Consumer complaint received 2016-05-18
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MI
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Other bank product/service
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
I called Bank of America for the umpteenth time to get the payment amounts so I can file a police report. I called XXXX XXXX XXXX their fraud department. Today I learned it is in Arizona from the call center in Delaware. So I will next contact the Attorney General of that state to get the answers they would not provide today. To make a long saga as brief as possible as this is a train of connected CFPB complaints, it is sufficed to say that a letter was read by pjone in Delaware and the letter was contradicted all at once. Sometimes, people are very matter-of-fact ; and it demonstrates that it was intentional that the bank did what it did. I was read the BOA letter dated XXXX XXXX XXXX. I told her to stop right there! Right on the words " reporting correctly ''?! The facts I sought XXXX XXXX XXXX, she just read me that they existed and were deliberately so kept. But, as quickly as she could turn on a dime, she said they were no longer there. So the Attorney General of that state where she was conversing to byvway of computer screen - but I could not speak to them - was not helping me to file my police report, since over a month ago. It is totally ridiculous. It was clear they are trained in the art of avoidance ; which includes inconsistentcy between what is written and what is spoken ( flase choices as valid choices in a take-it-or-leave-it manner ). Fortunately, I have the important lies in writing, U. S. Mail ( mail fraud ) and have exhausted all avenues to get the XXXX exact dollar amounts that were reported each month in XXXX to XXXX and XXXX to XXXX and the other XXXX as well. Where is the signature to authorize my social security info? Who furnished it within the bank? All this happened when BOA was being spanked by the government for similar behavior in XXXX XXXX. So they learned nothing. BOA needs a " time out '' because this was the fraud department 's investigation of its own employee that was not investigated, whatsoever. This article should be a good reminder of consequences of internal fraud : " XXXX XXXX, XXXX SEC, FINRA, CFPB Enforcement : BofA Busted for Illegal Credit Card Practices By XXXX XXXX XXXX In addition, consumers were also hit with unfair billing practices by the bank. Bank of America enrolled consumers in identity protection credit card add-on products, known as " Privacy Guard, '' " Privacy Source '' and " Privacy Assist, '' that promised to monitor customer credit and alert consumers to potentially fraudulent activity. 

Under federal law, in order for Bank of America or its vendors to obtain consumers ' credit information, the consumers generally must authorize access to credit information. But Bank of America billed consumers for these products without or before having the authorization necessary to perform the credit monitoring and credit report retrieval services. 


As a result, the company billed consumers for services they did not receive ; unfairly charged consumers for interest and fees ; illegally charged about XXXX consumer accounts ; and, to top it off, failed to provide product benefits. 

The CFPB has ordered that Bank of America be prohibited from engaging in illegal practices ; end unfair billing practices ; repay affected consumers, and do it for the consumers ' convenience ; and pay that XXXX penalty to the CFPB 's civil penalty fund. 

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ( OCC ) has also ordered Bank of America to pay XXXX in civil money penalties for the unfair billing practices, in addition to those ordered by the CFPB. '' The takeaway : I did authorize 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