Consumer complaint received 2023-08-08
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments — Problem during payment process
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (VA)

For many years I have paid my Bank of America credit card balance in full through autopay from a checking account at another bank. This always worked without fail. 



In XXXX I took advantage of a 0 % APR Balance Transfer offer on my Bank of America credit card in the amount of {$10000.00}. A 3 % fee, totaling {$300.00}, was applied to my account at that time as well. Due to this balance transfer, I wanted to change my autopay from being the full statement balance to only the minimum payment due in order to take advantage of the 0 % APR promotional period. I was unable to do this on the website due to an error that indicated my account was not eligible for " Bill Pay '' despite the fact that I was trying to make a payment with my credit card, which is a different service. I also tried changing the automatic payment on my mobile app, but there I would get the message that " Your request can't be processed due to account status. '' I waited a few days to see if this status would change. 



On XX/XX/2023 there was still no change, so I made my first call to Bank of America. This conversation lasted 16 minutes. I don't remember all the details, and I didn't take notes, but I think that it was something along the lines of agreeing that I should wait to see whether the new balance transfer had temporarily affected the account status and that the issue may resolve itself. The issue did not resolve itself. 



I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to a representative for 11 minutes. This resulted in the customer service representative stating that they had requested my autopay to be reset, resulting in my automatic payments being cancelled, and that I should be able to access the online system within 24 to 48 hours and set up my new autopay parameters. This did not work. 



I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to someone for 13 minutes. After spending some time investigating the cause of the issue, they asked to access my browser with me in order to see the error messages I was getting. I declined because I was using my work computer, and I told them I would call back another day. 



I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to someone for 54 minutes. They assured me that the problem the first time was that I had failed to accept the Terms and Conditions of the autopay system, which should have popped up the next time I logged in. I did not recall seeing a popup, but I consented to having them reset the system again and trying again in a few days. They added that it appeared my original autopay for the full statement balance had still been in effect when they reset it this time, but that they had now successfully removed that autopay and reset everything. I took extra care to look for the popup over the next couple of days, but it never appeared. 



I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to someone for 58 minutes. This conversation ended up being extremely similar to my conversation on XX/XX/XXXX. I reiterated that it would be a disaster for me if my upcoming autopay occurred. I specifically asked the customer service representative whether my autopay was active, and she told me it was active but that I had no upcoming automatic payments since my next bill would be due in XXXX. She insisted that resetting the account would finally work, so I agreed that I would consent again to resetting autopay, even though I was skeptical. 



On XX/XX/XXXX ( today ) I got an email from the bank where I have my checking account stating that my checking account had been overdrawn. The autopay that I specifically requested Bank of America NOT to make had been made in the amount of {$10000.00}, which put my checking account at the other bank at a negative balance of - {$6100.00}. 



A few minutes after seeing the email I called Bank of America and spoke to someone for 16 minutes. This customer service representative offered to refund the payment, but that it would take 10 days to process. I can not live with a negative balance in my checking account for 10 days, so I refused and called XXXX XXXX, the bank that holds my checking account. 



A few minutes after I hung up with Bank of America, I called XXXX XXXX and spoke to someone for 11 minutes who was able to dispute the transaction and put a stop payment for future payments. The customer service representative said they couldn't assure me of whether the funds would be usable as it would take up to 10 days to dispute the transaction. 



I called Bank of America again and spoke to someone for 56 minutes. They insisted it was impossible to get my money back in fewer than 10 days, which I insisted was not good enough and that I would not be satisfied with that outcome. After several rounds of me asking what else could be done and being denied any other options, I consented to the refund request. I asked if I would be compensated for the loss of use of my checking account for 10 days and I was informed that they would not be compensating me. I mentioned that I STILL could not access autopay or make any changes on the website or mobile app, and the customer service representative followed the same steps as before and assured me that actually this time would be different because the person she asked to do the change for me is especially competent and it would work in 24 to 48 hours. I am skeptical of that actually being true.

I also asked whether my promotional APR would still apply once the refund was processed. I was assured that yes, my 0 % APR would still apply once the refund is processed. I hope that's true because it would be the first thing that Bank of America has told me in the last month that wasn't a lie. 



In Summary : I called Bank of America 5 times in order to fix autopay. The last 2 of those times I specified that an upcoming statement balance autopay should NOT be made, and I was assured it was cancelled. Bank of America made the autopay of {$10000.00} without my consent, and my checking account is now overdrawn. Bank of America told me it would be 10 days until the refund would be processed. I was given no compensation, and I will have to live with a negative checking account balance for 10 days.