Consumer complaint received 2016-03-18
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: FL
Product: Money transfers
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction issues

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2016, we submitted an online wire transfer from our company, XXXX XXXX XXXX, to The XXXX XXXX as prepayment for a truckload of methanol that was going out the next day. This payment was seized by either our bank ( Bank of America ), or by the receiving bank ( XXXX XXXX ). It is difficult to tell just who had our money, as each bank said they did not have our money, and that the other bank was responsible. We were told that it was flagged by the Office of Foreign Asset Control ( OFAC ) as somehow being a foreign transaction, or suspicious in some way. The transaction was neither foreign, nor suspicious, as we only do domestic business selling methanol ( a fuel ) to US destinations. ( This one was XXXX to XXXX. ) We ( XXXX XXXX ) have been doing online wire transfers for several years in the normal course of our business as methanol brokers, which is well known to Bank of America. The intended recipient of this payment, The XXXX XXXX, is a major supplier of methanol, and does a large volume of business with this commodity -- much larger than ours by far -- and is thus well-known in this capacity by its bank, XXXX XXXX. The day after this seizure, we provided our bank with all of the information they asked for ( invoice, purchase order, etc ), as well as talking to multiple bank representatives, multiple times. Two days later ( XX/XX/XXXX ), the funds were still being held, so we submitted a replacement wire transfer online. This payment, too, was seized. At this point, our supplier, The XXXX XXXX, believed we had failed to pay for the XXXX loads that had gone out to us during that time, and so we paid them AGAIN for the same XXXX loads of methanol. This amounted to {$8100.00} that we paid twice, so {$16000.00} total. Some companies in our same situation may very well have lost the entire account -- and we would have lost this important account as well -- had we been unable to replace the funds ourselves while we waited for our funds to be released, which took TWO WEEKS. The second payment was released only today, XX/XX/2016, which is 16 days after the first payment was seized. At this writing, we have been able to salvage this new account by sending payments overnight in the mail, bypassing the wire process altogether. This new account will generate significant revenue for us, assuming these bureaucrats do n't succeed in killing it for us. The reason I am reporting this incident is because I believe one or both banks are systematically misappropriating funds that they hold and/or use at their discretion without just cause, while causing serious harm to the business interests of their customers ( eg - our company, and other companies like us. ) These people were given all the information they needed to make a determination as to the nature of the transaction on the FIRST day they asked for it, and yet, they continued to hold our funds for 14 more days. This is outrageous! These banks should be monitored and/or investigated for abuse / misuse of their customer 's money.

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