Consumer complaint received 2025-08-14 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Closing an account — Company closed your account
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: GA

Complaint narrative:
To whom it may concern, This incident took place XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX morning, while getting ready to start my day, I felt a pressing urge to check my online banking after not checking for a while. To my surprise, I could not access it so I began panicking. My past naive XXXX self was very sheltered and had no knowledge on what to do. I lacked information concerning these things, so I did whatever came to mind. I immediately contacted my friends and roommates to let them know what happened. Then I looked online and on social media where I found out that I was not the only one affected from a post I saw on XXXX that morning. I did not have a very close relationship with my family and communicated to my then friends more, so I asked for their input. But they were as clueless as me. I briefly called my dad, mom, and sister to tell them what happened and check if they were affected since they use Bank of America too. Thankfully they were not so I quickly went to the nearest BOA branch to inquire why this happened. On getting there, it was crowded, and we were told not to worry and to wait till the ongoing investigation is finalized. I did just that to keep myself from spiraling and to keep my already compromised mental state from worsening. I channeled my energy to school and other things, praying that the issue to get resolved soon. Soon after I was told that the bank decided to close my account totally, when I asked why information was withheld by me. I asked what I could do to resolve this but was told that I could not do anything. My past coping mechanism was to isolate and avoid due to my crippling XXXX. I started to overthink about the reason why this happened. I did not harm anyone ; I tried my best to do good and offer help and was finally improving my mental health so why me??? That was my thought process, so I gave up looking for answers and resigned to my fate, thinking that it was not that serious If they did not explain to me in full details. Few months later, I attempted to open a new bank account at XXXX XXXX XXXX after not having one for a while. Alarms began to ring when I couldn't, I still did not get any information as to why and was told to try again later. I was reminded of the previous abrupt account closure. I explained what happened to the banker that attended to me but was instructed to take it up with BOA, which I did. I called the customer service line but they were of no help to me. So I opened a XXXX account because I started working and needed one for my payroll. My intense XXXX eased up as time went by and I eventually buried about that incident to protect my sanity. 

Now, I am a XXXX fresXXXX XXXX XXXX, ready for new beginning and to launch into the adult world but this issue is holding me back. On XX/XX/XXXX, I decided to open an account at XXXX and BOA but was met with the same rejection. It broke me down horribly and made me severely depressed. What went wrong?? Why is this issue still persistent? What did I do wrong? What is the reason?? I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for a current consumer file disclosure report because that was what I was advised to do online. I did so and finally saw the reason for the closure and rejection. It stated " Checking Account Fraud '' ... excuse me what?! I was puzzled because it was my first time seeing that. I wish I got that information earlier then I would not have been complacent and relaxed with the way I handled the situation. I wished I got the proper information about this in school and prior to opening the account. 

I called Bank of America and was told the same thing as before that " they just decided to close the account and as per agreement that's all the information they can provide ''. Hearing that completely broke me because what do I do? I wish the bank was upfront with me and told me everything so this would have been resolved the moment it happened. I became overwhelmed with regret on my stupidity, lack of information, dismissive attitude and wish I had a sense of urgency and appropriate information of fraud, personal information security, and how to combat such incident at the time of occurrence. I started doing something I should have done a long time ago. Backtracking my emails to around the time of the closure. Younger me seldomly checked my emails because I did not feel the need to it unless it occurs to me to do so. Then I saw emails of online banking password reset few days prior to the time I found out about my account restricted access, dispute claims, and a hold on a check of {$4700.00} at XXXX XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX. All which I had no knowledge of. I was a short-time braider to earn money for my upkeep so i got paid with cash. I had minimal knowledge about checks since I never used them. I started thinking back to all the times that I let friends, clients, and a few strangers use my phone for a while to make calls or something else due to my younger self lack of caution and security. I was brought up with the " sharing is caring '' and " to do good always '' principle so I thought that being selfless was the best thing to do to help others. Identity theft and fraud was the main cause of this issue after doing my findings online. Letting my friends have my phone password and sometimes use my social media account because I thought that level of transparency was okay since we were close not thinking of the repercussions. My experience being bullied in middle and high school made me a people pleaser which encouraged my selfless character. I also remembered when my naive younger self would often click on links sent to me by unknown because I was curious or gullible to fall for those " click to redeem gift '' pop-ups that would cloud my screen on the internet without thinking much of it. Remembering the time when I used the same email and password for almost all my accounts. If only I knew! I know better now. I am extremely heartbroken because I am suffering of a crime, I know nothing of. This made me very cynical and affected the way I related to others. It also brewed resentment to people around me because it made me unable to trust anyone. The dream of a wonderful adult life is crumbling right before my eyes before I even started. I can't sleep and eat because of this issue. I start my big girl job soon but feel stagnant because of this issue. I am currently vulnerable and pleading for help. 

This issue is depriving me of buying a car, getting insurance, and moving out of my parents ' house due to not having a real bank account or credit card. My mental health is declining at an alarming rate due to stress which is starting to affect my physical condition. I am losing sleep and can not eat because of this. I am self-harming to distract myself from the chaos in my mind and filled with so much anguish and embarrassment regarding this. Please, I just want this problem rectified and awareness of the prevalent of identity fraud and the many ways it happens to stop this from repeating itself. Make fraud awareness, and security updates semi-annually mandatory. Urge consumers to change their password and update security setting every 4 months and to check emails daily. Feel free to use my experience as an example for everyone because I never wish for this to happen to anyone. I want the fraud claim disputed please. I am reaching my breaking point and do not know if I can take this anymore. I have cried enough and done as much as I can. This is beyond me. I will try my best to include as much documents as I can. Please rectify this issue. 

Thank you so much for your time reading and your assistance. I look forward to feedback. Please feel free to contact me if needed. 

Warm regards.

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 non-monetary relief