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UPDATE:
- Bank of America has been ordered by a federal judge to provide preliminary relief to Class Members whose accounts were frozen after fraudulent charges were made.
Jennifer Yick relies on unemployment insurance to survive the COVID-19 economic downturn. Unfortunately, Yick, a former real estate agent and property manager from San Francisco, had her last $400 stolen from her account because of unauthorized transactions.
Yick claims Bank of America, the financial institution in charge of administering the unemployment benefits where she lives, doesn’t do enough to properly protect fund recipients like her from potential fraud.
Yick filed a class action suit Friday against Bank of America in San Francisco federal court accusing the bank of being unwilling or unable to stop criminals from breaching its systems and stealing millions of dollars of Employment Development Department (EDD) benefits. Yick aims to represent a class of unemployment benefit recipients who have also found themselves in similar situations as victims of fraud.
Yick’s story may sound familiar to many Americans. Every day there is a new story of an EDD recipient who has gone to use their Bank of America EDD debit card, only to discover that the money in their account was suddenly gone, according to the complaint.
“It’s kind of like a nightmare. . . . Every day I’m wondering what’s more important. Do I get on the phone with the bank and try again so I have a place to sleep tomorrow, or do I just accept that I’m going to be on the street and focus on my job search? Because you can’t do both,” said one EDD cardholder and fraud victim, according to the complaint.
Bank of America has a “zero liability” policy stated in its own EDD cardholder agreement, to deal with potential fraud. However, Bank of America has failed to offer any assistance to the numerous defrauded EDD cardholders, instead opting to deal with the situation in a range of harmful ways including not answering the customer service phone lines for EDD debit cardholders, opening claims and closing them before a full review could be completed, crediting funds and debiting without any notice to the cardholder, not abiding by the legal requirements to provide provisional credit to EDD cardholders, and freezing EDD cardholder’s accounts unaffected by fraud.
The suit alleges that Bank of America violated California’s consumer privacy and unfair competition laws and the federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act, and also accuses the bank of negligent performance of contract, negligent failure to warn, breach of contract, breach of implied contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and breach of contract concerning third-party beneficiaries.
Customer service representatives at Bank of America have voiced their frustrations at being unable to offer real support to affected customers.
“We’re actually no longer allowed to tell them [defrauded EDD cardholders] a timeframe, because we have no clue . . . . Every day, I talk to 30 people with the same story. I just pray for them after my shift, honestly.”
A Bank of America spokesperson told Law360, “As California’s unemployment program faces billions of dollars in fraud, Bank of America is working every day with the state to prevent criminals from getting money and ensuring legitimate recipients receive their benefits.”
On May 19, U.S. District Court Judge Vincent Chhabria hit Bank of America with an injunction in the class action lawsuit. The order requires Bank of America to provide some urgently needed relief to Class Members who were frozen out of their accounts after the bank failed to protect them from fraud.
In the order, the judge cited a “strong likelihood of success” concerning the plaintiffs’ claims and extended certification of the Class to all benefits cardholders who contacted Bank of America to report fraud.
“The harm being suffered by class members is irreparable,” stated the order, which also noted that Class Members are in dire need of assistance after their unemployment benefits were stolen and then locked in frozen Bank of America accounts.
“Continued denial of these benefits will seriously hinder the ability of many class members to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads,” wrote Judge Chhabria in his order.
Details of the relief that will be provided to Class Members under the order will be hashed out in the following week, according to court documents.
Over the years Bank of America has faced a range of class action lawsuits. In Oct. 2020, a class action lawsuit was filed against the bank for ATM bank fees that consumers weren’t informed about.
Have you been a victim of fraud, or had unemployment benefits stolen from your account? Share your experiences in the comment section below.
The Unemployment Insurance Recipients Class Action Lawsuit is Yick v. Bank of America, N.A., case number 3:21-cv-00376, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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201 thoughts onBank of America Sued for Failing to Protect Unemployment Insurance Recipients
I have been a victim of Bank of America, in 2020 I had over 9,000 taken out of ny account, and there are still more fraudulent on my statements, and now in 2024, Edd parted way with Bank of America, so I probably will never see that money returned to me, on December 16th my account was frozen, then on December 31st I hear a bunch of accounts were frozen, I couldn’t pay my rent and was asked to leave, I had no where to go, 2020 March 3rd I was diagnosed with cancer, and bank of America didn’t release my money till March of 2021, I also had two tumors removed from the back of my tongue, in November 2020 when I came home from the hospital thats when I realized I am missing my money,
Was on Unemployment Insurance sometime during the pandemic they swapped to pandemic claim leaving me with claim balanced never received. This caused me to have to wait a period before reapplying. Re applying came now with ID.Me witch then was reviewed by operator who claimed I didn’t have enough earning in a quarter to apply according to my tax documents. Well nobody was working right? Although I have hours from unemployment insurance never paid.
My identity was stolen in 2021 for a period of time my funds were taken unauthorized I submitted claims with no response come to find out that the claims were paid off so I submitted the claims to be reopened cause u didn’t receive them I sent all the police reports identity theft dept documents in 2021 now they are asking for them again i explained that they have them already finally a supervisor finds them submits them now there asking for a picture of my license when all the claims been approved already they are now denying them
Yes I had a lot of money stolen from me
I was in prison and my unemployment benefits was in my account the estimated amount of $4,000. Someone reported my card stolen BOA basically just handed access to my account along with a new card over like it was nothing. I opened a claim and disputed this for unauthorized access to my account and unauthorized transactions but my claim was denied and my account closed. Till this very day I’m still trying to ask for reconsideration. I provided them with documents, FTC identity theft affidavit, proof of incarnation when the transaction occur, etc and more I even asked them to review the ATM footage and they will see its not me I really need help with this can I receive information or help on my next step because I really want my money I need it times is very hard
. thanks and got bless you
Yes I have had my edd benefits through bank of. America stolen I have transaction I never knew about money I didn’t spend
I lost a place to live cause I had no money to pay bills and also both my children because I had no way housing for them and CPS harassed me and took them away. I gained 100 lbs from being pregnant and couldn’t buy any clothes I have had 4 outfits to wear for that year. Spent hours on the phone with the bank. I couldn’t pay credit card bills either so my credit rating way down and I was told by the bank they didn’t have transactions from my account anymore cause it was closed and I know it’s a law to keep em for five years. They also did not complete my claim on time even after they were told to by the judge. And transactions were taken of my transaction list because I had a print out sent to me in 2021 and now in 2023 they say they are missing. About 10 grand worth of money missing. I’ve had no food to stay on the streets. Couldn’t fix my car left with no food couldn’t afford a lawyer to keep my children. My uia was stopped because of their negligence now I’m owed the money til end of 2022 and told my claims are figured out and the bank contacts them I can’t get it back. Their customer service needs a line just for the claims of double d transactions going through some went through 3 or 4 times. I’m disgusted. And deffineyly contacting a lawyer. My life was ruined completely it ruined my reputation in all aspects. The amount of hardship was worse than not receiving the help at all. Plus my daughter’s life was ruined by her getting taken away for not having housing or a vechile so not only I but my 2 children have to deal with this and I can’t even get my son back cause he was adopted. Shame on you. I also had an account I didn’t use charged money in checking and savings too.
They let someone steal all my Edd money 28,000
How did u get ur money I’m going through the same thing now it’s going on two years and they keep telling me there’s no time frame it’s so frustrating I don’t know what to do Im losing hope