Some say Bank of America garnished their money, but shouldn’t have

CHARLOTTE — Some have told Action 9 that Bank of America garnished their money when they shouldn’t have, causing them to stress over the missing money.

The Murrays own Morrison Cleaners in SouthPark.

“I tried to pay one of my employees and kept getting declined,” Kemuel Murray said.

They say they checked their Bank of America account and saw a garnishment.

“It was like $2,800 and something,” he said.

And then there’s Lauren Rorie.

“I log into my bank account and $4,000 and some change ... was missing,” she said. “A few thousand dollars is a lot of money.”

She said she also banks with BofA and also found a garnishment.

Rorie and the Murrays did some digging.

The Murrays say they discovered the State of Maryland had claimed they owed taxes and had gotten a court order for BofA to garnish the money. Turns out, they say, a business in Maryland with a similar name did owe taxes. It was a case of mistaken identity.

Murray says it was so stressful, he “could not sleep.” He says he and his wife fought it and eventually got their money back, but not without heartache.

“It’s a whole ripple effect, it doesn’t make me feel easy at all,” he said.

Rorie says her issue was also state-specific, that the State of California claimed she owed late fees for taxes and ordered a garnishment.

“There’s not a lot that the individual consumer can do,” she said.

Rorie says, she did do business in California, but that she paid her taxes on time. She says she was in the process of appealing the late fees, but that the bank garnished her money anyway. It’s not clear if a bank has a duty to wait, but she argues it does.

“Wrong situation, this could put someone out in dire straits you know?” she said.

Rorie says she pursued it too, but didn’t get very far and gave up. She assumes her $4,000 is gone forever.

“I am pretty much at peace with that and know that’s going to happen. This is more about the principle now,” she said.

In 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Bank of America had “unlawfully garnished at least 3,700 out-of-state accounts” since 2011. The Bureau ordered the bank to pay $10 million in penalties, refund customers more than $590,000, and change its ways.

Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke initially emailed Bank of America about the Murrays’ case. The bank wouldn’t go into detail, but said it was resolved. Then Jason found out about Rorie’s case and emailed about that. That was more than three weeks ago. The bank said it was gathering information, but didn’t provide a statement in time for this report.

Stoogenke has advice for anyone in a similar situation:

• Read the fine print of your bank agreement. Stoogenke knows most people don’t, but the bank’s garnishment policy should be in there. It may be informative.
• Do what the Murrays did: Be persistent.
• But the truth is, in these cases, you may need to go to court to make the garnishment go away which means you may want to talk to a lawyer.

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