Consumer complaint received 2021-10-27
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem accessing account
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (PA)

I have an account with Bank of America as a result of bank mergers. In 1995, I opened an account with XXXX XXXX. XXXX was later acquired by XXXX. XXXX was later acquired by Bank of America. I still have the same account number that I had when I opened the account in about XXXX of 1995 in XXXX, NJ while I was a student at XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

Yesterday, my wife was denied an ATM transaction. When she called to inquire, she was told that our account was locked because the bank could not verify a co-owner of the account, " XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX. '' That " co-owner '' was my mailing address from XXXX. SBN stands for Student Box Number. It's essentially an on-campus po box . 

Upon calling customer service to correct that clear and obvious bank error, I was told that they could not correct it without me going physically to a bank branch during business hours ( which are my work hours ) to sign documents. When I pressed for an option that would not require me to do that, I was told the only option was for them to mail me the documents, but that doing so would take up to a month for the full process of mailing and returning the documents. However, they also advised me that if I took that route, my account would be frozen as of Monday, XX/XX/XXXX and that I would no linger have access to the $ XXXX currently in the account nor the approximately {$10000.00} in direct deposits coming this weekend. For good measure, Bank of America also preemptively canceled three bill payments I had scheduled prior to being alerted to the problem with my account.

After well over an hour on the phone yesterday evening, during which time I missed a work meeting, I realized I had no option but to miss work this morning to drive to a bank branch 20 minutes out of my way to prevent Bank of America from holding {$40000.00} and my bill-paying ability hostage for up to a month. I reluctantly did so, where I was helped by a branch employee who called Bank of America customer service. We waited on hold. My wife, as a legitimate joint owner of the account also came as she was required to sign as well. After more than 30 minutes ( I was later for yet another work meeting as a result ) I was told that I could leave but that this might be resolved by Friday.

It appears now that Bank of America has rectified its error ( I'm still waiting to see for sure if I have full access to my accounts ) but only as a result of me using 3 hours of my time over two days, along with an hour of my wife 's time, to fix a problem that was completely and entirely of Bank of America 's doing. 

I offered several reasonable options for resolution, including that they could overnight the necessary paperwork to me and provide overnight service back so that I could sign the papers in a timely manner without having to disrupt my work day. They refused that. I also offered to meet a Bank of America employee at my place of business to sign any necessary papers, but they refused that as well. The only option I was offered was to use my work time to go to a branch in person to fix Bank of America 's egregious error. Otherwise, I was threatened with losing access to my legally owned account for up to a month and being unable to meet my financial obligations.