Consumer complaint received 2024-06-10
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low — Overdrafts and overdraft fees
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (TX)

ILLEGAL ACTS BY BANK OF AMERICA : 1. ) Bank of America charged me {$1600.00} in surprise overdraft fees from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. The account balance was actually positive for most of the transactions regarding the account. 

2. ) NSF FEES for having SUFFICIENT FUNDS.

Bank of America also charged me {$630.00} in NSF : Returned Item fees during that same time period. One would think this might be the situation higlighted in the CFPB XX/XX/XXXX Enforcement Action, which stated " if a consumer did not have sufficient funds in their account to pay for the transaction and the bank decided not to pay it, Bank of America assessed the consumer a {$35.00} non-sufficient funds fee. Merchants commonly re-present these returned transactionsthat is, they again try to receive paymentoften multiple times. For many years, Bank of America assessed non-sufficient fund fees on ACH and check transactions that it returned unpaid even though it had already assessed a {$35.00} fee for the same ACH or check transaction that it had previously returned unpaid ( i.e., repeat non-sufficient fund fees ). Bank of America would assess these repeat non-sufficient fund fees potentially as soon as the next day after the initial transaction. From XX/XX/XXXX until XX/XX/XXXX, Bank of America generated hundreds of millions of dollars in such fees. '' While is this true on a few occasions, the account balance was actually POSITIVE for most of the transactions regarding the account.

3 ) OVERDRAFT PROTECTION ( CASH ADVANCES FROM CREDIT CARD ) To add further insult to inj
ury, {$350.00} were transferred from my Bank of America Credit Card to cover some of the alleged overdraft fees. Interest was then applied to these " Cash Advances '' at the following rate : 21
.75 % 4 ) OVERDRAFT PROTECTION CASH ADVANCE FEES and INTEREST, simultaneously charged While OVERDRAFT FEES WERE ASSESSED on the checking account.

Bank of America also assessed a {$12.00} overdraft protection fee, which is applied towards my credit card balance on 2 occasions. This fee was enhanced to {$39.00} on 2 other occasions. TO BE CLEAR OVERDRAFT FEES WERE CHARGED ON BOTH MY CREDIT AND CHECKING ACCOUNTS FOR THE SAME TRANSACTION. ( SEE ATTACHMENT : " XXXX XXXX XXXX  '' ****EFFECTS OF ILLEGAL ACTS ON THE CONSUMER ( ME ) : Bank of America may not charge overdraft fees for deposit accounts when the consumer had available funds at the time of a purchase or other debit transaction, but then subsequently had a negative balance once the transaction settled. Surprise overdraft fees have been a recurring issue for myself and other consumers who can neither reasonably anticipate nor take steps to avoid them. 

EVIDENCE : Beginning on XX/XX/XXXX, the fees were applied despite a positive balance for the checking account. This is confirmed in the letter or " OVERDRAFT NOTICE '' that Bank of America provided to my online account. Bank of America provided XXXX OVERDRAFT NOTICES/ Letters to my account in XXXX. If you follow them in chronological order beginning with the the XX/XX/XXXX, it is quite incriminating. It appears they are completely aware of the crime yet they continue to ABUSE me. 

Below is the XX/XX/XXXX letter. I will download and attach the other XXXX which are still accessible on my account. 

_____________________________________________________ The letter reads : " Unfortunately, you didnt have enough money in your Bank of America Advantage Plus Banking account ending in XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, to cover your transaction ( s ) below.

Your account balance after your transaction ( s ) and fees : {$150.00}.

We recommend you check your balance and if its negative, make a deposit right away to bring it above {$0.00} and to have enough money to cover any upcoming transactions. 

