Consumer complaint received 2017-07-24
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: OR
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low
Sub-issue: Overdrafts and overdraft fees

Complaint:
Again days have passed and I am not being responded to for my request for help.  Now my account is overdrawn almost $500! I'm not able to stop this cycle without your help.  I have reached out over and over and continue to be ignored. I have NO income.  My XXXX is being held until we get all the documentation they are asking for and they are really making it difficult to get extention of benefits.

I repeatedly ask for help.  What am I supposed to do, just let it keep going and continue to pay now, almost $2000 in overdraft fees?

Do you not understand that I am XXXX?  My account continues to bleed and I am powerless to do anything about it. 

I have done everything a XXXX person should have to or can do when experiencing multiple life hardships. 

We will be filing formal complaints with the FDIC, US Treasury, Office of Comptroller of Currency, FFIEC, Secretary of State of Oregon, and our Oregon State House Representative immediately.  I believe they will be quite interested to see what's transpired here, as will the media.

Bank of America should be ashamed of themselves.


XXXX

On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX, "XXXX  XXXX XXXX"  wrote:
Thank you for the prompt response.  I will be honest though, I am very disappointed with Bank of America and the support I have not received when faced with multiple life hardships, even after reaching out many times pleading for help.

I understand hitting an account holder with every fee possible if they just abandon and leave you holding the account to charge off. However, I really tried to work with my bank and make my account right.  After reaching out and asking for help to stop the bleeding,  the fees should have been halted so I could take care of it.  However, everything I sold basically paid your XXXX in overdraft fees but did nothing to help me catch up on my account. 

I have spent so much time and effort attempting to work with my bank and selling my possessions to cover my account.  Almost every time I sold enough to put in the Atm, it wouldn't accept my deposit, showing "cash deposit unavailable" (see screenshot). Please bear in mind this is after my income ceased entirely.  I did everything in my power to cover the account, I kept my bank informed of my multiple life hardships by sending over 25 email requests for help. Only a handful were responded to, and my request for help to suspend future fees requests were completely ignored.

You can propose any data you like, the bottom line is your ATM outages started this domino effect because I could not do my banking in ways your "other" clients have accessible.  When I opened my accounts we had three branches here.  You closed all of them.  That's discriminatory in itself.  I do not have the convenient ways to bank as your other clients because YOU chose to close all three branches. That leaves an entire community with less than adequate recourse to do their banking.  Not everyone has the luxury of a car and can drive through rush hour traffic to find a working ATM in another town.  With the ATM here being the only way to deposit cash, it's unacceptable for it to be out of commission even one day.  I suspect because it is THE only ATM it gets full towards the afternoon/evening or constantly jams with so much overuse.  This only only leads to more overdrafts and extended overdraft charges that most consumers can't recover from.  That's fee structuring as well.

I'm not trying to abandon the account, I'm trying to find a way to stop the overdrafts and get it out of this tailspin.  A tailspin mind you, that has significantly harmed me financially and Bank of America has significantly contributed to.

Additionally, there is also the issue and deceptive practice of posting of credits after debits.  In my attempt to get the account in good standing, I made deposits on several occasions.  Each time,  lots of small charges were taken out the same night the deposit shows credited.  This is directly per your online banking information that the consumer sees (I have attached a picture of this).  When I bring this up, I am told by Bank if America that there is a trick to prevent this.  The customer should not need to learn special "tricks" to manage their balance.  Shouldn't the information on online banking be easily read by the customer?  Shouldn't it give as accurate information as possible without customers having to learn employees insider tips after the damage is done?  This is fee structuring and not OK.

I just can't understand, no help offered with this many hardships going on simultaneously?  I have zero income (my XXXX is being reviewed for extension of benefits), my XXXX XXXX XXXX, my mother and grandfather recently XXXX, I'm dealing with XXXX XXXX issues, lost my home in foreclosure and sold everything of value that I own to try and take care of my bank account.  If I do not qualify for help, who does?

It's most unfortunate that a long term, loyal customer has been treated with such a lack of care and communication.  This could have easily been handled early on if the care I received was prompt, and effective.  However, the majority of emails sent still appear to go unanswered for.  Please also bear in mind I sold my cell phone to cover overdrafts and couldn't afford to pay the bill in full, so email has been my only method of communication. This communication preference was also acknowledged early on in the process by Bank of America via email.

I'm absolutely outraged that my bank is not standing by a customer that is doing everything in their power to cover their obligations without income.  Not only that, but charging XXXX in overdraft fees after repeated requests from a client experiencing severe documented hardships. 

