We got our money back after two days! http://imgur.com/gallery/lPjXhQt
If you are looking for information on what to do if your bank declines fraud purchases or your bank refuses to return your money, please read this so you can see what steps we had to take to get something done.
I just wanted to post an update to anyone who followed along on my post last Thursday about the issue we were having with Bank of America declining some very obvious fraud charges and giving us the runaround for 180 days. For those not familiar with the situation, you can read up on it in detail here: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/ac96zf/180_days_later_bank_of_america_is_refusing_to/
TLDR: July 15. Fruad on our debit card in Texas while we were in Illinois. 180+ days later, bank lies to my wife after repeated phone calls. I ask for help on reddit. It goes viral. You guys give big help.
After posting on Thursday, I took the advice of several Redditors and took the several steps on Friday. Here is the timeline of events leading up to this being closed out.
- 8:00am Friday: Called Jonathan Stickland, my local Texas House Representative and left a message explaining the situation
- 11:00am Friday: Submitted a complaint to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB - https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/)
- 12:00pm Friday: My wife called me and told me Jonathan Stickland's assistant had called her to gather more information and said she would be making some calls to see what they could do for us.
- 4:00pm Friday: Wife called me to let me know that someone from Bank of America's "Regulatory Complaints Department" had called her in regards to the CFPB complaint filed earlier in the day. He called at 10 minutes before his office closed and my wife didn't get the message until after. We planned to call Monday morning.
- 9:00am Saturday: Wife wakes me up and says the money is back in the account as a "Misc Credit"
- 9:00am Today: I call CFPB. They say the complaint is still open with the bank and they usually respond within 15 days.
- 9:00am Today: I call the number left by BofA's Regulatory Complaints Department. Leave a voicemail. Wife calls him from work and leaves a voice mail
- 1:00pm Today: We get a notification from Bank of America that the dispute is closed. We're done. We will wait until the notice comes in the mail before we shut our accounts and move.
I hope that anyone else in our situation now or in the future can use this to get some fast results too.
Thanks to everyone who commented with advice, their own stories, and kind words to keep me motivated throughout the process.
Submitted January 07, 2019 at 06:09PM by IveGotDMunchies http://bit.ly/2FfYNkm
