Consumer complaint received 2018-11-08
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem using a debit or ATM card
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (IL)

On the night of Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX in to the morning of Friday, XX/XX/XXXX my phone and wallet were stolen. In my wallet was a Bank of America Debit Card, a Bank of America Credit Card, and a XXXX XXXX XXXX card. 

The party that stole my wallet attempted to take a cash advance on both the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and the Bank of America Credit Card, both of which were declined. Unfortunately, whomever had my card was able to access my funds through an ATM ( Bank of America said my PIN was used, they must have somehow had access to it ). On the morning of Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, I went in to the closest Bank of America branch to file a claim, to find that someone had manged to move money from my savings account ( also with Bank of America ) to my checking account and clear the account. They had attempted to withdraw over {$10000.00}, many of these attempts were declined due to insufficient funds, but manged to withdraw {$5000.00} across 2 different ATM  locations. I filed a fraud claim and provided all requested information to the fraud department. The only Bank of America employee that was helpful during this time was the Branch Manager, XXXX, who helped by getting things escalated when I was unable to be helped, but had no affiliation to the fraud department and was unable to help past that. 

One week later, on Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX, I received a notification that my claim would not be paid. I placed a call to the fraud department who said there was nothing that I could do, it was the official position of the bank that it was me that withdrew the money, and that the temporary credit they provided of {$4000.00} would be reversed, leaving me with no money. I immediately went to the branch to find XXXX, the only face-to-face person I have been able to talk to throughout this process, to see what I could do. He was not working at the time, and I was told by tellers and another branch manager he would not be back in the branch until the following Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, and my best course of action was to wait until he was back in on Tuesday morning. I called off work on Tuesday, having to move multiple meetings, to ensure I was able to accommodate for this. 

When I came back in to the branch I was able to sit with XXXX and walk him through what happened. He was very helpful by bringing me in to his office, making the call to the fraud department off of his personal desk phone, and immediately escalating this above the first level of fraud. The manager at  the fraud department instructed me that the best thing I could do was file a police report, so that they could check the cameras at the ATM 's where the cash was withdrawn. These were not Bank of America ATM 's, so they had no access to the video footage without a police warrant. I left the branch and immediately went to the police station to file a police report about the incident. 

I filled the police in on the background of what happened, and my struggles with the Bank. I was able to file a police report. The police looked at the ATM locations and mentioned a detective " may not want to go down there '' because the ATM 's were in a very dangerous area on the South Side of XXXX, but that this happens all the time and Bank of America would handle the rest with them behind the scenes, ensuring that I would be fine.

I came back to the Bank of America location, where XXXX helped me fax the police report in to the fraud department. I called the fraud department to read off the fax confirmation and confirm with them that they have everything that they need, I was told it would take 2 full days for them to receive it and put it in my file. I learned that the fraud department does not even review the files, those are passed to an investigative team for further review, and under no circumstances can you speak with someone from the investigative team about your case, and they are the ones that make the final decision on whether or not to pay the claim. I was told that the case was re-opened for review and it would take 60 days for review. 

Luckily, the original " temporary credit '' of {$4000.00} ( {$1000.00} less than the total amount taken ) was not removed from my account during the two months it took them to review my case. Because of this, I was able to pay bills, pay rent, and survive while " trusting the process ''. Unluckily for me, on the morning of Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX I realized that the temporary credit had been reversed and all of those funds had been removed from my account. I then discovered my claim had been marked as " Not Paid '' on XX/XX/XXXX, with no further explanation. I now have a balance in my checking account of - {$2100.00} with no clear option of re-compensation.