Consumer complaint received 2016-11-27
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: GA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Making/receiving payments, sending money

Complaint:
I mailed my electric bill payment check to the power company, and when my next bill arrived, the payment was not reflected. When I checked my bank statement, the check I mailed to them had cleared. I called the power company, they said to bring my bank statement to their offices as they have no record of receiving the check. After taking the bank statement, they requested a copy of the front and back of the check. When I went to the bank for the copy of the check, it was clear the power company did not receive it. Someone had printed my name on the back of the check, and under that wrote " pay to the order of '' and a name. I immediately asked the bank and their check fraud dept. how this could happen, and no one could seem to give me an answer. They gave me a run around and played word games. They said it appears the check was deposited at another bank then sent to my bank for payment. I asked why did they cash it when it was sent to them for payment, and they responded they did n't cash it, the other bank did but they would try to get my money back for me. I told them this check was clearly not cashed by the power company, so why did they pay the check when it was presented to them when they should have rejected it. They said this is a routine transaction and they do n't question checks presented by other banks. I told them I only want the person/company to whom I make a check payable to be able to cash it, and they told me they would note my account with that information. I took the copy of the check to the power company, who said it was clear they did not receive this check, and I went from there to file a police report. This was on XX/XX/XXXX, and I finally received a " Fraud Statement of Claimant '' form from the Check Fraud Department with a date on the cover letter of XX/XX/XXXX whick was worded as if I was just now making the report. I do n't understand why they did not send me this form when I made the report on XX/XX/XXXX, because I thought that was what I was doing when I called them from the bank. The cover letter stated, " Please be advised that the responsibility for accepting an item with an alteration or forged/missing endorsement rests with the bank of first deposit. We will forward your claim to the XXXX upon receipt of a properly executed Fraud Statement. Please complete and return the enclosed Fraud Statement within 10 business days. '' I do not understand how their statement can be legal. I am their customer, and they have a responsibility to protect my funds, which they have not done in this case, and with this statement they are saying they will not do in the future. This statement says they will give my money to anyone who asks for it, and it 's not their problem if they gave it to the wrong person. I do not understand how they are not responsible for paying the " XXXX '' when they should have rejected this check. I fail to understand this premise, especially since the consumer does not have the ability to discover the " XXXX '' and has no mechanism to collect this directly from the " XXXX. '' In this case, the fraud is so blatant that I believe the " XXXX '' should be criminally liable for accepting this check to begin with, when it was made out to the power company and the individual who presented it was clearly not the power company, and I expressed that to the detective investigating this case. I also think my bank should be criminally liable for not rejecting it and allowing the funds to be paid from my account, as I consider that to be theft by conversion. It took my bank almost a month after I reported this to send me the Fraud Statement to complete, so they are delaying unnecessarily to avoid returning my money, which they should have returned already. I have already closed my account, I just want my money back.

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