
Bank of America Reviews
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About Bank of America
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bank of America is one of the largest banks in the U.S. and offers a range of banking products, such as checking and savings accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs). Customers can also use Bank of America for financing through various cash-back credit cards, personal loans and home and auto loans.
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Bank of America Reviews
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Reviewed Sept. 5, 2009
I have a 15-year fixed rate mortgage with Wachovia (originally from South Trust Bank) for the condominium unit since July 2004. I was never late and I usually paid significant amounts in additional principal payments, so I think they should consider me as one of their best customers. I was also happy with their service but not anymore. Recently, Wachovia sent me a letter informing that the amount of flood insurance my condominium association has should be the same as the replacement cost of the building placed on master hazard policy. They determined that it is not the case and I should obtain insurance for the difference. I learned the following during my long discussion with a representative from Wachovia insurance department and her supervisor:
My association insures the amount of about $1,610,000 in master policy per 10-unit building as the replacement cost, but flood insurance is for the amount of about $1,390,000. The difference between those two amounts divided by 10 is the amount I have to insure on my own according to Wachovia (exactly $21,920). It turns out nothing changed on in a way my association insures buildings, but this is a new requirement from Wells Fargo which is taking over all Wachovia loans on 10/6/2009. The Wachovia insurance department supervisor was not able to explain logically why I was required by them to get insurance in August, while she told me that new requirement would be effective in October. But this was side issue, my greatest complaint is the validity of this requirement.
According to Wachovia's own calculations, my condo unit has now flood insurance in the amount of about $139,000. Both the price I paid for the condo and current market value is much lower and the amount I still owe is about 1/3 of the current flood coverage. I don't understand why Wells Fargo/Wachovia forces me to have even higher coverage at my expense. Just to add to the absurd of the situation, my condo is a second floor unit. I find this unacceptable and I am gathering documentation in preparation for possible legal action against it. Wachovia/Wells Fargo lost me as a customer. I will never do any business with them anymore in the future.
Reviewed Sept. 4, 2009
My husband and I have multiple accounts with Bank Of America. We originally opened the personal checking account in the Old Saybrook, CT branch but have continuously told them that our primary mailing address and phone numbers are in New York City. 2 years ago, we also opened a business account for my husband's business. This was opened in New York City. We have made certain deposits to the business account and for convenience, other business deposits to the personal account. For 2 years, these deposits to the personal account were never questioned, and they never raised alerts. Also, we were never told it is in fact against policies to deposit checks written to a business into a personal account.
Recently, my husband received a large check, which was over $14,000 made out to the business. Times being economically tight for everyone, we desperately needed this money. I immediately rushed to the ATM and deposited the check into our personal account, as I had many, many checks in the past. This is the ATM card I carry and the PIN I know. And I had never been told I could not do this.
The next day, my debit card was declined. I called Bank of America. After numerous transfers from one rude rep to another, I was told the check was declined for deposit because it was made to the personal account. They could not tell me where the check physically was, but it was being mailed to me. My husband called and was told that at first the check was mailed to CT and then it was mailed to NY.
3 days later, we found out from a relative that a copy of the check had been mailed to CT. My husband was told by a BofA phone rep that the copy was negotiable and could be deposited. He was also assured that bills we had paid when we made the deposit would not bounce and bounce charges would not be incurred. Our relative took the copy of the check to the Old Saybrook, CT branch. She was told it was non-negotiable and could not be deposited. My husband called again. Now on call 10 (we estimate), he was told another story and that the original was in fact still in the mail to us.
It has now been a full week. We do not have the check. This is a substantial amount of our money that BofA has basically stolen from us. Our checks from the account seem to be clearing, but we are currently overdrawn and incurring bounce charges of $35 for each transaction. We are extremely frustrated, upset, and confused about how to rectify the situation.
Reviewed Sept. 4, 2009
We have been banking with Bank of America for about 5 years and after reading many of the complaints, I am even more convinced that there is something very sinister going on here. We moved from Washington to Houston in April. Upon moving, I contacted Bank of America to find out about how their services are from one state to another. They told me no problem, they have lots of branches in Houston. What they did not tell me was that these branches had no connection with the BOA in Washington State.
So we got here and started using our account and it was sheer madness. We had a checking and a savings account and we would go into the branch here in Houston and take money out. When we would withdraw money from our savings, they would somehow mess things up and debit this transaction from our checking account. I found this out while reconciling our accounts one day. When I checked my savings, nothing had changed but when I checked my checking account, it was severely overdrawn.
I called them and told them what they were doing. They reversed all the charges and we were good to go. Since the banks could not work with our account in WA, we decided we would close those accounts and open BOA accounts in Houston. We did that with no problem. One day, my daughter told me that my account in WA is overdrawn. I thought she was joking, there was no way. They not only messed up our accounts, they were charging us overdraft fees for their mistakes.
So, I called and what I experienced was just unbelievable. My last problem with the bank happened on May 5th. On June 26th, they charged my checking account $240 for a withdrawal they lost but would not send me any proof. Then on top of that, they charged me overdraft charges. When I called on the 5th of May, the CSR told me everything was good. So I got a letter last week, saying that in June, they charged my account for a debit that was not credited in April. I called them and they told me they actually lost the withdrawal. Now, how can you lose a withdrawal?
When I go to take money out of my account, it is automatically taken out. I am convinced that the big banks in this country are somehow working to build some sort of class society in this country. Those of us who have mid to low incomes, they will take whatever they can from us through their corrupt transaction processing practices. Let me also tell you whatever we have experienced. When using our debit card, our account would always go into overdraft, no matter how strict my husband and I were in our accounting. I knew that they were doing something crooked, so I told my husband not to use the debit card but to take the cash out for what we needed.
We have been doing that for 2 months and in the past two months, have never experienced an overdraft. They are doing something with these debit cards that pushes a person into overdraft. No matter what bank it is, do not use you debit card. If you are going on a trip, take traveler's checks. Even your credit card companies will do the same thing. It's sad but the American people are being taken big time by these corporations that are supposed to be helping ensure that our money is kept in a safe place. Well, sorry to tell you but your money is not safe in a bank anymore.
Reviewed Sept. 4, 2009
The bank kept putting NSF charges on my account - using up all of my cash - and then charging me all kinds of NSF fees, which also were duplicated by my creditors. Joe told me that their charges were posted before any payment was put through. This has caused my accounts to be delinquent and my cash account to be overdrawn. He has ruined my credit and good name. I always checked my balances before sending out checks, but it didn't matter because he would always get an NSF charge in over and over again.
They are the same charges for the same bills over and over again. Even after I closed my account with Wachovia, the charges kept coming. I went to another Wachovia Bank to discuss this, and the financial manager there thought it was alright. I had my SS check sent to Wachovia as well as my retirement check from Electrolux and a VA benefit check. I was not told how and when that money would come back to me.
Reviewed Sept. 3, 2009
Someone stole a check and took it to Bank of America and was able to cash it. I am a truck driver. I noticed the problem when I returned home from being on the road. I called my bank’s (BancorpSouth) 800 number to check on my balance. I noticed I was missing $750. I then contacted the bank in person. I was told that the check came through Bank of America in Memphis, TN. But they would not tell me what location. I signed an affidavit and filed a police report. The bank did return my funds to my account.
This is the other problem. Bank of America did not try to contact me nor my bank. The check was signed on the left bottom space. The amount was $750 but what was written was $750. The back was not endorsed, had nobody’s ID information. The bank never imprinted the back of the check with bank information, date, time, account it was deposited into, etc. Nothing - it is blank. BancorpSouth said they will investigate and asked to give them 48 hours. Well, I have still heard nothing. I would like to catch the person that did this so they can be prosecuted and this will not happen to anyone else. I wonder if this was an inside job? Or, did the thief know someone that worked for Bank of America? When I contacted Bank of America by phone at their 800 number, I was told that due to excessive amount of checks being sent through the machine some backs don't get stamped. What are the odds of this check with so many red flags not getting stamped? I feel there is more to this story than meets the eye.
I was supposed to go back on the road the next day, but was not able to because I had to take care of this. I lost pay for that day. This has become very frustrating because BancorpSouth will not give me the branch of Bank of America in Memphis, TN where I can pursue this further. I trusted BancorpSouth with my money. I have never had a problem with them before. I am upset with them because when they received the check, they did not contact me (my phone is nationwide). I am upset with Bank of America because they really didn't follow bank procedure and turn the check away. And if it was nightly deposited in an account, they didn't put it in the mail to me without paying it. To think you trust these people with your livelihood and this is the service you get. You just as well start doing like the old people: bury your money in the backyard and keep going.
Reviewed Sept. 3, 2009
From 8/31/09 - 9/2/09, I had several transactions that occurred in my checking account. I am sure that I had enough money to cover these transactions. However, I was charged $420 in overdraft fees. I was told because I had some automatic deductions, that's how my account became overdrawn. I am researching this situation and will not rest until this matter is resolved. The representative from Wachovia only agreed to refund me $53. As a result of $420 in overdraft fees, I was put in a financial crisis and haven't been able to pay my other bills.
Reviewed Sept. 3, 2009
I had an overdraft for $2.92 on 8/31. I deposited a check in the amount of 10 dollars to cover the overdraft which left me a balance of $7.08. I checked my account later and found that I had been charged not only a 10-dollar overdraft fee for the overdraft I had already paid, but also 35 dollars for each of the two items that I had bought (one was for the $1.69 and the other was for the $5.55). I contacted customer service that night and told them because they charged me a 10-dollar overdraft for a bill that was paid, it caused the two other overdraft charges. She saw I was correct and refunded me the 10 dollars that was charged for the overdraft .Since at the time, the two 35-dollar charges were still pending, she couldn't remove them until they posted so she said to contact the bank the next day and they should be able to remove it.
I called the next morning and they had posted, so I contacted customer service and spoke to Grace. I told her I spoke to Romy last night and told her my situation. She began to give me the runaround about these charges so I asked to speak to a manager. She put me through to Nick who tried to come up with every story in the book why they charged me these fees, none of which made any sense. He refused to remove the charges and I had to contact Better Business Bureau and whoever else I can think of. This is not right, they are ripping people off, left and right. It's bad enough that in June I was charged 178 dollars for a bill that was 12 dollars and some change. It’s ridiculous. I'm on a fixed income and only receive a certain amount every two weeks. They’re already taking 70 dollars out of it, which leaves me hardly any money, and I have to pay bills and eat and take care of two kids. I had to get school clothes this week. Now, I'm cut short on money and I have to cut my kids short on clothes and maybe food, thanks to this. It's just not right and I will be closing my account after this week.
Reviewed Sept. 2, 2009
On 9-2-09, I went into your Saint Clair Shores, Michigan, Marter and Jefferson Branch. I had a check from United Health Care drawn on your bank that I wanted to cash. After signing the check, finger printing the check and being notified of a $6.00 charge, the teller went on the computer. She then notified me that United Health wants these refund checks deposited and not cashed. I called United Health Care and I was notified that there is no such restriction placed on these refund checks. I don’t know why this teller didn’t want to cash this check but is this the way a representative of your company should act? She seemed to get an attitude when I told her I didn’t have an account at Bank of America. I used to be a customer at Bank of America but went elsewhere because I found that your bank didn’t understand me as a customer. Feel free to call, thank you. I deposited this check at my bank
Reviewed Sept. 1, 2009
I have a personal loan with Wachovia secured with the car title. The loan was taken in the bank, not the Wachovia dealership, and the title for my car currently belongs to Wachovia since the loan is not yet paid off. I have contacted the Wachovia Financial Center nearest to me to request the title to be transferred to their branch since I want to sell a car and would like to come to their branch with the person who will be buying my car so he could pay off the loan and immediately receive the title. So, I walked into this branch and explained to the person there in a simple language what I need. Of course, I've done my research prior to that and knew that it is possible to do so and also knew basic ideas about how all of it is done. However, once I finished explaining what I need, I was simply told that these kind of services are not performed in their branch and I should go to a different center.
Of course, I believed it and walked out. But instead of going to a different center, I decided to spend some time on the phone calling different 1-800 numbers to Wachovia hoping to find out the truth. It did take me about 2 hours, but I finally reached the right department and was explained in 2 minutes how simple and easy that is and was given addresses of closest branches that do these services. It’s not a surprise that one of them was the branch I initially went to. So, I called Wachovia Financial Center again and spoke with some other person who again had no clue what I need and again was just telling me that they do not do these services. I asked to speak with the manager and (how I found out later) was transferred to a teller’s manager. This is just funny!
Anyway, that manager's name was Vanessa **. She just repeated what the previous two people kept telling me: that they don't do what I need. By this time, I got a quite well understanding that none of them even understand what it is that I need. Wonderful! These are the qualified employees of Wachovia! To prove Vanessa that what I need is a part of her job or someone else’s in their branch, I had to do a 3-way conference call between me, her and that representative who confirmed that it is possible to transfer the title to a particular branch and knew how to do it.
During our conversation, Vanessa was keeping playing the "language game" repeating the same phrases over and over again and treating me like I am stupid and sticking my nose in her job. I had to become almost rude and start asking her direct questions on whether or not she understands by now what is her job! The gentlemen on the 1-800 line explained her in details what is the name and the number of the form and how she should handle it. Finally, after 4 hours on the phone I came back to meet with Vanessa hoping that the problem is solved now and I officially have done Vanessa's job! But no, after all, she managed to fill out a wrong form!
In the end, I was so stressed and upset with services that I received from the employees of that Wachovia branch that I decided to talk to the branch manager. It’s no surprise that she was totally backing up Vanessa saying that the representative on the line gave her a wrong form number. Even assuming that it was how she said and I do not believe that even for a minute since I myself was present during that phone conversation, I guess it is just too much for Wachovia managers to check if the name of the form given to you matches the name on the form you pulled out on your computer to fill out! It requires too much brain activity and they are just not used to it there!
By now, I am still waiting to hear from them. I can definitely tell anyone one thing: if your time is valuable to you and you care for your nervous system, do not ever deal with Wachovia. You will be treated like a fool who does not know anything and just asking for something. I used to have a checking account with Wachovia (5 years ago) and can say that their services were way better. Right now this bank became something of a fishy company which cannot be trusted or relied on.
Reviewed Sept. 1, 2009
I have been a BOA customer for less than six months. I have been charged overdraft fees for transactions that languished as pending in my account for days and then made to appear that I was in the negative when, in fact, if the debits to my checking account had been posted on the day I used my card, it would not have been negative. My most recent complaint is regarding debits from my account that were pending for several days, so according to their website, my account was overdrawn by $3.27. I transferred $2.90 from another account and an additional $0.25 from yet another which meant I was in the negative by 12 cents.
