Consumer complaint received 2026-05-20 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem using a debit or ATM card
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
I have been a XXXX member with Bank of America for XXXX years. Unfortunately, the last several months my account has repeatedly been flagged by their faulty AI-systems for fraud. Their solution is to automatically close my debit card and disable any phone-related payment options with the debit card until a new one arrives. Unfortunately, their system has absolutely no option to provide me with a functional card ( whether a temporary card or electronic option ) while the new card arrives. This has happened XXXX times this year already, and it is only XXXX. The first and second time I was without any payment means for over XXXX days. I am now on this third occurrence. What BofA doesn't take into consideration with their sloppy AI and prohibitive fraud measures is that not everyone has an alternate payment form they can use, and especially not for days at a time. Each time this has happened, I have visited their branches, only to be told there is nothing they can do except dispense cash. I have an electric vehicle that can only be paid via a card payment. So during these extremely long stretches of time I literally had to go buy prepaid cards and pay exorbitant fees simply to charge my car and not be literally stranded. These long stretches also quite literally did leave me stranded and having to walk on foot long distances to branches where I could pull out cash, only to walk further to location where I could purchase a prepaid card. During this most recent fraud transaction, I traveled to the BofA location located in XXXX XXXX, CA at XXXX XXXX. Not only were the staff completely rude and dismissive, their only answer was " the only thing we can tell you is to go on the app and they can figure it out. '' I then spent an hour on the phone with XXXX, who was polite and helpful, but not able to help me with my request. He also said that the account wasn't actually flagged for fraud, despite me logged into the app the night before and getting a fraud prompt when I simply wanted to transfer money from XXXX account to another. It is worth mentioning that I was at a restaurant when this happened, and the immediate shut down of the car ( I was not able to by-pass the fraud detection " alert '' that appeared when I opened the app ) left the car immediately unusable, and then immediately learning the card was shut off, called customer service only to find out they were closed. Why would the bank allow the app to prompt fraud review when there isn't a customer service team available to help resolve any issues? I literally had to call a family member and have them use an electronic payment system to send me money since I had absolutely no access to my own. It should be noted that despite at least XXXX visits to the XXXX, CA and XXXX XXXX, CA branches, no one at any of these branches has ever been able to correctly and successfully update my telephone number on my account, merely " add '' my new telephone number, which makes logging in via the Website impossible, since that is the number they attempt to send XXXX time verification codes to. Other Banks and even credit unions have temporary debit cards that they can issue at a branch in situations like this. BofA 's peers have the ability to help customers download a new electronic card so they are not in situations like this. The fact BofA 's answer to these situations is " sorry go pull out cash '' or " hope you have another card '' is absurd. The fact that their faulty and sloppy AI fraud detection has this repeatedly happening on accounts multiple times within the course of XXXX months is unconscionable and should be thoroughly investigated by the CFPB.

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 non-monetary relief