Bank of America class action alleges company does not properly investigate unauthorized card use

Bank of America class action overview:

• Who: A Bank of America credit card customer is suing the company.
• Why: The customer says the bank does not properly investigate unauthorized card use claims and instead places liability for such transactions
• Where: The lawsuit was filed in a Hawaii federal court.

Bank of America (BoA) does not properly investigate unauthorized card use claims and instead places liability for such transactions on its customers, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

Plaintiff Ji-Hye Park filed a complaint against Bank of America N.A. Aug. 18 in a Hawaii federal court, alleging violations of the Truth in Lending Act. 

According to her lawsuit, Park received a “fraud alert” text message from Bank of America in January asking whether she had used her bank card for three attempted transactions, one of which was approved on her card for $2,000. 

Park says she replied to her bank saying she had not authorized the transaction, however BoA still posted two $2,000 charges to her account that were unauthorized. She disputed the charges, and a $4,000 credit was issued, however she says the charges were reposted to her account about a month later with no explanation given. 

Later, disputing the transactions again, BoA told Park that a company named Axus provided documentation confirming she received its services. When she asked to see the documents, she said they were “scattered” and unconvincing.

“Most notably, the documents identified the plaintiff’s IP address… as ‘Taipei, Taiwan.’ Plaintiff, of course, lives in Hawaii,” the lawsuit states. “She also has never been to Taiwan or used her Bank of America credit card there.”

BoA didn’t do due diligence in investigation, lawsuit alleges

Park alleges that BOA didn’t do its due diligence in investigating the fraud, instead relying “blindly” on documents furnished by Axus. 

In doing this, the bank violated Section 1643 of the Truth in Lending Act, which prohibits credit card issuers from holding cardholders responsible for unauthorized charges “without complying with specific requirements,” she says.

“Bank of America refuses to undertake any meaningful investigation because shifting the loss to the cardholder is more cost-effective than ruling for the cardholder and risking a prolonged dispute with the merchant,” the complaint states.

She is looking to represent anyone in the United States who was wrongly held liable for fraud on their credit card account in the past year, and seeking damages of up to $1 million or 1% of the net worth of Bank of America, certification of the class action, fees, costs and a jury trial. 

Meanwhile, Bank of America has agreed to pay $8 million to end class action claims it hit customers with multiple fees on the same checks in violation of their account agreements.

Were you impacted by Bank of America’s fraud investigation policies? Let us know your experience in the comments! 

Park is represented by Andrew J. Guzzo of Kelly Guzzo PLC.

The Bank of America unauthorized card use class action lawsuit is Park v. Bank of America NA, Case No. 1:22-cv-00382, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.

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