Consumer complaint received 2015-07-27
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
Bank of America committed misrepresentation, financial fraud, and marketing deception in its early 2015 offer to pay a {$300.00} bonus for opening a new checking account. I opened a new checking account on XXXX XXXX, 2015 and fulfilled all the originally stated offer requirements. I made the XXXX required electronic direct deposits, each of {$2000.00} or more, within XXXX days after opening the new checking account. 

I told Bank of America, BEFORE opening the checking account, the exact type of direct deposits I would be making and the financial institution from which the direct deposits would be coming. Both their telephone customer service supervisor and branch bank employees checked with the Bank of America marketing department and were told that my proposed direct deposits would qualify under the terms of this bonus offer. 

Their offer terms stated, in writing, that the bonus would be paid within XXXX days after meeting the requirements of this marketing offer. However, after XXXX days had passed, their telephone customer service department supervisors stated that their bank had XXXX days to pay the bonus. The physical branch office where I opened the checking account then also changed the requirement to be XXXX days. XXXX their customer service and branch bank representatives said that I had to keep this checking account open with a minimum balance of at least {$1500.00} to receive the bonus and not be charged any monthly fees. 

On XXXX XXXX, 2015, after XXXX days had passed, one of their telephone customer service supervisors told me, for the very first time, that the two electronic direct deposits I made back in XXXX, 2015 did not qualify as the " correct type '' of electronic direct deposits. However, there was no requirement in the original offer that the transferring financial institution had to code the electronic direct deposits in any particular way. And none of the telephone customer service supervisors or the branch bank manager I talked with was even able to tell me what a " correct type '' of electronic direct deposit actually consisted of! 

Further, on XXXX XXXX, 2015, one of their telephone customer service supervisors told me, again for the very first time, that they were aware back on XXXX XXXX, 2015, that my first direct deposit was labeled in their system as not being the " correct type '' of direct deposit to qualify for the bonus! But no one ever told me this, on the phone or in writing, during the following XXXX months. They only told me I had to keep the account open, with a minimum balance of at least {$1500.00}, to receive the bonus and not pay any fees. During the entire XXXX month time period I had this account open, Bank of America paid me no interest or bonus money whatsoever. 

In short, Bank of America perpetrated a scheme of misrepresentation and fraud to obtain new accounts and new deposits into its bank on which it paid no interest. It did this by creating additional, unrevealed, hidden requirements that the customer never knew they had to meet. Further, the bank never contacted me, the customer, in any way to notify me that I did not qualify for the {$300.00} bonus. I was the initiator of all the bonus payment status inquiries during this 6-month period. 

I am requesting that ( 1 ) Bank of America pay me the {$300.00} bonus, which I did fully qualify for based on the bonus offer terms they actually disclosed to the public, and ( 2 ) the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau investigate Bank of America 's many marketing promotions for all instances of misrepresentation, fraud, and marketing deception, and prosecute all violations of federal and state regulations and laws.

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief