Consumer complaint received 2022-03-18
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
My name is XXXX XXXX and I am issuing this complaint against Bank of America because of intentional negligence regarding my claim, that I filed with Bank of America, regarding a fraudulent withdrawl of {$1000.00} from my Bank of America account. The unauthorized withdrawl of {$1000.00} took place at a XXXX XXXX ATM, located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, California XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I found out several days later ( XX/XX/XXXX ) when I went to make a withdrawl and I had insufficient funds. I immeditely called Bank of America to report the issue, however it was past the hours of operation for their claims department, so I called again the following day and filed my initial claim on XX/XX/XXXX. 
I was later notified in late XX/XX/XXXX, by mail ( attached letter dated XX/XX/XXXX ), that my claim had been closed due to suspected fraudulent activity. When I called Bank of America to ask what that meant, I was informed my 1st claim had been closed XX/XX/XXXX ( 24hrs after I filed the claim ) and had been reopened only to be closed 48 hours after reopening the claim. It became clear to me that Bank of America was just automatically closing my claim ( which they admitted to in a letter, I later received from Bank of America, dated XX/XX/XXXX ) without any type of investigation, as with so many other Californians dealing with similar fraudulent issues. Despite it clearly stating that Bank of America customers were protected under the Company Cardholder Agreement with a zero liability policy. Bank of America told me they would re-open my claim again, now a total of three times the claim had been opened but this time under a different claim number. I was informed this could take up to 90 days to make a decision, the same thing I was told when I filed my initial claim the first time. 
I called to check in on my claim towards the end of XXXX only to find out the claim number I was given belonged to another person and that my claim had never been reopened the third time. So I essentially wasted almost 2 whole months waiting on nothing. My claim was then reopened for the fourth time but officially the third time and I was told because of the amount of claims that the investigation would take 90 days and even up to 6 months to conclude. I was also advised to open a police report and fax Bank of America a copy once it was filed. Because of the specific crime perpetrated against me I was unable to file online, through their automated phone system or in person. I had to call the police station leave a message and wait for an officer to call me back. After which I had to wait until a week after the report was filed before I could mail in a request to have the physical copy of the police report mailed to me. All of which took over a month and as soon as I received a copy ( the very beginning of XXXX ) I faxed the police report to Bank of Ameica per their instructions, while on the phone with them, so they could confirm having received it. 
I then received a letter from Bank of America a day or two later ( Attached letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, the letters were always dated weeks before I actually received them ) Confirming that Bank of America had been automatically denying claims with zero investigation having been done. Because of all the Cass Action Lawsuits against them, Bank of America was made to stop automatically denying claims and that we were allowed t call in and reopen a claim if it had been closed, which I had already just done. The letter also stated that if a decision had not been reached within ten days that we would be given a provincial credit, of which I never received and when I called Bank of America to ask about the provincial credit, thhe representative told me she was unable to issue one to me, despite meeting all the criteria listed in the letter.

About six months passes without so much as a word, other than the same repeated form letters stating that Bank of America had extended their call center hours for the claims department. At the end of XXXX I called in to check in on the staus of my claim as it had been almost six months since reopening it. I was informed that they had reached a decision back in late XXXX and that my claim had been closed. I never received anything from Bank of America indicating this. I was informed I could request the documentation they used to make their decision, which I did. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the documentation ( attached letter dated XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Bank of America used in making their decision regarding my claim. It was simply an old bank statement that showed I had used the same ATM that the fraud took place at, 3 months prior to the fraud taking place. So they simply denied my claim again because I used the same ATM once in the past, no checking the security camera, no taking any info that was submitted in my police report seriously, just Bank of America looking for any reason they could find to deny my claim and get rid of me. Bank of America also denied having my police report, despite me receiving confirmaion from them when I originally submitted it. Yet they did have the police report number on my file which was curious, how do you have the number if you dont have/never received the report? 
All of this could have been avoided, along with thousands of other claim cases had Bank of America given their unemployment customers the same debit card as they do their regular customers, with the encryption chip that prevents fraudsters from copying debit cards in the first place. But someone or a group of somebodies at Bank of America thought giving their unemploment customers, who have no choice but to use Bank of America due to their deal with California XXXX, decades old technology to save a few bucks ending up costing Their XXXX customers untold thousands of dollars and now theyre trying to stick us with the bill, ignoring their own policys and agreements. Bank of America has acted criminally and not only screwed me over but thousands of Californians and at a point where we needed help the most, finding urselves suddenly unemployed due to no fault of our own and during a pandemic. Shameful. A year later and my claim still lies in limbo. Shameful.

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