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Ten class action lawsuits claiming Bank of America improperly handled unemployment benefits during the pandemic, resulting in frozen accounts and fraud, will be consolidated into federal court in the Southern District of California.
Bank of America has an exclusive contract with California’s unemployment agency to handle benefits. As claims spiked during the coronavirus pandemic, benefit recipients accused the bank of mishandling their desperately needed funds. Those on unemployment said they saw their accounts drained by fraud and complained that they were unable to access their money due to Bank of America’s mismanagement.
A major contention of many unemployment recipients is Bank of America’s use of debit cards that lacked security features to distribute benefits.
The bank was hit with a series of class action lawsuits from benefit recipients and ordered to provide immediate relief to Class Members earlier this month.
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated the class action lawsuits Friday, sending them to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Bank of America had urged the panel to allow the class action lawsuits to proceed separately using “informal coordination” to organize the legal proceedings. The panel roundly rejected the bank’s suggestion as “unwieldy,” pointing out that the claims “overlap extensively but with substantive differences.”
Jennifer Yick filed the first class action lawsuit after seeing her unemployment funds drained by fraudsters. Yick claimed that Bank of America didn’t do enough to properly protect fund recipients like her from potential fraud.
Have you been a victim of fraud, or had unemployment benefits stolen from your Bank of America account? Share your experiences in the comment section below.
One of the lead plaintiffs is represented by Andrew F. Kirtley, Anne Marie Murphy, Brian Danitz, Joseph W. Cotchett Jr., Karin Bornstein Swope, and Kevin Jones Boutin of Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP, and Altshuler Berzon LLP.
The Bank of America Unemployment Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Bank of America California Unemployment Benefits Litigation, Case No. 3:21- md-02992, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
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21 thoughts onClass Action Lawsuits Accusing Bank of America of Mishandling Unemployment Funds Consolidated
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I’ve had numerous bad experiences with my unemployment benefits from money taken out of my account to being locked out of my account as well as them just deactivating my card and having to call them to get a new one and wait 10days for that or pay a fee and have it sent express delivery
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I contacted bank of America concerning funds missing from account and was basically treated as if I were being dishonest.
I feel your pain—–mine is AZ, but one YEAR ago–they froze my account to tune of over 3k-as it was 600.00 supplement at time–AZUI & B of A , have no clue where my funds went off (stolen) debit card as i reported it ASAP. No one has account number, cant locate total amount and basically, its been ONE YEAR and still need my money.
Me too!!! They could not help me reconcile my missing money. Lesson learned: Never agree to an EBT Card Again for any benefits you are awarded. Have them mail a check.
The NJ Department of Labor & Workforce Development refuses to accept my bank account with FDIC-insured bank; CHIME, as a legitimate bank, despite the IRS not having an issue, as stimulus payments found themselves to my CHIME account with zero issues.
I had put a block on the CHIME card
to not allow international transactions. Despite this, my card was charged twice for an online subscription that I didn’t not make nor authorized and an international company owns the website of this subscription.
I called Bank of America multiple times over an over 8-month period to get answers and a refund and they won’t assist me.
Someone took out $1,000 out of my EDD bank of america card. One day after I reported the fraud claim they sent me a letter says my claim was closed. How can they just decide its ok for someone to take my money without even taking time to properly investigate?
It’s NOT OK. Did they at least offer you the outcome of their investigation that they deemed it complete and subsequently, closed. If they didn’t…IF YOU HAVE NOT REC’D NOTICE FROM OFFICIAL BANK OF AMERICA email or site or via Paper Mail, stating when you will get your $1000 back and you also deserve to know who, what, when, where, and how in order to protect yourself and your other financial accounts and your ID in general. KEEP ALL EMAILS, PAPER MAIL, TEXTS from them AND YOU. TAKE Screenshots and copy yourself on emails…YOU CANT GIVE UP. Do NOT let them ignore you. THEY MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE! YOU ARE INSURED! Research online for Department Heads/Managers or and start at the bottom…be kind and ask politely for the location name or department that issues those INVESTIGATION CLOSED NOTICE and ask for a phone number to the manager of that department. WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN DATED AND TOMED OF EHO YOU TALK TO , THEIR LOCATION, DEPT, AND TOTLE AND A SYNOPSIS IF WHST THEY SAID. If you find their answer unacceptable or not helpful or if they flim flam you with technical terms, DO NOT HESITATE TO KINDLY ASK FOR THEIR SUPERVISOR I emphasize trying to stay calm and respectful…it makes people WANT to help you. And prepare yourself for nobody knowing what’s going on or throwing you around like a hot potato. Be patient…but FIRM. If necessary, find out the name, (internet research) of the regional manager or headquarters address and hopefully phone or fax. If you get tossed around too much…try to straight to CEO OR CFO…by any and all means. If you can get the phone number to headquarters of regional manager, call and ask for him by name. When they ask who is calling, tell them a very important customer, when they what about,tell them it’s a very important matter you’ve been referred to discuss with him/her. If they say going to call back..ASK (NICELY) when to expect their call, and if they don’t call within reason, call again. You should ask for the person you spoke with the first time … After awhile they will get familiar and sick 8f you calling. Ask for the head persons DIRECT email address and once you do get someone that responds and takes action…thank them for helping you and if you have to flex your muscles to get their attention, let them know if they do not take SWIFT action to resolve your major breach iof security, you will be contacting your states banking commission, your states attorney, perhaps be seeking consumer council, the Governor..and their favorite…cEVERY SINGLE STATE AND LOCAL NEWS STATION AND NEWSPAPER.. You should tell the people you talk to along your journey … Tell them you demand it be noted that trying to resolve this issue is
causing iyou great stress and anxiety, mental anquish that have manifested into PHYSICAL symptoms such as migraines, heart palpitations, anxiety, loss of breath, trembling. Tell them since they can’t tell you when your money that was stolen from your FDIC insured account…that YOU ARE TELLING THEM. THEY HAVE 3 DAYS TO REFUND YOUR MONEY until You, every family member and friend begin contact the State & federal baning commissions, your state s attorney, your consumer rights attorney, and every TV station and newspaper in the state, region, and local level…that you have a very large network of family and friends of great financial, racial, and social diversity.That their ignorance to the distress that victims whose accounts are breached and security violated is absolutely unacceptable. Their casual policies and procedures including electronic automated response to your money being stolen while under their security and fdic protection are unethical, unfair, and unprofessional. Wow! Ya..ya can’t just let them do that to you…they just warning interest on that money so as long as they can delay refunding it….the more interest they make. Good luck. I’ve been a victim of all kinds of bank schemes. I bet you will never find out who did it, how, where, or what charges they will face…because truth is…it’s probably the bank or an employee or executive that’s doing it. They wntvtell you either a lot of times because if it’s under a certain $ amount, they don’t even bother but a basic investigation to be sure it wasn’t a PIN related theft. But they should offer you the details of WHATEVER they found that deemed your claim closeable…and now you have to jump thru hoope to either re_open or open a new claim. Just longer they earning interest on YOUR money. I sympathize with you and have spent the time writing all this, well, first because I have been through this situation, I am familiar with bank of america business ethics (none…greed) and because my advice is accurate…And documenting is important…obviously it will strengthen your lawsuit. I hope this helps! God Bless You in Jesus! name I pray for your swift resolve to your issue. In God We Trust. Amen
how do i sign in for this law suite I have more issues than a few with boa
I have never been ALLOWED to speak to any supervisor in ONE YEAR–there are none?? AZUI blames B of A, and back and forth——
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