Consumer complaint received 2025-01-02 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I deposited a check in the amount {$89000.00} at Bank of America ATM machine located at XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX, TX, XXXX ). The deposit slip # is XXXX ; at the time, my checking account has a balance of {$14000.00}. The deposit slip says " Available to You Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX '' the amount of the check. The bank did not put a clearance hold onto the check as it is supposed to do to protect the customer. In the past, when I was inside the bank and deposited any check much smaller amounts, the tellers always put a hold for days pending the clearance before the funds were made available ; but the bank did not do that to the check I deposited on XX/XX/XXXX via Bank of America ATM machine outside a bank office. 

The next day, XX/XX/XXXX, the fund {$89000.00} was available when I signed into my bank account in the morning. I did two wire transfers of the fund, one {$45000.00} and the other {$37000.00} to send to my XXXX account and used my XXXX account to send XXXX to the woman who I was dating and who was in XXXX XXXX at the time. The woman had a XXXX profile at XXXX XXXX XXXX and she had active XXXX US phone # XXXX which we used to communicate with text using XXXX app. 

The check was sent to me, made payable to my name and my address, and the sender is a business with address XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX CA XXXX. The woman said the person who sent the check was her late Father 's business associate and her Father 's friend. The woman provided me two documents from XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ( XXXX ) that the XXXX authorities held her US Passport and blocked her travel and required her to pay tax liabilities demanded by XXXX  government. So the check fund is for her to pay the tax liabilities. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I checked my bank account and it has- $ XXXX balance and the bank said the check is bounced ; the bank deducted {$14000.00} of my existing balance. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I went to the bank and met a Bank Rep ( XXXX XXXX ) to discuss the issue ; the Rep asked me to call XXXX. 

I called the number, the Bank said they closed my checking account. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my pay check around $ XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX the company I have been working for 25 years, was direct deposited into my bank account and the bank also took possession of this deposit and deducted it from the negative balance, bring the number up from - $ XXXX to - $ XXXX approximately. 

So up to XX/XX/XXXX, the bank took around $ XXXX from my own fund in the bank account and says I have negative balance of $ XXXX. 

I also received a letter from the bank with notice date XX/XX/XXXX that the check deposited mentioned above has status NSF ( Non Sufficient Fund ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I met and reported to Local Police, Office of XXXX XXXX, XXXX, Precinct XXXX, XXXX XXXX, phone XXXX ( Records Division XXXX ) ; the case # is XXXX. I reported the story, the woman, her Driver License, the check deposit story, etc. as described above. At the time, I was still not thinking the woman was a scammer. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, the bank sent me a letter, officially notifying me they closed my checking account. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, the woman texted me and said her Father 's friend/business associate sent me a second check in the mailbox. I took the unopened envelop ( the same business sender name and address mentioned above ) to meet the local police officer whom I had met and reported the first check and the story. I opened the envelop in front of the officer to show him the second check. The second check was made payable to me, but the account was a different account from different people and the amount of the check was {$150000.00} and XXXX name is shown as the bank. The office told me that he checked the woman 's Driver License and it was fake ; before that, I had talked to a friend in XXXX about the story and gave him the woman 's number and asked him to help meet the woman to confirm who she is ; I asked the woman to share her location address and meet my friend and the woman refused ; that made me become to believe the woman was a scammer. So when the police officer told me the woman used fake Driver License, it was consistent with what I became to believe. 

The police officer & I both then went to the Bank of America office on XXXX XXXX XXXX ; the officer tried to let the bank know I was a victim of a scam and the bank took my $ XXXX, freezing my bank account was done to the victim ( me ) and should be undone. I explained to the Bank Rep, with the presence of the Police Officer, the story about my dating relationship to the woman and how the checks came to me ; I showed the bank rep the second check and explained to them the Business Sender in the envelop was involved in fraudulent activities and the process of the bank handling ATM deposit without putting a clearance hold on the deposits cause serious problems to me ( and any other customers ) and I said to the Bank reps ( in all conversations with them ) that the process was inconsistent in ATM deposit as opposed to in-person deposits ( which always put a hold for days ). 

To sum up the story, Bank of America has seriously failed to take proper protection measures to protect me from fraudulent checks in the ATM deposit process, causing serious problem to me when they closed my bank account ( that was the ONLY ACCOUNT I had at the time to make all monthly bill pays for Mortgage, water bill, electricity bill, gas bill, etc. ) and deducted $ XXXX from my own fund from the first check 's amount. The consequence of the Bank 's failure & negligence to properly protect customer was serious to the extent that I had to talk to my work supervisor that I had to retire from my job in order to access my own XXXX & Pension plan to fix the issue since I had no way to pay the bills, mortgage, when the bank seized my own $ XXXX fund and closed my bank. 

In contrast to what Bank of America did, I opened ( after the incident above ) checking account with my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ), and I deposited a check of less than $ XXXX, it was put on hold for several days ; I also opened a XXXX XXXX  checking account on XX/XX/XXXX, and made a transfer of $ XXXX from my XXXX XXXX to the new XXXX XXXX  checking account, they put a hold 2 weeks ; they put long clearance hold to protect me from fraudulent checks/scams ; they protected me. 

Bank of America, throughout the story, has neglected and failed to put proper protection to protect me, and very quickly closed my bank account and unfairly took possession of my $ XXXX funds, my hard-earned money working, and created serious consequence for me, I had to retire from my job unexpectedly in order to access my retirement funds to remediate the problems of not being able to pay monthly bills to mortgage, etc.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation