Consumer complaint received 2023-03-31
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: IL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
To whom it may concern : I can not believe I am here again starting a new complaint again because I am a victim of fraud and Bank of America is doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to help. I currently bank with XXXX XXXX XXXX, and my bank has done everything to fight for my money back. Please read this below ( my original complaint that explains everything ) and then I will continue to explain what happened after BOA closed my claim and the CFPB closed my claim as well. PLEASE REOPEN MY ORIGINAL CLAIM. NOTHING WAS SOLVED : ORIGINAL COMPLAINT ID XXXX To whom it may concern, Our business XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX banks with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Our company wrote a check to a vendor of ours ( XXXX XXXX XXXX  ) on XXXX in the amount of {$1500.00}. That check was intercepted in the mail and signed over to a " XXXX XXXX '' which was not approved, ( nor do we know this person ) by XXXX XXXX XXXX. It was also altered to read " {$9500.00}. '' You can clearly see in the copy I have attached below that the one was altered to a nine both numerically and in the written portion of the check. It was then successfully cashed at a Bank of America, which we are stunned about, considering the check looks clearly altered. I went ahead and notified XXXX immediately when I noticed it was cashed on XXXX, along with notifying my vendor that the check was originally was supposed to go to. He filed a police report ( information attached ) along with myself. I filed a police report with XXXX, IL PD which is where our warehouse is located. I also filed a claim with USPS. As soon as all the paperwork was filed, I received a call from a gentleman at Bank of America basically asking me questions about this case and he went ahead and said " I can clearly see this is fraud so I will be marking it as a clear fraud case and it will be moved over to a different department that handles the re collecting of the money and giving it back to you. '' I have called Bank of America to see what the status was of our refund, and I have yet to hear anything. I am in constant contact with my bank ( XXXX ) but they said there is nothing that they can do and that they are at the mercy of Bank of America since that was where the check was cashed. I keep trying to call Bank of America and they say they can't help me because I don't bank with them. I offered the case number that XXXX provided me with and they said that their case number would be different from XXXX. I called XXXX again to see if they had any other case number and they don't. It has been a constant unfair battle. I am in constant contact with my banker and he is telling me there is nothing they can do until Bank of America responds. He also told me that Bank of America is now ignoring the emails that my banker and his supervisor are sending from XXXX. So now, not only am I being ignored from Bank of America, but so are the emails that are coming from XXXX Bank. I think this is absolutely ridiculous. We are talking about our hard earned money and Bank of America does not have the respect to respond after their bank allowed a fraudulent check to be cashed. I have provided all of the documentation supporting my case and I am really hoping that someone from the CFPB can help. My husband and I have started this company from the ground up and having {$9500.00} stolen from us hurts our business a lot and on top of that being ignored and basically " shooed '' away each time I call Bank of America because I don't bank with them. I have also contacted the police department for an update yesterday and the detective on the case has advised me that he believes he has located the individual that cashed this fraudulent check. He is in the works of getting a warrant. I also went ahead and also submitted this complaint but on the last page it asks to whom i'd like to send the complaint to and I stated " Bank of America. '' And then, it asks for a bank account number which I clearly don't have and this is the exact same issue I am having with them. I hit the edit it button so I could come back on this page and notify you guys in this description what just transpired. 

Since my report above ^ I have heard nothing up until a few weeks ago, a representative from Bank of America called me ONLY because he works in the department that handles the CFPB complaints. He told me " I can not give you any information on this individual that cashed your checks ' account. '' I told him I don't want any information on him at all or what his finances are like, I just want my hard earned money back that BOA cashed fraudulently. He proceeded to tell me that he could not talk to me about anything, but then said my bank would have to reach out to them directly ( which they have been ). I then asked to speak to a supervisor and he directly said " no ma'am I will not connect you to a supervisor, they are going to tell you the same thing I'm telling you. '' I insisted again and he refused. I finally said " well as you stated on the beginning of the call, 'we are on a monitored and recorded line, ' you are telling me on this recorded line you refuse to connect me with a supervisor? '' he then told me to hold a moment to see if he could find a supervisor. He came back on the line and said no one was available but someone would call me back within 24 hours, which absolutely no one did. That was a direct lie. He then said he was sending me a form by email and by mail ( I never received anything in the mail, only by email ) and he said he was sending the same information directly to XXXX XXXX  and to have a good day. The letter ( attached ) basically states that they can not give any information to me and that I would need to fill out an 'Endorsement not as Drawn ' form which I already completed back in XXXX of XXXX  and that my bank would then have to file a hold harmless which they did as well. 

This representative from Bank of America 's name that called me about the above, refusing to connect me to a supervisor is : XXXX XXXX Direct Number : ( XXXX ) XXXX extension : XXXX The executive case number that he gave me was XXXX Fast forward to this week, I receive a secured letter to my XXXX XXXX portal stating that the claim has been closed. I called XXXX XXXX  immediately to ask what happened and the supervisor I spoke to said that BOA gave them two reasons, one it has been past 90 days and that they don't believe the check was fraudulent. She then told me she was going to reach out to them again and ask what the reason is because it should never be two reasons. She told me to call back within 1-2 business days with an update. I went ahead and called again today ( about a week after the call ), and they still have yet to hear anything from Bank of America. 

I can not believe that I am fighting this hard for my hard earned money. This is absolutely ridiculous. The police department that I have filed the police report is working harder than anyone. THEY HAVE FOUND THE CRIMINAL. There is a warrant out for this criminal 's arrest. My local police department is doing a better job at fighting for me than anyone else, including the CFPB. The CFPB closed my claim because they saw that BOA reached out to me. All they did was reach out like I had mentioned above ( The call from XXXX XXXX ) and nothing came from that and every claim was closed after that. This is a direct example of how they are circumventing the CFPB 's authority. I feel like the CFPB should really look at their process and see how this big bank is taking advantage of a small business owner, and that is unacceptable. 

Please help a small business owner that is fighting for their hard earned money.

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