Consumer complaint received 2015-03-23
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: WA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card
Issue: Disclosure verification of debt
Sub-issue: Not given enough info to verify debt

Complaint:
I have been working with Bank of America ( BOA ) ( also known as ; FIA Card Services ) to resolve an issue that they reported a payment as 30 days late to the XXXX credit reporting agencies. While it is factual that they did not receive payment, and I do not dispute that - they failed to update my billing instructions per my communication. I made this communication to all of my other credit cards and it was updated without issue. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I moved from XXXX to the United States. When I came back, a charge on my FIA card came back as 'suspicious ' and required me to call the fraud department to verify my address, contact information and other information. When I called, I instructed them to update my address in the system so my bill would be sent to that address. They failed to turn off electronic billing as part of that request, update my phone number, or billing address. I know that they failed to update this information because when I called to dispute the credit information, the BOA employee told me that their system showed that my mail was being returned. 

On XXXX XXXX, I received an email from XXXX XXXX, a credit monitoring company, that negative information was posted to my report. That day, I located what account was being reported as late and immediately called BOA/FIA and made a payment to clear the entire balance to {$0.00}. At that point I explained the issue to the staff and they proceeded to argue that I was responsible ; they failed to notify me of my rights to file a dispute, so I escalated to a supervisor. After ~30 seconds the supervisor came on the phone and his tone was much nicer. He said that he would file a dispute and " word it in a way that worked best for me, that hes working for me and knows what to put in the report so it comes out on my side ''. He did not collect other data, ask about my dispute or why I am disputing, or any of the facts that would typically be required to make a dispute. Essentially the dispute process was a joke ; but he left me feeling like it would be resolved. 

1 week later, I received a note from FIA card services that they " investigated '' my dispute ( still unaware of what he put I was disputing ) and that they found the mark to be credible. This note looked auto-generated, without any care put into how the investigating addressed what I thought the issue was. 

I then filed a complaint with the XXXX. In response to this complaint, BOA reached out to me over the phone and initially told me that they had not, in fact, reported any negative information. After providing my social security number though, they were able to locate the account. The representative proceeded to say I was liable, and got me so upset by his lack of responding to my specific issues ( I updated my address when their fraud department called - why had BOA not done it in their system?, he claimed I was not receiving mail from BOA, despite the other associate saying their systems showed my mail was being returned ). I asked on the telephone to escalate to their supervisor and the associate did not transfer and said he needed to investigate more. The associate was a bully - I do n't know how else to explain it, and had cast his judgement early in the call. Mind you this was all being done before any investigation on my specific card was done by this associate. 

Facts : I asked for my address and contact information to be updated, and BOA failed to do so on a fraud prevention call. Had they done this I would have received notice about my bill. 

I will be buying a house in several months, and these negative remarks will have a negative consequence on my ability to secure a mortgage if BOA does not make this change. 

BOA did not take the investigation process seriously, intimidated me over the phone, and this is my last step before hiring an attorney. Given the address change and issues, BOA should not report this item.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation