Bank of America issues: Some customers report money missing from accounts

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Some Bank of America customers said money is missing from their accounts, including funds from Zelle deposits and transactions.

Rey Garcia has trusted Bank of America with his money for 20 years.

But when he noticed the problem happening to others, he went to check his own account.

"I was surprised, like, whoa," Garcia said. "So I checked my transactions. I had, like, 15 different Zelle transactions. That was, like, a red flag for me right there because I don't remember doing all that in one day."

He says almost $700 went missing from his account. He called customer service with no luck getting a representative.

Garcia tells ABC13 he has pending transactions scheduled to come out Thursday for his bills.

"I'm going to have to go in there and dig in my savings account, which I don't want to use, but these bills got to get paid, you know what I mean?" he said.

A Bank of America spokesman told ABC7 San Francisco that the problem has been resolved and the deposits and transfers are starting to appear in customers' accounts.

Wednesday morning, many customers took to social media to express frustration and try to find answers.

"What is going on over there, accounts are overdrawn???!!!!!" said one Twitter user.

"Where is my money!!! Account negative!!!!" said another.

DownDetector, a website that monitors the statuses of websites, said that "user reports indicate problems at Bank of America," with the first user-submitted reports coming in at 1:42 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18. Sixty-six percent of reports indicated there was an issue with "funds transfer."

BofA customers on social media also report that when trying to place a call to customer service, they receive a message that their call cannot be completed due to "extenuating circumstances." At one branch location in Houston, a line of more than a dozen customers waited for help, with several of them saying money was missing from their accounts. They're telling ABC13 Houston that they've been told to call customer service, but they can't get through to representatives on the phone, so they showed up in person.

"Has the entire phone customer service team been fired? I have been trying to reach anyone through the helpline for 20 minutes with no luck, even the fraud line is down," tweeted one customer.

Bank of America put a warning on its app, saying: "Please note: Zelle transactions made between January 14 and January 17 may be delayed in occurring and posting to accounts as requested. Transfers will be completed and will appear in your account activity and balances as soon as possible. We apologize for any delays or inconvenience."

The official BofA support Twitter account, "@BofA_Help," responded to a customer complaint with: "We apologize for a delay that has affected some transactions. Transfers are being completed and will be posted in your account activity and balances as soon as possible. Please do not initiate a duplicate transaction."

Because some are missing money that was sent through the in-app Zelle network, customers also tweeted at the Zelle help account. According to the "@ZelleSupport" account: "The Zelle app and network are up and running. As one of our partner banks, Bank of America is in full control of the Zelle feature in their app. We do not have access to the profiles, payments, or records of those associated with them."

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D - Massachusetts) called on both Bank of America and Zelle to assist their customers, tweeting: ".@BankofAmerica and @Zelle are apparently failing customers again, with money somehow disappearing from accounts. This should be fixed immediately and customers should be compensated. I've called out serious fraud issues on Zelle and this is their latest failure."

Bank of America currently has approximately 67 million consumer and small business customers in the United States. Zelle's users was projected to hit 61.1 million in 2022, according to Insider Intelligence. Zelle, a peer-to-peer payment network, is owned by Early Warning Services, LLC, which is itself owned by Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC, Truist, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.

Both Bank of America and Zelle have experienced a surge in fraud, with scammers tricking customers into sending them money via Zelle under the guise of "protecting" their funds at Bank of America.