The reason I made the transfers was to avoid being in the negative even though it was not quite enough to bring me over the top. I made the transfers before midnight on the 31st of August. Now, I have direct deposits that go in from Massachusetts. They are credited on East coast time. The money went into the overdrawn account at 11:00 p.m. on the 31st and the other deposits went in just a few minutes later, but still before midnight of the 1st. Technically, my money was in the account on the 31st and all of these transactions I am referring to were in Pending status as of last night at 11:00 p.m. This morning, I checked my account and the two transactions in question were no longer pending, but all of the deposits are, including the two transfers from my other BOA accounts.
My issue is, how come, last night at 11:00 p.m. the trans were still pending, but today according to the website, the transaction show as cleared on the 31st? They were not clear last night, but today show clear on the 31st. Tomorrow, they will charge me 2 fees of $35 each for being overdrawn on two transactions. One is for 10 dollars and one for $2.16. How can this be legal? This is about the fourth time this has occurred with this bank and I have about had it. I am unemployed (and poor and need every nickel that comes in) and can't afford to pay these fees for transactions with my card that sit pending in my account for days.
Do I have any recourse with BOA? They refuse to assist me or forgive their fees. Nobody ever helps me and I am at my wits' end with them. I know I am only one of thousands of complaints. I've read hundreds of them myself on various websites. They are in the business of screwing their customers. I need help!
Reviewed Aug. 31, 2009
I am a hard working surgical resident who is dependent on all her checks. Over the last 12 months, due to extremely high overdraft fees, disproportionate to the amount over drawn, B of A has charged me over $2,000 for a total amount of less than $600! I receive my checks as direct deposit from the hospital and don’t have any other way but to go through the bank. I don’t know what else to do. Their overdraft fee is $35 even if the overdraft amount is 2 cents. I have been in major economic hardship as a result, chasing my tail financial because every month I am a few hundred dollars short.
Reviewed Aug. 30, 2009
I am tired of last and extended fees added on to my account. Today, August 29th, 2009, I called Bank of America rep to have one of my 35 dollar fees removed. I know one was removed earlier but I just had 2 fees added to my account this week and I was overdraft $135. My paycheck came in yesterday and I had just enough to pay my rent, so I tried telling this to the supervisor on the phone but there was no willingness to compromise or anything. I have been with Bank of America for a long time and very rarely call in to ask for any type of refund or credit. I take things as they go but it really disgusts me when you ask for a break and the supervisor on the phone who doesn't care just brushes you off. It's just 35 dollars but it is just the principle. This was at about 4 pm on August 29th 2009.
Reviewed Aug. 29, 2009
We have a small independent insurance agency and one of our carriers started to withdraw the policy's full amount from us instead of from the premium finance company that we always use to pay our policies, causing an NSF situation in our bank. We went to Bank of America to stop payment on these transactions and they agreed to this. The problem is that after Stop Payment of these wrong amounts from the insurance carrier, we had enough money in the business account to pay the next eight transactions following these stop payments. Instead, BOA charged me $ 35 X 8 = $280 of NSF and they do not want to give it back to us. This month, I am removing my checking and savings, personal and commercial from this very lousy bank. Please do yourself a favor and don't bank with them.
Reviewed Aug. 29, 2009
I went into Bank of America to make a deposit for a friend and explained that I have never done this type of transaction before. She appeared to be more engaged in the conversation with the teller beside her than focusing on what she was doing for me. Anyway, she deposited the check, which was for $500, but gave me a receipt back that said $21.59 and I didn't realize it until I got all the way home. So now you can just guess I'm furious! I went back to the teller and asked her, "How do you get $21.59 out of $500?" Her reply was, "Oh, here is the check for $500 right here" and made the correction. Meanwhile, the teller of whom she was chatting with in the first place had the nerve to ask me if I was okay. I looked at her and if looks could kill, and said no! Anyway, the teller gave me my corrected deposit receipt and didn't even apologize! So, I called corporate and filed a complaint!
Reviewed Aug. 29, 2009
I wish to report that after I filed the complaint with Consumeraffairs.com and then communicated with the bank through my personal account login site, the bank has reversed the charges today. The lady over the phone flatly refused.
Reviewed Aug. 28, 2009
We have a bunch of accounts with Bank of America and I have been a customer there for 14 years. I went to this bank because my parents deal with them both personally and in their business. I have never asked them to take off any overdraft charges before. I transferred money from one of my checking accounts to my savings account and was told by an obnoxious and rude "bank expert" that I could use my existing ATM card to withdraw and make purchases from my new savings account. Subsequently, it took out all the funds I left in my checking account instead of accessing my new savings account. I have been charged $140 overdraft. This is totally the fault of the "bank expert" since I tried to carefully go through all the steps with her. Now, they tell me as they are little computers, "I wish I could help you but all I can do is refund 1/2 of the charges." They don't seem to care who or what anyone told me and whose fault this really is! If they don't make me happy, I will walk with all my accounts and I will find a place who act as humans and not little chips from a computer!
Reviewed Aug. 28, 2009
My daughter is in college and she went online to order her books from Amazon Used Books. The way that this site works is that the books are billed when they are shipped. The books were ordered on 8/21/2009 online and my debit card was entered. A few books were shipped on 8/24; however, there were still approximately 5 books that had not shipped, so the charges for these books did not come through until 8/25 and 8/26. If the books had not been shipped by the individual owners, then the billing would not have ever come through my account. However, on 8/21/2009, BOA started charging NSF charges at $35 each as though all of the books had been shipped. I contacted BOA and they reversed one $35 charge on the customer service line. I went into the bank the next day and they expressed that they have no authority to reverse charges and that the bank manager has been out on a medical leave "for a long time" and has not been replaced.
Reviewed Aug. 28, 2009
I sent a wire from my bank to someone, but I made a mistake on the account number in the wire form. I found out that the wire went to Wachovia Bank to someone else's account. The wire form shows the name of the intended recipient, but the wrong account number, so the bank should reject it. Wachovia said they will not reject it because the account number exists in their database. They only look at the account number. They do not care if the wire name matches the account number. They refused to return the money. This is hard earned money. I don't have this money to throw away. Someone has been enriched by this mistake. I can't believe the money wont be returned. This wire should have been rejected and returned.
Reviewed Aug. 27, 2009
I received $175 in insufficient fund fees and have $70 more on the way. Bank of America cashes the largest amount being deducted first so that they can charge fees for the smaller deductions. I would understand if Bank of America charged me $105 in fees; I feel I am responsible for that. However, it is their policy to take the largest amount first which they did to me then take the smaller amounts. I feel they do this so they can collect the fees. My family and I are living off one paycheck and it is difficult to make ends meet. When I asked Bank of America who regulates them, 2 different people told me that they didn't know the name nor could they give me an address or phone number. I found it hard to believe that the organization did not know who regulates them.
Reviewed Aug. 27, 2009
I am incurring charges because they do not clearly post what they are doing to your account until days later, or in a totally different screen (which I have never seen before today). They also have a bad habit of rearranging charges conveniently to collect multiple funds. These last charges I encountered via B of A have left me in the overdraft $77+. They gave me a $10 fee for electronically going over but the available amount is $70+. Then, they put a bill through for $69 and I am overdraft by $10.
The day before, I had put in $3 to take my children to ice cream and that came in on top of the bill payment causing another $35 fee, all while my main account page reflects the charges and no overdraft fees of $10 or $35. Knowing everything went through fine, I haven't looked at my account since last week, only to see today 3 charges. The final $35 was added for extended overdraft fee over 5 days. In total, all the fees are $80, yet my account is overdraft $77.12. If I was overdraft, then wouldn't I have charges above $80? I have done nothing since this until today when B of A kindly reversed the $10 in which I asked, "since this was the charge that started everything, is it going to clear the rest of the charges?" Nope! I am sick of their fee charging. I have been with B of A for quite some time as well as my mom. I just loaned my mom a few hundred dollars because of their charge rearranging scheme. And now, they do this to me. I want my money back. I am looking for another bank to do business with locally. There is no wonder B of A hasn't tanked. They are tapping into their own personal piggy banks, us, the consumers to keep them afloat!
Reviewed Aug. 27, 2009
I am a new customer at Bank of America. I started to notice that there were some irregularities in my bank account. Then on Aug. 10, I saw negative $19 in the account. I called in the morning to ask what I can do to bring it positive. The rep told me to deposit money in the account so I went, like a good customer, to deposit my money. Then, I woke to see that I was again negative $11? So I called again to ask what I needed to do (I never received a correct response why it was negative again). I deposited $15 to the account and when I checked that same day, it was positive in change but positive.
Then the next morning, I checked my account and it was negative $70, in the negative because of overdraft fees! I called them that day and they would not budge on that and so I asked to speak to a supervisor and she (don't recall name) was so rude that she told me to learn how to not spend money that "you don't have!" I felt so humiliated! She was rude and cold and just so rude. So then I said, "okay, well, I will make sure they don't steal from me again." And I have been watching the account very carefully.
On Aug. 25th, when I got paid after my money was deposited, there were ten $35 insufficient funds fees even though I had money that went in that day! I called to speak to a supervisor (Armando) and he was very professional but he contradicted himself. I told him, "So on Monday, Aug. 24th, if I would have put the $198 that was negative in the account, I would not have been charged 10 insufficient fund fees?" and he said, "no." I then told him, "Then, why, when I was negative $19 and $11 in the account, they still charged me those insufficient funds fees!" He had an excuse that was legal in bank terms but ** in human terms!
I told him that I know our conversation was being recorded and good because I want to sue this bank. Like all hardworking Americans, I work hard for all my money. Every single penny I earn, I sweat for it! I hope we did not bail them out! If the government did, then they need to give us our money that this bank is stealing from us! By the way, the way I was explained because for some reason those -$19 and -$11 were only there for a few hours and so, when I spoke to Mathew about it, he had no idea what I was talking about!
So, how are we supposed to argue about something that they cannot see but was there at the moment when I saw it? That made me feel crazy because they see it at the moment you call but if you have to resolve it another day, it is not there anymore! Can someone tell me how this is right? I will be taking my money from them after I gave them about $500 in just a couple of months! Please, let's help each other out and see how we can stop this bank from doing this!
Reviewed Aug. 26, 2009
I was double-charged overdraft fees by Wachovia. There were two transactions in hold status and had not been placed in my account as of yet. I was charged $70.00 for these two overdraft items in hold. This was about 4:30 am. When I got home from work, I checked my account again. Now, the two hold items had been put into my account plus a third transaction. And I was charged another fee of $105.00. So, they charged me twice for the two items that had been in hold. This is a criminal bank. They will find any way possible to attach any type of fee they can to your account. They are in the business of stealing money from people like some robber baron. Stay far away from Wachovia.
Reviewed Aug. 25, 2009
Since July 28th, 2009, I've been trying to close my Bank of America account that was opened in the State of Texas, and I'm getting the runaround. I've contacted them five times via chatting with an online banking associate and via the telephone. Each time, I've been told a cashier's check will be mailed within five days. I'm now living overseas and needed that money to pay bills. Here it is almost September, and the account has not been closed, no check has been sent.
Reviewed Aug. 25, 2009
Many times, with how money is going, people overdraft their bank accounts with one or two transactions, but Wachovia will always find a way to stick it to you by moving transactions around to work to their advantage. Like this month on the 22nd, I had in my account $145.99 and I paid $74.65 to Sprint. Then, I paid $10.00 to Sprint. There was a hold already for Burger King from the 20th. On the 21st, I took my kids to Cici's pizza for $36.00. On the 22nd, I got Burger King for $22.54 and then I got gas for $58.00 that same day. Now the total of the things I used my debit card was $201.19. What I had in my account, which was $145.99, if you subtract that, I would be -$55.20 plus the overdraft fee of $35.00. It should be -$90.20. But not to Wachovia. They flopped everything around. They paid for the gas first and moved all these transactions and some more to charge me $140.00 in overdraft fees and I was -$214.23 under. They do this all the time. What can I do about it?
Reviewed Aug. 25, 2009
Wachovia is a shady bank that needs to answer to their customers! Here's how they decided to process transactions:
Deposits - They add all your transactions together then subtract that from your opening day amount. Then, they process them from largest to smallest. Simple, right? Well, this is where they get you. Let's say you have $100 at the start of processing. You have made these purchases: $50, $25, $20, $10, $2.50, $2.50, for a total $110. So you are $10 short, so you should be charged a $35 overdraft for that $10, right? That's how it should be.
Here's how they see it: You go negative after the $20 transaction. So you are charged the overdraft starting at the $10 then the $2.50, and $2.50, totaling $105 in overdraft charges. Even though they could have sent the $2.50 and $2.50 through and just charged you for the $10 item. The next time this similar thing happened, they decided to process things differently.
A week and a half ago, I took a trip using six ATM's (non-Wachovia). I had to pay an ATM fee at the time of use. So about three days ago, I decided to transfer $25 from my other account to Wachovia to make sure there is enough money in there to cover anything that might go through. So, I check my account today and see that first they push through two purchases leaving my account fine. Then, they charge a $12 service charge ($2 for each ATM use) for us not using their ATM. Because I already paid a fee at the ATM, I did not know that they too would charge a fee of their own. So, that takes my account to a negative $1.27. Then, they post my $25 deposit.
Every time I call Wachovia, I am given various explanations as to why their website is not reliable or why I got charged for multiple items and after spending close to an hour on the phone, the only thing they ever do is offer a very small portion back.
Reviewed Aug. 25, 2009
In Nov 2007, I, in person, submitted a change of address with my local BOA bank branch. This was during a time where I had been assisting for several months a business associate with the start-up of her new business and now her busy season. I always had an idea of what my balance in my checking account was and really didn't pay attention to my bank statements as long as my purchases were being approved. On a few occasions, my account went into small overdraft amounts, but I put it to my not writing down ATM purchases (my bad). As always, I would make sure I brought my account to the positive. Around February 2009, a debit card purchase was declined and a check of mine had been returned NSF. I became concerned that something drastically was wrong.
I started looking for my statements to review activity and realized that I had not received them for sometime. I contacted Michelle at my local branch and asked her to check my address on file. Unfortunately BOA had not updated my address as I requested in writing from Nov 2007. She provided me with what statements she could and I went online and printed off the others. After reviewing my statements, I discovered that someone had obtained my debit card number and had used it to join several (8 total) memberships via the internet that billed my card on a monthly basis for 14 months that totaled over $1500. As if this wasn't enough, BOA had also charged me NSF fees and overdraft fees in excess of $3,000 to date.
