Consumer complaint received 2026-03-17 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest — Problem with fees
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: PA

Complaint narrative:
This complaint concerns Bank of America 's case review process, which denied a one-time courtesy waiver of interest charges based in part on factors that BofA 's own support team failed to disclose before advising me to open the case, and which has no mechanism for appeal or correction even when BofA acknowledges a gap in its own process. I opened a new Bank of America credit card on XX/XX/XXXX. My first statement closed on XX/XX/XXXX with a payment due date of XX/XX/XXXX. The minimum payment due was {$38.00}. When setting up my auto payment, I inputted my bank details for my external checking account. However, setup was seemingly not completed correctly, as the initial statement was attempted to be settled via one-time payments from my Bank of America checking account rather than my intended external bank account. The BofA checking account had insufficient funds, so payment attempts on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX both failed. Autopay from my external checking account did not take effect until the following month in XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, Bank of America applied a {$160.00} interest charge based on the average daily balance from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. I immediately took corrective action. Within XXXX days of the interest charge being applied ( XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX ), I had submitted payment covering the entire outstanding balance across both billing cycles : {$3800.00} submitted on XX/XX/XXXX, {$38.00} paid directly from my BofA account on XX/XX/XXXX, and the full remaining balance of {$11000.00} submitted on XX/XX/XXXX. A {$29.00} late fee was refunded on XX/XX/XXXX, and an automated partial interest reversal of {$95.00} was applied on XXXX. At BofA 's suggestion, I opened a case requesting a one-time courtesy waiver of the interest charge. BofA support actively advised me to file this case at that time. I was not informed that having any outstanding balance on the card, including amounts from the XXXX statement that were not yet due until XX/XX/XXXX, could be a factor in the waiver decision. On XX/XX/XXXX, the case was closed and the waiver was denied. One reason cited was the outstanding balance that remained on the card at the time of review. Had BofA support disclosed this factor before advising me to open the case, I would have paid the full balance first. BofA 's support team effectively guided me into filing a case that was predisposed to be denied based on criteria they did not share with me. BofA confirmed there is no process to reopen or appeal a closed case, regardless of the circumstances. I have since spoken with BofA support supervisors, the sales team, and retention across multiple calls on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX. Every representative confirmed the case is permanently closed with no further review available. A supervisor on XX/XX/XXXX acknowledged that support may have failed to inform me that an outstanding balance could affect the case outcome, and took internal notes on this gap, but confirmed there is no internal mechanism to act on that acknowledgment. The net unrefunded interest charge is approximately {$72.00}. As a new customer in my first billing cycle, I would expect reasonable flexibility for a setup error that was promptly and fully corrected once identified. My complaint is not primarily about the dollar amount. It is about the rigidity of BofA 's case review process, which provides no path for appeal and no mechanism for a second review even when BofA 's own representatives acknowledge a potential failure in how the original case was handled.

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 monetary relief