Consumer complaint received 2024-11-28 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card — Application denied
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
Initial Application : XX/XX/year> - Submitted online individual application for a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX credit card from Bank of America on XX/XX/year> ( Application ID XXXX  ). Link : XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX - The application was rejected. On the phone I was advised the reason for the rejection was that I had reached an ( unpublished ) maximum total credit from the bank across XXXX other pre-existing credit cards a total credit amount of approx USD {$100000.00}. 
- I indicated my willingness to move some credit from XXXX or more of the pre-existing cards to the new pending card account - On XX/XX/year>, this updated request was also rejected. I was informed the reason for the rejection this time is that the other XXXX accounts were jointly owned by myself and my spouse, XXXX, and that credit could not be transferred from these accounts to the new application because it was in my individual name only. The underwriting department suggested I re-apply and include both myself and my spouse on the application, which should result in an application for co-ownership and thus have the same ownership as the other XXXX pre-existing credit card accounts ( ultimately leading to an ability to transfer some credit ). 
- I double checked this information with the Bank of America credit card application service center at XXXX. They indicated that by including both names on the online application I would be applying for co-ownership on the account- I submitted a second application ( Application ID XXXX  ) including both names. The application contains a portion for another cardholder. This application was immediately rejected. After contacting Bank of America, I was informed this application was rejected because it was flagged as a duplicate ( because only the first name and its associated information was compared between the applications ). This reveals that the term cardholder in the application in fact means authorized user and that a joint ownership application is not available. 
- Upon further discussion with XXXX XXXX XXXX  I was informed that the information I had received from the application service center was indeed incorrect, and that it is not possible to directly apply for a co-ownership credit card account, but that instead one would have to first apply individually and then, upon approval, apply to add a co-owner. This was, of course, not possible because the overall maximum combined credit limit had been reached. I also discovered that if I were to request a reduction in the overall amount of extended credit, it might not be re-instated in conjunction with a new card application. 
- I asked if there was any solution to the problem, and was told that they couldnt figure one out.

- After this I did a product change but this meant 1> I didn't receive a sign up bonus and 2> the type of credit card ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) was not the type I'd preferred and 3> I had a hard credit pull unnecessarily

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