In early March 2008, I cancelled my debit card so any other memberships would be rejected and contacted BOA debit card fraud department to file a claim as instructed by my local BOA branch. To make a long story shorter, BOA was unable to give any credits for the unauthorized charges. They did however give me partial credits for their bank fees. They suggested that I contact the merchants in question directly and request the credits personally. After numerous phone calls, letters and emails, I have been able to retrieve approximately half of the money from the various merchants over the past several months. But roughly $900 remains unpaid. It's unclear if I will ever be refunded all the money, but I will continue to try.
It is my understanding, according to several of the merchants, that had BOA processed my change of address in Nov 2007, then any memberships presented for payment would have been declined! That would have been the end of it! No bank fees would have been incurred. But due to BOA's negligence, this did not happen. I realize that I should have watched my account more closely or when I didn't receive my statements, I could have brought it to their attention a second time. But as I said, with what I had going on in my personal life, what was out of sight was out of mind. I have paid a very expensive, financially stressful price for my mistake. I feel it would be fair if BOA did the same and refund all bank fees taken from my account to date. I have contacted them many, many times that has been documented with BOA over the past 5 months. But as of today, they have refused my many requests to refund any additional fees. I'm only asking them to refund their own fees, nothing more. Thank for any assistance you may provide with my situation.
Reviewed Aug. 25, 2009
I made a deposit on Friday, August 21 at 6:30 pm at the ATM. The receipt stated that my funds would be available that day. All deposits before 8 pm are stated by the bank to report that day. On Monday, August 24, my deposit had not posted. I called customer service, and they stated that it was being held because I was a new customer though my account at the time was 45 days old and I had made 5 previous deposits. I was then told that it can take up to 11 days to post a deposit. On Tuesday, August 25, the deposit still had not posted. I went to the bank and was told that it would not post until August 27. I told the banker that my account was being overdrawn because of this and that I now had no money to pay bills, etc. She stated that she could not help me and could not give me my check back when I told her that I wanted to switch to another bank.
Reviewed Aug. 25, 2009
When I opened my account with Wachovia, I selected a free checking account. The bank pledged no charges or hidden fees. But I honestly opened this account as a secondary/emergency account and with time I did not use it. When I called towards the end of last year for an update, nothing had changed. The account was fine. It only had $5 in it and I was going to close it. But the representative at the branch said that even though the account was dormant, which means it has not been used for some time, as long as it had a positive account, I was fine. And she said that it was better to keep it open in case that I decided to use it in the future.
I had not heard anything from Wachovia Bank until yesterday, August 24, 2009. But yesterday, I got a letter that stated they have sent me to collections! I was in total shock! I thought that since I have not used my account, someone had stolen my identity. The charges were for $54.58. I called the collection agency and the lady was rude and treated me like an animal! I called Wachovia through their customer service, and even though the young lady was nice and agreed this was wrong and unfair, due to the hour, she could not transfer me to anyone who could help me.
This morning, I got up and went to the branch. The representative, I believe his name was Marcel, told me that there is nothing they can do, because they sold the account to the collection agency, and to call them back and deal with them! What was happening behind my back? Like I stated, I only had $5 in this free checking account. But then Wachovia, despite their reassurances, charged me a $5 service fee because I had not put any funds into this account; that sent me into overdraft. Then, they charged me $5 every month that I did not deposit money and remained in overdraft. Finally, they closed out my account and charged me another $40! This is ridiculous.
Well, my question to the customer service representative at the Miami branch was simple, "Where are the overdraft notices, and letters I was supposed to receive?" Throughout this whole process, I swear I was never notified once! Of course, he said they sent them out, but I can assure you, I never saw a single notice. Otherwise, I would have resolved this issue earlier. Now they want no responsibility with me and expect me to fight with a collection agency? This is unfair. I have done nothing wrong. I was promised something and then put into this situation. I don't make a lot of money. I have had to switch to part-time because I am diabetic, and I have problems in my legs, and issues with thyroids, just to name a few issues. I need someone to help me. They cannot get away with this. Please assist me. Thank you.
Reviewed Aug. 25, 2009
Talk about fees! Now, if you have an overdrawn checking account for more than 5 days, they'll tack on another $35. It's their fees that made me overdrawn in the first place. Such greed!
Reviewed Aug. 24, 2009
I opened an account beginning of March 2009. Everything was fine until the banker I worked with left. For well over a month, I have been locked out of my account online. They changed my ID (it belongs to someone else now) and my password (3 changes). I requested via email the name of a district or regional manager to go through my account. When I was at another bank branch, they let me see a small amount online. I saw some charges that made no sense at all. I sent eight emails and was given a case #**. It could be anything. No contact name was given with the case number. They refuse to help you find a regional/district manager or phone number to corporate office (Charlotte, NC).
Reviewed Aug. 24, 2009
I have been assessed 2 $35 fees for "possible overdraft fees that may occur due to automatic debit payments" which had been deducted from my available balance. They assessed the fees that then caused an overdraft. How can I be charged possible fees? I'm not even sure I know what that means! I have been a faithful customer of this financial institution for over 12 years, receiving nothing in return for my patronage. I was not one who took out a bad mortgage and have strived to build my credit from earlier mistakes in my early twenties. Yet, no one seems to be able to help me. I am hoping that you can.
I've tried (unsuccessfuly) to resolve this matter through their channels to no avail. At one point, a customer service representative stated, "The fee has been charged as because the funds were low at the time when the merchant presented the transaction." Low, but not available. I immediately made deposits to cover the balance before any possible overdraft might have occurred, after which the two fees were assessed. I have transcripts of all emails and chats as well as copies of my statement on the date in question showing a positive balance and that the items presented for payment were paid without resulting in insufficient funds.
Reviewed Aug. 23, 2009
On 7/29/09, I made an another online purchase from my home using my Bank of America check card. I am an avid online shopper and an avid BOA check card user (After all, BOA encourages this.). Although I had never made a purchase from this company before, I have used their email client server for years. They partner with Microsoft, and they are on the NYSE. So, I was comfortable making an online purchase from them using my BOA check card, and the amount was minimal.
The day that the purchase posted to my checking account, I noticed an additional fee from BOA for "international transactions." Wait a minute, I thought I never left my living room here in Florida. How international was that? I emailed BOA customer service(?), and I was told "this company/vendor apparently has their billing processed outside of the USA; therefore, I was subject to an additional 3% (now 4%) international fee for my purchase." I emailed them back and asked "How would I know that this company had their billing done outside of the USA?" There was nothing that gave me that info, and why would I even ask them that. And would their hourly paid customer service people even know the answer to that.
I went to the local branch and spoke with the branch manager, and she gave me the same singsong. Again, I asked her "How was I the consumer supposed to know that this company that is on the NYSE had their billing done outside the USA in advance of my purchase?" She tried to explain to me that these accounts are coded, so that when someone does a purchase from them, the additional fee was charged. I asked the branch manager for a list of these coded merchants so that I would not shop them again either online or face to face. She said she didn't think she could supply that type of a list.
So then, I informed this branch manager that I had 33 years of banking experience; the last 5 years was spent in the systems, operations, and fraud areas. And I know that if an account is coded for anything, you can generate a list for that code, which is how the bank identifies the profitability for those accounts and how many they have, etc. If I as a consumer goes to an ATM that is not owned by BOA before I process my transaction, I get a screen informing me of additional fees that I may be charged for using an ATM not owned by the card issuer. And then, I am asked "Do you want to proceed, press yes or no." The minute I press yes, I am responsible for any additional applicable fee for my transaction. Well, as a consumer, I want the same choice when making purchases with my BOA check card.
I told the branch manager that I was going on vacation and planned to use my BOA check card, and I asked how I would know which merchant or vendor that I gave my check card to would incur me an additional fee. I'm certainly not going to ask each and every merchant I shop at "Do you process your billing inside the USA or outside the USA?" The branch manager told me that these fees were new and I was the first person to have a problem with them (lucky me). Also, she didn't know where she would get an answer for me. My suggestion to her was to start with the legal department. As a former procedure analyst for a major bank in NY, before we implemented a new procedure, the legal department had to sign off on it.
I applaud BOA for trying to raise their fee income, but the consumer cannot shop on a blind and they have a right to know prior to the transaction what the final cost will be and if any additional fee will be charged so that they can make a prudent decision based upon that information as to whether or not they want to proceed with the transaction.
I personally will not "shop on a blind," which is what BOA is expecting me to do by withholding the list of vendors who will generate additional fees if I shop with them and use my BOA check card. BOA has the list of these vendors, and I feel that the list should be made available to me and all consumers. I also told the branch manager that perhaps these additional "international fees" should be paid by the vendor with their Visa merchant processing fees. After all the vendor can write these fees off to "the cost of doing business."
The only reason I still maintain my accounts at BOA is that they bought the bank in NY that I worked for (and my pension stipend comes through BOA via the ACH system) and using BOA allows me to have access to it in a more timely manner. If it wasn't for that, I would bid them fast adieu since their branch staff has absolutely no knowledge of products or federal bank laws. If you ask a BOA staff about a product and they don't know the answer, they quickly tell you BOA doesn't have it. How sad I spent many years in the branch banking system and would never have pulled that sham on customers. And they should all know federal banking laws.
Reviewed Aug. 23, 2009
It a scam. How can it be legal? They charged me 8 x $35.00 using the card from 4 days ago for $4-$6 charges instead of NSF on check for $26.00, which went through at 9:01AM. At 9:03AM, I deposited $170.00. After I went home to check on the balance (hoping for $26-$170 and maybe one charge of $35.00), whoa. Imagine my surprise! They got to charge you another $35.00 because you did not pay their ransom on time? They must be in cahoots with the government because this is absolutely... Somebody needs to do something!
Reviewed Aug. 22, 2009
I deposited $1,800 cash and a $300 check after 2PM. I knew they hold checks, but not cash. I went home and it showed the $1,800 cash was available. I transferred $415 onto my Wachovia mortgage. The next morning, I noticed it took that first and bounced that and three check cards, charging me $70 in fees (which I had enough money in my account for the smaller transactions). I called and they said even if it's cash, it is held. The supervisor said very rudely that it was my error, not a bank error, that I did not read my terms and agreements, and the receipt told me it was not available till the next day. I asked how it could be my error when it said online that I had the cash funds available. They gave me $18 as a courtesy.
A courtesy would have been to give me the entire fee back and fix the online banking to reflect what is actually available. I have never heard of cash not being available immediately. If this is the case, like they say, fine, then charge me one fee for the mortgage. But the way they do it, they bounce all the other ones too and slap on a huge fee. I think it's sad that a bank does this, especially in this economy. Isn't Wachovia supposed to be number one in customer service? That's a joke.
Reviewed Aug. 22, 2009
I've been banking with BOA for years, and years. While employed, the recession hit my secondary small business hard. First, a large transfer was erroneously removed from my personal BOA account and BOA flatly refused to return the OD fees. Secondly, BOA Customer Service assured me that with a letter from the other financial institution requesting return of the OD fees, my local banker would be happy to instantly restore the OD fees for the error. Wrong, he flatly refused. Finally, an unused business account overdrafted and BOA raided my personal salary to cover the overdraft, leaving my family with $21 to live on until the next paycheck. BOA refused to restore the funds to our checking account.
As the recession bottoms out, my business is starting to pick up again and we are working hard to position ourselves for growth. Bank of America will never see one dime of it, ever.
Reviewed Aug. 21, 2009
I set up my online BillPay for a payment of $1,000.00 to be pulled from my account on 8/20/09 (my payday). My payroll deposit is credited to my account on midnight. I was hit for a $35.00 non-sufficient funds fee of $35.00 because Wachovia sent the bill out by paper check on 8/17/09, which reached the debtor earlier than 8/21. Wachovia has pulled this one on me in the past. We would not credit me the $35.00 because they said in the customer agreement the funds should be in the account when a payment is set up. All of my other payments are paid electronically, but it's funny a payment to Wells Fargo would be sent by Wachovia early.
Wachovia has held back on my debits and pulls them from my account, knowing that the account would go into the negatives. When I asked a customer service rep why the debits aren't pulled from my account immediately, he blamed the store from where I did the purchase then changed his story and said Wachovia was pulling the highest debit first. I have been with Wachovia for probably ten years and they really have been changing in the way they treat their customers. Shady business practices. Listen, I’m recently divorced, taking on the home mortgage on my own. I need a bank I really can trust.
Reviewed Aug. 21, 2009
This is to report unethical and illegal action / behavior from Mr. **, AVP at Bank of America
Indeed, on Thursday August 7, 2009, I was referred to Mr. ** by Mr. Mansour **, a Realtor with Hounshell Real Estate, regarding a residential property on ** Washington DC sold / foreclosed by Bank of America. The listing stipulated that Mr. ** was to be contacted for loan qualification / approval. The exact same day, I called him in accordance with the listing requirements & real estate agent's advice and left a message to call me back. Eager to find out if I qualified for the purchase of this property, I called the next morning of Friday, August 8, as I had not heard back from him.
That same morning, I finally got hold of him and explained the reasons of my calls. He requested a list of documents and stated that he would be able to get back to me with a prequalification the next day, Saturday August 8. I emailed him all the requested documents with the exception of my 2007 W2 form (which I could not access electronically at this point) and my saving plan official print-out (which I could not access electronically as well, but I was at least able to send out a draft of it), on Friday August 7. On Saturday August 8, he called me to inform me that he had pulled out my credit report and that I would qualify for a certain amount (around $375k) but that the property on P Street was a 2-unit house and required a 20% down payment (which was not indicated on the listing at all). Mr. ** had even mentioned to me on Thursday, August 7, that the only possible issue with the property for not qualifying for FHA financing would be the fact that it lacked appliances, which could be simply added to facilitate the process.
Anyhow, Mr. ** advised me that I look into other properties and should I find something else, he added that he would work with me and he would issue me a formal approval/qualification letter by Monday or at the latest Tuesday, August 11. I followed his advice and previewed several properties over the weekend. I also called him on Sunday, August 9, simply to leave him a message informing him that I had found a house and was ready to submit an offer, and would much appreciate it if he could call me back on Monday to discuss the details. In today's real estate market, hot properties do not stay available very long and, sure enough, this house is now under contract without contingencies.
On Monday, August 10, I called Mr. ** to follow-up on my application. He indicated that he was working on it and that I needed to send him my 2007 W2 form and original saving statement (i.e., Thrift). As soon as I was able to access these documents electronically, on Tuesday August 11, I immediately sent them out to him, via email. On Wednesday, August 12, I called to follow-up on my application. Mr. ** displayed a complete disregard and questioned the reason of my call. He immediately demonstrated resentment and unwillingness to follow-through the process. He simply and abruptly stated that he did not have time to go over my application and was upset that I called him on a Sunday. I genuinely asked him the reason why he had been so reluctant to process my file and follow-up, as I was always the one reaching out to him. I asked if the fact that I was not working with a realtor associated with the listing and therefore the seller, Bank of America, was affecting my application process.
