Consumer complaint received 2018-05-15
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Closing an account — Company closed your account
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (IL)

I signed up for a Bank of America account on Monday XX/XX/XXXX after seeing they had a direct deposit promotion currently going on and having some friends who had accounts with them. This was a HORRIBLE mistake. After signing up on Monday XX/XX/XXXX I contacted my HR department at work and changed my direct deposit information to go to my newly opened Bank of America checking account that week. For some reason, Bank of America decided to NOT SHIP MY DEBIT CARD UNTIL THURSDAY XXXX. As you can imagine, I then had a checking account without checks, and no debit card, because they took FOUR days to even send me a card. I didn't recieve the card until Monday XXXX. An entire week. I got my direct deposit faster than they were able to provide me with a card. 

Because I have bills to pay ( which is apparently a problem with Bank of America ), I had to transfer out money from my account to friends and family ( one of which I live with ) in order to pay the things that I needed to pay. Bank of America, without contacting me first, emailing me, no app notifications, no phone calls, decided to LOCK ME OUT OF MY ACCOUNT on the FIRST DAY that it had money in it. Better yet, that Friday ( XXXX ) I waited on hold for THREE HOURS because the number I was instructed to call was unable to help me, and that I would have to call the fraud team, who couldn't answer my phone calls and after THREE HOURS of sitting at work trying to re-open my account I was informed that because I transferred money out, that it was 'scary ' to Bank of America and apparently that means lock someone out of their account without warning, and don't provide them with any way to fix it when they call. I wasn't able to restore my account access ( keep in mind you can't even login when this happens, you can not check your balance, use the app, nothing, and I had no debit card ) until the following day ( Saturday XXXX ). 

After that, I noticed that I was not credited my account creation bonus, which is about what I expected from a company as horrible as Bank of America, and within a few days again, I was locked out of my account without warning, AGAIN. Two times?! Within a week?! You've got to be kidding me. I waited a few days to call, knowing I was already furious with them and didn't want to deal with them and today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I called them because it's once again payroll week and I can't login to my account that is being direct deposited into. I was just informed on the phone that Bank of America decided to terminate my account, and that there was nothing I could do, that all terminations are final, and apparently that's it. 

So, after being locked out TWICE, still unable to see my balance or transactions, I doubt that I'll ever get that account signup bonus, and now I have to figure out what the XXXX I'm going to do because it's Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX and payroll has already ran for this week and I was expecting a deposit into that account Friday on XX/XX/XXXX. 

My advice : do NOT bank with Bank of America. You're better off keeping it under your mattress, because that way they won't be able to close your account leaving you without funds and having to figure out what's going to happen with your paycheck because as a Bank of America customer, you will be bullied and XXXX  over and that's just the way they do 'online banking '. I will spend the rest of my life telling my experience with Bank of America, because the more people that I can warn about them, the better.