Stern & Bi-Partisan Group of Lawmakers Want Bank of America to Answer for Frozen Unemployment Funds

For Immediate Release: November 25, 2020
Contact: Faith Colburn at faith.colburn@sen.ca.gov

SACRAMENTO – Calling Bank of America’s practice of freezing debit cards containing unemployment benefits for more than 350,000 Californians “simply unacceptable,” Senator Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles) joined a bi-partisan group of 59 state lawmakers calling on the bank to start answering questions about its practices.

“My office has been hearing from people every single day for the past two months, hundreds and hundreds of people, who have had their unemployment benefits frozen. They’re stuck in the system between bureaucracy and a bank,” said Stern. “The fraud we’ve been hearing about is serious and must be stamped out.  Bank of America has many options to securely verify a person’s identity who has been mistakenly frozen out of their account. There’s way, now there must be a will.”

Most unemployed Californians receive their weekly unemployment insurance (UI) or pandemic unemployment assistance (PUA) funds on a debit card issued and managed by Bank of America, under contract with the California Employment Development Department (EDD).  Over the last six weeks, hundreds of thousands of UI and PUA recipients had funds taken from their cards or had their cards frozen with absolutely no warning, leaving them unable to access the money they need to pay rent, buy groceries, keep the heat on, and much more.

EDD reports Bank of America created a formula to detect fraud and then implemented that formula to freeze cards and take money from recipients. Press reports indicate at least 350,000 Californians are currently unable to access UI and PUA benefits owed to them.

“For many people, this money could very well determine whether they are able to eat tonight or buy the medication they need to survive,” concluded Stern.

You can find a copy of the letter here: b_of_a_letter_final.pdf

###