Mr. ** replied in a very rude and unprofessional manner, clearly demonstrating his resentment on my behalf and discriminatory approach/attitude, adding that he was simply closing my file.
I must point out that: 1) Mr. ** has ran a credit report on my behalf and requested a large amount of personal information with the intention and claim to present me with a loan approval letter/qualification, and in a timely fashion; 2) I realized that he ran my credit report without receiving a signed copy of my application form and never mentioned anything about it; 3) Although running a credit report without a signed application was not an issue for him, but getting back to me via phone or email has been a serious issue for him 3) He has treated me in a discriminatory manner based on several possible criteria (to include: no agent representation, my gender and ethnicity).
I am astonished and disappointed by his lack of professionalism, thoughtfulness, and appreciation - all reflecting poorly on your branch of Bank of America. As a prospective home buyer, with excellent references and credit history, terrific intrapersonal skills, and a genuine desire and readiness to purchase a home in the District of Columbia. I would have never imagined that such a simple process would become a nightmare due to the extremely poor service and horrible approach I received from Loan Officer, Mr. **. Mr. ** has collected my personal information and breached his engagement, in a very unethical, discriminatory, and illegal manner.
Furthermore, on August 14th and 17th, I have called Mr. **, Bank of America Home Loans Senior Vice President. Mr. ** clearly stated that:
1) Reviewing my application will be another very lengthy process and might not even occur / be processed - for such to occur, I would need to re-submit a new application with attachments (which the loan officer already has in his possession); 2) I should re-send all my application related documents to another BOA office in California and work with them; he refused to request his employee, Mr. **, to process my application and follow-through with it.
To this day, I have not received any response (or follow-through, pre-qualification/approval letter) from BOA although personal information was collected and processed unfairly.
Reviewed Aug. 21, 2009
I am a new BOA customer for 3 months. I recently read from Yahoo that around 95% of BOA profits came from ordinary depositors' overdraft, penalty and service fees, while the other banks' profits from these sources were much lower. Then, another Yahoo news that BOA paid millions in designing their computer programs to maximize charges from ordinary customers. My 3 months experiences with BOA tend to support these news.
I went to BOA to open a checking account. The rep told me that I will be issued not one, but two ATM debit cards - one I should use as my main debit card and the other I should use for my online purchases. The rep then asked for an initial account deposit of $100, but I provided $1,000. The rep then asked me to select two separate art designs to be used on my two debit cards. After a few days, BOA sent me the two debit cards bearing the designs I selected. I used the two debit cards alternately. When I reviewed my account statement online, there were 3 overdrafts of $35 each. I personally complained to the branch manager who explained to me that I have received one debit card and a linked savings ATM card to that debit card. What a surprise to me! Accordingly, my overdraft was when I used the savings ATM card and the manager was nice to reverse it.
After about one week, I received another debit card. My experience might have happen to many other BOA new customers and me being a design engineer, I can easily deduce that this type BOA system can accumulate much profits for the bank. Also, when I opened my account, I was given a small pamphlet, which I ignored. It was only when I was charged $10 per month did I read and noted that the pamphlet has a fine print that stated that after a certain date (about 2 months after I opened my account), there will be a $10 penalty charge if my account falls below $750. Also, BOA made my checking account have two separate debit cards, without telling me that each debit card will have a separate account number. Now that I know, I have to be careful that each of my debit card will have to maintain at least $750 deposit. If others want to be as confused as I am, go to BOA.
Reviewed Aug. 21, 2009
BOA charged several/6 overdraft charges against my account for transactions that didn't total $100, during the time that I clearly had over $2000 in deposits that were showing in the account. Clearly, the funds were there & when I contacted them, they stated that they cleared a larger charge, which caused the other & allowed the other 6 to be overdrafts. However, I saved a copy of the charges that were showing/pending which is proof that the charges weren't pending & didn't post on the account until the date after the overdraft charges were incurred & also did not post till two days later.
I spoke with several customer service reps and even a manager to clarify these charges. Still, they were not compassionate about the situation and refused to credit just some of the charges. What made me even more suspicious that this was possibly a scam that BOA practices often is the fact that I viewed my account online several times that day and evening and there weren't any pending / possible charges. There was available cash in my account. I even transferred over $400 in funds from my savings to cover any pending /possible charges due.
However, BOA deceitfully applied or posted these charges (pending) late evening, after banking hours to intentionally impose the avoidable & unnecessary overdrafts. But even so, the deposits were posted & pending the same time my deposits were pending. I believe they practice sabotaging customers' hard earned money, whether loyal or not. My experience with BOA customer service has been the worst and most regretful ever.
Reviewed Aug. 20, 2009
The bank charges $10.00 overdraft fee if the amount is under $5.00. On one day, I had 6 ATM fees, the first 2 put me in overdraft by $4.98. That same night, they entered 4 more, which put me over the minimum and charged me $35.00 x 6 instead of the $10.00 on the first 2. The rep said she could not help me because they are all added up at the end of the day. This seems contradictory to me and fraudulent. Am I wrong on this? My negative balance was $14.98 and cost me $210.00. I could not get credit for a $15.00 deposit to offset this because it came in too late. I am on PST, 3 hours behind their cutoff of 10:45 EST. Should I direct my complaint to a different agency?
Reviewed Aug. 20, 2009
On August 7th, 2009, I deposited two checks into my Bank of America account. The total amount of the deposit was close to $3,000 in student loan checks. The teller took the checks without having had me sign the backs of them. After I initially stepped away, I asked again if I needed to sign the checks and she still told me not to worry about it. The next few days, I spent money in the amount of roughly $775. I attempted to use my check card at a local Walmart and was unable to. I checked my account and the checks had been withdrawn from my account. I also had a $35 overdraft charge making the total amount $810.
I called the number that is on the back of my check card, and was told that the checks were withdrawn because the backs were not signed. Again, I was told by the teller I didn't need to sign the checks. I was then told that the checks had been sent back to me on 8-11-2009, and that I should receive them back on the 14th. They did not come on the 14th so I called them back and was told that it would be 3-5 business days from the 11th, so to expect them on either the 15th, or the 17th. I checked the mail again on the 17th and then again on the 18th. I did not receive the checks. Instead, I received a letter saying that if the account was not fixed, then I would be reported to ChexSystems Inc., my account would be closed, and I would no be able to open another account at a financial institution for another 5 years.
I called when I got that letter and was told to disregard it. However, the next day, I called again to verify that I should disregard the letter, and I was told again that they were going to close my account and do the ChexSystems Inc. penalty which will affect my future career as a police officer. It is now the 20th and the checks have not arrived at my home. I am currently attending college and have no other way of making this payment or paying my bills besides the student loan that had been accepted and has now been rejected, and not returned to me by the bank. I have been told everything - from not to worry, and just to wait for the checks from the bank and to redeposit them, but also that I need to do it by a certain date or there will be repercussions.
Again, I was negligently told by the teller whose job it is to insure that all checks are acceptable for deposit, that I did not need to sign the checks, and since then, I have been financially penalized, threatened by the bank, not helped in getting this resolved. I have been penniless and have the possibility of it affecting my career.
Reviewed Aug. 20, 2009
We transferred a sum of money from our CD account to our checking account. The next day, our account was overdrawn with the deposit not being seen. They credited our account. Then the next day, the same thing happened which they fixed once again but with no answers for why this happened in the first place. We still have not gotten any answers and no compensation for embarrassment or our troubles. We are going to be taking our money out of Bank of America and go to another bank.
Reviewed Aug. 19, 2009
I have an ongoing issue with BofA. I am routinely charged a $12 "account maintenance fee" each month in error. According to their own rules, if you maintain a $750 minimum daily balance in your checking account or a $2000 minimum daily balance in a linked savings, you don't get charged. I do maintain the savings balance, but my checking balance can sometimes be quite low. Every month, I have to call, and some call center robot tells me that I don't maintain the minimum balance in my checking to qualify - and I have to tell them that the savings account balance qualifies. Then, they tell me that the accounts aren't linked properly and that they'll "fix it", then they eventually reverse the $12 charge. Then the following month, I get to do it all over again, because their "fix" never fixes anything. $12 isn't a big deal, but if they are doing this to me, I'd bet my next paycheck they are doing this to thousands of unsuspecting account holders.
That's issue number 1. Issue #2 is that in order to speak with an actual BofA employee who works in an actual brick-and-mortar BofA branch, you physically have to go there. Every telephone number published or provided by the call center robots gets you back to the automated system. I have banking matters with other local banks and always get a real person when I call the local number, so I plan to go to my local BofA branch on Friday (open until 6 pm) to close all of my accounts. The only thing BofA is doing for me right now is raising my blood pressure.
Reviewed Aug. 19, 2009
I have a checking account with Bank of America. I have alerts setup because I share the account with my son and he takes money out without telling me. I check my account every day and try to make sure I don't go in the negative. I was assessed fees based on available balance, which is the balance that includes pending charges. My account showed that there was money in it, but the balance with pending charges and pending ACH showed negative. Some of the pending charges still have not posted and have been pending for more than 3 days. I have asked if they can block charges that may take my account negative. They say no, it is my responsibility to keep track. My son in college does not always tell me when he spends money, and if the balance says pending with a negative, I would put money in, but if I get the alert a day late, I cannot do anything. This has cost me approximately $170 and all I want is for them to stop charges from coming in on the ATM card if it will take the account negative. We have too many electronic tools for this not to be possible. Thank you.
Reviewed Aug. 19, 2009
I've had a various personal checking and savings accounts with Bank of America (formerly Seafirst) for about 25 years and had been a satisfied customer. About six months ago, I opened a business checking account and savings account at the Stone Way branch in Seattle. They encouraged me to open a business IMAX account, since I would get a "much, much better interest rate" than with the standard business savings. They assured me that although there was a minimum balance, they would waive this requirement for my account.
For the first three months, I was penalized for a minimum balance violation each month. Each month, I complained about this, and was refunded the penalty promptly. It was a hassle, but the customer service was okay. After that point, I maintained a balance over the minimum, and this no longer became an issue. However, I noticed the interest I was receiving was 0.1%, far lower than the rate I was initially quoted. I called the branch and asked what kind of interest rate I could receive if I opened a business IMAX account and maintained at least the minimum balance. They said 1.0%. When I said I recently opened just such an account and am receiving 1/10th that rate on more than the minimum balance, they said: "Your account is in a different pool and the rates have been lowered for that pool. However, we can transfer you today to a pool with a 1.0% interest rate."
Keeping on top of what should be a very simple banking arrangement was becoming a part time job. I will be moving my business to another bank as of today, due to what I perceive to be a combination of dishonesty and incompetence. They obviously have much more short-term concern for shareholders than customers if they have to resort to bait-and-switch business practices. They've lost my trust.
Reviewed Aug. 19, 2009
The teller at the bank attained authorization to remove money from my Citibank account. She voided the transaction. Upon going to an ATM, I found out I had no money in my account. Bank of America never issues me any money for transaction. My money was falsely removed from my account. I received late fees from many of my account holders; home, car, insurance, electric company, phone and cable. The stress surrounds this even caused me to suffer great hypertension.
Reviewed Aug. 19, 2009
In May of 2007, my aunt, who at that time was residing in an assisted living facility in Collegeville, PA, became the victim of identity theft. One of the employees at the facility took three blank checks from her Bank of America checkbook. Ultimately, two of the checks were passed but denied, but the third was cashed by one of the thieves, who took the check to Manhattan. The amount of the check cashed by the thief is $35,000. Now you ask yourself, how could someone possibly cash a fraudulent check for that amount? Well, to this day, I've never gotten an answer. Currently, there is a lawsuit active against Bank of America and the assisted living facility where my aunt was residing. For two years, we've been trying to get the two parties to settle out of court, but they've been dragging things out, the way of the world when dealing with most lawsuits anymore.
In September 2007, only a few months after the theft, my aunt had both her legs removed due to diabetes. She also showed obvious signs of dementia the summer of that year. Her checks were bouncing, but she had no idea why. It wasn't until a week after her amputation surgery and I flew to Pennsylvania, and sat down with a Bank of America representative that I discovered what had taken place. They didn't know and she didn't know. I spoke to the lawyer who is handling this case recently and was told that it may take another year before this whole thing is resolved. My aunt has since died. She passed away the end of October 2008. She died a widow with no children, which is why I was designated power of attorney toward the end of her life.
We all know that Bank of America is one of the largest financial institutions in this country. All the more reason why they should be arrogant and dismissive toward my aunt's victimization. To them, she and I are insignificant. I will not rest until how the $35,000 Bank of America check that was unlawfully cashed has been explained to me and the money retrieved.
Reviewed Aug. 19, 2009
I have been a Bank of America customer for 3 years now and I am very upset with this corporation. I want this bank to fold! I have a paperless loan with them for 20 thousand dollars and they keep raising my payments every single month. No one at this bank will work with you, they aren't even willing to help you. The last time I checked, this bank is all over the news. I mean every single day. I want a lower minimum payment, a lower interest rate that you keep changing as you feel like it and I want a person who is authorized to help me when I call for God's sake. With the economy the way it is, I need a job. Hire me at your ripoff institution so I can help the people who are calling in to get some answers and some help. Get rid of the thousands that were hired there now that don't know a single thing. I get a different moron on the phone daily.
I guess I wanted to say that as sad as this situation is, my attorney has advised me that I will be paying double in interest to this corporation. By that time, I'm 90 years old and it might get paid off. So bankruptcy is my only option here. Thank you so much Bank of America for giving me a paperless loan with no current job that I have and for messing with my credit, and for working so wonderfully with your customers! You really shouldn't give loans to people that don't have a job. How do you expect this to get paid? I am willing to make payments, but on what I can afford, not what you think I can afford. For anyone who reads this, think really hard before banking with these crooks.
Reviewed Aug. 19, 2009
On August 17, 2009, Bank of America sent me an email stating that they were going to charge me a $35.00 fee for overdraft of $220.00 from the ATM. On the 17th of August, I in fact deposited $115.00 in cash (a lot of singles, $5s and a $10.00 bill) around 8AM, which brought my account up to $225.00. Then I withdrew $220.00. Then, I received the email stating that they were going to charge me a $35.00 fee for that transaction. They're trying to say by me authorizing my utility company to take out $227.00 the night of the 17th, put me in the hold for the fee. Well if that's the case, why wasn't I charged for that transaction and why in the world is it still pending right now today (I have pictures for proof)? BOA charged me for something that I had and was able to do and I don't think that's fair.
