Consumer complaint received 2017-06-08
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: WA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Confusing or misleading advertising about the credit card

Complaint:
Bank of America ( BoA ) regularly advertises their " XXXX XXXX Visa Signature Credit Card '' with promotional bonuses of XXXX frequent flyer miles ( or more ) for booking XXXX XXXX flights. This bonus is contingent upon completing {$1000.00} of purchases within 90 days of receiving the card.
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I applied for the BoA XXXX XXXX Visa Signature Card onXX/XX/XXXX. I saved a screen shot of the application page ( attached ), which clearly advertises a promotional bonuses of XXXX airline miles after spending {$1000.00} in 90 days.
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BoA granted me an instant approval, but misleadingly, the approval was *not* for the BoA XXXX XXXX XXXX  Signature Card . Instead, BoA approved me for the XXXX XXXX Platinum Plus Card, which has a much smaller promotional bonus of only XXXX airline miles.
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BoA did not clearly distinguish this product switch whatsoever. I received no email, letter, or other notification that my application for the XXXX  Signature Card was denied. Instead, BoA mailed me the Platinum Plus card, which arrived with no mention of either the XXXX or XXXX promotional bonus. BoA only advertises the " Visa Signature ''  version of the XXXX XXXX card on their website, so there was no reason for me to believe a different " Platinum Plus '' version of the card even existed.
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Once I received the card, I made more than {$1000.00} of purchases using the card, not knowing I would receive only XXXX bonus miles for the promotion. Once I received the XXXX promotional miles, I was confused. I waited to see if an additional XXXX miles would post to my account, which never arrived.
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Today, on XX/XX/XXXX, I called BoA and inquired about the promotional bonus. BoA informed me that because I was only approved for a {$1500.00} credit limit, I did not qualify for the Visa   Signature card, which is why I was mailed a Platinum Plus card instead. I explained to the representative that this was very misleading to me. The customer rep argued it was not misleading and offered to transfer my call to the credit department, suggesting they could explain why I was only approved for {$1500.00}. Since this would only waste more of my time, I declined this suggestion and hung up the phone.
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I strongly suspect that many other consumers have had this same issue. According to BoA, my FICO score was well over 750 at  the time of application, and I listed an annual income of more than {$100000.00} on the application. I suspect a large number of other customers with similar or worse credit scores have had the same " bait and switch '' tactic applied to them. After some cursory internet searching about this problem, it indeed seems to be a common issue.

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