Consumer complaint received 2024-03-14
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest — Unexpected increase in interest rate
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (VA)

XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX I called Bank of America XXXX XXXX ) regarding a new fee ( {$3.00} ) and a new balance subject to interest ( {$200.00} ) that had appeared on my credit card statement sometime between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX customer service representatives ( one being a manager ) could not explain the fee or the balance subject to interest. The fee was credited back to my account. During the call, I was also told that a payment was not applied to a purchase I made but was instead applied to a balance transfer I had initiated from XXXX. Since the information did not show on my XXXX statement, I asked what my balance subject to interest was so I could pay the balance subject to interest and the representative gave me the amount. **For context, I had two previous balance transfers with 0 % interest through XX/XX/XXXX. I made XXXX purchases to XXXX XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX ( {$1200.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and {$1200.00} on XX/XX/XXXX ). I sent XXXX payments in the exact same amount ( {$1200.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and {$1200.00} on XX/XX/XXXX ) to cover the purchases to avoid paying interest fees. However, the {$1200.00} payment made on XX/XX/XXXX posted on XX/XX/XXXX but the {$1200.00} purchase posted on XX/XX/XXXX. This caused the payment to be applied to my balance transfer instead of the purchase. ** XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX I called Bank of America XXXX XXXX ) to once again confirm the balance that was subject to interest so I could pay it to avoid interest fees ( my statement still did not reflect that I had a balance subject to interest ). I was told that since it was obvious which purchase I was trying to pay for and that it was one day difference, that my payment could be reallocated to the purchase instead of the balance transfer. I was told I would not have to pay interest because the payment reallocation was in progress. Because of this, I did not pay the balance that I was told was subject to interest ; only the minimum payment that was due ( as I stated, the balance subject to interest was not reflected on my XX/XX/XXXX statement - I only knew this information because representative told me over the phone ). 
XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX I called Bank of America XXXX XXXX ) regarding a {$19.00} interest charge that was showing on my XX/XX/XXXX statement. I explained the situation and was told that what the previous representative had told me about a payment reallocation was not possible and that I would have to pay the balance subject to interest and the interest to avoid further fees. 
-Later on XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX I called Bank of America XXXX XXXX ) to speak to another representative because I felt it was wrong that I had been told I would not have to pay interest and that my payment would be reallocated. I told the representative this information was falsely represented by the company. Once again, I spoke to a manger who told me my payment could be reallocated and she would initiate the request. She stated the previous representative did not have security privileges to initiate the change as she was not a manager. The manager also put in a request to remove the {$19.00} interest fee ( that I was told I would not have to pay ) which was later denied by the company. When I hung up, I was under the assumption that this situation would be handled the way I had been told previously. 
XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX, I called Bank of America XXXX XXXX ) to check the status of my payment reallocation as I still had the interest charge showing on my account, and my payment due date is XX/XX/XXXX ( I want to avoid future interest charges ). I was told by the first representative that they are not able to move payments. I then talked to a manager who said the same thing. However, upon looking at my customer record, she saw where a manager had put in the request to have my payment moved. She said since the payment reallocation had not been approved nor denied, it can be assumed it has been denied because it usually only takes a few days to get an approval. Furthermore, she stated that I was not eligible to move the payment to the appropriate purchase because there " had been no error ''. I asked the manager to tell me where on my XX/XX/XXXX statement I could see how much balance was subject to interest. She gave me a generic answer, but when asked to show me a specific number, she said she could not. Not only did I experience the payment reallocation fiasco, but the statements misrepresent the balance subject to interest. The way the statements are set up, you are already charged an interest fee before you know you have a balance subject to interest.