Even after speaking with a CSR and her trying to explain to me a billion times that I was charged the fee for the $227.00, I tried relentlessly to explain to her that I wasn't and that I have the email to prove that I wasn't. I asked her to put me on the phone with a manager, after she insisted that their system won't allow her to reverse the fee. The manager got on the phone after 10 minutes waiting and went through the same grueling process of trying to explain to me that the fee was from the $227.00 and not the $220.00. Once again, I was telling her what the email states, then she retracted that statement and tried to explain that because I authorized my utility company, what I did earlier in the day, was actually put on the back burner. So to my understanding, BOA is defrauding me as a consumer, using their service, by telling me basically that in some kind of way, we will get money out of people who do everything right with their account.
Reviewed Aug. 19, 2009
I made an error in my bank reconciliation. I had a 2 scheduled online bill payment (set up through BOA) from my account in the amount of $120 and $50, scheduled for Friday the 14th of August. My balance was low, but I had several small transactions to hit my account on Friday as well. The bank said that they pay the higher amount first, which caused my account to have 7 overdrafts at $35 each for Friday and 7 more to hit Tuesday for transactions that posted Monday. My charges went over $150 and the total amount I owe the bank is $612. I took out a payday loan for $400, the maximum they would give me, but I could not cover the rest. I also have to bring my balance current before they charge another $35 for an account overdrawn more than 5 days.
I need help to see if I have the rights as a consumer to fight this. I cannot understand that it is right to charge $460 for $150 worth of charges. If it was only one transaction, then it would be just one $35 charge. The average amount of the transactions was less than $15, with one that was $60. It is completely outrageous and it will continue to hurt me financially long after Bank of America receives their money from me. I need help please!
Reviewed Aug. 18, 2009
Lost DC Unemployment check #**. This check was deposited to the Bank of America on Friday, 8/14/09 - On August 14, 2009, I drove to the Beacon Mall Banking Center to make a deposit of 4 checks that totaled $830.25. There were two DC Unemployment checks #** and DC #**. Each amount was for $347.00. As I stated above, 4 checks were deposited this same day. The teller gave me a deposit slip for the total of $830.25, which was correct. That evening, I noticed that there was a change to my account debiting the amount of $347.00. I contacted the Bank of America Security and spoke with a gentleman who said his name was Dennis and explained to him that my total deposit was for $830.25 and that now, I have a debit of $347.00 and I wanted to know what this was all about. He explained to me that one of the checks DC Unemployment #5** was lost.
My question to the Bank of America is the following: How could the teller lose my DC Unemployment check if the other three were attached with the missing one. And if I did make a mistake and did lose that check, then the teller should have told me that I had only three checks to deposit. But that wasn't the situation because there were 4 checks. Today is Tuesday, August 18th, and my account is short $347.00 because a Bank of America employee was negligent in the handling of my transaction. Even after reporting this incident to Mr. Dennis, who gave me a request tracking #** for this lost check, I am having to pay the price of running around to two Bank of Americas and cannot get a satisfactory response back as to where the missing check has disappeared to. I have wasted 4 hours trying to get an answer back to my question - where is the missing check?
This morning, I visited at 9AM sharp the Bank of America in Prince Frederick and spoke with Mr. Tej **, whom I explained my problem. He stated to me, "Well sir, maybe you didn't have 4 checks deposited." My reply to his statement was, "If I didn't have 4 checks, isn't the responsibility of the teller to inform me that Mr. **, you only have 3 checks?" I didn't find this bank manager to be very helpful to say the least. He seemed more disinterested in my complaint and in trying to resolve it satisfactory. After leaving this branch, I drove to Bank of America at the Lusby Banking Center and spoke to Ms. Tammi ** (**). I explained to her the entire episode of what happened and she made copies of the deposit slip where it does indicate 4 checks being deposited. Ms. ** took my email address ** and explained that she would try and track down the problem. But the problem stems from the hands of the teller at the Bank of America located at 6802 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, VA 22309 (Tel: 703-660-2660).
Not only am I displeased at the negligent handling of my deposit, but I question whether or not my accounts are going to have further complications in the future. I am currently unemployed and I depend on my unemployment checks for various living expenses. Not to mention that this presents a huge security and identity problem if someone finds this lost check and tries to cash it with my signature on the back of it. Therefore, if Bank of America does not find this check and make good on the credit of $347.00 to my account, then I plan to withdraw all my funds from their bank. It should be duly noted that I have been a longstanding customer of Bank of America for years to say, and I worry about my funds now being handled by their employees when a situation like this pops up and nobody seems to care or know where the missing check has gone to.
Also, it amazes me that Mr. Tej **, who made a comment that "Well sir, the teller is not responsible for counting the number of your deposits being made, so if you lost it, then you have to report it to DC Unemployment," when I know for a fact that the teller should inform me that there were only 3 checks instead of 4. She didn't and I know for a fact that I handed her four checks to be deposited into my primary account. Again, the missing check is DC Unemployment #** and it has my signature affixed on the back of the check so that anyone can cash this check who finds it. Also, I am going to cc the employment office to let them know that the Bank of America has lost one of their unemployment checks issued to me for $347.00.
If this check cannot be located, then I hold Bank of America responsible for all fees involved with the DC Unemployment issuing another replacement check and cancelling the lost check in question. I look forward to an immediate reply since I plan to take this matter to corporate headquarters and file a formal complaint about how my problem is being handled by its employees. Thank you.
Reviewed Aug. 18, 2009
I deposited a payroll check on Thursday, July 13 at my local BofA branch. The check was from Buckle, a top selling, nationwide retail store who banks with BofA. The payroll check was drawn on Wells Fargo, also a huge banking institution. The teller informed me a hold would be placed on the check, which I assumed would be for 2-3 days. Fine. After walking away, I looked at my hold receipt and realized they intended to hold the check for an entire week and my money would not be available until Thursday the 20th. All would be fine with this, except I have a Bank of America credit card payment due on the 18th. I immediately called customer service and was, of course, told there was nothing they could do - the funds needed to be verified because the check was not drawn on their bank. I was also told that BofA would continue holding my checks for this same reason each time they were deposited.
I then called the BofA credit card customer service line. Same result: there is nothing they can do and the funds must be verified before I am able to make my payment and I will be charged a late fee if I do not make the payment. I called my checking account customer service line again to basically beg them to release my money so that I could pay it back to them - all to no avail. And I was also informed by the rudest customer service person I've ever spoken to that I had better not try to make the payment because my account would go negative and I would be charged a $35.00 fee.
So let me get this straight Bank of America - you are withholding my money from me and will be charging me a fee because I now can't pay you since you have my money? This is the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard. Bank of America is a scam. For one thing, that is my money, not yours. It is not your money to hold onto for 7 days. As a former Bank of America employee, I know all you have to do to verify that the funds are available in a huge bank, such as Wells Fargo, is call over and ask them. I did it many times as a teller. And yet corporate for some reason can justify taking 7 days to do this?
Furthermore, my checking account, savings account, and credit card are all through Bank of America. Bank of America is holding onto my paycheck and yet Bank of America is unwilling to pay itself the money it is owed. Consumers should not have this feeling of frustration and helplessness. Our banks are here as a service to us. They work for us. This is our money, not theirs. We pay them to take care of our money, not keep it from us and charge us extortionate fees. If this is the future of banking, I’m considering the old money under the mattress trick. I feel my money would be more secure that way.
Reviewed Aug. 18, 2009
In the past couple of months, I have been charged with over $600 in overdraft fees on purchases made a week ago, pending or on hold. I am a single mother of two and have been going through some financial hardships. Since I have been with Wachovia, they have not made this any easier for me to provide for my two children financially. Their system takes out the largest transaction first which puts the account in a negative balance. It conveniently allows them to charge excessive overdraft fees for the smaller purchases. Their system is never up to date which misleads you to believe that you have available funds in your account.
I have tried to manage my account online since they say would be the most up to date information, but if a transaction does not appear on their most up to date system, are we going backwards in time to where we have to keep our purchases written on paper? I realize that I have a responsibility to manage my account. However, they have a responsibility to not manipulate transactions to their advantage. Keeping track of debit card pendings and holds on deposits/withdrawals to avoid Wachovia fees, have become such a battle that I will rather close my account than continue this horrible experience. Wachovia has been the worst bank I have ever had to deal with in my life.
Reviewed Aug. 17, 2009
Bank of America literally stole my entire paycheck because they are trying to hold me liable for fraudulent activity on my previous checking account with them. I filed fraud claims when I had the old checking account and they contacted my cell phone for additional information and of course, they claim they weren't able to contact me! Now, they've taken my entire paycheck because of their negligence!
Reviewed Aug. 17, 2009
Bank of America have a new fee that I wasn't notified of on time. Now, they have an extended overdraft fee, which I know would hurt a lot of customers later on. If by mistake or you make payment early and there is no funding the first five days, it would get an additional overdraft fee. Enough with the first one, but a second fee? This is too much to handle.
Reviewed Aug. 17, 2009
I contacted Bank of America by phone today to find out why they had charged me four $35 overdraft fees. It shows that my account still had $8 in it when they began charging me these fees. Granted I have been with Bank of America for over 7 years and they have never done this type of thing before, I contacted the 18004321000 and spoke with Ishamela who was very nice but proceeded to tell me that three of the overdraft fees that they charged were for a pending transaction of $28 that did not clear until 8/3/09. They processed the fees on 7/31/09.
Keep in mind, I receive my direct deposit on 8/1/09 from the State of Texas - actually BOA receives my direct deposit on 7/30 but they hold it until 8/1/09. She stated they do that for pending transactions now. If this is policy for BOA, why are their customers not informed of this information? How can they change policy about my funds and my account without informing their "valued" customer of the changes? I told her that they are stealing money from their customers when they do that. How are you going to charge a fee for a transaction that is pending and has not yet been cleared through the bank?
She stated there was nothing she could do about it. I then went online and talked to an online rep. I do not remember his name but the supervisor stated his name was Sam. He then told me that this is their practice and they will not do anything about it. When I asked for a corporate number, he stated they don't have a number, just an address. This is ridiculous. I am being penalized for pending transactions. They took a total of $140 from my account and $135 of that was for a transaction that had not even cleared the bank.
I have never been treated like this before. They didn't even try to satisfy a "valued" customer as they stated when they pulled up my information on both the phone and the internet. They just stated what they were not going to and moved on from that point. All of this took place 8/6/09. I tried to contact them 8/1/09 and the line was so busy I couldn't get through. I work 8 to 5 with the state. It is difficult to find time to do what needs to be done. I am outraged that banks are pleading with the government for funds and ripping off the people who trust them to take care of their money. I will be sending this information to every possible consumer agency to try to get this resolved. It is obvious that Bank of America doesn't care. I pray that you all do. Thank you.
Reviewed Aug. 14, 2009
I am very disappointed with Bank of America. I have had more than 10 overdraft fees in only 2 days. Two of these are still pending. Since I found out my account was in a negative, I immediately went and deposited $300 to cover. I deposited in cash so it can be effective immediately. My balance was fixed and it was $80. I had done this before and didn't worry about it since the transactions that put me in a negative were "pending". The next day, I checked my account (I check my account everyday several times a day).
I was outraged! 5 overdraft fees! Why? I deposited to cover the pending transactions. I freaked out and called the 1-800 #. The associate explained. Of course, they post to their convenience to collect fees and he said he could only refund 3 of these fees ($35 each). I was still in a negative $202. Oh wow, my husband ran and did a side job to cover this. I posted before turnover time. Again, the next morning, there were more overdraft fees! 5 more! I mean what is going on?! The associate said if I get more fees, to call and they would try to refund since I was going to do a deposit.
I called today and the system that allows this was down, so they could not refund. I went and borrowed money to cover this once more and Omg! 4 more overdraft fees! What is going on? I cannot catch a break. I asked them if now they are charging pending transactions an overdraft fee immediately. We have had a rough 2 past months. I lost my job and I am starting a new one Monday (Thank God).
I believe Bank of America is charging overdraft fees on pending transactions. I believe this is wrong. I remember depositing money when I was in a negative to cover these pending and nothing happened. We are, as a country, in a recession and I believe that these big banks are taking advantage of people who are struggling. I wish that someone would investigate this. I know there must be more victims like me out there. I cannot believe I have lost so much money in 3 days. School starts soon and I could have used that money for my children. I am sure they charged me for pending transactions. How could they do this? Please help me. What is lost is lost, but I would like for this not to continue. Thank you so much for this opportunity to speak out.
Reviewed Aug. 14, 2009
I have 3 business accounts with B of A. They are all LLCs and have different EIN numbers. I was overdrawn in one of the accounts, and before I could put in the difference, B of A transferred money to cover it from another one of my accounts. This is unconscionable. I have two other partners in these accounts and they are aghast. I've now closed all the accounts with B of A that I was able to close except for my merchant credit card account, but will close that at the end of the month as well. We bailed them out with our tax money and now they're showing a record profit by screwing us with unfair business practices, inflated penalties and illegal acts. In the future, I'll be keeping my money under the mattress and not entrusting it to robber barons of the 21st century!
Reviewed Aug. 14, 2009
I am going to echo what others have said on here, that Bank of America borders on deceit and fraud when they use their software, which maximizes their profits by shuffling your transactions around. For example, if I bought something three days ago, it might not go through until today. Sometimes this is the fault of the businesses you buy from, but more than often, it's BofA trying to make you accrue overdraft fees.
In my situation, the branch I go to has not been allowing cash deposits at the ATM after hours. Probably so you can't "save" your account from overdraft fees, and they make more money. This is infinitely frustrating to me because I work nights and bank hours are not my hours. I've tried several times to go and deposit money and it hasn't been working, wasting my time and gas. This week I forgot about an automatic withdrawal that I have set up, and I saw that it was pending. I've gone and put money in while something was pending, and my account hasn't gone over, but this time, the bank's ATM was out of commission again, and I got up early in the morning and made the deposit at an inconvenient time for me because of this.
Anyway, it was too late, and my account went over. This is BS because it is not my fault their ATM is never working. When I confronted the branch about it, they told me to call the number on the back of my debit card. I did this, and they were so rude to me, treating me like a low-life and would not remove the charge. They side-stepped my questions about shuffling transactions and I got fed up and ended the conversation. Even when you are diligent about writing down each transaction, BofA will find a way to steal money from you. They will hold deposits and shuffle transactions, holding items for days until your account is low enough to go over if they put that transaction through now. Honestly, I have no clue how this is legal. A lot of people on this site are complaining about this same issue, and something needs to be done about it by authorities.
Reviewed Aug. 14, 2009
At 11:59PM, a $37 gas charge overdrew my account and made 2 charges short. The end result being my account was short $21. One minute later, at 12:00PM, my company put my bi-weekly paycheck of $1,096 into the account. I was still charged 2 late fees of $35 for a total of $70. When I called customer service to remove the charges, they were unwilling to listen to me even when I told them that I was going to withdraw all 3 accounts that I have from Bank of America. They still would not withdraw the fees. They did not care about my business or maintaining a business relationship with me. It was almost as though they didn't even care that they were losing business over something that could have been easily corrected.
