Consumer complaint received 2023-09-12
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Prepaid card
Sub-product: Government benefit card
Issue: Problem getting a card or closing an account
Sub-issue: Trouble getting, activating, or registering a card

Complaint:
When I filed for unemployment benefits in XXXX, " a friend '' who helped me file the claim, logged into my XXXX account, and changed the address so that she was able to intercept the debit card and steal approximately {$21000.00}. I kept waiting and waiting for my debit card so when I finally called Bank of America, we found out together on the phone that the money had been stolen. She had the name of the person who transferred the money into another account. So right then and there ( this was in XXXX XXXX ) I filed a fraud claim over the phone with the bank. The bank had the name of the person who stole the money. They asked me if I would be willing to testify in court and I said yes. I never received anything from the bank after that. In the meantime, I set to work with XXXX on getting my unemployment account back in order so I could get the rest of the benefits. XXXX had disqualified me for failure to verify my identity. Finally during the summer of XXXX XXXX verified my identity and paid me for the benefits from XXXX. But they couldn't help me with all the XXXX benefits that I never received, {$21000.00} of benefits. XXXX paid those benefits, and they were paid to a Bank of America pre-paid debit card that was intercepted and then transferred off the card into a bank account - all unbeknownst to me. So this was a Bank of America fraud claim issue. I went back to Bank of America to find out what was going on with that. It was now XX/XX/XXXX. I found out that Bank of America had decided that my fraud claim I filed in XXXX of XXXX over the phone with a bank representative was not valid. However, in XXXX of XXXX they reopened the fraud claim on their own accord. Beginning XXXX of XXXX I started calling the Bank of America fraud claim department once a week for 6 or 7 months. I sent them a formal complaint letter late XX/XX/XXXX. Finally in XXXX of this year, the bank paid my fraud claim. A lot of money was deposited on my prepaid debit card that I had in my possession. I was able to withdraw a XXXX XXXXXXXX ( various transactions ) and then the card was frozen, and I had to go into the bank and verify my identity. I was in the bank for hours and I verified my identity and was trying to withdraw money. The bank manager was helping me with all of this. While I was there, we discovered that the card had been reported lost or stolen sometime the previous night. The bank manager said he could not help me. I went home and called the number on the back of the card and found out that I had a balance of negative {$18000.00} on my prepaid debit card. This was in XXXX of this year. I have been calling every couple of days. I have gone into the bank many times. The Bank says that they paid the fraud claim twice. Then they had to take back the money and that I would be credited the correct amount. They credited some of the money because now my account is negative {$2500.00}. They took back the money they paid me for the fraud claim. It was a valid claim! Now they tell me that my account will be credited with the correct amount. They have decided that correct amount is {$15000.00}. But XXXX paid out {$21000.00} to a debit card that I never got. On XX/XX/XXXX they said that it would take 48 hours to get my missing credits back on the card. It has been a month. It has been years really. I should have received this money way back in XX/XX/XXXX when I filed the claim. I have spent 100 hours at least dealing with this. I lost my apartment. It has been a nightmare that never ends.

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 monetary relief