Complain about a product or service

Bank of America

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Dana of Portland, OR July 30, 2009

I have been with Bank of America for over 20 years now. We have a small business and have many accounts with B of A. Have kept a substantial amount of money in our accounts for 3 years now. We have an equity line, business credit cards, personal credit cards, 2 savings accounts and 2 checking accounts. I have put up with many internal mistakes made by B of A that have inconvenienced my life greatly. I did not charge them for their mistakes and my professional time spent in their branch trying to remedy the situations cause by a human behind one of their computers.

One incident took a full year to fix, the other took 6 months to rectify. An example of one is my business visa bills quit coming to my home. I began to worry so I went to the bank? No one had any idea why this happened and I was receiving late fees for their mistake. I would go to the branch and go through the procedure with a professional banker and each time told that "this time they have fixed it!!" But still no bills would come. I went in to Bank of America many times for 6 months on this subject. Finally I received a bill and it had been sent to Afganistan then back to the states to my address. Wow! How does that happen. So it finally got figured out.

This time the trouble was overdrafts that occured during this past week as we were moving our business to a new location. In 2 days 11 overdrafts accrued in my personal checking account. While I was moving my company I was also changing my high speed internet service. I tried several times to go online to check my accounts, but due to changes to my online carrier the bank did not recognize my online ID. I followed the procedure to change my online ID about 5 times and could not get through. So I went about my business moving.

I got some help last night from a friend and had to change some computer settings and finally got online to see that I had 11 overdrafts. I of course transfered money from an In-branch BofA account to more than cover this issue and put some into my overdraft protection account. I went to my local branch of 15 years first thing this morning and was denied removal of the bank charges. I was told that Bank of America changed their procedure and no longer allows Branch managers to remove charges?

Then the manager said well but I can remove 3 even though I am not supposed to? What? Now how does that work? She can't but now she can, but only 3 leaving me out 280.00 of my hard earned money. Does Bank of America have little people in their computers that are highly paid to charge individuals 35.00 each time they make a purchase? No this is just a computerized program that is taking advantage of millions of individuals young and old. There is nothing personal about it, it is a nifty computer program that makes banks a lot of easy cash.

Most people feel helpless and do nothing about it. What has happened to the relationship we once had with our own personal bankers. What has happened to the ethical business proceedures. And when we put our money into a bank isn't it like loaning it to them? Or should we really have to pay fees for them to "manage our money"? How is it that the banks are in so much trouble when they charge so much to all of us to borrow our cash? I have over 20,000.00 right now sitting in other Bank of America accounts through the very same branch that has denied me a pardon. For the past 3 years I have kept over 50,000.00 in my accounts through this same branch.

This past year Bank of America randomly had began charging my account without notice 35 per month to "manage my accounts". I finally went in and asked why I was being charged? I was refunded one month of it and the charges were stopped. How does this happen? So now when I am in a situation they take my money and deny my request for a pardon. I will begin moving my business to another bank asap.

Jason of Everett, WA July 30, 2009

Yesterday I had the most inconvenient, disrespectful experience I've ever had at a banking institution. I was paid for services rendered from a company I do business with. I'm an offsite system administrator for this company, and do weekend work to maintain the servers and workstations. I was paid for work I did over the weekend and stopped into a BOA branch a block away from their business location. I do not have an account with BOA, so I was prepared with ID, and ready to provide my thumbprint as well. I was asked to sit in the lobby, and had to talk with an account rep, who indicated they had to do this to make sure that there was not a stop payment on the check, etc. Do they NOT do this at the teller?

I was asked by the branch manager if I worked for the company the check was issued by. This is true to some extent, as I do side work for this company, but they are not my primary employer. And besides, what business is this of BOA? After being harassed for another 10 minutes, I was allowed to stand back in line again. I told the teller (same one) that this was the most inconvenient, disrespectful experience I've ever had at a bank, and he came back with my cash, 6 short! They never once explained up front that it cost 6 to cash a check that was DRAWN ON THEIR BANK, IN FACT, THEIR BRANCH.

As I walked out the door, I had to mutter [expletives] under my breath and was asked not to come back. In fact I WILL be back, just to be able to do this again! I worked hard for the money I earned, and it's the bank's responsibility to cash that check, regardless of having an account, going to my bank to deposit it, or any other number of excuses. I could have simply gone to a check cashing place, and gotten much less grief over cashing a check with valid ID.

Vanessia of Marietta, GA July 30, 2009

In order to protect my excellent payment record, I called Bank of America to answer an offer to make special payment arrangements. The customer service representative took some information from me and explained that I was eligible for their program which would reduce my monthly payments and stop the late charges and bring my account current if I agree to close my account with them. I was interested in hearing more, therefore, I agreed.