This was after them randomly charging me for the "free" checking account I signed up for. They are a terrible customer service oriented business, but they try to cover it up by talking with you nicely. They are awful and no one should have any kind of business dealings with this bank. I lost $70 in the week that my $650 rent and $289 car payment were due and I struggled for gas money and grocery money. I did close all 3 of my accounts with them.
Reviewed Aug. 14, 2009
Bank of America previously explained to me that during the night, they first post the deposits and credits then run the checks and debits, which they in fact have done in the past. Now, I have experienced a new business practice! They still do exactly the same procedure, but they now they go back and manipulate the order of the transactions to allow them the most $35 insufficient fund fees they possibly can! I have monitored my account twice overnight and literally watched them do this both times! They have found a way to steal from the consumer!
Reviewed Aug. 13, 2009
When I first opened my account with Wachovia, they ordered checks with my savings account on it rather than my checking. I caught it but only after my employees tried cashing their checks and were turned away, very embarrassing for us and our business. We have been charged thousands of dollars on NSF fees because Wachovia takes the debits out before crediting our deposits. We have even gone as far as to deposit money into another bank so we can get cash in hopes that this would help. It didn't. We have tried talking to the people at the banks but they are no help. On top of all this, I did some bill pays and because they never fixed the problem from the beginning about the accounts being put in wrong. The computer took all my bill pays and tried paying them out of the wrong account, resulting in them being returned. We called right away but they did nothing and we were charged again, leaving me to have to call my vendors and tell them I bounced their checks. Again, very embarrassing. I cannot believe they can get away with this, especially in this economy, when businesses are doing everything they can to keep their employees working.
Reviewed Aug. 13, 2009
I would like why Bank of America charge for any overdrawn amount if they already have in hold the amount required. Charge is only $1.00 and they charge $35.00 and they over-charge even more if the amount is not covered. They charged me more than $175 at once for some items that I felt they charged and are doing without reason. They charge more for every single day. Please, could you verify what is wrong with this bank? They are charging too much. Thanks for your help.
Reviewed Aug. 13, 2009
Similar to other consumers, in the last 8 months I have been accessed with more than $3,000 of overdraft fees. Wachovia's bad business practices are consistently unreasonable and the reps online offer small refunds as a “courtesy", but these are often countered by more fees the next day. Their system conveniently takes out the largest check/transaction first, which puts the account in a negative balance. It conveniently allows them to charge excessive overdraft fees for the smaller purchases. These smaller purchases would be covered by the checking account balance if they didn't take the largest transaction first. I am told that overdraft protection is available, but then denied when asking for the option. I realize that I have a responsibility to manage my account. However, they have a responsibility to not manipulate transactions to their advantage.
I am in the process of closing my account. I have been a customer of theirs for more than 4 years and have both of my paychecks deposited into my account via direct deposit but are lately losing more than half of my check due to overdraft fees. Keeping track of debit card holds and holds on deposits to avoid Wachovia fees, has become such a battle that I will rather close my account than continue this horrible experience. I am shocked to read about many similar experiences, but yet the bank is still allowed to continue such practices. I will advise anyone to keep their money away from Wachovia, or they may also be overwhelmed with overdraft fees, even if they consider themselves responsible individuals.
Reviewed Aug. 12, 2009
For some reason Bank of America hit me with 5 overdraft charges on the same day. Granted they were all legitimate, but they happened consecutively because of pending items. I called and asked them to credit at least 2 of them because my argument was that there must be a way that they start declining charges after one or two overdrafts. It's just a way for them to make money. I've been with them for 10 years and they weren't very nice when telling me there was nothing they could do. I lost $175 in this difficult economy for charges like a $2 muffin. It's ridiculous. Their policy is horrendous and it's not the fault of any of the customer service folks. This starts up above. I'm furious right now and am seriously considering changing banks.
Reviewed Aug. 12, 2009
I opened a checking and savings account with Wachovia online. My issue with them is that being the account was opened online, I was not explained how their savings account worked. I had a deposit go into my savings account, and the way the account was set up was that you cannot deposit over $100 per month. So when $1,000 was deposited into the savings account, it was taken out and put into my checking account. So when Wachovia saw that this amount could not be in this account, they removed it and put it into the checking account, which took my savings account balance into overdraft of over $300, because I had gone to the ATM and withdrew this amount. The money was there.
I was given the runaround by every department Wachovia have, and no one helped me. It took me 2 days to even get a response of "we cannot reverse the transaction." I was given numbers that no one answered and kept directing me back to a department that said they couldn't help me. No one could see anyone else's notes of the arrangements that I had made to bring the savings account back to $0 balance. I even went to a local branch to try and get this resolved, and the manager of the branch was given the same runaround that I was given. The manager of the local branch was very sincere and helpful of trying to get this matter resolved for me, but to no avail.
Other than him (the manager of the local branch), I felt like I was being shoved around from person to person and number to number, and no one from Wachovia wanted to help me resolve this matter. I am very dissatisfied with Wachovia services, and I would never recommend them to anyone for banking business. They have a very poor administrative system or whatever they want to call it, and I will never do business with them of any kind ever in life. Another thing that really ticked me off with them is that it is my account, but I am not allowed to put no more than $100 per month. But they have a department that can go in and take money from my checking account for well over $100. My opinion is this is very bad business.
Reviewed Aug. 11, 2009
I joined BOA in April 2007. In Oct of 2008, the company I worked for folded. Before that time, I was doing well at the bank. Then in Oct 2008, my account was overdrawn. I did not know how their system worked. They pay the highest amount and charge $35 on all the other items that come in. It can be $1.99 and you will be charged the fee. In these hard economic times, Bank of America only cares about the money they make off of people who are trying to make ends meet. Today, I had a representative from the bank research my NSF fees. She did it for a year. I had $17,580 in NSF fees. I asked the rep, has BOA taken a survey of how this operates? So many people who bank there are so unhappy. How can they have these commercials that say they care about their customers? $17,580 in NSF fees does not say we care.
Yes, I own the fact that I made the mistake. It snowballed when I did not know how they charged the fees. Then, they deduct them in when you use your ATM. You think the charges are out of your account, so they get put back in and like one of the representative said, "It's not our fault that the merchant draws the funds when he feels like it." That is the explanation I got. Do you think BOA did some survey? They would find out how much the customers they want to make happy, some of them who may have incurred NSF fee are wondering "how do I cover these $175 NSF?" Fees they incurred on $1.99, $4.54, $5.74, $7.86, $8.22. I don't even think those add up to $35. How can they do this highway robbery? That person is me. I just need to know how this can be justified. $17,580 I have spent with no care from Bank of America.
Reviewed Aug. 11, 2009
On August 3rd, I overdrew my account. I knew I had, but I needed the money for groceries. I had overdrawn it by $12. The issue is Bank of America arbitrarily brought the big purchase back one day, and brought forward several smaller purchases made days, and in one case a week, beforehand. Thus, I now had a negative $82 of balance. Of course I was upset, but it was okay.
On August 8th, I deposited a check from work. To my astonishment, what resulted on Monday was a negative $17 balance. Upon further investigation, I found that they had randomly made $100 available immediately, in order to cover the negative $82, then promptly charged my account another $35 for extended overdraft (and this was done two days after I had already deposited a check). On top of that, they put a hold on $475 of my account for 9 days.
This is not a joke. I deposited a check, am waved off goodbye, and am hit with a 9-day hold on the money deposited. I can't get my check back to cash elsewhere, and I can't gain access to the money. I am simply told that I will have no money for the next 9 or 10 days, which means I can't drive to work, or buy food, or pay rent. If they had just told me that there would be a ridiculous 9-day hold, I'd have gone to a Wal-Mart and cashed the check but they didn't tell me.
Right now, I have 30 cents left. I don't know what to tell my boss, or how I will get to work. There's no public transportation in suburban PA, and even if there were, I'd have no money to use it. I haven't eaten in two days now. I got paid, but I don't have the money. I called Bank of America, and a very nasal and mechanical customer service rep answered. She assured me that the 9-day hold is a standard hold on all checks deposited. Imagine this in the nasal tones of a customer service rep reading a script. I don't know how I'll drive to work for the seven days left. I have 30 cents in nickels, and my boss will not understand. I was just paid, he'll point out. I also won't have food. I'm going to get fired.
Reviewed Aug. 11, 2009
I filed an anonymous complaint against an employee for spreading my bank business outside the bank with family members. I was told twice and assured this would be anonymous. However, it was not kept anonymous and I feel everyone at this branch and the only other one in Florence knows all and the only results I got from them was they were sorry, but there was nothing they could do. At this time, I am working with an attorney, but the damage they have created for me within my family may not be repairable. Obviously, I found a smaller local bank that charges less fees and abides by their ethics codes to the highest or the employee is booted immediately. No one in my family is speaking to me as the employee is a relative, but she had done this before and I asked her to stop. Now, my family just sees I tried to get her fired. This created major conflict with my family and has worsened an illness I have.
Reviewed Aug. 11, 2009
They have removed money from my husband's account without his knowledge or permission. The account that there was a problem with had to do with me, not him. They took over $800 out of his acct and never let him know. It left him without that money to pay his bills. They took a paycheck and then some.
Reviewed Aug. 11, 2009
I have been banking with Wachovia for about 4 years. But lately, I have been having problems with them. It started when the bank took $140.06 for a $.06 overdraft. The bank informed me that it charged me for using another ATM that wasn't theirs which caused me to go over my account by $.06. The second time was that they over drafted me before I ran out of money. When I spoke to a manager on the phone, he said it went over by $139.28. However, I told him that I couldn't overdraft because I was following the ATM and online bank statement. Also, he told me not to follow those statements because they are not correct because it is not updated as often as the system in front of them, so I should call in and talk to an operator to have a correct balance.
I called on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009, and spoke to Carly and Boobie ** (manager) about my account because my online account shows that they over drafted me before I was out of money and then over drafted me again for something that was supposed to have been paid for. I asked him to explain it to me and he told me that first, the bank pays for holds and the bank pays for process items. However, the online statement showed that the process items were already paid for. But Bobbie said that the bank paid for two hold items first and then the process items and two, the process items caused me to go over and the overdraft fees are $35 apiece and then the cost is $17.28 which brings a total of $87.28 as my overdraft fee.
However, I shouldn't have been over drafted because I had enough money to cover all my purchases. When I add all my purchases, it is less than the amount in my account. However, I received two over drafting notices saying that I had over drafted. But one of the notices were for the amount of money that Bobbie ** had told me that was paid first out of my account which follows the online statement but Mr. ** told me that the online statement is not accurate.
So, the information online and at the ATM does not match their system. Also, I had returned an item and the money had gone to my card. When I checked my card at the ATM, it showed up but the bank said it wasn't there until the next day. I asked if the bank could check my inquiries and they said yes but their system does not show the amount of money I had at that time.
Long story short, the bank has been giving me the runaround and has refused to provide valid documentation to prove how their system run differently and that the online or ATM statements are inaccurate. Also, the bank has refused to show how I actually over drafted and the hard copy of all my accesses to my account. And, when I went to the Newport branch in Jersey City, I was denied to see the head of the branch. I was told he never comes to the bank and I needed to call him and set appointment but no one answered when I called.
Reviewed Aug. 10, 2009
I have banked with BofA for over 35 years. My banker, Kristina (Assistant VP) was axed about a year ago. (She's my banker for years, and she's very customer-oriented.) She was replaced by Pamela. Ms. Pamela was very defensive when I alluded to the fact that Ms. Kristina was a great banker and gave me great service. She had told me I could not reach her by telephone from Costa Rica as I always had done with Kristina. She was irate when I mentioned the possible criminal culpability of CEO Ken Lewis.
She has refused to transfer funds from my BofA checking to a CD account and told me she couldn't comply with my requests as well as with my BofA investment accounts. The BofA customer service online service does not provide for complaints! This person resembles someone who is very angry with her personal situation and also understands that BofA has been/is involved in possible criminal activity. She is afraid! Although her anger may not be her doing, she perpetuates BofA's negligence (already within the confines of judicial notice) with her terrible customer service.
Reviewed Aug. 8, 2009
I had an account that I knew was close to overdrafting by an amount of $10, $9.96 to be exact. I did an accounts transfer between my savings to my checking account on August 4th, 2009. On August 5th and 6th, I logged in and viewed my accounts overview, with a 0.0 balance on my savings account and no overdrafts. This evening, I returned online to view my account balance to verify that everything was cleared, and suddenly, my savings account was back up to the exact amount I transferred out of it. This inherently caused an overdraft on three separate items, which was caused by a -$9.96 balance. How would my money suddenly "untransfer" itself, causing me to overdraft? I believe that someone up in the ranks denied or cancelled the transfer outright, for the extra $125 worth in overdrafts, which, by the way, is highly illegal. What can I do about this?
Reviewed Aug. 7, 2009
My boyfriend (Shakir **) and I share a rental property and rent in the amount of $1000. We have been renting since May of 2008. My landlord gave us deposit slips to deposit the rent directly into her Provident Bank account (aka M&T Bank), which has been the process for the past year. We split the rental cost $500 each. I bank with Bank of America and Shakir ** banks with Provident Bank (aka M&T Bank). Our process for paying rent consist of me writing him a check made payable to him in the amount of $500. Shakir then takes my Bank of America check to a Bank of America branch and cashes it. Shakir then takes the $500 cash and deposits it into our landlord’s Provident account along with his $500.
Well, on August 7, 2009, I wrote out a Bank of America personal check made payable to my landlord (Yvonne **) in the amount of $500 for my August rent. I gave the check and a Provident deposit slip to my boyfriend (Shakir **) to deposit the $500 check into my landlord's Provident bank account along with his $500 for rent due. Well, instead he goes to a Bank of America bank and cashes the check made to my landlord, shows the teller his ID and signs the back of the check. The teller then gives him $500 cash and places the money pending in my account as (-$500.00), decreasing the funds available to me less $500 in my account. I called Bank of America’s 1-800 number to find out how this was possible for him to cash a check not made payable to me and I was told I had to call the branch manager at the bank where the check was cashed.
I called the Bank of America on Greenmount Avenue and requested to speak with the branch manager. I was told he was with a customer and she could help me. I informed her of what happened and gave her my account information. She confirmed she found the transaction in question and while on the phone with her, she asked the teller if she remembered cashing the check. I heard the teller respond, “Yes, it was the man that comes in here all the time.” The teller on the phone then told her that the check was not made payable to him and then asked me if I could hold on. When she returned to the phone she stated that the teller was training someone at the time and must have overlooked the name. I then stated that I wanted a full explanation in writing of the incident and a written response of the action taken to assure me this incident would not happen again.
