Consumer complaint received 2016-10-21
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: VA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
In XXXX, Bank of America offered us specialized pricing on our deposit accounts to entice us to move our business from XXXX Bank. XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX were involved in this arrangement. Had Bank of America not agreed to this specialized pricing, we would not have moved our accounts. This agreement was not subject to any expiration date ; the only stipulation was that it was subject to review on an annual basis. For several years, XXXX XXXX came to our office annually to review the relationship ; no changes were ever proposed or made. Following XXXX XXXX 's departure from the bank, no further annual reviews occurred. However, the specialized pricing stayed in place as agreed. In XXXX, with no notice and no annual review, the bank began subjecting our accounts to more than double the agreed to fees in an effort to coerce us into signing unnecessary and unacceptable loan modification documents on our mortgage. We were specifically told by the local branch and the Business Banking office there was nothing they could do because the relationship was being managed by their Special Assets Group. At that point, the Special Assets Group refused to address the overcharges. After several months of inaction, I sent an email to the bank letting them know that this action was not only unethical, it was also illegal. Two business days after my email, the bank resumed the specialized pricing on our accounts. However, the bank refused to credit the overcharges it had previously imposed. A couple of months later, the bank increased the service fees again - with no notice and no annual review. When I brought this to their attention the Special Assets Group responded with a bogus default letter on our mortgage. At that point, I filed a complaint regarding both the mortgage and service fees with the Comptroller of the Currency. While most of the issues surrounding the mortgage seem to have been resolved, the problem with the excess service fees has not. It appears as though the OCC is unwilling to pursue the service fees ; seeing it as merely a contract dispute, instead of the clear case of fraud and coercion that it is. After refusing to address the problem for several months, XXXX XXXX with Bank of America finally responded to my roughly twelfth email to him on the subject to say that the bank considers the current service fees to be correct. This is ludicrous, as they are wholly inconsistent with our agreement. I have since sent the bank numerous emails requesting answers to questions such as, " Who with Bank of America decided to change the charges on our accounts in a manner that is inconsistent with the specialized pricing agreement? When did the annual review occur that resulted in changes to the specialized pricing agreement? Where did it occur? Who was in attendance? If this meeting occurred, why was n't a representative of Ace in attendance, as there had been at every other annual review? Were we notified of this meeting in advance? If not, why not? Were we notified of the results of this meeting? If not, why not? '' I have gotten no response whatsoever from the bank regarding these questions. At this point, the total overcharges on our accounts is roughly {$50000.00} - and increases by another {$2000.00} every month it continues.

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