Consumer complaint received 2025-01-14 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TN

Complaint narrative:
I have tried uploading the files below but it's not letting me. We were hired by a business to get his investment property sold and he paid us a fee up front because it was such an unlikely sell and was going to consume so much of our time to find the right buyer. We ultimately found someone who was interested in the property and she claimed to also be a business owner, managing her company she claimed to be a ministry where she ministers to women nationwide and collects " tithing '' from them. Her business is called " XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX She agreed to purchase the property from us on a lease option where she would pay {$25000.00} up front plus XXXX and last mo rent and then {$4800.00} for the next 30 years. She told us she couldn't come up with the full {$25000.00}, could she pay {$10000.00} and we told her we would be ok with her paying only {$10000.00} of the option fee but she still had to pay XXXX and last months rent as a security for the seller because we were to be paid from the option fee and part of the down payment. Our fee was to be {$40000.00} since this was an {$870000.00} home. We also told her we couldn't move her in until the funds had cleared but she had different plans. She packed up a uhaul truck and made her way to the property where she ultimately had to stay in a hotel for a couple nights because her payment hadn't cleared and something about this girl rushing us to let her in the house didn't feel right. She then met the seller at the home without our permission and got his contact information and decided she was going to work around us 2 days after she moved in. She blocked me on my business line told me she changed her mind and moved out already. I called the seller and he said she was still living in the home but decided she was only wanting to work with him and that now he would only pay us {$4000.00} for our helping him since he was having to move forward with her on his own. At this point she had paid us {$17000.00} for {$10000.00} in an option fee and the other {$7500.00} was for 1/2 of the first months rent since she moved in mid month and the full last months rent which is typical of a lease agreement. The seller instructed us to send him the full {$17000.00} and then he would pay us separately {$5000.00} for our time. We told him we weren't comfortable with sending any of the money considering she so abruptly changed her mind and blocked my business line something wasn't adding up. I told the owner I wasn't comfortable sending him the money since this abrupt change of pace and her lying to us about not living in the home anymore and he assured us that we were safe to send him this money as he had already clarified it with her that if she was going to stay in the home that money was gone and coming to him. I sent him the money and 5 days after he received it we had a dispute on our account for all the money she sent us. Her bank which is Bank of America, pulled the {$17000.00} from our account without calling us or sending any emails. Not once did they reach out and ask me about this transaction. Her deposits were one for invoice XXXX dated XX/XX/XXXX for {$10000.00}. and invoice number XXXX dated XX/XX/XXXX and she disputed both invoices, allegedly claiming defective product not as described and that there was no cancellation policy. She allegedly told Bank of America that she bought a house on a lease option and then changed her mind and moved out and that I didn't have a cancellation policy so she wanted all her money back in full. We received the notification from XXXX and immediately reached out to see what we could do because this is now nearly {$40000.00} missing from my business bank account, and XXXX couldn't give me an answer and they wouldn't help me and to this day I have submitted every contract this woman signed including agreements where she signs understanding the option fee is non refundable and if she breaks the lease for any reason she must pay a fee not get her money back. However, Bank of America just took her word for it and stole the money from our account. I also couldnt get any help from XXXX, they jsut continued to send me from one virtual assistant to the next telling me after only 1 transfer that I had reached the final escalation stage in their process. I only ever opened a XXXX checking to begin with because they wouldn't let me access funds that I was generating in my business until I opened one of their checking accounts! They literally held my rightfully earned money for 20+ days until I agreed to open a checking account with them which immediately gave me access to my funds. XXXX XXXX and Bank of America have stated to me since this dispute that the investigation would be over XX/XX/XXXX and I would have my money back and not only will they not answer any of my calls or call me back they are essentially stonewalling me and affectively or systematically stealing from me and not giving me any appeal process. I have submitted videos of this girl still very much living in the home. I sent over every single message and phone call we had with her too. Every contract that she signed and SHE IS STILL IN THE HOUSE! I am a single mother of XXXX kids and I have worked so hard to get my American dream off the ground only to have it stolen right before XXXX by these two fraudulent bad actors and with no consumer protection from this bank in the middle of some 3rd world country that I was forced to bank with just to get the initial funds my business started generating. Bank of America shouldn't be allowed to steal from hard working Americans especially when I was given an opportunity to show them that she very much owed us the money they still haven't given it back and now telling me it will be another 60 days before a decision is made. If I have to wait another 60 days I will lose my home which I have worked so hard for all because of these Banking institutions protecting fraudsters over hard working Americans who are actually tying to earn an honest living and not from collecting " tithing '' from my ministry members to live off of like the one they chose to protect instead. I can't even afford to hire an attorney now to seek justice against these two who inevitably stole {$40000.00} from me and my children. Something has to be done here because this is systematically preventing me from even trying to be successful when you force me to have an account jsut to access what I have worked for only to take it away from me and continue to stonewall me and leave me no options. Thank XXXX I found out about CFPB and that you help protect consumers from these large institutions that are making money hand over fist and stepping on low income business owners like me. Please help me with this I don't know what else to do!

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