She told me I would have to speak with the manager who was still with another customer. I told her I would wait that her answer was not acceptable. The branch manager then got on the phone and I explained the incident again and asked for a written statement of the incident and the action that would be taken as a result. He started making up excuses, how the teller that cashed the check was a supervisor, that he normally authorizes her to make exceptions for certain transactions and she was training as well and normally she doesn't make those types of errors. Again, I asked him what assurance do I have that if I misplaced or lost a check that someone couldn't just come into his bank, show ID and be given cash out of my account. He told me he was busy and he was the only one their and that he would have to call me back before six o’clock. He also stated he would have to contact his legal department to find out what steps could be taken to provide me with a written statement of the incident. Thank you for your time.
Reviewed Aug. 7, 2009
Bank of America lives off of NSF fees they charge! They decide what they clear and in what order so that they benefit. For example, I made five ATM purchases over the weekend which all pended and also made a deposit on Saturday (I had well over $1200 after deposit in account). So Monday night, they cleared the $1200 check prior to my deposit and prior to my debits, then hit me with $175 in NSF Fees. I called asking why that happened. It was their discretion to clear the $1200 prior to any other activity on the account. What the ** is that?! That is ** and this has happened more than once. I bet in the past three months they've done this to me and collected at least $600 in fees; yes, $600.
Reviewed Aug. 7, 2009
I have been a customer for 9 years (since before the acquisition of Fleet Bank), and the company's unwillingness to assist is very frustrating. A snowball effect of overdrafts and associated fees is completely unacceptable. The chain of events is as follows:
A check for $198.40 was posted on 8/4 (2 days prior to the date on the check). That same day, a charge for $1.70 was posted for a purchase made on 8/2. The following day, I received an email alerting me that my account was overdrawn. However, it was too late to avoid the fees, since both charges were already cleared. I made a deposit to my account to bring the account back into good standing and attempted to dispute these pending overdraft fees. I also explained at that time that when a pending bill payment posted, it would cause yet another overdraft. The associate was unwilling to even address the fees until all items had cleared.
I would be willing to accept one fee for a check that put my account into the red. Although it was a misunderstanding, the fact that the check was cashed early was still my error. However, the other 2 fees need to be removed ASAP. One fee is for a cup of coffee that was purchased 2 days prior to posting. If the charge had been taken out of my account in a timely fashion, no overdraft would have occurred. The last overdraft also would have been avoided had the associate reversed this fee when it was addressed on the same day (while still pending).
When I called after this had happened, two separate associates told me that they were not authorized to remove any of these charges. I left a voice mail for a manager in the escalated complaints department at 6:15am local time yesterday, 8/6; and I have yet to receive a return call. If these issues are not resolved, I will be closing my account.
Reviewed Aug. 6, 2009
On July 18, 2009, we received a letter from Bank of America stating that they were delaying the availability of a $15,000 check due to confidential information indicating that the check may not be paid. This check was deposited on July 15, 2009. The availability date was July 24, 2009 at 9:00AM. We asked the person who gave us the check if the money was taken out of their account and he said it was already taken out of his account. A couple of days later, another letter came in from Bank of America stating that they have elected to close out the account. It stated, "under these terms and conditions, either the bank or the customer may close the account at any time". This was untrue because they would not allow us to close the account and collect our funds.
It then went on to say, "When the account is closed, any checks presented for payment will be returned account closed and if you have an ATM/check card, it will no longer access the account. A cashier's check for any collected balance will be mailed to you after all previously deposited items have been verified." We called up and a Bank of America representative said that the account will close out on August 4, 2009. Why would it take a week and a half to close out from the supposed availability date? They said they would overnight our funds via FedEx. So that would mean we would receive our check August 5, 2009. My wife made sure to stay home all day so that she would not miss the FedEx truck. Nothing ever came that day.
She figured, alright, we will give it another day but just to be sure, she called Bank of America on August 6, 2009. The Bank of America representative told her that the account was going to be closed on or about August 11, 2009. Why did the date change? She asked to speak to a supervisor and the representative said that there was no supervisor she could speak to at the time and to call back. Then, my wife asked to speak to the representative who told her the account would be closed on August 4, 2009. The representative said that she could not put him on the phone either and to call back. What else can we possible do to get our money? This has put so much stress into our lives because we are behind in all of our payments.
Reviewed Aug. 6, 2009
I checked my account online every other day to make sure everything is fine with my transactions. On this particular morning (08/06/09), I had a total of 9 overdraft fees for $35.00 each, a total of $315.00. I contacted B of A immediately. The customer rep reported that some of my transactions were on hold but the money was taken out of my account and later put back, because the vendor did not process the payment. However, I added all my transactions and I spent about $544.39 and I calculated that I had about $540-520 in my account.
So I had the funds, but since the overdraft fees were accessed first, which I do not understand why, I had overdraft fees. I had no money for the purchases that were claimed by the vendors that did not process the payment to begin with. The customer service rep hung up when I told her the fees were outrageous and I was going to close my accounts. Then, I called again and asked to speak to the manager. The manager reported that on 08/03/09, I had a balance of $520.00 but I spent about $540. That is the reason I had so many overdraft fees on 08/04/09. I was over-drafted about $304.00, but the total amount for the fees was $315.00. Then, I did not spend money that I did not have, but I had to pay for fees.
This has affected my family and myself significantly because it is a one family income. My husband stays home to take care of my daughters. I have bills to pay and this only makes it more difficult to pay for those bills. This is a domino effect because my funds are reduced by $315.00 and that money was allocated for bills such as home phone and utilities; in addition, buy necessary items for my children to return to school.
Reviewed Aug. 6, 2009
On July 14, 2009, I had a balance of $283.88 in my checking account. I had 3 items that were processed for payment that night, Ford Motor Credit $220.00, Casey Jones $54.80 and PayPay $6.99, leaving my balance $2.09. I also had a pending charge of $25.43 that came through that night. So on the 15th, I cashed in some change to deposit enough money to cover the pending charge before it processed the night of the 15th. I deposited $25.00.
Well when I checked my account the next day, I had (2) $35.00 fees on my account. What BOA did was on the 14th, they took the $25.43 out of my account first thing, and then started processing the checks that cleared, which made me bounce the $54.80 and $6.99 charge. If anything, I didn't have enough money in my account to cover the $25.43 pending charge. I had enough in my account to cover the others.
How can BOA legally take an authorization and put it before actual charges that are coming through? And by the way, $25.43 charges didn't even get cleared until the night of 15th, so I shouldn't have been charged any fees. Then to make matters worse, since I don’t get paid until the end of the month, I was charged another $35.00 extended overdraft fee. I was charged $35.00 for my account being overdrawn by their fees. How can this ** be legal?
Somebody has written their program to look at each circumstance so that they can charge their customers all these fees. I asked BOA to credit all the charges and I get the same answer that everybody else does. It's a valid charge so we can’t credit the $35.00. I would think actual charges should be processed before authorizations. They should have denied the authorization and said I don’t have enough funds in my account. We need to get a class action suit together, please give me a call anybody to start this. I was extremely upset. My blood pressure raised and I had a headache for days.
Reviewed Aug. 6, 2009
I checked my account balance everyday. So after my account was overdrawn, I reluctantly made a deposit into my account to insure this one-time mistake was corrected. I realized the next day that the transactions on my account were all rearranged (for a reason no one has been able to answer), thus making my account negative for 5 overdrafts. After my concerns were dismissed by this first phone call, I was directed to another representative, Mrs. **. I tried to express my concerns about how I am unable to manage my account transactions if this banking institution is allowed to rearrange my transactions, create overages, and then charge me for as many as they choose. She laughed at these concerns and told me she was only able to credit me $42.00. (After the phone call, I realized she did not do this.) And after all that today, I checked my balance and I am devastated to find two more charges on my account, in which she did not notify me of during our conversation.
Reviewed Aug. 5, 2009
I have had an account with Bank of America for over 20 years now. In January 2009, I called the call center for ordinary banking business. During this call, apparently, I was asked by an automated voice if I wanted Privacy Assist attached to my account for a mere $12.99 a month. Privacy Assist monitors your checking account for identity theft. There are two people on my account, but only I would be monitored. They would require an additional $12.99 for the other person on the account, so it doesn't go by the account but by the people on it. I don't understand how that is possible. The money is not separately divided. I was told that this would have been done by me pressing the appropriate numbers to activate this onto my account.
I never did this! But the Privacy Assist institution, which is an affiliate of Bank of America, received from Bank of America my debit account numbers so they could charge my account. I saw this amount right away and called the bank to have it cancelled and reverse the fees. I was told that it was cancelled and I would not be charged. In the following months, I was charged monthly and I followed up with monthly calls, always telling me it would be cancelled. Eight months later, I called again and finally was given a number to call Privacy Assist. Now I'm explaining the same thing to them. They did cancel my account, but only credited me for two months. I needed to contact Bank of America to get the rest, $77.94.
Bank of America credited the $77.94 back to my account and then a month later, reversed it back onto my account. Their explanation was that "I" gave out my debit card number and "I" now must close that account because it has fraudulent activity on it. The only fraud was from the bank itself. They attached a third party onto my checking account without my authorization. When I asked for proof that I pressed the buttons to activate this service, they could not provide me with that information. I must now go into my home branch and close out my debit card and fill in papers stating that fraudulent activity occurred on my account. The only fraud was from Bank of America.
Reviewed Aug. 4, 2009
I have a line of credit that the bank converted to an American Express credit card. The terms of the loan changed from a line of credit to a credit card, thus there are new transaction fees assessed for overdraft protection. These fees were not charged on my line of credit. I was not informed of these changes until I called the bank on 8/4/09, inquiring about transaction fees in the amount of $230.00 for one month. Apparently, the terms of my agreement changed in June and I was never notified. I asked the bank to credit the fees, because I was unaware of the new terms; and they refused. Also, I transferred funds in the same 24 hours that these fees were assessed, so as a consumer, I don't know when the account overdrew and the timing of the overdraft. And my payments are on the same day. It's just not fair. Please help!
Reviewed Aug. 4, 2009
Every Friday from April 2009 until July 2009, I had deposited my paycheck at Bank of America with little problem. Starting the end of July, Bank of America started holding my paychecks for 5, causing the account to overdraft numerous times because I would set up for my bills to come out of the account on Saturdays. It does not seem right that they could hold my paycheck, which is my only form of income, for such a long time and then charge me overdraft fees. Right now that account is overdrawn by over $500, mostly overdraft fees. It will take me a couple of weeks to even get back to zero for the balance never mind pay other bills and needs.
Reviewed Aug. 4, 2009
I received a letter from Bank of America (Risk Identification Department) on July 13, 2009 stating that my account was to be closed. I had reported several fraudulent internet-appearing transactions on July 2, 2009. It was apparent to my self that someone had gotten a hold of my number while I was vacationing. Anyway, BofA decided to close my account the day before my direct deposit was to go into my account. So I had a paycheck of July 13, 2009 for $1712.47. When I called Risk Identification at the number listed above, I was told that my funds would be held until August 20, 2009 and that at which time, they would issue me a cashier's check.
I have since contacted several times, asking them to give me my money. I had received a call from Dispute Services, and the all was settled. BofA would still not release my money, and as a result, I have had to write bad checks for groceries and dog food and my car was repossessed! I called Risk again today (August 3, 2009), and my money will not be released until August 10, 2009, at which time, I will not be able to get my car back. I have never dealt with the rudeness and behavior of a bank like this.
Reviewed Aug. 4, 2009
Beware of Bank of America. I had been with LaSalle Bank for several years before it was bought by Bank of America. In the last year, I have had multiple things happen to my accounts: endless overdraft charges, bank holds for 10 days or more, not even posting cashier's check deposits for that day, endless heartbreaking experiences. We have since opened up accounts at Chase and are having a much better banking experience. Thanks, Bank of America, for taking our hard earned money!
Reviewed Aug. 3, 2009
This involves an issue with my checking account and debit card I experienced this weekend:
I had $162.20 in my checking account on 30 July 2009. I made a check card debit in the amount of $5.00 on my account on July 30, 2009 and the sum total shown on account is now $157.20. I again made another debit in the amount of $29.72 on 31 July 2009 and the account now shows $127.48. These items were verified via computer banking! Items were deducted and shown as pending. I checked my account on 01 August 2009. My retirement had been posted and the account was now totaling $1,146.72. I am still in the black.
Now, here is when it starts to sore. I had forgotten that I had written a check for $200.00. The item was shown to clear on 31 July 2009 and what does BofA do? They post the check first due to its sum even though the prior two debit transactions were accomplished first.
Their explanation was that they post in the order of the largest item, which was the check, and not in the order of precedence, the two debit purchases. Thus, the total is as follows: $200.00 from the $162.20 total is now -$37.80, the $29.72 total is now -$67.52, and finally, $5.00. And the grand total is -$72.52 plus fees in the amount of 3 X $35.00 totaling $105.00. In talking to the CSR, he explained that this is the way BofA accomplishes the checking account even though the first two debit items were accomplished first.
I talked to the manager and he basically stated that this was the way it was accomplished and that customers were alerted in the year of 1999. I stated to the manager that I was not aware of this procedure and I stated that this was not explained to me when I transferred my account from Arizona in September 2000. His next response was I should have been aware of this as it is posted on the internet. Give me a break! His next response was that this was unfortunately nonnegotiable!
I stated to the manager that it was my fault due to the check posting earlier than expected and that I felt I was responsible for the fees on the check--not on the debit transactions, as they should be posted in the order of precedence! He kindly stated that this was not their policy and sorry, but those are the rules - BofA rules!
I am sorry but though this is not a lot of money, this policy is shady, to say the least. I explained to BofA that I have been a customer since 1989 and that their business practices and policies have cost them a 20-year customer! I will transfer all my funds from my BofA account and leave $1.00 in it as a protest until I get a call or letter from their CRS in Tampa, FL. Of course, their response will be the company line! I am sure that this is not legal business process.
I will accept responsibility for my mistake (the check) but do not give me the ** that this is the way we do business and you should know this. The bottom line is the fees is what they want at any cost! At this time, I will close my account and start with another bank or CU which utilizes common sense..
Reviewed Aug. 3, 2009
I received a settlement check from an insurance company on 7/29/09 for thousands of dollars. The check was drawn on Bank of America, so I went there to cash it. I was told that I had to deposit the check in their bank and the funds would be available the next day. I told Carmen, the banker who helped me, that I had had an account with B of A before and the Risk Management department closed it due to a deposit I made to the ATM and forgot the check. Carmen checked with the manager who said it was okay and she opened three accounts for me, a checking, savings and C.D. The next day, my accounts were being cancelled by the Risk Management Department who said I could not have accounts at B of A anymore because of what happened with my other account. Furthermore, they told me I would not receive my money for 7 to 10 business days, and they are charging me $60 to process my accounts.
