Back in February, I signed up for a Bank of America checking account. I had seen several other personal finance blogger's who had also made the switch, largely because of the incentives (free money) they offer, however was it really worth it?
As those who have read my blog regularly know, a company that I have done business with in the past, and I thought i would do business with again, decided they would create their own agreement and take the full amount ($275) instead of the monthly charge. When I contacted Bank of America, they tell me that is a billing dispute and therefore I cannot file a claim. However, Bank of America charges my account for overdraft fees in excess of the $275 that was fraudulently taken from my account. All in all I lost about my entire monthlies take home pay.
At that point, I started hearing from other personal finance blogger's who reported bad experiences with B.o.A and their poor customer service.
I should have known however, when I had reported in October that CreditCard.org had reported:
"Late is late", said the Bank of America customer service rep, based in Colorado Springs CO, referring to the fact that the payment posted the day it was due but was (2) hours late. Each time your minimum payment is late (i.e., not received by 2 p.m., ET, on its Payment Due Date), or the account balance is over-the-credit-limit, we may increase each of your account's Variable APRs up to the Default APR of 29.99. Bank of America was penalized in a class action suit for "rolling back" payment due dates according to court filings in Delaware. They could squeeze more late fees by rolling back the due date time to 10am and they were caught and penalized by the FTC. Bank of America, this is your first CreditCard.org Lemon Award nomination.
Because all of this I will be firing Bank of America. The experiment went horribly wrong, and will be tough for me to rebound from fully. Although, it will work out in the long run. Had I still been at the Credit Union, the overdraft charges would have been for less ($15 v $35) and they would have been willing to work with me, when I went to talk with them. What does Bank of America do, when I go to them and to ask for mercy? They put back $43 dollars back. Gee thanks, you (B.o.A.) and the fraudsters stole an entire months income and all you put back is $43? I wasn't asking for all the fees to be put back, but geez, put enough back so I can rebound better. Like 3,4 or 5 of the overdraft charges. But do they do that? No! They return $43 and then sock my account for $35 two more times when automatic payments are represented again. So they gave me nothing in reality. Had they returned only 3 fees, I would have been back into the positive and the represented payments would have cleared and I would have been on my way. However, now I am pissed and I will be closing my account at this national bank.
Today, I will be going down to cancel my debit card, to make sure no more automatic charges hit it. Then I will close my savings account and in a week or two after I make sure all checks and outstanding payments have been satisfied, I will close the checking account officially.
My direct deposit will be transferred this week back to the credit union.
Bank of america is not taking care of it's customers. I like my bank, US Bank. When I had a problem with overdraft charges, they backed some of them off after I petitioned them to drop them. Bank of america should take notice. If they want to KEEP their customers, they need to HELP their customers.
ReplyDeleteI have to be honest and say that I have been using BofA for many years and I have never had a problem with them. I had two bad things happen so far, and they were very quick to solve both of them. One time I deposited my paycheck and the teller accidentally credited the payer with the deposit, and the bank manager came in on a Sunday to solve it. He wound up having to call a Vice President at home, who also came in on a Sunday to help out. They had the funds back in my account the next day and not only did they refund all of my overdrafts, but they wrote a letter to every creditor involved and explained to them that it was their mistake and not to take action against me. I was extremely satisfied with how they handled it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you just have a really bad branch. Or maybe I just have a really good one.
But either way, you are doing the right thing by taking charge and firing them.
I see you are back on PPP. That's good. You'll lick that debt yet.
That sucks! This is why I don't have auto bill pay set up from my checking account. When I go pay bills online, i individually log on my credit cards and cellphone websites to initiate the online payment. I'm afraid that one day something will be wrong with our payroll and my money doesn't get deposited and something liek this might happen. The only auto debit I have is my Sallie Mae student loan, but only because they deduct .25% off my interest rate if I set it up this way.
ReplyDelete