attorney general 's office where I spoke with a representative of the Department of Business Oversight who directed me to XXXX, which oversees national banks. XXXX, however, referred me to the CFPB since this was related to a personal checking account. I contacted CFPB and spoke with XXXX, a representative, who recommended filing a complaint, instructing that online is the fasted and most effective method. 

Surely I am not the first person to click a wrong payee and have money go missing. I find it hard to believe that this has not happened before. I made a mistake. I asked my bank to send {$410.00} to an incorrect payee. What that payee was contacted, it has refused to refund my money. 

What recourse do I have? I am grateful the amount is no more than {$410.00}. But that amount represents a lot of money to me. 

While I feel XXXX XXXX has done what it can to help me and has advocated admirably, I would like to file a complaint against it as well because this originated with my personal checking account and bill pay service, which I misunderstood as a check-writing service instead of a wire or money transfer. 

I am most concerned over the lack of response from XXXX XXXX XXXX/BOA and its apparent lack of procedure for accidental monetary receipt as well as its disregard for seeking any kind of remedy that would refund my money. 

I would like to submit supporting documentation by mail if necessary. Most records are electronic and should be available through XXXX XXXX.

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