Consumer complaint received 2017-08-22
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TN
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
This complaint is in connection with another complaint that is still pending against Bank of America. At one point in time, I had two checking account with them. One I have closed and this complaint is for a charge ( s ) that have been withheld from my new account. InXX/XX/XXXX I contacted Bank of America to inquire about placing a stop payment on my account against a merchant. I asked the bank representative exactly how does it work, what were the related fees for the stop payment, and what all accounts and transactions does it cover. The gentleman ( I did n't get his name ) explained that the fee would be {$XXXX} and that it would cover all transaction types against a single merchant for your checking account. That includes Debit Card transactions, checks ( all amounts ), ACH transactions, and EFT transactions. He stated that it needed to be placed at least three business days before any transactions would try to come through and be processed. I authorized the fee for the stop payment, the representative gave a short disclaimer, the stop payment was placed and the phone call ended. About two months later, I noticed a charge for {$XXXX} had been decucted out of my account and I had n't authorized it. I contacted the bank and was told that the charge came from the merchant I had placed a stop payment against. I explained that I had one in place against them and was told by the gentleman I spoke to that I would need to speak with the Claims Unit to file a claim. I was transferred, explained the situation, and the representative credited my account back the {$XXXX} and they would investigate the claim. I never heard anything back about the claim. No progress updates, letters, anything. Today onXX/XX/XXXX, I received an email alert from the bank stating that my account ( the new one ) balance had fallen below {$25.00} Given that I had checked it a couple of hours earlier and the balance was {$XXXX} something and all purchases were accounted for, I contacted the bank to see about my balance. My account was overdrawn by {$XXXX}. I spoke with a young lady, and she explained that I had a series of transactions that were still processing and would clear overnight and my account would be positive in the morning. I explained to her that I made a deposit of {$XXXX} Friday ( XX/XX/XXXX ) night and I had {$XXXX} available before that and the only major transaction was a {$XXXX} bill I paid over the weekend. She stated that once the deposit fully processed, my account would be positive. I explained to her that my deposit was all cash and no checks and that it was immediately available and that all of my purchases should 've been covered by my total balance. She placed me on hold and then came back and went over the current list of transactions that was processing. She mentioned a charge for {$XXXX} and I stated that I had n't authorized that transaction. She placed me on hold, came back and asked had I submitted a claim a while back. I stated yes and explained to her that I had a stop payment on my account against the merchant that charge was for and was told by the bank that the only way I could get it back was to file a claim for it. She stated that she needed to transfer me to the Claims Unit to see about having the charge reversed or refunded. I was transferred to a gentleman named XXXX and I explained the situation to him. He stated that the merchant sent paperwork that " appeared legitimate '' and that the bank took back the credit that they had given me ( without notice ). I explained to him that I had a stop payment in place against the merchant and that I was told by a bank representative back in XXXX that the stop payment covered all transaction types on my account. He explained that the stop payment I had in place only covered checks. That the transaction was a Debit Card authorization and was not covered. He then explained that when a stop payment is put in place and the " disclaimer '' is read to the customer, that they read the last four of the account number so that the customer would know which account it 's for and that the reading of the last four of the account number serves as a " notice. " I explained to him that since Debit Cards are linked to specific checking accounts people are not going to distinguish the two because they will assume that since they are linked they are n't separate and the bank does n't disclose that information. I also explained that I was told that if I was told I had to do two separate stop payments ( for one checking account ) I would 've done so but I went with the information that was given to me. XXXX explained that they could n't refund the {$XXXX} because there was no way to recover the money from the merchant. I explained to him, while I understood that, my issue is n't with the merchant, it 's with the bank because this is an error the bank made. I was told that stop payments do one thing, then I had to file a claim when the Bank did n't do what it told me it was going to do by not allowing the transactions from the merchant to process ... and I paid for what I was told I was getting. Why was n't I told how the stop payments work when I file the claim? Now, my account is overdrawn because of a mistake the bank has made. XXXX credited my account with the {$XXXX} stop payment fee but the problem does n't end there. XXXX transfered me to XXXX in the Fees Unit and he told me I would incur an overdraft fee. So even though I was credited with the {$XXXX}, the overdraft fee is {$XXXX} so I 'll end up in a bigger hole then when I started and that is not including any other transactions that will come through and the fees for those.

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