Consumer complaint received 2023-01-10
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Cashing a check
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (CA)

On XX/XX/XXXX, my husband wrote, signed, and endorsed a check to move {$7000.00} from our shared XXXX checking account to his XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX IRA account. The check was mailed out on XX/XX/XXXX in an envelope along with a XXXX IRA Contribution Voucher, which included the relevant check number, amount, and date. The checks memo was explicitly written as IRA [ ACCOUNT NUMBER ] and was signed and endorsed on the back by him. 

On XX/XX/XXXX we received an envelope from the Postmaster of XXXX, XXXX XXXX, containing the opened envelope, which no longer contained the check, along with a notice that we, may have been the victim of mail theft or identity theft. We went to our local XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX ) and were told that that on XX/XX/XXXX, the check had been deposited into a Bank of America account. The text Pay to the order of : XXXX XXXX had been written in someone elses handwriting underneath my husbands signature in the endorsement section of the check. We picked up a Declaration of Unauthorized Endorsement or Altered Item form from the branch. On the same day, we also reported the mail theft to the XXXX XXXX Police Department ( XXXX XXXX, Badge # XXXX ; Case Number XXXX ). We also called Bank of America and were told to file our issue with XXXX, who would then contact Bank of America when necessary. 

On XX/XX/XXXX we called the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX at XXXX to file a claim ( Claim Number : XXXX ). On this day we also submitted our completed Declaration of Unauthorized Endorsement or Altered Item at our local XXXX branch. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from XXXX requesting additional information to complete their research. We faxed all relevant documents to them. The next day, I called to confirm that they had received the faxed documents. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called XXXX and were informed that on XX/XX/XXXX, they had sent our claims information to Bank of America to request a reimbursement, with a response expected in XXXX days. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called Bank of America and was told that processing the claim ( XXXX ) would be finished in XXXX days from then. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called XXXX and was told to expect a response from Bank of America in an additional XXXX days. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Bank of America and was told that the case should be resolved by XX/XX/XXXX, a total of XXXX days since they received an inquiry from XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from XXXX that Bank of America had denied their request to reimburse us. I called XXXX, who told us that XXXX XXXX XXXX had denied our claim since the signature in the endorsement section was real. I called Bank of America ( XXXX ), who asked me to call XXXX ( XXXX ) to re-file the claim with XXXX XXXX XXXX as a case of altered check endorsement. After calling XXXX, I was told by XXXX that they would not refile a claim, as, anyone can modify the endorsement section of a check to include pay to the order of and deposit it into another account if a signature is present.