Consumer complaint received 2016-07-14
Product: Bank account or service — Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management — 
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (NY)

My complaint against bank of America is twofold : 1 ) for a period of eleven days they improperly froze my accounts without notice and 2 ) when I withdrew most of my money from those accounts, they retaliated by changing the terms of my checking account without my knowledge or consent to make me incur in maintenance fees. 

On XXXX XXXX I noticed that a payment to my student loan creditor had not been authorized. Upon inquiring with the loan creditor, they informed me that the reason my payment was not authorized was that my checking account ( from which the funds were to be debited ) was frozen. I immediately contacted Bank of America ( hereafter referred to as BOA ), which has been my primary banking institution since 2006. A representative confirmed that my account had indeed been frozen since XXXX XXXX. When I asked for an explanation, the representative only said they needed to confirm some information about my account. When I asked what information, they said they needed to confirm specifically my nationality and my citizenship status. I told him that neither my nationality nor my citizenship status had changed since I opened this account ( XXXX ), and that all my contact information was up to date. He insisted that he needed to know my citizenship status, to which I again responded that it had not changed since I opened the account. I questioned the legality of his line of questioning, and he mumbled something about President Obama 's anti money-laundering legislation. I asked specifically which provisions of said legislation he was alluding to, and he had no answer for me. He proceeded to unfreeze my account, but was unable to give me a reason as to why it was frozen in the first place. 

In the months preceding this incident, I do remember receiving an email from Bank of America asking me to update my contact information. I obliged immediately. Since my information was up to date on XXXX XXXX, was no legitimate reason for them to have frozen my account. 

As a result of this freeze, I incurred in fees from various creditors due to automated payments that were declined. 

In the days following this incident, I contacted the XXXX in XXXX, NC to demand an explanation from BOA. A representative from BOA named XXXX XXXX contacted me on the phone on XXXX XXXX. She and I spoke on two occasions. In these conversations, she repeated that " federal law '' required that they confirm my citizenship status and nationality, but she was unable to cite or even name the alleged federal laws. I asked her if BOA had made any attempt to notify me either before or during the freeze, and she said that, to her knowledge, no attempt was made to contact me via phone, mail or email. 

After this conversation, I moved most of my money to another baking institution. BOA retaliated by imposing punitive maintenance fee because my accounts have a " low balance ''. I contacted customer service via chat on XXXX XXXX to have these fees reversed, and a representative named XXXX told me that while she would reverse the fees this month, my account required a minimum daily balance of {$1500.00} so as to not incur in maintenance fees. I was shocked to hear this because when I opened this account in 2006, my agreement said that my checking account had minimum balance and no monthly maintenance fees, ad perpetuum. I have never changed my account type, nor have I ever agreed to these new terms. When I inquired when these terms were communicated to me, the representative said they were mailed to my home, but could not give me specific a date that my account was converted to a product now known as " Core Checking ''.