It's not OK to do business like this and consumers will need to know what they can expect.  My documented case shows it loud and clear... When times get tough, Bank of America abandons you.  I can't imagine this helps your community image.  Predatory banking is what comes to mind.

I formally request this injustice be escalated to upper management, to XXXX XXXX himself if need be.  If that can't be accomplished please let me know.  I have been urged to share this story with local and social media, but would like to give you the chance to respond before committing to that.

Thank you for your time regarding this urgent matter,

XXXX




On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX, "XXXX, XXXX XXXX"  wrote:
XXXX XXXX. XXXX,

RE: Case Number XXXX

Account number ending average been handled

 

Thank you for contacting the Executive Offices of Bank of America. We appreciate the time you took to share your concerns.

 

What you should know

Your concerns are important to us and have been carefully considered. I have engaged our ATM Network support team to verify confirmed dates of outages that apply to your concern, I have also reviewed all documentation youve submitted to me, and I have reviewed debit card authorizations to determine dates when the ATM was successfully logged into. I sympathize with your situation. I understand that when your local ATM is in need of additional maintenance it can add a layer of difficulty when youve intended to make deposits same day you receive cash.  I also understand that you feel the nearest branch is too far from your location.  With all of this considered, for the period of XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, I have determined that no fees occurred to the account because of a delay in providing courtesy credit to your account when our XXXX, Oregon ATM needed additional maintenance. I have a month by month break down of the information that led to this decision. I would be glad to provide you with all of the information by phone at your earliest convenience. 

 

Im here to help

I appreciate the opportunity to provide you with this information. If you have any questions, I can be reached at XXXX, Monday through Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Pacific.

 

 

XXXX XXXX | XXXX XXXX XXXX & XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Monday through Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Pacific

Office: XXXX

Email: XXXX

 

Your email is extremely important to me, if this is an urgent matter during out of the office hours, please reach out to my colleague XXXX XXXX

Monday through Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Eastern

Office: XXXX

Email: XXXX

All emails will be acknowledged and responded to within 2 business days.  

 

From: XXXX
Sent: Monday, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX


To: XXXX, XXXX XXXX 
Subject: RE: Bank of America
 

XXXX, 

 

Thank you for the kind words.  I appreciate your help with this.  I know that if you can help me I will be able to recover from this unfortunate series of events that got me into the hole I am in.

We have lost our home in foreclosure. 

I'm fighting a XXXX XXXX for my daughter who was recently moved away to XXXX without my permission and am still paying XXXX XXXXt.

My mother and grandfather both XXXX away unexpectedly. 
 
My XXXX income ceased in XX/XX/XXXX, right when my account began to have issues.  I had no income to get my account back on course and it just kept getting worse.  I am working on an extension due to my new diagnosis.

I very much appreciate the refund for the ink cartridges, that shows me you understand what I've been going through and the extreme hardship this situation has and continues to cause me and my family.

 

Thank you for everything you are doing for our family XXXX. 

 

Sincerely, 

 

XXXX XXXX

 

OnXX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX, "XXXX XXXX XXXX"  wrote:

XXXX XXXX,

 

I wish I could say I understand what youve been through. I personally havent been through that hardship. A few people I dearly love have and I have done my best to help them bear their hardships. I am sympathetic to the difficulties that facing these struggles causes. Your efforts in assisting me to resolve this are greatly appreciated. I am invested in seeing you through on this issue and doing what I can for you and for your father who is tied into this with you. I value the time you have given to me as I reach a final resolution to the concerns you have brought to my attention. I will be in touch soon with a resolution. I have taken care of the ink charges that assisting me has cost you by crediting your account with the estimated expenditure you listed in your previous email.

 

XXXX  XXXX | XXXX XXXX XXXX & XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Monday through Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX: XXXX

Email: XXXX

 

Your email is extremely important to me, if this is an urgent matter during out of the office hours, please reach out to my colleague XXXX XXXX

Monday through Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX: XXXX

Email: XXXX

All emails will be acknowledged and responded to within 2 business days.  

 

From: XXXX
Sent: Saturday, XXXX XXXX, 2017 XXXX XXXX
To: XXXX XXXX XXXX 
Subject: Re: Bank of America

 

Thank you XXXX for reaching back out.  

 

I will be sure to do that.  I have devoted tonight to getting what I have over to you.  This is very frustrating as its taken me a good portion of my evening to compile.  This whole situation could have been prevented had my plethora of emails and requests for help having been responded to in a timely manner.  I am out of work on XXXX XXXX, and have had no XXXX pay coming in since XX/XX/XXXX. My father is helping me by depositing money each month to help me until the XXXX  folks make their decision.  I repeatedly send in what they ask for and they always ask for additional items.  My primary doctor and I have been fighting to get my XXXX pay extended due to extenuating circumstances with my health.

