Consumer complaint received 2024-02-28
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low — Late or other fees
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (WA)

I opened a checking account with Bank of America in XXXX. I know that it was an Advantage Relationship account but Im not sure if that happened when I originally opened the account in XXXX, or got upgraded when I made a large deposit in XX/XX/XXXX. At some point between XXXX and XXXX, as the funds depleted, I noticed I had started to be charged $ XXXX maintenance fee. I inquired about it with my bank and learned about the account type and fees associated. We changed the account type to one that required a lower minimum balance. In XXXX of XXXX I made another large deposit. The banker asked me if I wanted to change the account type back to the advantage relationship, which I declined. Due to volatile nature of my profession, funds can come and go, and I knew it wasnt impossible for me to be in a position where I fell below the minimum again, and I was not interested in more {$25.00} maintenance fees. I also did not use or benefit at all from any of the perks associated with this account tier. I requested that the account never change status without my specific instruction. I was told that the system may upgrade me automatically ( Im not sure how that can be legal in the first place ), but that if that happened and I was charged fees, I could go into any branch, get refunded, and change the account type back. 

At some point in mid XXXX I looked over my account and noticed fees had been charged for 3 or 4 months. I went into a branch and after waiting in line for almost an hour, I talked to someone who told me they were able to refund me for that month and that they would change the account back to the type with much lower minimum balance requirement, but that the person who could refund me for the previous couple of months wasnt there and I could come back another time. A couple weeks later I stopped into another branch to make a transaction, and asked to speak to someone regarding refunding the fees. Once again I was told they werent there and I had to come back another time, or I could try to call customer service. The next month, I noticed another maintenance fee. I called the customer service number and after being on the phone for quite awhile, the call was transferred to a supervisor and dropped. 

After a couple more months of fees the account was finally automatically changed back to the type with lower balance requirements. I recently finally tried again to recover the fees with a local branch. She was able to refund 2 of the months and sent in a request for the remaining XXXX. I received an email today saying all of the requests were denied, that the decision was final, and there was no explanation given. 

On top of all of this, Im not sure exactly when, but I opened a second account because I was told it was free and would not have any fees. I believe this is when the main account was an advantage relationship account so it counted the {$20000.00} minimum across all accounts to be the reason for the lack of fee. I was never told if the main account didnt meet the requirements that both accounts would be charged fees. There was a time where I was being charged {$37.00} a month in maintenance fees ( XXXX for the main and XXXX for the other ). 

I know I couldve been more proactive about getting this handled earlier, but it was incredibly frustrating to deal with and its hard to find time to do it, especially when my previous experiences involve 45+ minute waits with either nobody to talk to or long times spent on hold on the phone followed by calls getting dropped.