Consumer complaint received 2024-06-01
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with balance transfer
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (NY)

I am writing to submit a complaint regarding a promotional balance transfer offer that I received as a credit card account holder at Bank of America. 

Here is a timeline : On XX/XX/XXXX a direct deposit was made from my available credit to my bank account in the amount of {$7600.00}. At this time I was also charged a transaction fee of {$300.00}. Note that I already had an existing balance on this card, which was {$2700.00} at the end of XX/XX/XXXX. 

The promotional offer ID was : XXXX. 

The end date for this promotional rate was on XX/XX/XXXX. 

For approximately one year ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) I made the minimum monthly payments on this account. Because these payments went toward the lowest APR balances first as is stated in Bank of Americas account information on the monthly statements, my payments as I understand went toward paying off the direct deposit balance. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from Bank of America with the subject line : Your credit card promotional rate expires soon. ( Note that I have attached this email for reference. ) Nowhere in this email were there any specific instructions for how to pay off the balance with the promotional APR when the account had another balance with another APR. There was only the note to Log in to monitor your balance ( s ) or make payments. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I made a large payment of {$6000.00} on this account. In the XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX statement this was the balance amount listed as subject to the promotional interest rate. I wanted to make sure that I made this payment well in advance of the promotional end date to avoid having a large balance with a very high interest rate. I used a little under half of my modest divorce settlement to make this payment. 

Because I used my credit card attached to this account very little until spring of this year, I only recently took a thorough look at my latest statements and realized to my great dismay that the promotional balance that I thought I had paid off is now growing by the month (!! ) and Im paying a hefty interest rate each month. This situation is exactly what I wanted to avoid!!! To make matters worse, Im now in a very tight financial position where I can only make the minimum monthly payments. 

I called Bank of America on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with two associates and the supervisor of one of these associates. ( Note I had to end the first call as it was just about to run into an important meeting that I had scheduled. ) The second time I called the associate connected me to their supervisor. 

All the Bank of America representatives quickly grasped the problem, yet I got very different answers on what I should have done about it. One of the representatives told me that I should have made the minimum monthly payment in XXXX on top of the payment I submitted to clear my direct deposit balance. 

Later, another representative kept reading me the fine print in the account statement, which felt demeaning to me. I understood the fine print, yet did not understand how I should have coordinated my big payment to avoid the current mess in which I find myself. 

I was finally told that I should have made that payment on XX/XX/XXXX. Yet, nowhere was that made clear. From my standpoint it would not have made sense to wait until the XXXX and risk and risk being hit with a huge interest fee. Ive taken advantage of XXXX APR financing in the past with other companies to finance medical debt and Ive always been extraordinarily careful about paying off those balances to avoid the extremely high interest charges that kick in right after a promotional period ends. 

Yet, in this case, despite acting in good faith to pay off my promotional balance in full and on time, I am now paying dearly and will continue to do so on a balance with a very high APR that is growing by the month. And, this situation is unfolding at a time when I can barely afford to put food on the table. 

This situation feels incredibly unfair to the point of being predatory, especially given the confusing messages from Bank of Americas own representatives and vague written correspondence from the bank. 

Thank you so much for your attention to this troubling matter!