KANSAS CITY, MO — Bank of America customers got unwelcome news Wednesday morning.
The bank told some customers that their bank accounts were overdrawn.
“It feels like the bottom drops out, your blood runs a little cold, you get that sick feeling in your stomach,” said Dionne Haynes-Heflin, a Bank of America customer.
Heflin described the moments after she read a text message Wednesday morning from the bank that her account was overdrawn.
"I noticed that I had an alert and when I looked at it, it said that my Bank of America account had this negative balance and I was like negative balance,” Haynes- Heflin said.
Haynes-Heflin reached out to the Bank of America by phone and traveled to nearby branches in Kansas City.
“I called the 1-800 number; didn’t have any luck there, twice it told me that I would have to call back at a later time,” Haynes-Heflin said. “I tried to get in contact with a local branch to see if they could get in contact and help — none of them were answering any phones and when I went to the location, I actually noticed that some of them were opening later in the day.”
Haynes-Heflin said she later received a pop up alert in her Bank of America app that stated:
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 many delay or inconvenience.
Haynes-Heflin realized she did use Zelle, a popular money transferring app, within the time frame stated by the bank, but still had no answers on where her money was.
“I noticed that I didn’t even see that transaction listed and I had text confirmation that it had been received," she said. "I know that I had seen it in the account, so I was really concerned to see that it had completely disappeared."
Haynes-Heflin finally got her funds back Wednesday afternoon.
While Haynes-Heflin said she's happy to have her money back, she's also disappointed in the bank.
“I felt completely helpless because there is nobody to answer a call; there is no information to be had, what do you do,” she said.
KSHB 41 reached out to Bank of America for a statement on the incident.
“There was a delay in some recent Zelle transactions posting to client accounts. It has been resolved. This was an issue at Bank of America only,” said Bill Halldin, with Bank of America Media Relations.
Haynes-Heflin now hoping Bank of America will learn from this.
“You’re dealing with peoples money and in this day and age every cent matters every moment in time matters,” Haynes-Heflin said.
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