Consumer complaint received 2025-05-12 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
Back in XXXX I tried to deposit a check from a company who paid me for my XXXX services. The name of the XXXX  company is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX A few days later, I get a call from bank of America saying that the check is fraud. I tried to go in person to the branch to figure out what was happening, but they told me I needed to call over the phone to resolve the situation, so I did.

Bank of America told me that I tried to commit fraud, but I explained to them that all I did was deposit a check that was given to me as payment for my XXXX services. How did I commit fraud? Bank of America didn't care, and they closed my account. They said I committed fraud. Ever since then, I have been trying to dispute this with the bank as now they reported me to XXXX XXXX, and I am unable to open a bank account anywhere else. Because Bank of America is now committing fraud against me by defaming me to the whole country by reporting I am a fraudulent individual when I am not, I hired a company who specialized in credit to try and help me with this because no lawyer gave me the time of day. There is not enough money in it for them. The company told me how to fight this account so I decided to file a fraud affidavit and a police report against Bank of America and then tried to dispute this account with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX just said that the account was verified and kept it on my report. After this, my representative called Bank of America on XX/XX/year> and had to call lots of different numbers as he just kept getting transferred around. He called XXXX, then XXXX, and then XXXX. He finally got a hold of an automated machine that said he would be called back. He never received that call and neither did I. I know this because he kept me informed every step of the way. He also showed me his call logs. 
My representative kept calling Bank of America until someone finally asked him to send power of attorney so they could speak with him. He faxed it to XXXX, and again he waited. After several weeks, he never heard from Bank of America, and neither did I. Because Bank of America claimed they didn't have permission to speak to him, they kept saying he needed to send in a power of attorney, but when he did so, they kept claiming to never receive it. This kept going for over a month. Finally, on XX/XX/XXXX, both him and I get on the phone together to speak with Bank of America, so that I can give verbal permission to them so my representative can finally speak with them, and Bank of America just acted very nasty. A XXXX in the fraud department says that he refused to speak with us on a XXXX way call and that we had to hang up and call again. 
After my representative told him of my troubles and how I have been struggling against them for months without any help whatsoever, XXXX said that I needed to go to a branch to get this resolved. When we told him I already tried to go to a branch and they said I needed to call over the phone, he said I needed to verify myself through an app. When we then told him I can't since I no longer have an account with Bank of America he then said that he wouldn't speak to us because he couldn't verify me over the phone. We then informed him how this has taken XXXX months and at this point if we could not speak to someone or get some sort of dialogue for a resolution on this, I was going to file this very complaint, XXXX still said he wouldn't speak to us. My representative then asked for his identification number, and XXXX refused. Finally, we demanded to speak to a XXXX. 
We spoke to a XXXX XXXX, but she was no better. She asked for my representative to walk in the power of attorney with XXXX forms of ID to a local branch. We are not going to do that. My representative informed XXXX that he would be happy to send in a wet signature notarized power of attorney to her by mail, or by fax, or by e-mail, but she wouldn't accept any of it and then demanded he walk it in person to a branch with XXXX forms of ID. We then asked her for her ID number and she gladly gave it. We then asked her for XXXX 's and she gladly gave us his as well. When we then asked her why XXXX refused to give his ID XXXX and asked if it was common policy for employees to refuse to give their ID XXXX  's she also got very defensive and gave vague answers and snobby answers. In fact, when we questioned her more deeply about it, she was extremely vague and said different employees have different reasons. When my representative asked her specifically about XXXX and whether he was allowed to refuse his ID XXXX XXXXXXXX became extremely defensive and said she would not go into proprietary information with an unauthorized person. That was the end of the call. 
To summarize what is happening here and why I am filing this complaint to you, I did a job for XXXX XXXX XXXX. He paid me with a check which I then deposit to Bank of America. Bank of America flags the check as fraud, and then tells me I am the one trying to commit fraud. I try and explain the situation to them, but they don't care and they leave a negative mark on my credit report and close my account. I can no longer open an account with any other bank institution because of what bank of America is doing to me. I try and talk to them some more and send them proof that I am no criminal, and they refuse to accept or believe any of it. XXXX XXXX then refuses to accept my notarized affidavit and police report or rather takes Bank of America 's side in their investigation. Now, when I hire professional help for assistance, Bank of America stonewalls me and my representative and won't even speak to us. At this point I have but XXXX options left. Either I sue Bank of America, or file this complaint with your agency. 
I actually tried filing a complaint with the FDIC first as I thought they were the ones in charge of handling Bank of America, but they referred me over to you. I am filing this complaint as my last straw before I am forced to sue Bank of America. Please help me get Bank of America to stop reporting this fraud so I can move on with my life. I can't believe that they would just treat someone like this. It's almost like a bad movie where everyone is guilty until proven innocent and the judge won't hear any arguments or take any evidence from the accused. A man goes to work, gets paid, and then is told he is committing fraud by depositing his paycheck, and now his life is being affected by it and no one wants to help him. Is this some sort of bad joke?

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