Consumer complaint received 2025-10-17 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MD

Complaint narrative:
Bank of America received a phone complaint in XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX from my Step-sister XXXX XXXX who is not an owner on the account after my Step-dad, who has XXXX XXXX, and is in a locked XXXX XXXX  permitted Bank of America to talk to her. My Step-dad , is unable to understand what XXXX is, and if you asked him he would not be able to tell you. The original claim number XXXX created to dispute that all the XXXX payments on my and my stepdad 's accounts were fraudulent to Bank of America is : claim # - XXXX. The XXXX payments were on my profile and not fraudulent at all. I made these payments to my stepdads nurse, and I paid his house cleaner for years through XXXX and other legitimate people as needed. Bank of America took back {$5500.00} from over 16 people from almost a year back of XXXX payments on my XXXX account, and they did it without ever calling me or asking me if I made these payments legitimately. They just took the word of XXXX XXXX who was not even an owner on the account and not involved with my step-dads day-to-day finances. This claim was made with the intent to defraud XXXX and Bank of America to make a financial gain. 

After XXXX made the fraud claim ( # XXXX ) to Bank of America, she also closed the account without my knowledge or permission. She knew this was my Mothers account before my mom passed in XXXX. My mother used to handle all the finances as my step-dad was unable to and wanted no part of it. I was unable to get into my profile to show this agency pictures of all the XXXX transactions on my account as Bank of America has my profile locked because the account is closed. 

I found out in XX/XX/XXXX, that 16 people lost the funds I sent them because XXXX contacted me and asked if I was an owner on the Bank of America account. I told them I was and I had to show them proof. I asked what this was all about. They told me Bank of America recalled the last year of my payments from XXXX, and now XXXX has removed the money from the peoples accounts that I paid. I told XXXX that I did not make any fraud claims and that those people were paid for the services they provided. XXXX told me it was too late. The money was sent back to Bank of America and I had to deal with them. I asked the XXXX rep. How could this happen as payments were not supposed to be able to be recalled? The XXXX rep said Bank of America has its ways. I told the XXXX rep. that Bank of America never even contacted me to ask if these XXXX payments were fraudulent. If they did, I would have explained that I made these payments purposefully and that there is no fraud. The XXXX rep. said they couldnt help me and to call Bank of America. That is what I did. 

The following took two weeks and daily phone calls with Bank of America for hours at a time. I will get to the outcome quickly. After two weeks of calling daily and being transferred over and over with no resolution, I spoke to a Supervisors- supervisor in fraud because no one in fraud could figure out how this happened or what to do. The 16 checks totaling {$5500.00} were going to be sent to XXXX address. I was able to explain the story to the high-tiered Supervisor who said, This was not her account, and the XXXX transactions were on my account, and my account profile, so she was going to have the checks sent to me. I received the checks a few days later only to open them and see that they made these checks out in my step-dads name only. I called back the Supervisor who had the checks sent to me, as she gave me her direct line, and told her that the checks were in my step-dads name only. I told her I do have XXXX  for finance for my step-dad, but the checks should be in my name so I could pay back the people from XXXX, and the account my step-dad and I shared was closed. The Fraud supervisor agreed and sent an email to the department where the checks were issued requesting that the checks be reissued to me in my name so I could quickly get the money back to the people I paid through XXXX. 

