Consumer complaint received 2021-02-12
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: PA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, PA XXXX Bank of America XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, AZ XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Attn : Fraud Claims Division Re : Claim Number : XXXX Account ending in : XXXX Amount : {$2800.00} To whom it may concern : This statement is in response to your letter dated XX/XX/XXXX ( Ex. XXXX ) in which you claim to have completed your research and determined that the transaction activity in question was authorized and posted correctly to my account. As a merchant who conducts sales both online and in person, I am very familiar with the chargeback process and it seems that your department could NOT have engaged in ANY due diligence regarding these transactions. The merchants who accepted these payments using my card could NOT have provided any documentation indicating my authorization of any of these transactions. If I fail to provide documents supporting any chargeback claim against my company, the customers bank ALWAYS sides with their customer. 

As your business customer, I feel that you have been negligent in your duty to protect my assets and have shown no consideration to the impact of this incident to my business operations. Your representatives have given false statements to me over the phone, numerous times, and even your banking center relationship managers have been unable to speak with a decision maker in your department to hold them accountable. 

I shall begin with the FACTS. 
On the morning of XX/XX/XXXX my account balance was {$960.00}, according to Online Banking At XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX I received a text alert asking me to verify card activity ( Ex. A ). At that exact moment, I was in my car, phone in my bag, pulling off to pick my son up from school. I did not check text messages while driving, so did not see the alert until I arrived at the school around XXXX. 
From XXXX until XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX I was driving in my car- as evidenced by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX records ( Ex. B ) At no point during that time frame did I receive any additional text alerts from BoA. 


Once finally home and settled, I opened Online Banking to discover the following transactions had begun processing on my account, none of which were authorized ( Ex. C ) : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX FL {$1200.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX {$510.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX {$920.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX {$140.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX {$.00} I immediately used the Online Banking App to lock my card and called the number to report the fraudulent transactions. While engaged in conversation with the representative, she asked to verify transactions dating back to XX/XX/XXXX. I expressed to her that the XXXX transactions were difficult to verify, because their practice is to charge for only items shipped, so my total order amount may look different than the incremental amounts processed. We calculated that one of the transactions for {$83.00} seemed to be a duplicate. I also noticed a transaction from XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX XXXX for {$45.00} that I did not recognize. 
You must understand that at this point I was highly upset that my account was compromised, overdrawn by over XXXX, and in distress. A quick XXXX  search of XXXX XXXX while still on the phone with your representative yielded an XXXX XXXX XXXX business- and not at all a company I paid for services. So I included it in the claim. Upon further research, I discovered that a Vendor I do business with XXXX is a XXXX for XXXX XXXX  XXXX and that transaction is indeed valid. Its a shame that merchants dont make their transactions easily identifiable for customer statements. But this was an honest mistake. Please see Exs. D and E. 
At the conclusion of this call, I was told to expect the claim to take 10 business days for resolution, a new card would be issued, and I should see a temporary credit within 24-48 hours. I was also told that I could check the status of the claim to obtain a claim number by the end of the day in the App. 
On XX/XX/XXXX when I did not see any credits posted and called once again to inquire, I was told that only Customer Service could apply the credits. So I was transferred to them, and after being on hold for 42 minutes told that was not true. I immediately drove to a banking center and met with XXXX XXXX, Relationship Manager who apologized profusely for the service Id been receiving and promised she would handle it. By this time I was facing a deadline to issue payroll the following day, and my account had incurred several NSF fees from items posting that would have been paid had it not been for the fraudulent charges posting on XX/XX/XXXX. I did not hear back from XXXX XXXX until XXXX  morning, when she advised that although she had spoken to a representative in the Fraud Department and been told that the request for temporary credit would be expedited -- there was still no resolution. I was unable to make payroll, NSF fees continue to pile up, and did not hear from her again until XXXX XX/XX/XXXX ( Ex F pages 1-7 ). 
A call directly to the Fraud Dept on XXXX I was told that my request for temporary credit was denied- and no reason given. My account continues to be overdrawn and through no fault of my own. 
I took it upon myself to investigate these charges. 
I called XXXX XXXX XXXX location directly ( ex G ), and they were unable to give me information about the patient but did indicate the amount charged was for a deposit- and that they were able to cancel it out. The fact that it never fully processed indicates that they were successful. 
An attempt was made to speak with someone at XXXX XXXX, but the call was routed to my local branch and the person I spoke with only took my information and said she would pass it on to a Supervisor. I never received a call back. I did make it known that I am not a customer of theirs, yet my debit card was used to make a payment that I did not authorize. 
I XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and found that it is an apartment complex in XXXX, NC ( Ex. H ) Spoke with someone in Leasing and they indicated that the amount reflects an application fee, but they are not authorized to divulge any information. I told her that I did not apply for a unit in their building, yet my card was used to do so without my knowledge or permission. 
I called XXXX XXXX XXXX at the number listed on the transaction, and found that it is a payment system for apartments. I was given the name of the property AND the tenant who used my card ( I do NOT know this person nor did I authorize ) : XXXX XXXX  Residence, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX NC XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX ( Ex. I ) XXXX XXXX Tenant Finally, in response to your letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, I called the number listed and spoke with a gentleman who was very kind and helpful. He advised me that I should contact the police to report the theft, and respond to you via a written statement, which I am doing. The police report was filed with the XXXX Police Department, XXXX XXXX, and assigned DC # XXXX. You can contact the XXXX XXXX XXXX for a copy XXXX. 
The representative I spoke with also was kind enough to recite the reasoning that was used to close my claim- and didnt understand why it was not included in the letter sent to me. I wrote down every word he said, and here is my response : Disputed transactions do not follow a fraud pattern Considering the transactions began with a XXXXXXXX  charge in XXXX, IL and charges followed within an hour in XXXX, XXXX and wherever XXXX XXXX  XXXX  is located -- I would expect anyone in your department to identify this as a fraud pattern. Otherwise, why did I receive a text alert? 
Transactions are sporadic They are clustered and took place in a short span of time When someone has access to a card they try to maximize the account right away They DID. They completely emptied the account AND overdrew it with pending authorizations by over XXXX No signs of card being compromised Again, I received a fraud text alert- that alone indicates that your department suspected compromise. 
There was no aggressive usage on card Charging XXXX over what was available, across 4 states, in under an hour does not constitute aggressive usage??? 
There were no rejected attempts after fraud claim activity, indicating that person using the card knew status of account Completely false. There was an attempt at XXXX online right after the card was locked. See Ex. J Customer logged into Online Banking 15x between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, so before filing disputed transactions the customer would have known account status. 
I log into Online Banking multiple times a day, every day. It is my right as a customer and in no way should be held against me or used as some excuse to place blame upon me for my card being compromised. Check the times of the login on the date of the compromise -- I logged in that morning ( to verify that my ACH deposit from online sales had posted ), and not again until after the text alert came to me. 

Considering the egregious mishandling of this claim and disrespect you have shown me as a small business customer, I will also be filing a formal complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. My account remains overdrawn, and has incurred 11 ( ELEVEN ) {$35.00} NSF fees as of the date of this letter ( ex. K Pgs 1-3 ) - with more to come. I was also promised that these fees would be refunded to me upon claim resolution. 

I can be reached at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and would appreciate a timely response to this letter. 





Regards, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX CO XXXX CC : Consumer Financial Protection Bureau XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX. 
XXXX XXXX, XXXX.

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 monetary relief