Bank of America is Draining CA EDD Accounts
The Claim
Bank of America is draining California Employment Development Department accounts.
News posted on
Emerging story
On December 2, 2020, Congresswoman Maxine Waters issued a statement to Bank of America regarding the recent information related to COVID-19 and Bank of America’s involvement in impacting families using EDD cards.
She remarked: “As COVID-19 cases surge, over a million Californians now find themselves out of a job and wondering whether they will sleep under a roof or if they will have food on the table. It is completely unacceptable that Bank of America, which has had an exclusive contract with California’s Employment Development Department to deliver state unemployment benefits through prepaid debit cards, is allowing accounts to be frozen, closed, or drained of money without notice.”
With this information, many began discussing this occurrence on social media, raising awareness.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation finds this information to be true.
Bank of America is the bank holder of California’s Employment Development Department (EDD) accounts. EDD provides help to job seekers who are in need of financial help to meet financial gaps as they continue to seek employment opportunities.
In addition to Congresswoman Maxine Water’s discussions and remarks about Bank of America, other lawmakers have made similar remarks and have questioning with Bank of America has continued to drain EDD accounts across the state. This has left more than 35,000 individuals without benefits and financial support.
Each of these individuals that have had their accounts drained have previously reported to EDD that they were noticing fraudulent transactions on their accounts. Since then, Bank of America has credited some of these individuals and then later removed to the credits on their accounts. Without funds, many of these families are struggling to survive as they wait for their cases to be reviewed.
As Bank of America responds and more information is provided, the facts related to this case will continue to update and provide additional insight into the cases on hand.