A week went by, and after receiving daily phone calls or texts from the recipients of the XXXX accounts whose money was taken away, I called the Bank of America fraud Supervisor who made the request and left a message asking her to please call me back to tell me if the reissued checks were sent. With three days of calling Bank of America Fraud and getting the same answer from every fraud rep. I talked to saying they do not see anywhere in the notes that this task was performed let alone requested. I asked Bank of America fraud what I am supposed to do as Bank of America fraudulently took this money from XXXX and these poor people need their money back. I was told by the last Bank of America fraud rep. that I should go to my local branch and see if they could help me. So that is what I did. The branch rep. did not see anything I could do so she got the branch manager. The branch manager said my step-dad would have to be with me to cash the Bank of America cashiers checks as it was only his name on the checks. I told her my step-dad was hundreds of miles away in a locked XXXX facility and that the last time I saw him he was unable to sit in a chair, let alone a car ride. The Branch manager told me Sorry, there is nothing she could do. I sat down in the branch chairs as I felt dizzy, exhausted, and defeated. Three weeks of non-stop calls, aggravation, and upset. I had to get these XXXX people paid back!! No one from Bank of America was helping me and these poor people who did work for my dad were now suffering cause of this fiasco. I felt sick and could not stop crying. One of the Bank of America employees came over to me and said Do you have your own account. I said not here but at another bank. She said, You could try to deposit the checks into your account and see what happens. I went home called an attorney and they said that because I do have a XXXX  for Finance, I could deposit those checks into my own personal account and sign both our names. That is what I did and a few days later I called my bank, and Bank of America funded the checks and the money was available in my account to pay back all the XXXX recipients that had their payments recalled wrongfully by Bank of America. Most payments were made by check, as most of the recipients no longer trusted XXXX, but a few still wanted their money returned by XXXX. I also sent two certified letters, one to my step-dad at his locked XXXX facility and one to my step-sister at her address. In the letter, it stated all the XXXX people who were paid back with the bank checks from Bank of America, and what services they provided my step-dad. Both letters were returned to me. My step-sister would not even let my step-dad get a letter. Either way, it was over and everyone got back what they were owed, so I thought.. 

That was in XXXX, XXXX, when those checks cleared. Here we are five months later in XXXX, XXXX. I got an email from my bank XXXX, on XX/XX/XXXX, that I had deposited the Bank of America checks into it and that cleared four months earlier. The email stated that my account was now negative {$5500.00}. I called XXXX immediately and they explained to me that Bank of America recalled the funds they cleared in XXXX from the checks I deposited. I asked to speak to the XXXX XXXX department. I spoke with XXXX and told him the whole story, I asked XXXX to make a fraud claim against Bank of America, as they took that money back once again without notifying or contacting me. XXXX suggested that there was very little they could do as Bank of America stopped the funding on those checks. I told XXXX, that was money from my XXXX account that Bank of America took without a proper investigation and they had no right to do it the first time, and now again all without my knowledge. XXXX said he had never seen this before and he took the claim for me and then advised me that the money was already sent back to Bank of America and I needed to call them. My husband was furious that Bank of America was allowed to remove this money from our account. He called XXXX to find out more details, but they would not discuss it with him because this was done under my profile not his even though we are joint owners on the account. My husband said How did XXXX, my step-sister, file a claim from your profile and get Bank of America to recall the XXXX transactions that were not on your stepdad 's profile. I said that was a good question. 

It has been 8 days since my XXXX checking account has been overdrawn {$5500.00}. I am on the phone every day with Bank of America. I was told by a fraud supervisor that the money was recalled because my Step-sister XXXX XXXX made another claim, this time saying that I signed those checks, Bank of America sent me, fraudulently. Once again Bank of America let someone not on the account make a fraudulent claim. This first fraud was very well documented as my step-dad was in a locked XXXX XXXX XXXX, and unable to understand XXXX or financial payments. They also documented that if she were ever to call in again representing my step-dad, they were to call me immediately. This did not happen again, and I was not even contacted by the check fraud XXXX XXXX XXXX at all. According to XXXX, XXXX of the check fraud supervisors, all the letters were sent to my step-sister 's address. I never even had a chance, again, to tell my side of the story and show them I had XXXX  for my step-dad. 

