Consumer complaint received 2022-11-10
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem accessing account

Complaint:
I have had an account with Bank of America since XXXX, and I live XXXX, XXXX. I called them in XX/XX/XXXX because my new debit card had not arrived, fearing it was lost. I bounced among several representatives, I was treated with suspicion and as a result I was locked out of the account and spent {$67.00} in calling a supposedly toll-free number. In XX/XX/XXXX, having received an email that my account was going to be considered dormant, I wrote them, attaching all the evidence ( passport, two BofA debit cards one with my picture, old address in XXXX XXXX, my daughter 's and my ex-wife 's account with BofA ) asking for help in accessing the account online. 
I was contacted by the Client Care Executive Response Team ( case n. XXXX ). Several phone calls took place in XXXX and XXXX : very frustratingly, I spoke to 5 different people, every time having to repeat my story. I was provided with wrong ( local XXXX phone numbers ) and conflicting information : in particular, they told me to get hold of a XXXX mobile phone and address where to send a new debit card ( to be used to validate access online ), but afterwards they backtracked, denying such possibility and refused to give me a copy of the phone recording proving that a representative ( XXXX XXXX ) had said. She seemed helpful and understood they needed to come up with a solution, but then disappeared. Maybe this happened because I honestly told them that the passport they have online - through which they identify me for the phone calls had expired. 
BofAs approach has been obstructive and discriminating : I have been told we are an American bank ( even though, according to their website, 50 % of their workforce in abroad ) ; it is my problem if am away, and if I dont have a XXXX phone nor address ( anymore, my mother is law has deceased ). When I hope the account, a XXXX phone was not needed, and I have not been informed of the need to have one : I have been caught by the new validation process : this can happen, but the unwillingness to help is against courtesy, the duty of are towards clients, if not against the regulations. 
They told me jump on a plane and go to a XXXX branch. They refused to refund me the {$80.00} cost of the initial call to a toll free number, as a gesture of goodwill refusing to explain why we dont pay compensation. 
My ex-wife was in New York and went to a branch seeking help on my behalf ; she was told I should to go to the BofA branch in XXXX ; but I called them and they would not know how to help me. 
I asked Client Care Executive Response Team to have my ID validated by one of their XXXX employees in XXXX : they did not want to. I asked to be sent a wire transfer with the balance of my account ( {$4600.00} ) : they did not want to They would send a check in the mail because maybe the relevant team could to validate my address so the same bank would validate me for posting a check, but not for online access, nor any of the other alternatives I proposed involving financial institution or XXXX resident persons? ( besides, a domestic check in USD would not clear, of be very expensive to, in XXXX ). 
I asked, as part of a wire transfer, to contact or be contacted by the receiving bank to validate my ID : they did not want to ( " you could get a guy in XXXX XXXX '' ). I proposed to do verify via XXXX : they did not want to. I asked to have a friend living in the XXXX go personally in a branch and validate his ID and address and be sent the debit card to his address : they did not want to. 
The discussions have become difficult, obstructive and confrontational. They keep repeating what the procedure is, they understand my difficulties, but in practice they are unavailable to help find a solution to a problem they have created in locking me out of the system. They say they made a business decision and that's it- it is my problem. 
I found the Client Care Executive Response Team difficult to deal with, unable to refer to external regulator/consumer protection entities if I was unsatisfied ; self-referential ( I could not escalate this further within the Bank ) ; unaccountable as a bank representatives kept changing but would not acknowledge what their colleagues had said ( I was not part of that conversation ). 
In summary, I was locked out BY BOFA when in XXXX called concerned by the debit card not having arrived ; the validation procedure than changed and I was left unable to access. Not having a valid XXXX address anymore ( my mother in law died ) nor a XXXX mobile phone. I can understand the online access procedure changed, but they are unwilling to provide an alternative having been left out by the changes they introduced. Nor they are willing to consider any of the alternatives to be validate that I proposed. I have been for 20+ years regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the XXXX XXXX I am familiar with XXXX and Italian financial consumer protection regulatory framework, but I have never seen anything like that.

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