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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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202 thoughts onBank of America Sued for Failing to Protect Unemployment Insurance Recipients
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Same thing happened to me. The unemployment office is still working on getting my money back. Add me please.
Add me please. I already went through the steps of verifying my identity as requested, my BofA is still frozen, I still funds that I can’t access in account that I could be using.
I’m one of the frozen accounts through bank of america edd accounts ice been waiting for a solution for months I’ve let them know that I have rent to pay and my bills and still I get no solution. I would like to be apart of the class action. That’s been started
Il like to be add please. Back in September 30 2020 $1000 where taken out of my account.
September 26 2020 i was visiting my mom and that day i checked my account everything looks fine except one thing.
Bank inquiry $0.00 in anaheim california who did it Bank if america in brookhurst Anaheim.
How can that be when i just used my card in a Target i cant be in two places.
September 30th $1000 were taken out i made a complain until oct 12 2020 with someone in the Bank of america in the fraud department which the number once i called it says Bank of America Collections. The name of who called me is Anthony “tony” Owens i called him twice never did he ever returned my calls,
I contacted the Finance Consumer Bureu. This is where it gets personal.
When the FCB sent my claim to Bank of America. Tony owens replied saying that i havent put claim, he sent as evidence to me my bank statement in which shows $1000 were taken in the city of Fullerton.
My evidence i presented to tge FCB i posted my bank statement in which the bank of america tampered with the evidence by deleting and showing the FCB the $1000.
They erased the bank inquiry transaction in Anaheim because thats shows tge bank of america tru a atm of the bank of america my inquiry checked and later $1000 were taken i got screenshots from my account only i know the pin the card is been with me all the time.
I have a case on the FCB that was closed but my case can be seen with their evidence and my evidence and youl see how the bank of america lie to a federal agency. Tony owens was who i put my claim with.
On Jan.22,2021 I received a letter from Bank of america(p.o.box 9052 Gary,Tn.37615)this is what it states:
We continously monitor card transactions for unusual activity,we also receive info from outside companies reguarding account compromises,at undisclosed merchants,or service providers.your stay of CA edd unemployment account was part of one of these compromises,this does not mean that fraud has occurred,or will occur on your account,in order to help protect your account,we will be sending you a new card,with a new number in 7-10 business days of this letter.
I’ve been home,and haven’t checked my balance til I received the letter,I have 1,500$dollars fraudulantly gone
On Sep 21st, 30th and October 1st and 2nd, my EDD got hacked and lost $3,316. I noticed that something was wrong on October 1st when I saw a weird transaction happening where it was saying that I was “withdrawing” $980 from an atm just for it to be deposited back. At first I assumed it might’ve been false transaction made by the bank but it wasn’t until October 2nd when I saw that supposedly I made another withdraw of $1000 in LA, however I live in SF. I then saw how the withdraw that happened the day before stated that I also took out money in LA for $900.I called the bank to try and freeze my EDD card so I wouldn’t continue to lose money. It wasn’t until I was talking with a representative that I found out that I also lost another $1000 on Sep 30th. I filled a claim so I can try to get my money back but 2 weeks later I get a letter from the bank saying that my claim has been closed due to them thinking it was fraud. I called the BoA customer services, to try and resolve it however due to the different time zones it was difficult to reach somebody. When I finally was able to talk to somebody, I explained my situation providing evidence that I was still in the Bay Area. There was even a moment during that call where I asked on why there was a Wells Fargo transaction on my statement only for the person on the phone to say that the person who managed to steal my account was most likely checking my balance proving the fact that I was indeed robbed. The person on the phone recommended me to fax the evidence to them and that once they receive it they’ll reopen my claim. It never happened and whenever I call again, its usually busy or they’ll hang up without saying a thing. Just recently I was looking at my statement when I saw that on Sep 21st, someone in Arkansas used my card number and spent $416.64 in Walmart. I would try and call again, but with school starting again around the corner its going to be difficult to try and even talk to someone about it. I’m glad that there’s a case going on because this is really not acceptable that people would get their accounts hacked, and robbed only for the bank to say that they believe that it was fraud despite the evidence that was given to prove your case.
I feel for you all this happened to my brother someone withdrew 1000 dollars out of a atm in Springfield Mass and he lives in Worc anyhow he had a police report filed in Oct 2020 and bank of America told him there not responsible but when he spoke to UI they state and say they don’t know why bank of America are telling people it not there problem when it there bank anyhow filed police report and all that and they did the same thing closed his account like they did to u and to this day he still waiting for his 1000 dollars that was stolen from his account
The EDD failed to pay my compensation since March of 2020. Portal reads reason for delayed payment “Other-Pending”. Unable to reach anybody at the DETR for assistance. My life has been ruined and could use some legal help.
I been making with Bank of America for years and for them to do this is just wrong its already bad that they was taking money out my regular account and taking to much over draft fee but for my edd account to be messed is to much please add me
Please add me
Please add me.