Consumer complaint received 2017-08-17
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MO
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms

Complaint:
I XXXX searched, " Best Credit Cards for XX/XX/XXXX '' the week of XX/XX/XXXX. My desire was to find a new credit card with 0 % purchase period for extended period of time and offer possible cash reward. This financial plan was going to afford me flexibility in paying off my other credit cards in a timely manor without accruing interest on new purchases. After extensive searching, I applied for two credit cards on XX/XX/XXXX through the webpage XXXX. The first card opened was  a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. The second card, the problematic and conditional card, was a BankAmericard XXXX provided by Bank of America ( BofA ). I copied verbatim the terms and conditions of the BankAmericard offered through XXXX  and placed it in my notes section of my XXXX. Here is the summary of the offer as stated by XXXX as of my application date of XX/XX/XXXX : '' 0 % Intro Purchases APR until XX/XX/XXXX, 0 % Intro APR for Balance Transfers made within the first 60 days and then 3 % fee for Balance Transfers after May 25, 2017 '' ... meaning, the interest rate would increase to 18.49 % in XX/XX/XXXX after 19 months. Bank of America said I could immediately begin making purchases, so I did. XX/XX/XXXX I received the actual card in the mail I activated it at XXXX hours. By late XX/XX/XXXX I received my first credit card statement and no interest was charged. Payment was made greater than the minimum payment due on XX/XX/XXXX, due dateXX/XX/XXXX. I continued to make essential and non-essential purchases up to this point. The later part of XX/XX/XXXX I received another bill, which is when I noted interest accruing to my account at a high percentage rate of 18.74 %! This was not in my 0 % Intro Purchase APR agreement with Bank of America or XXXX, so I paid greater than my minimum balance and phoned Bank of America. I spoke with XXXX from Bank of America on XX/XX/XXXX at  XXXX hours and asked why the terms and conditions had changed since my initial sign up and she said to send a copy of the offer or offers closest to the offer I applied for and fax to her supervisor, XXXX XXXX ( Manager of BofA )XXXXXXXX for further investigation. It took a couple weeks for me to learn how to screen shot from my XXXX, but I came up with several different pages worth of offers from various websites that detailed the exact offer I signed up for, the only exception was my initial offer stated 19 months 0 % Intro Purchase APR and the other offers I found stated 15 months 0 % Intro Purchase APR. I did the leg work and was ready to submit via fax to Bank of America the information they requested. On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX hours I printed off the offers and faxed to XXXX XXXX at BofA to XXXX for him to investigate further. I sent several screen shots of my offer, a letter detailing my excellent history with Bank of America and summary of the terms and conditions of the BankAmericard I applied for as advertised by XXXX and plea to rectify the situation. To add insult to an already stressful financial situation, I had to utilize an outside business to transmit the fax because Bank of America does n't have a client-based email system and it cost me another {$9.00} and change for such transaction! After providing all proof and pertinent information to Bank of America per their request, I thought my credit card terms and situation would lead to a full rectification, reimbursement of accruing interest and reinstatement of initial offer. However, the evening of XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, I received a phone call from XXXX XXXX, XXXX at BofA, telling me he received the information and his plan was to look through everything I 'd provided, for him to make his final determination on the status of my account. He 'd return my phone call with the verdict either later that night or next day. On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, XXXX XXXX phoned to say, " The screen shots '' I 'd offered and faxed to him " were only valid after XX/XX/XXXX '' and they " were n't sufficient '' to reinstate the initial terms and conditions of the card offer because they " were n't date stamped ''. I explained to XXXX XXXX again that I 'd copied verbatim the terms and conditions, but my proof did n't have a date stamp either. So, his suggestion was to, " Contact XXXX to get the offer they released on their website '' to show proof of the offer I originally applied for, " then resubmit '' to Bank of America and his private fax number. Per XXXX XXXX 's suggestion, I immediately looked up the business number to XXXX  and phoned them. XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX hours I left a detailed message at phone number XXXX to a voice mail box of XXXX XXXX Since I had n't received a response from anyone at XXXX over the weekend, I tried again to reach their customer service department, per their website, on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX hours, I left another detailed message with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX at XXXX hours I phoned XXXX and left more detailed messages for them to return my imperative phone call. Additionally, on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX hours I sent a message via email from the XXXX XXXX to customer service and still have yet to receive any kind of response from any of the XXXX company or employees. At this point, I feel like I 've been taken advantage of financially, emotionally and physically, so let me explain why I 'm filing this complaint. It is unjust enrichment for large internet companies like XXXX and financial institutions like Bank of America to continue operating when offering false advertising of XXXX percent interest rates on purchases for extended months, XXXX percent balance transfers within a short time period, changes to terms and conditions without adhering to initial advertised rates, all while benefiting financially from the well-intended consumer. I 'm outraged at the hoops I 've had to jump through in an attempt to rectify this situation. As it stands, there has been no compensation to right this financial wrong by either company. I 'm accruing interest at an alarming rate, despite my great credit score, all while I 've had to seek out the solution independently because these big companies ca n't be honest, stick to their word, or remain transparent! I would have never signed up for a card knowing I 'd be charged high interest on purchases from day one. I did n't  really need another card because I already have multiple cards with low interest rates. The whole appeal of this BankAmericard was the offered 0 % Intro Purchase APR for 19 months! I 'm appalled to be told I have to work harder to find the solution to Bank of America 's mistake. I 've done everything that 's been asked of me and then more. I pay my bills on time, have great credit, live a deceit-free life and give generously to the world. Emotionally this experience has left me wanting to close all my credit cards, withdraw my money from every financial institution/investment and sue the pants off Bank of America and XXXX! I 'm not a XXXX consumer!!! I thoroughly investigated each credit offer and took all the appropriate steps before signing up for a new credit card. To be embroiled in falsified advertising makes me very angry and hate big business! Sadly, I was n't even respected enough as a consumer to be provided a return curtesy call, after multiple attempts, to rectify this unjust situation by XXXX. Then there 's the physical side to this nonsensical dishonesty ... I 'm XXXX from an XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. The fact that Bank of America required me to send documents and correspondence via fax ONLY, instead of allowing the ease and use of email is beyond me. All of these documents could have been sent promptly to BofA if they would have accepted an emailed version. It is n't an easy task for me to gather my personal/financial information, feel secure sending said information via random fax number, to said manager at BofA, then be turned down and told they could n't remedy their error with the information I worked so hard to gather. I 've had to physically travel to gather/send information causing great hardship to my already XXXX XXXX and the stress of the situation has also caused me to have an uptick in stress headaches. My hope is for the government, through whatever methods can be utilized and successful, stop companies like XXXX and Bank of America from falsely advertising rates, terms and conditions, penalize this atrocious behavior, right the wrong to the customer/consumer by reinstating initial offers, waive high interest credit card accruement to allow the consumer to regain financial independence and set an example for ethical business practices to ensure our economy will thrive. Please contact me if there are any further questions or details needed to ameliorate this complaint/process.

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