 

I have been a Bank of America client for years and at one time even worked for the bank.  The majority of my career has been in banking so I'm pretty savvy on how to handle my accounts.  I have never had this much trouble with my accounts, but its basically been a perfect storm due to the following:

 

I haven't been receiving income since XX/XX/XXXX. My doctors and I are working with the XXXX company to extend my benefits, but they are making it very difficult to get approval.  When this started in XX/XX/XXXX, my account got behind to the point where I could never catch back up and its been an ongoing XXXX XXXX  since happening and reaching out for help.

 

The local cash machine is constantly out of service for cash deposits and the only avenue for folks here banking with you, which explains why its probably full of cash deposits by the time I get to use it.  We used to have access to three branches here in XXXX, but they all disappeared and account holders are very disappointed.  Everyone that comes up to wait for the machine constantly gripes about Bank of America, the name is not a positive term in our community.

 

Ive repeatedly gone to the cash machine as I sold thousands of dollars worth of personal items to cover my overdrafts.  I sold my home theater projector, PC, cell phone, etc...  to cover my bills and overdrafts.  Every time I sold a couple hundred dollars worth I would make a trip to the ATM.  All bills were rejected and I always tried multiple times.  I tried the bills upside down, backwards, forwards, etc... didn't make a bit of difference.  I was convinced that it was full and couldn't accept any more cash.  Not sure who services the ATM, but it was apparent it was not getting serviced timely or properly.  I always attempted to handle this before the XXXX cutoff but I never had enough time to travel to another city and find another working cash machine before XXXX.  

 

However I had to do just that on several occasions.  Getting rides to the XXXX Branch in the middle of XXXX rush hour traffic.  I even had to go to XXXX/XXXX once and the same exact problem happened.  I have attached photo that I took.  The same error, again will not accept cash, however other transactions are possible.  Again, by then its past XXXX so I'm outta luck.  I do not have a vehicle and have to wait until after work hours to get a ride to a working machine, not the easiest thing to accomplish.

 

When you are out of work for a severe XXXX XXXX, getting out of the house just a tab bit difficult, however I did everything as possible to handle this problem.  The customer shouldn't have to make getting cash into his account a daily job.  However, that's exactly what has happened.  

 

Contact with Bank of America took exceptionally long, and many times did not get a proper or timely resolution.  Ive sent more than 25 emails specifically detailing each issue and was never responded to for documentation until XXXX  involvement.  Now Ive had to take days to dig all this up to prove that I indeed did have a lot of problems with Bank of America, so many indeed, that I do not feel these fees are legitimate and I should be make whole.  I tried to accomplish my cash banking, but was setup for failure from the get go with no branches here anymore and the local cash machine not working correctly.  Not on 1 or 2 occasions, but many.  I complained and it took weeks to hear that the machine was back up and running again.  

 

As you can tell, I'm very frustrated and understandably so.  I should have the same opportunity other clients have to get their banking done in a reasonable manner.  However, when you close all three branches and the one leftover ATM is sporadic to be conservative, how can a person in my position be expected to pay XXXX in overdraft fees since XX/XX/XXXX. I've exhausted 2 sets of ink jet cartridges on this research which in itself has cost me almost $50 and 6 hours of my time, away from family and friends to document my case.  

 

The bank has been saying on all these occasions I could have avoided the fees by doing my banking other ways.  I completely disagree.  I on good faith tried to deposit money every time I was overdrawn and with my current financial, medical and transportation issues make banking "by chasing down a working ATM" very difficult if not impossible for somebody in my current hardship.  I feel very taken advantage of as a XXXX person that is struggling with many other hardships in life.  The last thing I should have to is worry so much about my banking.  I have never had issues to this magnitude and have always had my bank stand behind me.  Here I feel like I am a bother, nuisance and an easy target for the bank to get unwarranted, unearned fees from.  

 

Thank you for your assistance and for reaching out to me XXXX,  You are the first person to really take an interest in helping and has reached out timely.  If you were involved long ago, I suspect that this would have been taken care of the right way and we wouldn't be where we are now.  I have attached a rather large file of email documents, fees, screenshots, pictures to show that this has been a "perfect storm" partially created by poor customer service, follow through and response times.  Once it got momentum, it never stopped and probably wont until I am property helped.  Under my financial burden, $XXXX in undeserved overdraft fees is a killer, I have not and will not be able to recover from something like this.

