In May of this year, Bank of America sent us an offer for a personal credit card. We responded and it was opened two months ago. The account number is [protected]. That card has a $4000 limit.
We also have a Bank of America corporate card that has been open for about 18 months. That account number is [protected] and has a credit limit of $1500.
When we opened the corporate card ending 8747, I entered our Evergreen Federal Bank checking account routing and account number into the B of A online bill pay, as an external account, to be used, to pay our corporate card ending 8747.
When the personal card ending 1999 was activated, it was added to our online account and both the corporate card ending 8747 and personal card ending 1999 were all in one spot. I used the Evergreen Federal Bank acct to pay both cards, through B of A's online bill pay. That was the only account I have ever entered.
Eleven years ago, we had a Bank of America credit card, however it has been closed for many years. At that time, my daughter had a Chase bank account that was part of our profile and was used to pay certain charges on that account. That was her account and it has been closed for five years.
On 07/05/19, from our home computer, I made a $1600 payment to the personal card ending 1999. We went to Costa Rica on vacation on 07/08/19. On, 07/10/19, we began having trouble using the personal card ending 1999 and had to make calls from Costa Rica to Bank of America. We were told the $1600 payment had been returned and we could not figure out why, because we had $12, 000 in the Evergreen Federal Bank account. We were unaware that B of A's system had linked that old, closed Chase bank account to our new, two-month old credit card ending 1999. This happened without our knowledge or authorization. The $1600 payment was returned because the request went to the closed Chase account. That constituted the first returned payment.
On 07/10/19, while in Costa Rica, on my mobile phone, through the B of A app, I went into the account ending 1999 and made a $4000 payment, and the personal card ending 1999 was suspended. I called B of A, again and was told they would not let that $4000 payment go through and the account was suspended. Not understanding why B of A would not take the $4000 payment, when we had $12, 000 in our Evergreen Federal Bank account I then pulled our Evergreen Federal Bank banker on the line with the B of A agent, in a three-way call, and the $4, 000 payment was made. It went through and she, the B of A agent un-suspended the personal card ending 1999.
I was looking at the acct activity, while on the phone with the B of A agent, and I noticed that there was another $4, 000 payment that was being made. I told the agent that it looked like an additional $4, 000 payment was being made and that we only wanted to make ONE $4, 000 payment. She said not to worry that there would only be one payment of $4, 000 made. She never told us there was an additional payment in the account information, from that Chase Bank account. We were able to use the card and thought everything was straightened out. We returned home on 07/20/2019.
Last night, 07/25/2019, I received an email that the B of A personal credit card ending 1999 was being closed and we would receive a letter explaining why. I went in to look at the account and it has a -$1043 balance, that is to say, a credit balance of $1043 in our favor. It also still showed that an additional $4000 payment was now being returned.
Being completely puzzled, my husband and I called customer service to ask why the account was being closed. We were informed that there were two returned payments of $1600 and $4000 and that they were paid or request for payment was made to a Chase Bank account ending 3799.
I told the agent that we did not have a Chase bank account and never entered a Chase account as an external account to be used to pay on the two cards ending 8747 and 1999, through the B of A online bill pay. All seven of the Bank of America agents told me that only we could have entered that information. This is not true. This was not our account. We have never thought about or used this account and it has been closed for 5 years. Why would we link our current B of A account to this Chase account? It makes no sense.
No matter how many times I said we did not enter a Chase account and do not have a Chase account, it fell on deaf ears. The agents kept saying it was a Chase bank account ending 3799. Finally one agent said the Chase account had a nickname "Robin's account". My daughter's name is Robin. I called Robin, after the first round of phone calls to B of A and she said she had a Chase account and that account had been closed for five years. She could not remember the account number.
Between last night and today, 07/26/19, we spent 3 1/2 hours on the phone, with 7 different agents, and different departments, on the corporate and personal side, to try and get the mess straightened out and the card ending 1999 re-opened, to no avail. All of the agents kept telling us we must have entered that Chase account information. We did not. I didn't even know that account number. Bank of America's internal system somehow linked it to this new card.
B of A's agent named Amber told us the Chase bank account, was added to our profile in 2008. It was linked to a different B of A credit card. That credit card was closed, years ago. I told her, the Chase bank account was closed five years ago and asked how it could have been linked to this new account? She did not have an answer. She kept saying it was part of our profile and we would need to delete it.
Bank of America's system added, or linked, that closed Chase bank account, without our knowledge, as an external payment account to be used to pay, our personal card ending 1999, through the online bill pay. The system defaulted to that closed Chase account, over the Evergreen Federal Bank acct, I had entered. Those two payments of $1600 and the additional $4000 were returned because the payments were requested from that closed Chase account, an account I did not enter. The damage was now done.
Why would Bank of America keep information from an 11 year old account that was no longer open and active, and then link that information to a new credit card account without authorization to do so?
The level of incompetence at Bank of America is astounding! Blaming us for their incompetence and refusing to rectify their incompetence and re-open our personal credit card ending 1999 adds insult to injury. Not only has Bank of America closed our account because of their error, they will probably injure our credit by reporting we had returned payments, caused by their incompetent errors, that they refuse to rectify.
I asked numerous agents over the 3 ½ hours on the phone, this question; If, after the $4000 payment that went through during that three-way call with our Evergreen Federal banker and the B of A agent on the phone, there is a credit balance of $1043, doesn't it seem illogical that I would make a 2nd $4000 payment? Why would I make an additional $4000 payment when there is already a credit balance of $1043? If you look at our payment histories on both accounts, we have never been late.
This is so unfair and shows terrible customer service. Customers are not important to Bank of America, and the entire situation has wasted a tremendous amount of our time and caused us significant stress.
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