Consumer complaint received 2024-05-22
Product: Checking or savings account — Other banking product or service
Issue: Opening an account — Didn't receive terms that were advertised
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (CA)

I opened the Bank of America ( BoA ) Advantage SafeBalance Checking on XX/XX/year>, I deposited more than {$100000.00} into my Merrill Edge investment account within 30 days of my checking account opening. Based on the BoA Preferred Rewards program terms ( all related terms are listed below in [ 1 ] ), I am eligible for early enrollment in the BoA Preferred Rewards program and I should have been qualified for the Platinum Honors tier. However, I have tried several ways to contact BoA customer services, and unfortunately, I was continuously redirected to different departments back and forth again and again within BoA systems and did not receive any concrete solution to my question. Below are more details regarding my contact with BoA recently : ( XXXX ) I made two calls with phone number XXXX to BoA customer service on XX/XX/year>, which took me 49 mins and 7 mins. I was consistently being redirected back and forth to the customer service department, Preferred Rewards program department, Merrill department with the consistently repeated verification process. Each redirection required me to repeat my request again and again and none of them eventually found the root cause and/or solved my question. 
( XXXX ) I visited the physical branch on XX/XX/year> and hoped to resolve my question, and it took me around 1 hour in total. All physical agents, no matter from BoA or Merrill 's side, could not resolve my question. Therefore, they helped me to open a ticket from their backend system. Unfortunately, this ticket was directly closed on XX/XX/year> with no resolution or any good rationale provided. 
( XXXX ) I made two calls with phone number XXXX to BoA customer services on XX/XX/year>, which took me 33 mins and 37 mins correspondingly. None of the agents knows all the details regarding my request. Eventually, they asked me to use the alternative term ( " a three-month combined average daily balance in your qualifying deposit and investment accounts '' ) by waiting for 3 more months and I'll be auto-eligible for what I want. However, I don't think this is reasonable as I've met all eligible requirements based on the early enrollment term from BoA website ( " a current combined balance, provided that you enroll at the time you open your first eligible personal checking account and satisfy the balance requirement at the end of at least one day within 30 days of opening that account. " ). More details of the related terms I'm referring to can see below in [ XXXX ]. 


[ XXXX ] Related Terms Regarding BoA Preferred Rewards Program One of the requirements quoted from BoA website regarding the Preferred Rewards Program Eligibility is as below : " a current combined balance, provided that you enroll at the time you open your first eligible personal checking account and satisfy the balance requirement at the end of at least one day within 30 days of opening that account. ".

The combined balance from BoA website is defined as " Balances include your combined, qualifying Bank of America deposit accounts ( such as checking, savings, certificate of deposit ) and/or your Merrill investment accounts ( such as Cash Management Accounts, XXXX Plans ). '' The balance tier is defined as " The balance tiers are {$20000.00} for the Gold tier, {$50000.00} for the Platinum tier, {$100000.00} for the Platinum Honors tier, " All details can see from BoA Preferred Rewards website link here https : //promotions.bankofamerica.com/preferredrewards/en