Consumer complaint received 2024-08-29
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account — Transaction was not authorized
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (TX)

XX/XX/year>, I discovered an unauthorized transaction between my accounts, where {$8000.00} from one of my savings accounts had been transferred to the checking account. I immediately changed the password to my Bank of America account and contacted customer service to report these occurrences. As a result of the conversation, a fraud claim was initiated ( XXXX ). The customer service representative assisted me in changing my password again, the debit cards were cancelled, and all accounts were blocked from debits and became for deposits only. At the end of the call, the customer service representative and I felt we had taken care of things as much as possible to secure the accounts. After the call, I initiated the transfer of the {$8000.00} back into the original savings account and was confident the issue had been resolved. 

XX/XX/XXXX, I discovered new unauthorized transactions in the form of Bill Pay payments, were in the processing phase. I immediately called Bank of America, again, to report these unauthorized payments and requested a Stop Pay be placed on all XXXX ( XXXX  XXXX {$1500.00}, XXXX  XXXX {$3000.00}, and XXXX  {$4900.00} ) and a fraud claim be initiated. The customer service representative informed me they could try to put a stop pay on the payments, though they were uncertain it would stop the payments from processing. They informed me a fraud claim could not be opened until the payments posted. At this point, against my uncertainty regarding the Stop Pay, I took the advice of the customer service representative and waited. 

XX/XX/XXXX, I discovered the XXXX XXXX XXXX payments had posted ( totaling {$9400.00} ) and immediately called Bank of America to initiate a fraud claim ( XXXX ) as recommended by the previous customer service representative. As a result of the payments posting, my checking account balance was - {$3000.00}. 

XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted Bank of America to open new checking and savings accounts and had them move the money from the old accounts to the new accounts. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my husband and I went into our local branch to have him added to the new accounts and to get advice on how to proceed. According to the local representative, there was nothing more they could do, as the fraud department was conducting the investigation. As far as he knew, I was taking the appropriate actions to protect myself. I waited for Bank of America to complete their investigation and find fraud had occurred so my accounts could be restored to their pre-fraud balances. 
Unfortunately, this did not occur and I received communication my fraud claim was denied. The reason for the denial was the transaction in question was completed using a device that is consistent with previous valid account activity. No one who is authorized to access my accounts ( my husband and myself ) made those transactions or were anywhere other than XXXX, TX at the time of those transactions. I would like to know more about this device and when it was originally used to access my account. Without knowing more detail from your investigation, the Bill Pay accounts could have been added on the day the funds were transferred between my accounts savings and checking account, on XX/XX/XXXX, which I was unaware of. Additionally, I tried to contact XXXX XXXX and XXXX to notify them of the fraudulent payments made through my Bill Pay ; however, neither have any record of my owning any accounts ending with the account numbers paid to and were unable to give me information regarding those accounts. They did say Bank of America could dispute those payments as part of the fraud investigation and potentially identify the account holders. As far as we know, Bank of America did not investigate. 

Ultimately, Bank of America continues to deny our claim of fraud and reimburse the money lost. We submitted reports the XXXX Police Department, the Texas Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission, and The Office of Commerce and Currency ; all with no resolution to our dispute of the unauthorized transactions occurring on our account.