Consumer complaint received 2022-02-14
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MD
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:
Bank of America has locked me out of my accounts through online banking. I have wasted an inordinate amount of time with it trying to sign in and on the phone. Its dysfunctional operations are denying me access to funds and widely advertised services and hamper my ability to find out balances and pay them when due. 

I first had trouble recently signing in to online banking because BoA tried to send an authorization code to my cell phone. I have never authorized BoA to have, use or retain my cell phone number, yet it does so anyway, then uses its dysfunction as a justification for doing exactly what it should not do : i.e., capture, use, retain, etc., my cell phone number. ) I had no trouble signing into online banking for an extended period of time until BoA decided to replace my travel VISA with another card. It said it would mail me a replacement card but failed to do so for weeks. Weeks later, I then called again for the replacement card it said it was going to send since it had denied me use of the credit card I had. It claimed, yet again, that it would send a replacement card. Eventually, but without overnight mail to expedite correcting its mistakes, both replacement cards arrived about the same time. I took XXXX and activated it and was told by BoAs mindless machine that it was ready to use. 

However, since that happened, BoA has locked me out of online banking. Today when I tried to sign in to online banking to check my credit card balance and due date, its website said it would send me an authorization code to the cell phone it does not have permission to use. This happened repeatedly. I called, wasted more time trying to reach someone at BoA, then opted to be called back since it was experiencing heavier than usual call volumes, a frequently heard euphemism for the persistent problem of BoA not hiring enough staff to maintain its widely advertised services and over extended number of credit card accounts. 

When someone from BoA returned my call, she again tried to send a code that did not come through, again, to the cell phone, the number of which, it should not have, use or retain. A code did not come through to my phone after she sent XXXX, more than once. She then tried to blame this technological glitch on me, tried to get me to do its dirty work ( all through the unauthorized use of a private cell phone ) to fix the problem, then said it would have to verify me another way. 

It turns out that that the other way of verification entails a second violation of my permission and privacy : the BoA spokeswoman demanded an email address, undoubtedly so that it can flood any inbox I might have with a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I do not want. She then announced that she could not verify me since her demand for an email address I dont have meant that I would be denied access to my accounts through online banking indefinitely. 

BoA is a disgusting organization that XXXX and XXXX XXXX its way into greater market share while gobbling up private information it is not entitled to have and will not relinquish, once it obtains information through illicit means, then uses any pretext, including its own XXXX mistakes ( not replacing a credit card when it said it would ), as an opportunity to demand that its customers assume unwanted risks of cyber theft and identity theft so that its low-budget machines can pretend to provide services to more and more of the unsuspecting public. 

The CFPB should force BoA to restore online access to my accounts immediately and should sanction BoA EFFECTIVELY for denying me these services. It should stop BoA from reporting any adverse information in my credit history related to its own mistakes. It should freeze, indefinitely, BoAs ability to open more credit card accounts and force it to sell off some of its accounts to other banks. BoA engages, perpetually, in false, deceptive, unfair and XXXX advertising and practices yet it is not effectively sanctioned for, or deterred from, its well known, injurious offenses.

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