Consumer complaint received 2022-12-12
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: IL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
I am a resident of Illinois, and traveled to XXXX, Florida for pleasure in XX/XX/2022. I went to XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, and lost my wallet while I was in the park. I was lucky enough that I got my wallet back from the lost and found place at XXXX XXXX on the same day. I saw all my credit cards were still in the wallet, only the cash ( i believe its either {$20.00}, or {$40.00} in total ) was lost. Since I got back my wallet on the same that I lost my wallet, so I didnt expect any fraud as I got back the wallet with all the credit cards inside. I continued to use the card for my other purchases. So I didnt notice the fraudulent charge that I didnt authorize ( the {$340.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX FL XXXX shown in the first screenshot ) until I was back from my vacation. And I reached out to Bank of America ( BofA ) to fill the dispute. A few weeks later, BofA determined that I lost the dispute, and I needed to pay for the charge. Since I didnt make the charge, and as a consumer, I am not liable for any fraudulent charges on my credit card, so I am not okay with the result that I am liable for the fraudulent charge, so I submitted another dispute on the same charge ( my second dispute on the same charge, and explained all details to the second person who handled the dispute for me ). And the result came back recently that BofA ruled that I am still liable for the fraudulent charge. I gave them XXXX phone calls after the determination. I asked BofA agent why I am liable for the fraudulent charge, I was told that BofA believe the purchase was not fraudulent because there is no other suspicious activities on this account ( i.e. all other subsequent transactions are legitimate ), so there is no reason to believe this is a fraudulent charge, and the logic behind their hypothesis ( Please pay attention, this is a HYPOTHESIS that they do not have proof ) is that fraudsters will make many fraudulent charges, so there is no way to be fraud if there is only XXXX fraudulent charge on my account. I found this explanation to be very unprofessional and is not FACT based, and have evidence to back their assumptions. So I asked them if they have evidence to show I made this purchase. They said the card was used. I told them that I dont have a pin for this card, so anyone with my card can use this card, this is not necessarily saying that I made the purchase. I asked them how i was able to make sure I am not liable for the fraudulent charge on my account, I was given a ridiculous and non-achievable path. BofA asked me to provide proof that I didnt make the purchase. This is ridiculous because they assume me guilty unless I can prove I am innocent. So if I can not prove I am innocent, then I am guilty, and I need to be liable for the fraudulent charge. This is fundamentally unfair to a consumer, as there is literally no way for me to prove I didnt make the charge, or for me to find out who made the charge. Such investigation work should be what BofA does. I believe in this case unless BofA has concrete and bulletproof that I made this fraudulent charge, BofA can not make me pay for the fraudulent charge. So I asked them if they have evidence, but they do not have any solid evidence other than the card was used ( yes, I know that. This is the sole reason I reach out to them to dispute the charge because I saw this authorized charge!!!! )

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