Consumer complaint received 2021-09-29
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Check cashing service
Issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
I am a college student and recently opened a Bank of America bank account about two weeks ago. I had received a financial aid check from my university and attempted to deposit the check through BofA 's mobile check deposit system. The next day my account was frozen and I had no access to any login, balance check, or any other service. After calling customer service the first time they told me I had to go in person to the bank to verify my identity to remove the freeze. Once at the bank I was told I actually needed to call customer service and receive an 'access code ' from a banker to remove the freeze. I called customer service who told me that in fact, the banker had to make the call. After informing the bank about this they told me I would need my social security card to verify my identity. Unfortunately, I go to school out of my home state and had to have my social security card mailed to me from home. After receiving my social security card a few days later I went to the bank again to verify my identity and hopefully remove the freeze. While I was there the banker told me that they were going to close the old account and open a new one. I was immediately suspicious of this as I was told that it was just a freeze that had to be removed and inquired about this but was told that this was the solution. I then asked about the check I had deposited and how I would receive the funds in this new account. The banker insisted that I would be able to deposit the check in this new account. So after creating the new account I attempted to deposit the check only to be told that it had already been deposited and was a duplicate deposit. I immediately called customer service again who told me they were going to transfer me to another department before dropping the call abruptly. I called again only to be told I had to deposit the check in person this time. It had now been two weeks since I first attempted to deposit the check. So I returned to the branch and asked to speak to someone who knew what was going on because clearly everyone I had talked to was generally incompetent and had been telling me contradictory information to what I had heard over customer service lines. The manager directed me back to the banker I had talked to before who made a call and apparently removed a freeze on my new account that I was completely unaware of to begin with as it had only been made ( in person ) a few hours before. I asked again what I should do about the check and was told by the banker to deposit it with the teller. After going to the teller to deposit it they again asked me if the check had been deposited before. I explained the situation again. From the teller window I could see essentially the entire staff working at the bank at that time gathering together clearly very confused. I waited again only to be told that apparently the check had cleared on the first account but because the account was closed today, they were mailing my money to me in a different check in approximately 7-10 business days. 

That would make it the third ( maybe fourth ) week I would have to go without being able to use my financial aid money leading me to spend my own money on necessities and expenses that should have been covered by my school 's financial aid. I was being prevented from accessing this money by BofA. At every stage of this process general confusion and incompetency was displayed by everyone I talked to with the exception of those on the customer service line who on multiple occasions had to apologize for the false information the people in the bank branch were telling me. After pushing the branch to let me access this money I was told " there was nothing we can do '' among other blatant lies such as " your account was actually closed yesterday '' when I witnessed in person the banker close my old account only hours before. I'm not sure whether this was an attempt to cover for the banker 's mistake ( as I had seen him clearly and easily be able to remove the freeze from my new account with a quick phone call ) or if it was just more general incompetence. Either way this bank has at every level prevented me from doing the simple process of opening a bank account and depositing a check. I even question if ethnic prejudice was involved as I am a XXXX American person who apparently was being questioned about my identity to the point where I had to have my social security card mailed from XXXX to XXXX ( risking loss of said card ) only to find out that it wasn't really necessary in the first place.

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