Consumer complaint received 2020-09-15
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (CO)

To whom it may concern : I am writing to you to file a complaint against Bank of America ( BoA ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I noticed that BoA had withdrawn at total of 3 mortgage payments out of my outside bank account. The excess 2 mortgage payment removed totaled {$5400.00}. 

I was unable to contact BoA on this day, as it was past business hours when I noticed this. I promptly called them on XXXX at XXXX MDT, had approximately a 40min hold time prior to connecting with a Representative. I was informed that I would need to submit a letter stating what happened along with a screen shot of my outside account showing the money had been removed from the account. This was faxed to the provided number at XXXX MDT. Once this was submitted, I was told I should receive a phone call within the next 24hr. Once this was completed, I was told 24-48hrs until refund would be completed. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called BoA to confirm receipt of above papers. I spent a total of 5hrs on hold prior to connecting to another representative. She stated that the paperwork was not in the system and did not appear to received for processing. I then was able to submit the required paperwork to her supervisor and confirmed receipt of paperwork. Another request for refund was submitted and confirmed. I was given a refund request # ( XXXX ) and was told it would be completed by the end of business day on XX/XX/XXXX. 

At end of business day on XX/XX/XXXX, there was still no refund in my outside account, no evidence of pending refund on BoA. I then called back BoA back on XX/XX/XXXX, spent 50min on hold. The representative this time, told me they were backed up due to an influx of people with same complaint and to give them another 24-48 business hours to process this. 

Today ( XX/XX/XXXX XXXX, I called BoA again to follow up on refund request. I was told my request was still pending and they would try to expedite this but to please given the another 24-48 business hours to process. After explaining that another delay was unacceptable after waiting 12d already, I was transferred to the payment research department and spent another 1hr40min on hold. I discussed with the representative at that time need for speedy refund. At this time, I was asked to give them another 24-48hrs for refund to process. I discussed with the representative who provided other options, but nothing could be guaranteed faster than 2 business days. As this is now impacting final closing figures on my house, and could delay closing, I was forced to cancel my refund request, which can take up to 24hrs to process. 

This issue as caused me financial distress as the excess money withdrawn was earmarked for other expenses. Thankfully, either the pending checks have not been yet cashed or I have been able to place those expenses on credit cards with the hope that I will get my money refund by BoA in time to avoid interest charges that I would not have otherwise incurred. Any other month, the would excess withdrawal would have cause an overdraw of my account resulting in excess fees. Additionally, this is impacted the ability to close on the sale of my house in a timely manner because we can not get a true and solid payoff number as this is pending. Subsequently, Ive spent approaching 8hrs,  as of this writing, trying to sort this out. This has led to lost time with loved ones, taken time away from my leisure activities, and been just overall stressful. 

This experience has made me truly grateful that the sale of my house has allowed me leave to BoA. While the representatives I spoke with offered nothing understanding and helped to the best of his/her ability ; I feel that BoA as a corporation has no sympathy or concern for how their mistake as affected my financial and personal life. I feel there are in no hurry to correct their mistake and instead are hoping that it will just go away. The way BoA has handled this has been thoroughly frustrating and their call center hold times are unacceptable for a business of this size/importance. I will strongly encourage any person I can to avoid associating with BoA. 

I do not expect this complaint to have impact on my current situation but rather Im writing in hopes that you can work with BoA so that in the future, people who have this happen to them can have their refund processed an appropriate time frame.