The representative took down all of my current monthly expenses information and stated I qualify for the program. She told me that by making 4 consecutive payments drafted electronically from my bank account that they would forgive the remaining balance that I had over the credit limit. They did not do that. She stated that I needed to make minimum payments of at least 160. I told her to make it 200. She guaranteed me that by accepting this program I was not risking negative reports to the credit bureau and after 4 months the account would be brought current. I explained to her at that time that I was in the market to buy a home and that would be detrimental. She assured me that they would not report negative or past due any further and that the account would be brought current.

However, I go to get pre-qualified for a loan and Bank of America has reported my account late and past due continuously since December, causing a tremendous impact on my credit score. They did bring the account current, yet they continued to report late/past due to the bureau. They deceived me about the facts of their terms of the plan which I never received in writing anyway. I spoke with someone in the corporate offices (supposedly an Advocate for Consumers) and she informed me that the payment date that I chose was past my original due date for billing therefore my payments were considered late every month. They never informed me that by choosing such a date it would reflect late payment. She led me to believe that by accepting this plan it would override my previous terms of the card. I received my first statement according to the new terms. LOW AND BEHOLD I WAS A MONTH PAST DUE!

I immediately called and was told that they would remove that charge and they did. All payments have been made according to the date and according to the verbal agreement. That has destroyed my chances of becoming a home owner for at least another year. I think that the deceptive practices by the Customer Account Managers should be monitored closely. I have every intention of paying BOA that's why I called them. However they should not lie or exaggerate the truth regarding their terms and conditions just to collect. Bank of America has not lived up to THEIR END OF THE AGREEMENT.

I will pay my debt I incurred. I will pay it according to the terms presented to me. It's time Bank of America steps up to their end of the agreement and train their representatives to be clear and thorough in their efforts to assist their customers in times such as these.

Mary of Muskegon, MI July 30, 2009

Despite my in-depth research and questions, in mid June I became victim of a very well-planned scheme to defraud me of tens of thousands of dollars. I opened up a Bank of America checking and savings from which to process the "financial transactions" to keep my "business" separate from my personal accounts. It was the branch manager of my local Bank of America who put 2&2 together. I was mortified but she handled the situation with great professionalism.

Based upon her kindness and professional treatment of me during a most embarrassing situation, I vowed to be a loyal Bank of America customer forever. I have since learned the hard way that my local branch is not indicative of the Bank of America corporate culture. At the request of my local branch manager, I sent any and all information I had regarding the scam to the Risk department on the west coast. The Risk department never once replied to me via email or phone, flagged my account as frozen and debited my account -875,000, then had the nerve to charge me overdraft fees.

On top of that, since no one in the risk dept ever informed me of the process by which they would be investigating the fraud, I opened up a new checking and savings from which I could manage my personal accounts. I learned later that I was not supposed to open any new accounts. Bank of America then froze those new accounts, too, even though they had nothing to do with the previous problem. They held my personal money, my unemployment, and my savings hostage with no communication at all. Because the risk dept was involved, the local branch was unable to help me.

Clearly, Bank of America's risk dept has all the power of the IRS. I have called the risk dept several times and been treated as if I was the criminal despite my being completely honest and helping them the entire way. They just moved money in and out of my accounts with no explanation to me, charged me assorted fees, and were completely uncooperative to help me figure all this out. After weeks of fighting them, I have gotten all but 60 back.

I'm sick of them, I'm sick of being treated badly, and I give up. They can keep the 60. I will, however, make it my mission to let as many people know as possible what a horrible institution Bank of America is and that NO ONE should ever trust these people to manage their money. Bank of America can go to hell!

Walter of Lowell, MA July 30, 2009

On Friday, July 17th, 2009, I had a balance in my Bank of America Checking account of: 160.50. On that day, I made two purchases using my debit card in the amount of: 99.00, 37.89 via Paypal, which left me a balance of: 21.61. I ten made 3 additional purchases in the amount of 6.00 each, totaling 18.00, leaving me a balance of: 3.61. I made some other purchases with which there was insufficient funds in my account.

The first purchase was in the amount of: 6.00 which the Bank should have refused due to insufficient funds, but did not. Then another two items were purchased while the account was over-drafted. This is wrong! Bank of America operates to maximize the number of fees it can acquire from its customers through what I would consider fraud.

my checking account was charged 5 (35.00) NSF fees due to what I believe are errors in procedures. Having spoken to Customer Service Reps on the phone several times, I was informed I'll be charged another 3 (35.00) NSF fees if I don't deposit money within 3 days of the completions of the transactions. I requested to have the fees reversed. The BoA online Banking statement showed the transactions took place on the 17th, but they were listed as processed on the 20th of July, which is a misrepresentation of the facts. I don't understand why, nor believe that it is lawful, to alter records of transactions like that.

