An Illinois woman filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against Bank of America after it accepted her deposit of a check she received from the U.S. Treasury, closed her account, and refused to give her any money or explanation.
Charlotte Warren received a check from the U.S. Treasury for $24,158.14 for back payment of disability funds due to her severe asthma and other disabilities. She went to one of Bank of America’s locations in Naperville, Illinois on April 17 to deposit the money in her account. She returned to the bank the next day with her daughter to check on the availability of the funds and was shocked to find out her account was closed.
“I went over to the teller,” Charlotte said to NBC Chicago. “She said ‘No, you don’t have an account.'”
Shavonna, her daughter, ensured the bank teller that it was a government check.
“There’s not much to figure out. It’s a government check. It’s easy to verify. Her funds should be available right now,” said Shavonna to the teller.
The bank then told the women, “There’s nothing we can do.”
“There has to be something you can do,” Warren responded to the teller.
Her response fell on deaf ears because the Warrens left the bank without the money and more questions.
“After fighting for it all this time, I don’t have anything,” Charlotte said to NBC Chicago. “You can just take it, and you’re OK with it?”
She had to battle with the Social Security Disability Insurance office to receive the funds and now they were being denied by the bank because they questioned the validity of the check.
“The biggest one that got me was [when the manager said,] ‘Sometimes they have drug deals,'” Charlotte said to NBC Chicago. “Or criminal activities linked to large amounts.”
Bank of America also closed her account just days after she opened it. More than a month passed, and the bank offered no valid explanation. So, the Warrens decided to hire Gail Eisenberg as their attorney.
Eisenberg took over the case and attempted to negotiate with the bank, but she was ignored. In response, they filed a discrimination lawsuit.
“We certainly believe it was intentional discrimination,” Eisenberg said to NBC Chicago. “This is a U.S. Treasury check. So the circumstances under which a hold would have been appropriate are confounding.”
After 50 days and a seven-week battle, Charlotte won her federal lawsuit, and her funds were returned back to her.
According to CBS Chicago, checks from the U.S. Treasury are typically available the next day, and federal law says that a hold shouldn’t be more than nine days. The bank says its actions were “consistent with regulatory funds availability requirements” and her account was flagged by “analytics,” which have rules in place to prevent fraud.
“Charlotte was put through the wringer in trying to simply get what was owed to her. She should not have to file a federal lawsuit just to get the money she’s owed,” said Eisenberg to NBC Chicago.
Bank of America also never provided any explanation why her check was held for 50 days but says they regret the amount of time it took to get her money back.
“It’s so frustrating to be Black in America and not be able to do simple things!” Shavonna said to NBC Chicago.
Charlotte said that the bank “made me feel like I was in the wrong.”