 

Thank you XXXX,

 

Sincerely,

 

XXXX

 

On Fri, XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX  XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX  wrote:

 

Thank you for the information, XXXX XXXX. I understand the frustration of the time and effort you have taken to resolve this. I am glad to hear the ATM is working consistently at this time. I will gladly look forward to receiving the documentation from you as soon as you are able and seeing you through to a prompt resolution on this issue.

 

For the purpose of maintaining an active case, I do need to maintain contact with you at least every five business days unless you inform me of an extended period where you will be out of contact. If you believe it will take you more than five business days to have the documentation to me, please let me know so I can place an extension on your case.

 

Thank you,

XXXX XXXX | XXXX XXXX XXXX & XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Monday through Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Pacific

Office: XXXX

Email: XXXX

 

Your email is extremely important to me, if this is an urgent matter during out of the office hours, please reach out to my colleague XXXX XXXX

Monday through Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Eastern

Office: XXXX

Email: XXXX

All emails will be acknowledged and responded to within 2 business days.  

 

From: XXXX XXXX XXXX [XXXX] 
Sent: Friday, XX/XX/XXXX 5:27 PM
To: XXXX XXXX XXXX 
Subject: RE: Bank of America

 

Thank you for the quick response XXXX. 

 

The Atm has been working but only after complaining several times.  Now it's OK, but my account is so outta whack I continue to get fees.  I can't seem to stop the bleeding XXXX I've had so many fees. On XX/XX/XXXX  XXXX XXXX, "XXXX XXXX XXXX"  wrote:

XXXX XXXX,

 

Thank you for updating me on where we are at. I appreciate your efforts in helping me resolve this for you. Have you had any recent issues with the ATM or have the errors been resolved as far as you know?

 

XXXX XXXX | XXXX XXXX XXXX & XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 

Monday through Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Pacific

Office: XXXX

Email: XXXX

 

Your email is extremely important to me, if this is an urgent matter during out of the office hours, please reach out to my colleague XXXX XXXX

Monday through Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Eastern

Office: XXXX

Email: XXXX

All emails will be acknowledged and responded to within 2 business days.  

 

From: XXXX XXXX XXXX [XXXX] 
Sent: Friday, XXXX XXXX, 2017 XXXX XXXX
To: XXXX XXXX XXXX 
Subject: Re: Bank of America

 

XXXX, 

 

Thank you for reaching out.  I'm hoping that you can assist with the fees that have gotten out of control due the local Atm not accepting cash for almost 2 months.  This was compounded by the fact that I reached out to your team and it's taken forever to get the credits back that I have received.  If it was promptly addressed when I reached out we wouldn't be in as bad of shape as we are. 

 

I should have as much documentation as I can locate to you shortly.  It's quite a bit of time and work to put it all together as this has been going on for the better part of 6 months.

 

Thank you. 

XXXX XXXX

 

 

 

On XXXX XXXX, 2017 XXXX XXXX, "XXXX XXXX XXXX"  wrote:

XXXX XXXX,

RE: Case number XXXX

Account number ending in:  XXXX

 

Thank you for contacting the Executive Offices of Bank of America. As your designated advocate, I have received your correspondence and welcome the opportunity to address your concerns.

 

What you should know

I will work through the resolution process to determine the next actions to take and will be your dedicated point of contact until this matter is resolved. It is my goal to get this matter resolved as quickly as possible.

 

What you need to do

Please contact me at XXXX  or XXXX at your earliest convenience if we haven't already spoken. I am available Monday through Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Pacific. I look forward to the opportunity to serve you and appreciate you taking the time to bring this matter to our attention.

 

XXXX XXXX | XXXX XXXX XXXX & XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Monday through Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX: XXXX

Email: XXXX

 

Your email is extremely important to me, if this is an urgent matter during out of the office hours, please reach out to my colleague XXXX XXXX

Monday through Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Eastern

Office: XXXX

Email: XXXX

All emails will be acknowledged and responded to within 2 business days.  

 

This message, and any attachments, is for the intended recipient(s) only, may contain information that is privileged, confidential and/or proprietary and subject to important terms and conditions available at XXXX. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this message.

This message, and any attachments, is for the intended recipient(s) only, may contain information that is privileged, confidential and/or proprietary and subject to important terms and conditions available at XXXX. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this message.

This message, and any attachments, is for the intended recipient(s) only, may contain information that is privileged, confidential and/or proprietary and subject to important terms and conditions available at XXXX. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this message.




 

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This message, and any attachments, is for the intended recipient(s) only, may contain information that is privileged, confidential and/or proprietary and subject to important terms and conditions available at XXXX. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this message.

This message, and any attachments, is for the intended recipient(s) only, may contain information that is privileged, confidential and/or proprietary and subject to important terms and conditions available at XXXX. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this message.

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