The money was in my account all the way up to the 20th, and it should have processed immediately, no later than the 18th. It wasn't. The online banking statement remains misleading as to events, and reflects what could be considered to be fraud. I don't do that to BoA, so why should BoA do that to me?

I have two direct deposits coming in every month totaling only 805.00 as can be attested by my banking history. That's what I have to live on because I am disabled. It's unfair for me to have to pay over 195.00 in fees for less than 15.00 in over-drafts. I tried lodging a complaint about this current experience with customer service department - but it was clear from the CSRs I spoke with that they considered me a liar. They refused to file a dispute on my behalf and wouldn't give me the telephone number for the executive offices. I had to hunt those down on the internet.

My requests for relief were denied repeatedly. I'll be talking to several Congressman and Senators to see what can be done about this stuff through legislation to protect people from excessive bank NSF fees, especially disadvantaged people on Social Security disability who overdraft for less than 25.00.

sharon of Temple Hills, MD July 30, 2009

My teen age son was charded multiple overdraft fees, some as 10 in one day. He made a overdraft of about eighty dollars total , and for each one he was charged thirty-five dollars.

The total of fees was almost five hundred dollar. I put five hundred dollars in his saving account, but he thought I had put six hundred in his checking account. When he used his debit card, they took money out of his savings and charged him ten dollors to transfer the money plus thirty-five for overdraft fee. He made small purchases,some as little as one dollar and fity cents,and was charged thirty-five dollars for each one. The tolal of overdrafts added up to be about eighty dollars, and he was charged close to five hundred dollars. How can the let a teen age child make that much in overdrafts. When my pay check don't clear, I cannot use my card. The bank has just ripped my son off. He don't have the money to pay it. I have to pay it and I am on a fixed income.

five hundred dollars for a toal of eighty dollars overdraft, it is way to much. They said that if I pay three hundred in seven days, that they would waive the other one hundred seventy five dollars.

Xinyi of boynton beach, FL July 25, 2009

I have my account to automatically transfer 50 from checking to savings each month. The most recent one was canceled which is right because it is supposed to cancel when there is not 50 in checking, however on the savings account the 50 was actually posted coming from who knows where as it was not from the checking. I was unaware of this and when checking the available balance before leaving the house to get food it showed 50 in savings so I made the 50 go to checking to get my food for the day. The next morning I check my account and the 50 which was a bank error was immediately taken back out and not only was there a large fee on my savings account but on my checking account as well. When bringing this up to managers I received no help to remedy the situation and was told this was only my fault.

Joyce of Suffolk, VA July 28, 2009

I was charged an overdraft fee of 35.00 for a pending pre-authorization charge that was later dropped. The merchant involved was Brodart Supplies & Furnishings. The merchant charged me twice for an order: One was the actual order price, the other was a pre-authorization fee that was later dropped. This is the first time that Bank of America had harged me for a pending fee. Even when the company representatives: Roberta and Karen faxed Bank of America with the information explaining bout the additional fee, nothing was ever done.

I contacted at least 3 people through online "help" chats at the bank. The transaction took place on 6/26/09 and one person, I think her name was Paola, assured me that the 35.00 overdraft fee would be reimbursed to my account after all the information was received. I was out 35.00 that I could not afford to "give" Bank of America. I think that their charges and actions were deceitful, and although I have been with this bank for over 20 years I am honestly thinking of changing.

Aaron of Augusta, GA July 28, 2009

This bank continues to come up with new ways to keep you from your money. No matter what type of check is deposited,(this time a Federal Contracting Check under 2000), they held it for 10 days with no exeptions. To me this amounts to stealling my money, because I know they receive payment in about 2 days. This is not the first time they have done this. Nevertheless, I am doing my best to get away from these criminals.

Brittany of Lebanon, TN July 24, 2009

I went inside (because they made me at the drive thru) to cash a check that i recieved from land rover of nashville for selling them a car. The lady at the counter treated me like a criminal and made me feel worse than i had ever felt. She said she could not cash the check because She could not varify the second name on the check. She would not work with me to figure this out why and i left crying. My fiance who works at the dealership had to call and find out and she was rude to him. The reason she could not verify the name was because the list they have is as she said to him "Pretty old" I was humiliated in front of several people and all the employees because their systems are out of date!!! REALLY!!! I'm probably the most honest person ever and to be treated like shit is bullshit!

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