Consumer complaint received 2017-09-05
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Other problem

Complaint:
CORE ISSUE : Bank of America charged off my account in XX/XX/XXXX despite me making timely, consistent, provable payments. I never intended to abandon the debt and never received any collections calls or emails on this matter. Bank of America has failed to provide accurate validation of the debt, which is a violation of the FACT Act/FCRA Furnisher Requirements. Furthermore, Bank of America raised my monthly minimum payment without 45-day notice, a violation of the CARD act. 
BACKGROUND In XX/XX/XXXX Bank of America closed my account that I opened in XX/XX/XXXX. At the time of closure the balance was around {$700.00}. I set the Bank of America AutoPay to draw {$20.00} each month. At the time I set this up, there was no option to pay the monthly minimum. Rather, Bank of America required a dollar amount instead. The {$20.00} figure I entered was more than adequate to cover the minimum payment. I continued to make these payments for years, including past the time Bank of America charged off the account. For evidence of this, please see Document 2 int the uploaded PDF, which includes proof of payment via my bank statements. In XX/XX/XXXX, Bank of America began raising the minimum payment every month. They did not give me any notice they were raising my monthly payment, despite the requirements of the CARD Act to provide 45 day notice of a change in terms. This is visible in Document 4 in the attached PDF. 
The balance at the time was {$190.00}. There were no missed payments that triggered an increase in the monthly minimum. Bank of America continued to increase the monthly minimums each month, ultimately reaching 77 % of the balance in XX/XX/XXXX before they charged off the account. These are visible in Document 1 in the attached PDF. In XX/XX/XXXX, the balance reached a low of {$170.00}. I continued making timely {$20.00} payments. In XX/XX/XXXX, Bank of America began marking the account delinquent with a balance of {$190.00} and a minimum required payment of {$55.00}, equivalent to 28.64 % of the balance due. During this entire time I received no notice of delinquency, no documentation detailing the change in terms, no phone calls from a Collections Department, nor any emails, despite me being enrolled in electronic statements. Document 3 shows all emails I received from Bank of America during the time in question. Despite me making continued payments and not receiving any notification that anything was wrong, by the end of XX/XX/XXXX the balance had grown 74 % to {$330.00}, growing an additional 24 % to {$410.00} when they unfairly charged off this account. By the time they charged off this long-closed account, Bank of America had inflated the balance by 230 % of the low point, despite no additional charges from me and timely payments each month. DISPUTE In XX/XX/XXXX I completed XXXX treatment and took a look at my credit report for the first time since my diagnosis in XX/XX/XXXX. I was shocked to see a charge off since I had been making timely payments each month. I immediately contacted Bank of America and asked for documentation of the situationphone records, emails, and mail correspondence proving that they had notified me of a delinquency or made any attempt to collect this debt before charging it off. They declined to provide any information. Since then, I have sent a total of 7 letters including disputes. In each I have asked for proof of their communication and they have failed to provide anything. 

Bank of America has not provided any validation beyond simply saying the account is reporting correctly. They have not met their burden of proof under the FACT Act/FCRA Furnisher Requirements to provide detailed information regarding an account in dispute. 
They also have not provided any evidence that they did not violate the CARD Act, since they did not provide 45-day notice that they were changing the terms of my account. 
For nearly a year I have been begging for evidence and documentation from Bank of America, but they have failed to provide it. 

Key Problems I believe this was predatory behavior by Bank of America for five key reasons. 

* First, Bank of America did not provide an option for making minimum payments ( only a dollar amount ) when I set up AutoPay in XX/XX/XXXX after they closed my account. 

* Second, they did not notify me of any changes to the required minimum payments. 

* Third, they made no effort to collect this debt via a Collections Department or any outreach to me to ask for payment. 

* Fourth, I continued to make payments the entire time, demonstrating a good-faith effort to pay the debt. 

* Fifth, their charges and fees more than doubled my balance in a little over 1 year, which is exorbitant and unfair considering I was making payments.

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