Consumer complaint received 2020-01-21
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments — Problem during payment process
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (CO)

On XX/XX/XXXX, I made an ACH payment of {$830.00} to my MasterCard with Bank of America. I received email confirmation of the payment on XX/XX/XXXX from Bank of America.This was for a payment due in advance of the statement due date for previous month 's entire balance. 

Subsequently, the XX/XX/XXXX payment was added back to my card balance on the statement date of approximately XX/XX/XXXX because it did not get made by BoA. I called BoA on XX/XX/XXXX and questioned why the credit card payment did not go through and if there was a problem with the routing and checking account number. I confirmed both, then their phone banker confirmed the failed payment was due to a system update Bo did that impacted ( cancelled/nullfied ) the timely payment I made and that it was due to factors that were not in my control ( i.e.BoA system update ). They then charged me a late charge on my account due to this, then did not notify me that the payment failed to be applied due to their system update issue. She then told me she would refund the late fee to my account, then I requested the same ACH payment be made with the phone banker, to which she input it to be made to my account. Their system update not only cancelled my timely payment, it resulted in an unnecessary late charge, and my account showing past due. The banker confirmed none of it was my fault. 

Number 1 ), if a customer makes a credit card payment through BoA 's automated system and due to THEIR system updates the payments get rejected, they should PROMPTLY notify the impacted customer 's that their scheduled payments did not apply to their accounts so the customer can either be aware that it was BoA 's fault their system update effectively voided their prompt phone payment or 2 ) reenter the same payment already made by customer so it's applied timely so the customer does not get charged a late fee! The phone banker told me it was not due to factors within my control and that they would reverse the late payment fee, but still this is misleading. I only noticed the ACH payment I made timely through their automated system did not go through when I reviewed my next statement and saw the late fee and previous payment applied back to my balance. This is not the customer 's fault, I made the original payment timely. 

Why does not BoA have internal controls in place to identify ACH payments in process that failed due to their system updates/upgrades so they can promptly notify the customer of the need to re-input their payment and to avoid charging them late fees on their statements? I made every good faith effort to pay it on time, the failure was on BoA 's end which is why the phone banker offered to reverse my late fee. Not to mention, the cost of my valuable time having to call BoA, wait 15 minutes to talk to a human being, then press them on why the payment they confirmed on XX/XX/XXXX via email was added back to my account statement on XX/XX/XXXX and inquire why I was charged a late fee when I made my payment timely on XX/XX/XXXX, my time is money!