Consumer complaint received 2024-03-11
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Opening an account — Unable to open an account
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (MA)

After submitting a complaint to XXXX  and getting two responses by email re-asking about my issues but not being responsive or resolving my issue, I am now giving this method a try. I hope this is will fully resolve my issue so I can bank with Bank of America in peace and worry no more. Thank you in advance for taking ownership of this, and helping resolve to full satisfaction.

There are a couple of issues, which I will try to explain one by one based on topic : CHECKING : It was a nightmare to open a new BofA checking account, you have no idea how many times I have tried by phone and online ( you probably can see it in your systems, but probably more than XXXX times ). This is truly a shame because I am pretty sure it has to do with my last name being in XXXX and with spaces, and how the system interprets that along with the checks they do with other systems. This is truly a burden on XXXX XXXX in the XXXX as always... we always pay the price for these XXXXXXXX XXXX systems, and a manual check is almost always required- this take more time and effort for us to do same thing anyone else can do ( specially if their name is XXXX XXXX, they have it much better even with worse credit scores ). I am requesting a review of this so this does not happen ever again. I have been a BofA customer since XXXX and closed any accounts since then in good standing. 

I am now currently a Bank of America customer again with a checking account and a XXXX XXXX account. I went into a XXXX local branch to open the checking one, and that finally worked ( however, this was after a lot of burden on me, which leaves a very XXXX  XXXX  in my relationship with BofA ). Right now, the main issue continues to be that I cant continue to manage my accounts and relationship online or by phone at all to open a savings account or a CD account, or to do anything of that sort if I wish to- this is very frustrating and inconvenient. 

Even my banker sent me a link that showed up under my profile shopping cart to open the savings anytime I wish in the future, but that doesnt even work for me. That is very concerning and seems targeted. You should have my social and all my ID in the system, as I literally went in person recently and got all verified and approved, so what else do you need from me to let me bank online like any other regular person can? It makes no sense. I have no issues like these with my other banks I already have relationships with. I have also emailed my banker to report this but waiting on a resolution. 

What I would like to know is, what is stopping me from being a regular customer? I have private client relationships with other major banks and can bank online, in person, or by phone just fine without any hassles or delays, but Bank of America doesnt work for me, even to do basic things? Why? I am always getting the unable to open account online, please visit financial center message when I try to apply for anything today and over the last month or so. I have tried many different ways at this point. Your bank really treats customers so poorly if this is how it works in XXXX so antiquated. 

I hope this can be resolved ASAP, as I have been waiting for a long time for a full resolution. In fact, I thought this was being investigated already based on a XXXX  complaint I submitted back in XXXX. This is extremely frustrating and unacceptable. 

SAVINGS AND CD ( after opening checking in branch ) : After visiting a financial center and getting fully verified in person, I was able to open a checking account pretty quickly and the banker just processed an application manually due to all the issues I was having ( instead of sending me a link for me to apply ). Very antiquated - even she admitted that that she usually does not need to process things manually for other customers. She was extremely helpful - however, since then I still face the same issue of it being impossible to open a savings or a CD account on my own ( just like I could not open a checking on my own ). Self-banking and online banking management is just not a thing with me apparently and with BofA specifically XXXX This seems so targeted and inappropriate. 

To make matters worse, the banker also said I have tons of profiles that the system created, which they are in the process of merging ( from what I was told ). However, I am not sure if all personal AND business profiles have been merged at this point so that can be ruled out as the issue being flagged constantly by the system every time I try to do something online or by phone. Can this be checked out and fully resolved? 

CREDIT CARD ( opening online, inquiring by phone ) : I have been trying to apply to the Bank of America XXXX XXXX XXXX credit card, but the whole process has been so confusing and so much lack of transparency. Even your agents have no idea how to work with this or provide any information. I can find more information just by XXXX  things myself. Truly a shameful way to operate a major XXXX XXXX... I applied and it was pending review and I was asked to call and when I called they just told me to wait for a letter in a mail as it was marked as a referral. A couple days later I tried to apply for same card again and got instantly declined. You checked my credit AGAIN within days just to decline me because you flagged it as a duplicate application? Why even check my credit again? I am requesting to please remove that duplicate hard inquiry on my XXXX and XXXX reports as I only intended to get one card ( and they are both the same ) and I also would like to push this through. I have XXXX credit score right now and 100 % excellent payment history etc. for many years with multiple issuers and card types. I have XXXX  cards with all major issuers always in good standing ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX, etc ) and have never had a problem. 

Latest applications from XX/XX/XXXX : APPLICATION ID : XXXX APPLICATION ID : XXXX