Consumer complaint received 2016-04-21
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
My complaint has to do with Bank of America 's policy for making funds available from third party checks that were deposited into personal deposit accounts. 

As I see it, and as I hope the CFPB sees it, B of A informed me too late that a {$1800.00} check someone -- who turned out to be a highly skilled scammer who preys on elderly persons such as me ( I 'm XXXX ) -- mailed me and that I had deposited and then quickly wired {$1300.00} of it back to the sender, turned out to be counterfeit. 

On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I deposited into my checking account at my local B of A branch ( XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, CA, XXXX ; XXXX ) a check in the amount of {$1800.00} that a third party had mailed me. I had a pre-existing balance of only {$280.00} in my checking account at the time. 

Due to my being able to only secure sporadic employment since XXXX XXXX because of a recurring XXXX, my checking account balance had hovered in the {$300.00} range for several months, with just a very few low dollar, XXXX deposits made into it since XXXX XXXX. 

So, given my checking account depositing history from XXXX XXXX to XXXX XXXX, XXXX, the decisioning algorithm that B of A 's uses in making funds available should have flagged my XXXX XXXX, XXXX deposit of {$1800.00} as unusual and it also should have placed a 48 or 72 hour hold on all or the vast majority of it. 

On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I still did not know that the check was counterfeit, nor did I know at that time that I 'd also fallen for a sophisticated XXXX 'Help Wanted ' scam perpetrated against me via email, texts and the mail. 

The very next day, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, my B of A branch released the entire {$1800.00} into my checking account and made ALL of it available for me to withdraw. 

So, because B of A released the entire {$1800.00} to me so quickly, I assumed that the check had cleared -- that B of A had followed its own policies and procedures that required it to verify that the check was valid and that the person who wrote it had enough funds in his account to cover it. 

On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, following the instructions of the person who wrote and sent me the check ( the person who I eventually realized one day later, XXXX XXXX, XXXX, had scammed me via a XXXX 'Help Wanted ' ad ), I withdrew in cash {$1300.00} of the {$1800.00} check I had deposited into my checking account and sent that person ( the scammer ) a XXXX for {$1300.00}. 

Then on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, B of A notified me that on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, they had determined that the {$1800.00} check was counterfeit, and that my checking account was now overdrawn by {$980.00} Since XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I have tried several times to no avail to get B of A to reimburse me the {$1800.00} because the great speed at which they released the funds to me led me to believe that the check was not counterfeit -- that it was legitimate. 

B of A claims that in my case they followed their established policies and procedures for, in my case, very quickly / too quickly releasing funds deposited via a third party check. 

B of A gave me a brochure that discloses and explains this policy / procedure. As I see it, this very important disclosure / explanation is extremely inadequate in that it is buried on P. XXXX of the XXXX page brochure they gave me! 

Had I known on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, that B of A had not yet verified that the {$1800.00} check was valid, I would not have withdrawn in cash the {$1300.00}, and I would not be in the predicament that I now find myself mired in. 

So, I want B of A to reimburse me in the amount of {$1800.00}.

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