Consumer complaint received 2022-07-19
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: FL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Banking errors

Complaint:
I would like to file a complaint against Bank of America, with whom I have done business with since XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a phone call from a company calling themselves XXXX XXXX XXXX They informed me that they had taken over my student loan from a previous lender and that I was behind on payments. My initial confusion and panic was quelled when they informed me that I could set up automatic payments moving forward. 

They requested that I forward them my last two pay stubs for income documentation ; these were sent via email communications that took place that very same day. 

Since that time, the company made automatic monthly withdrawals from account, in the amount of {$49.00}. The statement reflects these charges as XXXX XXXX. During this period, they would periodically check with me via text and email mostly saying your account is due in the next 5 days, please make sure there are funds in your account and general reassurance that everything was going well. 

These emails were sent from XXXX ; they included in their signature that they could be contacted at XXXX. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a phone call from XXXX. The woman informed me it was a courtesy call to let me know that payments would be reinstated, post-covid. I casually mentioned that my monthly payment had not been paused during covid this prompted her to forward me emails regarding account access and information on fraudulent companies. 

After looking into the matter and realizing that details I had never previously been privy to ( such as a .club URL, etc ) were pointing towards student support services being a fraudulent company, I filed a fraud claim with Bank of America . 

Their response was to freeze my checking account, and open a new account with a new account and routing number. As it stands, the original account is still frozen; accessible on my mobile app and showing a balance of - {$880.00}, XXXX After filing the claim, I informed them that my paycheck was to be direct deposited into my original account and that I had several bills due to be paid. With that information, they recommended that I wait one day to freeze the account, pay all my bills, and call the next day to proceed with setting up the new account. 

Because the account I paid bills from was frozen the next day after my phone call, all these bills were bounced back once the account was frozen, incurring several late fee charges. Furthermore, my paycheck was not transferred over into my new account. 

The issue here is that I was unable to see that the original account had any money in it from my side, the only visible number was the- {$880000.00} There was no reason ever given for why I was recommended to allow my check to be deposited in the old account, to pay my bills from this account, nor accountability taken for not having transferred all of my funds into the new account. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, soon after my claim was filed, I received an email from student support services in which they claimed they would no longer be billing my account due to covid 19. I have not heard from them since.

I eventually received documentation from Bank of America in which I was informed that they were denying the claim ; none of my money was to be returned, not from the fraudulent monthly payments, or the late fees and overdraft fees incurred due to their clumsy handling of setting up a new primary account. 

Their reasoning was based on the fact that this was not fraud, but a scam. Per the company, the difference between the two is that the latter was, at some point, able to gain access to your account information. 

From what I am aware, the fraudulent company charged me monthly from XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, a total of 19 monthly payments. This totals to {$940.00}. I specify this total is what I am aware of, as opposed to asserting the total with confidence, because Bank of America has yet to tell me just how far back these charges go or how many transactions were made. I was told that they could see additional charges, from earlier that would not be visible to me in my own app. A grand total has still yet to be given. 

It is my belief that Bank of America should honor this situation as fraud, given the fact that money was indeed being taken by a fraudulent company. Monies should be recovered in the total amount paid. 

I have exhausted my resources attempting to resolve this issue with the bank itself. I have spoken with numerous individuals on the telephone, as well as at the branch located in my town. I have also filed a fraud claim, which was later denied. 

Thank you for your assistance in seeing that this matter does not go unanswered as a financial institution, Bank of America should honor its loyal customers and protect them against fraudulent entities meaning to do harm. 

Furthermore, I hope this helps to ensure that no other former student, trying to better their lives by furthering their education, is made to be taken advantage of in this manner. Thinking that you are responsibly managing your loans and on track for repayment, only to find out that this money was instead thrown right down the drain well, quite honestly, is nothing short of defeating.

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