Consumer complaint received 2020-03-31
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: AZ
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
I contacted my bank Bank of America, on or near XX/XX/XXXX while i was in Florida. My Family and I had been in Florida for several weeks at this point and went to check our account and notice that all of our money was gone. I explained all this to the BofA fraud department and went through the normal process of discussing each charge and whether or not we were the ones that made them. The total came out to about {$6000.00} in debit card fraud and another {$4000.00} in transfer fraud. As i noted before, we were in Florida at the time i called the bank and we had been there for several weeks staying at the XXXX XXXX. ALl of the charges I was disputing were conducted in Arizona during the time i was in Florida. I explained this to the bank and provided them with the XXXX  ticket information and even said i could provide them with the ticket purchase dates as well as the wrist bands which showed the charges happening in Florida during the same time there were charges taking place in Arizona, clearly Fraud. All seemed well. 

Bank of America, due to the wire transfer fraud ( and without my knowledge ) shut down my entire account due to the wire fraud. I was unable to access my online banking at this point, i was not given new password information, i was not able to open another account within bank of america, i was unable to do anything. BofA said i had total fraud protection and that they had 10 days to make a decision on the account. I was told at that time i was not eligible for the temporary credit because it was a debit card that was used to take the money. I found that odd as I have had debit card fraud in the past in which the people had somehow stolen my pin number and used it to gain access while i was still in possession of my card. We were 100 % stuck in florida without any money, any bank account for someone to transfer money to us to help us, and so we decided to just wait it out. i called each day asking about the funds as my family was getting desperate and we had XXXX money at this time due to this. One the 9th day, i contacted BofA, i had to get the issue escalated as no result had come forward yet. I called again the 10th day, and was told my case had been closed. No call, no update, not temp credit just closed. I called them to appeal the decision and was told that they had another ten days to review it. I called every other day leading up to that asking if they need more information, asking what i could do to help them, etc. Each day i was told that it would be escalated or just that i had to wait. On the 10th day i called, they said that no decision had been made. I ask why, as i was told it was 10 days? They said they would escalate it again and that would make sure i got an answer in 48 hours. I waited two more days, i called back and was told that an appeal falls under a different fraud category and that BofA actually has 60 days to review the request. 

I called a few times between those 60 days asking what they needed from me. On the 60th day, i called them and asked what the status was. They said they then told me that they actually had 90 days to review the claim. I was frustrated but i waited. At the 90 days i called and they said the issue was closed and i would not be refunded the money that was stolen. I was told i could reopen it again if i wanted, so i did, only to find out a month later that now they have an unlimited amount of time to review the issue. I ended up filing complaints with several associates at BofA for giving me false information. MY family and I had to beg for cash from strangers to get to somewhere safe due to this and to this day my account ban still hasnt been lifted as they haven't completed the investigation on the wire fraud claim. 

I am contacting you guys as i read about you on XXXX and i hope to get some help. This has been a struggle and i was a customer of BofA from XXXX and was constantly given the wrong information and never helped. I still havent gotten ym money and desperately need assistance with this. 

FYI, i do not have any attached documents, becuase everything was paperless per my account setup. I havent been able to access documents on anything as i my access was removed in XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX

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