Consumer complaint received 2024-11-21 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: GA

Complaint narrative:
Received mailer for Bank of America Customized Cash Card and applied by phone on XX/XX/XXXX. Was informed that I was approved for just over $ XXXX credit limit and I would be receiving my card in 5-7 business days. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my neighbor received a call on her phone from someone from BoA fraud department asking for me. The phone number they called was NOT LISTED ON MY APPLICATION NOR WAS IT ASSOCIATED WITH ME IN ANY WAY IN ANY PUBLIC RECORD. 

She, suspecting it was a fraudster, told the caller to not call again and hung up. 

She told me about it later that evening, after which I called BoA and spent over 2 hours on the phone trying to escalate my complaint, as this was extremely concerning to me and I had no way of knowing how they came to the idea to call the number they did and how many other numbers they called.

Was told that they would share no information about the situation with me, but that I could continue with the process of the application and verify other ways later if I wanted. I decided to wait and think about it and follow-up the next day with the Case Number they gave me. 

I called the next day, XX/XX/XXXX, to try to get more info on the progress of my complaint. They said I would have to verify. They " could not '' find me in their system with MY PHONE NUMBER, but I explained the situation, to which they requested the number they had incorrectly called. Suddenly, they could then miraculously find my account! Was told the application was denied, which I feel was merely retaliation. 

Was advised to visit a branch in-person to verify physically and have a customer profile entered directly from there. I did so. Was again on the phone while at the branch trying to get this fixed. Several agents said they understood my concerns and agreed that this was not right. Phone agent said they had successfully verified me and reopened the application. At the phone agent 's advise, the bank manager created my profile directly using my accurate and real ID info ( same info as provided on the application ), he placed a note in the system to not change any account contact data without me being physically present in a branch, and told me to wait a couple of days for the profile to go through normal upload procedures and propagate into the banks larger database. I did so. 

I called today, XX/XX/XXXX, only to be bounced around for another 2 hours ( at this point, I've spent approximately 7+ hours on the phone with BoA ), getting transferred and being told I was sent to the wrong department over and over again. Finally got on to look up my case number, only to find out it had been set to resolved and closed by " apologizing to the client '' I do not feel an apology satisfactorily resolves my issue. They used incorrect info from an unknown source. They attempted to discuss MY application with a person by voice alone should be able to tell was NOT me ( I am male and from the XXXX, neighbor is female and from XXXX - and remember, I applied by phone call which had recorded segments, that they obviously did not refer to before calling ). They revealed my name and that I had applied for a Bank of America card to an individual they had NOT verified, which is valuable information to a potential ID thief or fraudster. They would not provide any info as to HOW MANY OTHER PHONE CALLS THEY MADE TO UNKNOWNS. 

Bank of America should be strongly reprimanded for terrible fraud prevention procedures ( calling phone numbers not connected with the applicant ), for breach of trust and publishing private info ( for telling an unverified individual they were calling from BoA for me by name about a card application ) That is too much info to be giving out. Customers should be informed of ALL PHONE NUMBERS/EMAILS/ETC. that are NOT ON THE APPLICATION BoA uses to contact applicants. BoA should inform applicants that they will call numbers not on the application ( still don't know why they wouldn't at least try to contact me by my phone number, which the repeatedly refused to ) I could see if in this situation, BoA should, if they are too lazy to use contact info that appears in application which matches my profiles at other banks and on my credit reports as well as XXXX and XXXX reports, then they should have ONLY sent a letter to my address, which is clearly OWNED BY ME as evidenced by county public tax records and deed records. BoA should change their procedures to protect applicants and their existing customers. Their actions are beyond understanding. BTW, as a XXXX, I'd never give a passing opinion on their actions in an audit!

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