Consumer complaint received 2023-07-18
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
I have 3 credit card accounts and a checking account with Bank of America. This complaint is specific to the accounts ending in XXXX and XXXX. On the XXXX of XXXX, the account ending in XXXX was paid in full through bill pay, set up from my banking institution ( XXXX ). At the same time, as there was an autopay active with Bank of America XXXX Bank of America also pulled the statement balance amount of {$11000.00}. The autopay transaction took place on the XXXX of XXXX after Bank of America was paid in full. A call was made to Bank of America on the XXXX of XXXX explaining the situation. The name of the representative that I spoke to is XXXX. During this call I was promised that the money that was pulled the second time would be refunded back into the bank account from which it was withdrawn. I was promised that they would escalate this case and have the money paid into my account in three business days. They had asked for proof of bank activity from XXXX to show the transactions. The proof was faxed to the fax # that was given. At this time, I had also brought up the fact that the other account ending in XXXX, though it showed as paid in full, the payment would not go through as the funds in my XXXX account were depleted because of this double payment. I was told that since this was Bank of America 's error, I will not see any interest charges on my XXXX account until this issue is resolved with the XXXX account. 
Having not received the funds back into my XXXX account, I had called Bank of America a couple of times, asking about the money. During one of these calls, I was told that there is no provision 4 a refund to take place within three days. The normal process is 10 Business days, and that I was misinformed. 
Towards the end of XXXX, I received a letter from Bank of America, dated XX/XX/XXXX that the monies that were withdrawn will be deposited back into my XXXX account. Having not seen the deposit I called them the first week of XXXX to inquire about the refund. I was told that for some reason that they will be issuing a check rather than depositing the money back into the XXXX account. Having not received the check either, I called in on the XXXX of XXXX and spoke to a representative by the name of XXXX XXXX. He assured me that the check was in the mail, and I should be receiving it shortly. I had even asked him for a check number, which he duly provided. In the meantime, I received another letter from Bank of America, dated XX/XX/XXXX stating that we would be issuing a check rather than depositing the money back into my bank account. Having not received the check as of the XXXX I called in again. This time insisting on speaking to a supervisor. Name of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. He in turn put a stop-payment on the check that was supposedly issued and restarted the whole process of trying to get my money back by asking for the bank statement to be faxed again. Account activity was faxed again. I was told that it would take another XXXX business days for them to make a decision on whether to refund the money. 
Today upon reviewing my credit card statement pertaining to XXXX, I saw an interest charge of {$160.00}. I called in to Bank of America again and spoke to a representative by the name of XXXX. XXXX explained to me that he will escalate this case and have Bank of America send me a decision via e-mail within XXXX business days on whether they can remove the interest charge. Unhappy that he was not able to remove the charges right away and his explanation that interest charges can only be removed once they are posted in the account and that the decision to refund the interest charge could go either way and I would not have any recourse if the decision is not in my favor, I asked to talk to a supervisor. I was patched up with a supervisor by the name of XXXX, who refused to give me her last name what was comfortable giving me her XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX told me categorically that since these interest charges pertain to a different account rather than the account that had the issues, it is my obligation to pay the interest charges as agreed upon in the terms and conditions of the credit card contract. There is simply no way that they will waive those interest charges in spite of the fact that I was misinformed by two representatives of Bank of America, XXXX and XXXX XXXX that there will be no interest charges on this account ( XXXX ) until my refund is credited back into my bank account. She just said that they will do agent retraining for their department, within Bank of America, but it is absolutely my responsibility to pay for a credit card in full, to avoid interest charges. She also told me that had I not paid the minimum due on the XXXX account, they would have reported it to the credit bureau. Please note that it was I that volunteered to pay the minimum, just to be safe, when I had the conversation with XXXX XXXX, and not advised by any rep to do so. 
Today is the XXXX of XXXX, 35 days from the day I called in to request the refund of my money that was withdrawn by Bank of America, in spite of already being paid in full. I'm yet to get my money back. On top of that, I am required to pay the interest charges on the XXXX account despite all promises that I will not face any interest charges because of an error committed by Bank of America in depleting my Bank account of funds.

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