Consumer complaint received 2016-10-07
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Making/receiving payments, sending money

Complaint:
I have had my Bank of America debit/checking account for less than a month. In that month, I have been subject to repeated, disruptive restrictions on my account that have led to measurable, material harm. I have had to call the bank 's fraud alert department at least once per week to remove holds on my account. When I make these calls, I am often subject to wait-times of thirty to forty minutes ( including as I type this ). Each time, including when my account was sent to " higher-review '' and connected to a specialist, I have been told that I should not expect for it to happen again ; but then, predictably, it does. I have been told this might be my account is new and so there is no pattern of spending, resulting in " red flags '' when I buy more expensive items, but that is an unacceptable excuse for the excess - the fact that it is a new account ought to mean that the bank should expect purchases that are out of normal pattern because there is no pattern. Nor should there be any justification for it happening this often ; this does not protect my account, but keeps it off-limits, and there seems to be no means for staff to prevent this. I have quite literally had access to my account less days than I have had access to it. In addition that being absurd - I give BoA my money so that I can access it - it has caused material harm, including : ( 1 ) overdraft fees on another bank account when I could not transfer money to cover an ACH bill in-time ; ( 2 ) failed assignments when I could not purchase a laptop in-time ; ( 3 ) a missed day 's of work when I could not access transportation in-time ; ( 4 ) extra XXXX fees that I incurred when I went to the store to purchase a laptop, could not purchase the laptop and could not get BoA on the phone in-time, and then had to pay extra money to go back the next day, where my account was then placed on hold again, but I had budged extra time so that I could be on the phone with you forty minutes without the store closing ; ( 5 ) an XXXX visit when my XXXX because my card was turned away attempting to purchase basic food at the local store, something that is necessary for anyone to be able to do but was particularly acute given my XXXX. Overtime I go to purchase something, I find myself XXXX, unsure if my card will be rejected or not, and then subject to humiliation when it is rejected. I am forced to live like someone who does not have any money at all. Between work and school, I do not have time to sit on the phone for forty-minutes multiples times a week to buy food. I do not have the money to keep incurring these costs that come from not having access to my money when I should, and when I even asked if it might be possible to receive reimbursement I was hung up on by a manager at the fraud protection center - which is extremely unprofessional. And to top it all off, there is typically a day-long delay between my account being restricted and me receiving an alert ; I now have the department in my contacts. I would not recommend to BoA to anyone and I am in the process of looking for other options so I can remove my money - so that I can actually access it - and am exploring if there is any way to have my medical expenses reimbursed. There is absolutely no excuse for this, BoA. You are benefitting from having my money in the bank without granting me access to it.

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