Consumer complaint received 2025-01-22 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Unexpected or other fees — 
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year>, I opened a personal checking account with Bank of America ( BofA ) through their website. To put money into the new account, I wired {$1500.00} from my XXXX personal checking account. The transfer went through within seconds. The proof was that my XXXX balance decreased by {$1500.00} and I also received a confirmation email of the transaction from XXXX. At the same time, I saw {$1500.00} appear on my new BofA account. Content that everything went well, I logged off from both accounts. The next morning, XX/XX/year>, I received an email from BofA stating that my account balance was low ( it was now XXXX ). I called XXXX immediately to report the issue with the wire transfer and they said that they would investigate. Right afterward, I also called BofA and told them about the {$1500.00} that I saw the night before on my account page and that had now disappeared. All they said was that there was no activity on my new account. For this reason, they could not help me. I would have to take the issue up with XXXX. On XX/XX/year>, I was reviewing my BofA account when I remembered that they have two routing numbers. I checked to see if I used the correct one for the wire transfer. Indeed, I did not. I chose the one for ordering checks, outgoing payments, and setting up direct deposits. Since that was a Saturday, I waited until Monday, XX/XX/year>, to report this to BofA. They told me that since I used the incorrect routing number, the wire transfer would be rejected and the money would be returned to XXXX. I was advised to wait up to ten days for the matter to resolve itself. I also reported the matter to XXXX hoping that the new information would aid or expedite their investigation. By XX/XX/year>, XXXX informed me that their investigation proved that the transaction was successful and that the money should be with BofA. XXXX could not refund me. I would have to take the matter up with BofA. I called BofA and they just repeated what they had been telling me : there was no wire transfer activity on my account, they could not help me, and I would have to take the matter up with XXXX. I argued that XXXX had completed the wire transfer and that a BofA agent had told me earlier that the transfer would get rejected/returned to XXXX because XXXX had used the incorrect routing number. I then requested that I be given proof of said rejection/return. They did not answer me and simply repeated the same line over and over : there was no evidence of the transaction, they could not help me, and I would have to take the matter up with XXXX. 

At this point, neither bank wants to take any responsibility and it seems my {$1500.00} had simply disappeared into thin air. In this day and age of electronic banking, which both banks promote, I find it unacceptable and unethical that they would simply wash their hands when their banking instruments FAIL. Since the wire transfer was completed by XXXX, the money ought to be somewhere with BofA. After all, I used their routing number even if it was the incorrect one. Surely, I was not the only one of their thousands of US-based customers who had made this mistake. They should have some procedure in place to troubleshoot the problem that would ensue. My gut tells me that since the wire transfer was completed by XXXX, the money is somewhere with BofA. I feel that there is a scam or fraud within the organization the target of which are vulnerable new customers like myself. I hope to be proven wrong.

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