I have spoken to XXXX fraud, check fraud, account fraud, and a few others that I just kept being passed around to. I requested each persons name I talked to. On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke to a XXXX from account fraud. I told him the whole story again as I sat in front of my XXXX Bank of America XXXX because XXXX of the Bank of America XXXX From the day before told me to bring in my XXXX to the local branch to have them upload it. While on the phone with XXXX, he told me no, I do not need to do that. All that needs to happen is the checks from XXXX need to be reissued in my name like they were supposed to as an owner on the account whose profile the XXXX checks came from. I said XXXX how do we get that to happen. He said we just need to confirm with fraud. He told me to hold on. I waited XXXX minutes and then another rep. Came on the phone. I called out for XXXX, but he was not on the line. The fraud rep. Now on the line was from check fraud. I could not believe I had to explain the details again to another person. This is what kept happening to me and I was getting nowhere because each Bank of America rep. would send me somewhere else never resolving the issue themselves that they said was easy to resolve. Everyone agreed the original checks needed to be reissued in my name. That all seemed correct, because that was what I was told would happen back in XXXX but it never did. It is now Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX. 9 days of my XXXX checking account being overdrawn by {$5500.00}. No answers in sight. No phone call from the XXXX that I requested to call me back on Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX. The only information I have is from a Check Fraud Supervisor, XXXX, who said I need to have the checks reissued in my name as the original claim was unsubstantiated, and all I needed to do was call billing disputes at XXXX. I called that number yesterday as Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, was a bank holiday. The person on the phone said the number I called was Deposit Fraud and they could not help me. I called Check Fraud and tried to get back on the phone with XXXX the supervisor but the Bank of America fraud rep. said XXXX was not at her call center. I asked her. to check the notes and email her. She said she was unable to do that. I asked to speak to a supervisor. I waited for 20 minutes as usual and the supervisor XXXX came on the phone. He looked at the notes and then asked me what I needed. I told him I was told to have a fraud rep. warm transfer me to billing disputes so that they could re-issue the original XXXX checks in my name. He told me to hold on. A man named XXXX came on the line, I asked to see if XXXX was still there but he was no longer on the line. I then had to start all over with XXXX who said he was with Check Fraud. I said Great! This claim supposedly originated on XX/XX/XXXX, from check fraud. I explained all the details and told him I have XXXX for my step-dad even though a rep. XXXX said it didnt matter because I was an owner on the account and my XXXX transactions were allowed and not fraudulent. XXXX said he would take notes to send to the investigator. I told XXXX XXXX wanted a supervisor as I had XXXX other Bank of America reps. From check fraud tell me the investigator would call me which still has not happened. XXXX said he would get back to me before XXXX with further information as to what I needed to do to get these checks sent to me in my name. 

A little after XXXX XXXX, XXXX got back to me that the Check Fraud Supervisor was not available today to get back with me and he gave me more fraud claims numbers for this situation. I asked for the fax number so I could send the investigator my XXXX  for my step-dad. He gave that to me and I hung up and faxed my XXXX  to the fax number XXXX gave me with the new Fraud claim number he told me to use which is XXXX and faxed it to XXXX. The original fraud claim made by my step-sister is claim # : XXXX. XXXX, check fraud supervisor, told me today, that a cashiers check was sent to my step-sisters address on XX/XX/XXXX, for {$5500.00}. I could not believe it! They sent my money to her. I asked XXXX what to do now. XXXX called Billing disputes and asked them to re-issue the checks in my name. Billing disputes said they couldn't because I already cashed them. Yes, I cashed them I explained, but the money was recalled by your bank! So I still don't have the money, that Bank of America, took out of my XXXX account, and my XXXX checking account which was short {$5500.00} went on my XXXX credit card because I had set up my credit card to be my overdraft protection. Now I have {$5500.00} on a credit card accruing interest at 25 % that I have to make monthly payments on. 


I would like a few answers : How was Bank of America able to take money back from my XXXX account without ever talking to me, and asking me if the XXXX payments were fraudulent or not? 

How was my step-sister who is not on this account allowed to make this fraud claim even if for my dad if he himself is unable to make this claim himself due to being mentally impaired? Would an investigator need my step-sister or step-dad to at least know who was paid by my XXXX as all it says on my statements is XXXX, paid by me? 

I originally requested that Bank of America return the money they took from XXXX back to XXXX. They said they wouldnt. Is Bank of America legally allowed to take this money as far back as a year, from XXXX without talking to the owner of the XXXX account first, and the owner of the account, me before recalling money from any institution? Why is Bank of America protecting me as an account owner, and how do I become whole again? I am owed {$5500.00}. 

What banking laws are in place to protect people from this type of financial bullying and fraud? Where is my letter allowing me to appeal the decision for claim # XXXX? 

How did the check fraud investigator, XXXX XXXX, do an investigation without talking to me or looking at the notes from the original fraud claim # : XXXX and decide that the money belonged to anyone other than me, after the original claim was unsubstantiated? 

How did Bank of America allow someone who is not even on the account to make a fraudulent claim? 

Please help me get back the {$5500.00} Bank of America owes me. I also request that Bank of America 's Fraud investigators be looked into for improper handling of fraud investigations. Also how the investigators recall money from other banks and payment services, like XXXX, without a substantiated claim or talking to the person who actually made the payment before recalling funds from any financial payment service or financial institutions. 

I should have been notified of the investigator 's decision and been given the right to appeal the decision before any money was moved. 


Why am I not being protected as an account owner by Bank of America? Why was my right to make payments from my checking account disputed?

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