Transaction type/ Amount/ Was it paid? / Fee ELECTRONIC PAYMENT/ {$15.00} / No, Returned / {$35.00} ELECTRONIC PAYMENT/ {$20.00} / No, Returned / {$35.00} ELECTRONIC PAYMENT/ {$20.00} / No, Returned / {$35.00} Since you have an unpaid transaction ( s ), you may want to reach out to the recipient to make your payment. Ways to help avoid transactions being returned unpaid and additional fees Check your accounts daily in the mobile app or Online Banking Make it automatic set up daily balance and transaction alerts delivered to your phone or email Learn about overdraft services at bankofamerica.com/XXXX  Thank you for taking care of this right away. '' __________________________________________________________________ As noted, this creates a cyclical or dominoe effect on the account balance and leads to further overdraft fees, NSF fees. After thoroughly reviewing all of the letters sent by Bank of America, it clearly evident that {$1000.00} in Overdraft fees were assessed despite the positive account balance, after transaction ( XXXX ), clearly and indisputably had a positive ending daily balance. 

ACTIONS TAKEN BY ME : PROMPT. PATIENT, AND PERSISTENT EFFORT Unaware of the notices, I called Bank of America every month in XXXX. Each time I attempted to dispute the ongoing illegal fees. I even read to the BOA representative, the the applicable laws. Each time, multiple BOA representatives adamantly stated that no mistake was made and that the charges and fees were valid, however, they were only willing to provide the occasional " complimentary refund ''. The total amount that has been refunded back to my checking account was {$560.00}. 

CHANGES to CHECKING ACCOUNT The issue was then escalated to a manager/supervisor. He told me the only way to prevent this from happening would be to switch checking accounts, which would remove the overdraft protection, however, I would also no longer be permitted to write checks. 

CFPB ENFORCEMENT ACTION AND PRESS RELEASE ON XX/XX/XXXX : Upon reading the CFPB Enforcement Action regarding the issue, I immediately called the provided number for Bank of America. The representative stated that I am not eligible for the refund. I have called several times and even called other departments in an attempt to address the issue. However, Bank of America blatantly heightens their abusive response towards me.

Minimum Redress : Refund all fees for both the checking account and the credit card during this time period and adjust the interest appropriately! 


True Redress : first take in my perspective .... In XXXX my beginning credit card balance was {$3900.00} and my ending credit card balance was XXXX Total Spending on the Credit Card was {$900.00} ( including the Overdraft protection - cash advances ). Total Fees were {$320.00}. 
Total Interest Charged was {$610.00}. Meanwhile I made over {$2000.00} in payments. 

My point is the following : what if the excessive and abusive overdraft/nsf/overdraft protection fees had never been stolen from my checking account? The answer : {$2200.00} additional funds would have been available for me to spend to my credit card balance. Instead, I was out of money and forced to tap my other credit cards just survive. Due to inflation, those cards had interest rates at near 30 % and they have since been maxed out. According to the Bank of America Credit Card statemnt, if you pay off your balance of {$3900.00} in 36 months, I would spend about {$5000.00}. That's a minimal of {$15000.00} for all XXXX cards or about and {$3000.00} in additional interest paid during the 3 year span. 

To magnify the issue, the NSF transactions were being reversed from my investments. During the particular dates in the month of XXXX and XXXX, my investments had gained nearly 67 % or {$16000.00}. the NSF fees locked up my XXXX account on multiple occasions. Ultimately, costing me all of my gains. Yet I was having to withdrawal funds to cover the unecessary low balance due to fees. 

The ongoing OVERDRAFT NOTICES still persist with the current checking account with BOA, however no fees. However, the CFPB statement in the XX/XX/XXXX Enforcement Action ( account ballance and the 3 to 4 processing or hold on funds ) persist, and often without reason. Bottomline, over XXXX point decrease in credit score, car loan payments not processiong, car loan charaged off.. Conservative Estimate of the Adverse Economic & Financiial , Mental and Physical wellbeing, is no less than {$93000.00}. More realistic resolution is {$260000.00}. I understand that I am doing myself an injustice by asking for a small percentage in return for extroardinary burden BOA purposesly placed on my finances.