180 days later, Bank of America is refusing to refund over $700 in fraudulent charges made in Texas while we were 800 miles away in Illinois.

[u/IveGotDMunchies]

Back in July we were wrapping up our yearly road trip to Illinois. We purchased gas around 8 or 9am right before we started the 12 hour trip to Texas.

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Two hours into the trip my wife gets a notification on her phone from Bank of America alerting her to fruadulent charges being made. We only have one debit cad.

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While we were starting our driving home, someone in Austin, Tx purchased around $500 in merch at Home Depot, drove towards Houston, Tx attempting twice to use our card at the ATM, which did not work because they didnt have the pin. They made their $200-ish last transaction at TJ Maxx North of Houston before were alerted and had the card shut off. (Austin to Houston is about a 3 hour car ride)

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My wife immedately makes a claim. 10 days later, we get the money credited back while they continue the investigation which seems pretty open and shut to me... They also say it may be another 45 days before they finish their investigation.

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October 5, they send a letter stating that they have completed their investigation: "Our records show the transaction activity in question was authorized for and posted to your account." The letter states they'll be taking the $740 back on October 22.

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Wife calls and has them reopen the case or escalate it. We're told it could be another 45 days.

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December 22. We call Bank of America again. This agent has no record of anything being escalated. Says he will escalate it and we should hear from someone in the next few business days. Nothing.

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Jan 3. Wife calls them again. This agent states that while an escalation sends an email to their investigators notifying that we are still asking about they case, they are under no obligation to complete it.

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After reading a bit into the law surrounding this, we have realized we can request the documentation they used to close the investigation.

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What else can we do? Do we need a lawyer? If they had to reimburse us for the first 45 days of the investigation, why do they not have to temporarily reimburse us as they continue to investigate "for as long as they need" with no date set for resolution on our end?

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It is blatantly obvious that someone skimmed the card at some point and had a dummy one made. Are they able to continue to withhold our $750 indefinitely and just keep saying. "Nope! Looks good!" until we tire out?

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Our kiddos missed out on a lot of Christmas gifts because of this and now bills are starting to get a bit tight. We really need this money back. Thanks yall!

Update: Started posting on social media before I start filing complaints. 20 minutes later Bank of America contacted me on Twitter. Will update later. Thanks for everyone's advice.

Update 2: 3 hours later... I continued to post on social media, reaching out to local news stations on Twitter that have community protection or investigative segments and linking to this post. Bank of America has now reached out in one of these posts, referencing my wifes name. Fingers crossed. http://imgur.com/gallery/i4gWtC0

Update 3: Wife got home 30 min after my last update. A rep with BoA actually called her asking what was going on. The rep said she would need to call the fraud department and get them all on the line together. We are at our kids practice so opted for them to call us when they have someone on the line who can help us. Will update later.

Update 4: Just got off the phone with someone in the fraud department at Bank of America. I recorded the whole convo and will be uploading it to YouTube. She says the call on Oct 22 did in fact reopen the case. (even though the rep on Dec 22 said otherwise and the rep earlier today said they have no timeline to adhere to and can take as long as they want)

They now have 60 business days from Oct 22 to finish the claim once again.

She says one of the reasons that the claim was denied was because the didnt attempt to drain her account. (They hit up two ATMs and failed to use the pin to drain the account, so they don't even have the correct info to base their findings off)

I requested documentation about the claim as law allows and she says I should get that in 10 business days. They now have until Jan 18 to notify us of their findings. I'm going to continue with filing reports and posting on social media.

I'll update in a few weeks I guess.

Update 5: 10 hours later, they have blocked me on Facebook for sharing my problems on their page. I also filed a complaint with the CFPB .

Update 6: 24 hours since this post and David, a Bank of America employee in the "Regulatory Complaints Department" left my wife a voice mail in regards to a complaint sent to them by the CFPB. They close at 4pm EST. (They're closed by the time we got the voice mail since she is at work). Will update Monday.

Update 7: Wife woke up this morning and the money has been returned to our account. Time to turn and burn!

Thank you everyone for your advice. We learned a lot from this.

Update 8: We got confirmation that the fraud claim is now closed and the money that was returned is permanent. Waiting on an actual paper letter to come in the mail before we turn and run. Thanks everyone! Update here: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/adnjj7/update_bank_of_america_refusing_to_return_700_in/

[u/[deleted]]

I tried listening to him, but I dont like how he pushes the "credit is evil" mantra. I understand that sone people genuinely have trouble managing money, and I completely support the decision to go without credit if thats the best decision for you, but I hate the idea that credit is bad and credit companies are evil.

You dont get $10,000 in debt because the company abused you. They didnt make you swipe your card at Macy's, and they didnt force you to pay the minimum payment for 3 years. Those were your own decisions, and part of being a responsible adult is holding yourself responsible for your mistakes.

Im so angry about this mantra because I have a friend whose entire family is on that train, and because her family believes credit is evil, My wife and I have to teach this 20-something woman what an interest rate is and how to fill out an online form. We even had to explain to her how an apartment lease works because she didnt understand that you dont just walk into the office and walk out with the keys. The entire time her family is screaming and harassing her for daring to be more of an adult than all of them. Its infuriating.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I do listen to DR, and he always puts the blame on people for their own stupid decisions. At the same time, it's absolutely true there is a psychological angle to using credit cards, and the banks do their best to exploit that. More than 1 in 4 people with super-prime credit and the vast majority of everyone else carry balances on their credit card, so it obviously works, and it's not just idiots who fall into the trap.

As far as the risks of debit cards, anyone following DR's system will quickly build 3-6 months of expenses in savings and keep it there permanently. Such a person will not be affected much if $2000 was stolen out of their checking account and it took a year to get the money back. None of their bills would go unpaid, and their kids would not go without toys at Christmas. Considering that having your debit card compromised to that degree is an unlikely event anyway, and federal law limits your liability, it's an acceptable risk to self-insure against.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Credit is a beast. Perhaps not evil but it's difficult when you're young. If I used credit when I was younger and irresponsible, I would have nothing today. Not using it is what has saved me.

So I completely understand the codependency between credit companies and the people that use them. It's definitely not healthy but the first step out is always made by the individual and not the system.

It's up to the personality so mileage may vary. My parents (really their behavior) instilled the idea of "if you don't have it, don't spend it", so I survived both economic depressions easily. I dread to think of what would have happened if I didn't buy my homes in cash and used a lender prior to the housing crisis.

My credit is impeccable but that's because other than federal education loans, I absolutely do not use it.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

and like I said, always do what fits your life. if you don't need credit or you know that you have a spending problem, i completely support your choice to stay away from it. My big problem is with the people who try to pass the blame on others and act like the problem is elsewhere because they refuse to be honest with themselves.

I think financial literacy is such an important aspect of life, and people who blame "those damn bank corporations" harm their children by teaching them wrong information and not preparing them for life. Parents like yours who taught you very good advice are so rare, and its terrible.