Reviewed Aug. 3, 2009
After many initial attempts to stop the fee traps that BOA charges customers in overdraft charges, I was retaliated against by the BOA CEO. I was charged over $6,000 per year in absurd overdraft fees. I "have to" use this bank. Well, "had" to. I read a post that referred bank complaints to www.helpwithmybank.gov, which is the US Dept of Treasury. After filing my complaint with them, my account was credited $500. Two months later, my account for the past 5 years was closed, without notification. I went into my local branch where they read from my account notes, "account closed by the Chairman/CEO". No additional information. They attempted to call another department for answers, but found none.
The next day, I called them about retrieving the funds in my account ($1,000). I got a nice gentleman who relentlessly searched for an answer and finally passed me through to the executive branch. I was informed that my account was closed due to the fact that they were "unable to satisfy my customer needs". Special arrangements were made for me to be able to pick up my account balance at my local branch, per my request (they wanted to mail me a check). I was also told that an explanation was mailed to me, but since I have not received it, she would overnight me a copy. I never received it either. I did not think that the Chairman/CEO would personally attack me by retaliating and closing my account himself. It seems to me that if they can't make money off customers with fraudulent fees, then they don't want your business at all. What a low-blow! Very low.
Reviewed Aug. 3, 2009
I am doing the shopping for the ELKS Lodge #1557 and they paid me with a check for money I had spent. The Elks account is with Bank of America. My accounts are at a credit union which is in South Daytona, Florida, so I thought that I would just cash the check rather than waste the gas. Bank of America was going to charge $6.00 for a check drawn in their bank. I have since found out that our employees go through the same thing. When did this robbery go into effect?
Reviewed Aug. 1, 2009
Regarding the ongoing abuse of overdraft fees, I recently found that the incoming transactions had been sorted improperly from the greatest amount to the lowest. Then, the dates of the transactions were changed after they posted. I didn't take a screen shot, and I didn't feel like I could contact each vendor and trace these transactions, since there is a relationship with Visa. The times this has happened, Bank of America took (stole) $35 per transaction, and they refused to work with me on any of them. I could go on and on about this. The bottom line appears to be a demonstrated pattern of abuse by the financial industry. This includes Visa. I even contacted my congresswoman, who seems very passive about it. The consumer is left helpless.
Reviewed Aug. 1, 2009
I was recently in NY and had an overdraft fee from an ATM withdrawal with plans to pay it back on the 1st with a disability check that went through. My thought was it is cheaper than a payday advance loan. Well, surprise. BofA charged us an excessive day fee of $35 the day before a deposit was to be made. I contacted BofA customer service, and they said information was mailed with our statement, which we don't get. We do not get a statement via mail. I am beyond upset by this. They refused to reverse the charges.
Reviewed July 31, 2009
Based on my previous experience with the University of South Florida Credit Union, I thought I already knew what to expect with the process of notary but obviously, I was incorrect. Upon arrival, I was greeted by Ms. Kimberly **, who though polite, eventually became quite caustic. I questioned Ms. ** about the task of notarizing through Bank of America while rifling through my paperwork (essentially a packet with my criminal records, proof of graduation from the University of South Florida with a Bachelors in Arts, and sealed transcripts) and Bank of America's abilities in that regard.
I was unable to vocalize one of my questions before she opened my sealed transcripts without my explicit consent, thus rendering them unofficial. With this, she surely wasted my time and money. She offered no apologies and instead, she attempted to shift the blame on me. She shrugged, made excuses, rolled her eyes at me and was exceedingly unpleasant. My question was simply whether or not any other notary was needed on the envelope of my transcripts, the envelope that reads "unofficial if seal is broken". Bank of America owes $10.00 for my now "unofficial" transcript and for my time in visiting Bank of America and the initial trying task of obtaining the previously stated transcript.
Reviewed July 31, 2009
The reason for writing you this letter is about our loan modification that we thought was already set up. We were sent 3 different loan modifications to select from and my wife and I selected the first one, which was a 10-year interest only loan with a payment of $1,764.48. We filled out all paperwork, had them notarized and mailed back on March 13th, 2009 via FedEx. My wife called 877-643-2788, which was listed for contact on Monday, March 16th and it was confirmed that our paperwork was received. Per agreement, we were to start making our payments to Countrywide, 7105 Corporate Drive (PTX-B-36), Plano, TX 75024 on May 1st with a cashier check, which we did for 3 months. Our payment totaled the sum of $7,200.00.
This is the total because per each month, we paid additional to go toward the principal. However, on the 3rd month, we started receiving calls from Bank of America informing us that we owe a sum of $18,000. Each time, we explained that we had selected a loan modification and papers were notarized. Each time, the agent could actually pull up all this information on their computer; however, we were told at first that it would take about 90 days for all to upload. Then a few days would go by and another agent would call. Then, we were told it would take about 120 days for our modification to be uploaded in their system. Each time, we were directed to HUD number and they would verify our paperwork and the lengthy time to add to their system. This happened like every other day starting the last two weeks of June.
Then on July 21st, we received a telephone call from one of Bank of America's agents and was told that we were going to receive a Notice of Intent to Accelerate. We really started to freak out then! With my husband's many telephone calls, one of the team leaders referred him to Alva **. Thanks to Ms. **, she is the main person who finally really tried to help us at the bank! We think this is so unfair of Bank of America! We have been in this home since 1973 and never have we had something like this happen to us! We did everything correct and this is what Bank of America is doing to us! Now we were told by Ms. Alva ** that a gentleman has been assigned on our loan modification and maybe he can get one close or another one altogether. We are just sick with worry!
Reviewed July 31, 2009
I have a personal loan through Bank of America. I called because I am now permanently disabled and wanted to know if my payments could be lowered. I am on Social Security and disability pension. They transferred me to the financial stress department. I spoke with Ryan who asked income and debt questions and then told me there was no program to help me. I then called back to ask a regular rep if they could lower my interest rate and found out that Ryan had reduced my credit limit without telling me. I pay every month on time and made sure they knew I would continue paying on time. I have a 795 credit score. I only owe $115 in other credit card debt. I was penalized for asking for help when if I had not called at all, I would have had the same credit limit.
This will adversely affect my credit score and the possibility of refinancing my home to make it more affordable, putting me in more hardship. I asked to be transferred to another financial stress rep who would not resend the decision and told me there was no supervisor I could speak to and that he could take my phone number and someone would get back with me in 24-48 hours. He then told me it was because of high credit card debt that Ryan lowered my credit limit, which was false. When I became upset, he told me not to worry about the impact on my credit rating and that he could not allow me to vent anymore. This does not seem fair or reasonable and I would hope that it's not legal. I also don't understand why there is no customer problem resolution center for banks. If I had treated a customer the way those guys did, I would have been fired and escorted out by security promptly. It seems they get bailed out and then get away with murder and we just keep getting screwed. Please help.
Reviewed July 31, 2009
I discovered that I had been charged nearly $400 in overdraft fees and could prove it. I spent almost an hour over the phone with a Bank of America representative by the name of Celeste ** from Nevada who stated she could only refund $35 of my money. She refused to give me a phone number to any of her supervisors. I plan to pursue this even if it means going to the news media. I will go physically to the local bank first and try to resolve this and then hopefully I will be able to contact an executive. But if all else fails, I will go to the news media. This is a rip-off. By the way, I do plan to close all my accounts with Bank of America. This is thievery and it has to stop.
This has caused great stress on me because just yesterday I couldn't even buy a pack of bacon for my children to eat. It is hurtful to turn to my children last night and tell them I had no money when I first saw the error, which at that time had put me in the red, for $299 already. I am struggling to pay bills to begin with and for this to happen is devastating. I have no trust in these banks at all, especially Bank of America.
Reviewed July 30, 2009
So many things have happened while banking with Bank of America. I could write a book. I will share the most recent incidents:
I have been with Bank of America for over 20 years now. We have a small business and have many accounts with BOA. I 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 BOA 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 caused 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, I was 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 Afghanistan then back to the states to my address. Wow! How did that happen? So it finally got figured out.
This time, the trouble was overdrafts that occurred 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, transferred money from an in-branch BOA 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 procedures. 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 happened? 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.
Reviewed 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 (actually almost kicked their windows in), I had to mutter under my breath "** bank", and I 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.
Reviewed 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 and $37.89 via PayPal, which left me a balance of $21.61. I then 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 as fraud.
Reviewed 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, 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 Torrie ** took down all of my current monthly expenses information and stated that I qualify for the program.
She told me that by making 4 consecutive payments drafted electronically from my bank account, 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. Lo 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 homeowner 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.
Reviewed 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 and 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, debited my account -$875,000 and then had the nerve to charge me overdraft fees. On top of that, since no one in the risk department 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 department was involved, the local branch was unable to help me. Clearly, Bank of America's risk department has all the power of the IRS. I have called the risk department several times and have 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!
Reviewed July 30, 2009
My teenage son was charged multiple overdraft fees, some as much as 10 times in one day. He made an overdraft of about $80, and for each one, he was charged $35. The total of fees was almost $500. I put $500 in his savings account, but he thought I had put $600 in his checking account. When he used his debit card, they took money out of his savings and charged him $10 to transfer the money plus $35 for overdraft fee. He made small purchases, some as little as $1.50, and was charged $35 for each one.
How can they let a teenage child make that much in overdrafts? When my paychecks don't clear, I cannot use my card. The bank has just ripped my son off. He doesn't have the money to pay it. I have to pay it and I am on a fixed income. $500 for a total of $80 in overdraft fees is way too much. They said that if I pay $300 in seven days, they would waive the $175.
Reviewed July 28, 2009
I was charged an overdraft fee of $35 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 charged me for a pending fee. Even when the company representatives, Roberta ** and Karen **, faxed Bank of America with the information explaining about the additional fee, nothing was ever done. I contacted at least three 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 overdraft fee would be reimbursed to my account after all the information was received. I was out $35 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.
Reviewed July 28, 2009
When Wachovia (Wells Fargo) was asked to close my account (lost my job), they refused and told me that I had an overdraft of approximately $2. Over time, their overdraft charges grew to be approximately $1,731.20. I recently received a letter from NCO Financial systems stating the amount with no back-up or proof to the conviction. I am currently unemployed. Wachovia refused to close my account resulting in massive fines. I do not feel that I should be responsible for these fees and I cannot afford to pay them.
Reviewed July 28, 2009
When Wachovia was asked to close my account (lost my job), they refused and told me that I had an overdraft of approximately $2. Over time, their overdraft charges grew to be approximately $1,731.20. I recently received a letter from NCO Financial systems stating the amount with no back-up or proof to the conviction. I am currently unemployed. Wachovia refused to close my account resulting in massive fines. I do not feel that I should be responsible for these fees and I cannot afford to pay them.
Reviewed 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 hold it for 10 days with no exceptions. To me, this amounts to stealing 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.
Reviewed July 27, 2009
I have been banking with Wachovia for five years and for five years, I have told them that if there is no money in my account, to just decline it. Yet for years, they have been doing it anyway and charging me an arm and a leg so they can do with my money whatever they please. It started with a check being posted that shouldn't have shown up as available yet, but did, so they charged me for it. And it has just gotten worse over the years. The most recent being a charge put through for $80 that was not available since the account only had $7 in it, since I don't use it because I live and work in the UK. My husband is stationed here in England. So Wachovia allowed the money that wasn't there to be taken out and are now charging me a total of $105 in overdraft and NSF fees. I asked to have them removed, explained again my disgust for this system and was told they could only credit me back $26.
So I called again to complain and was told that if I had said something the first time, they may have been able to do more. But now the $26 has been accepted and there is no more that can be done. Even though I said that the last time, I was told the $26 was all they could do. Furthermore, if they sent my mail to the right address, which they won't do, I would have been able to correct the problem sooner. But they still can't put my correct address in because I can't verify incorrect information they have listed for me. On top of this, now they are saying that they can make my card decline if there aren't funds available! Magically, now they can do that after hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees! Not one person for their company can explain to me what the money from these fees actually goes towards and why they need it.
And when I pointed out that the truth is that most of it goes towards their companies' profits, I get silence. I am often hung up on or disconnected when I call. I have tried repeatedly to find out why if I continue to ask that my card be declined, that they can't do it with no good explanation. I was told that the $80 that I did not want taken from the account since it was not available, was taken after someone from their company decided to pay it for me because of my good record with their company. Fine, then let it come out of their paycheck! I did not apply for a credit card from them and I do not want them extending any credit to me. That's essentially what they are doing, extending credit to people who did not apply for a credit card, who do not want a credit card, and who certainly don't want to pay such high fees for a service that they neither asked for or wanted! I am tired of banks getting away with this fraud. Something needs to be done and it needs to be done now!
Reviewed 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 no $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 checked 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.
Reviewed July 24, 2009
I went inside (because they made me at the drive-thru) to cash a check that I received 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 verify 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 was, 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 this is **!
Reviewed July 24, 2009
On 7/22/09, she called me because she wanted payment for my car. She said I needed $1700.00 to pay. I said I sent a check for $800.00. She said she sent the check back because I needed to pay $900.00 more. Then I told her I would see what I could do, and she said ok. Then 1 hour later, she repossessed my car. Now she said that I needed to pay $15.632.28 to get the car back, because she said that I mistreated her over the phone. I never said any of that. All conversations were recorded. I tried to call, and they sent me to recording.
I paid $30,000 on this car, and I don't think it's ok that I lose my car because she is asking the balance of the car. I try to lower the payments, which were $770.00. And before, I had other job. Now, I don't make the same. So they never wanted to lower the payment. I talked to Yolanda and Angela from Wachovia to lower the payments, but they didn't. Please help me. I was not working. Now I work but do not make money like before. Even Angela told me why I don't go live with some, so I can pay the car or find other job. Please I need your help. I try to pay the car, and it is not better for them to do better payment (lower) because of the economy. I can't sleep at night. Now, I have no car to work. I'm 52 years old.
Reviewed July 24, 2009
If you open a savings account and attach your checking account to it, then if you go into overdraft, they automatically transfer the funds necessary to cover the overdraft if they are available in the savings. Then, they charge $10 for the service. Anyone else unhappy about being charged for transferring your own money to your own money? I also have the same complaints as others who have responded, so I won't go there again. I am closing all my accounts, my dad's accounts, my 2 sons and my cousin, my oldest son's girlfriend and anyone else I can find willing to do so. I checked around my town and found a home-owned bank that is not associated with the large conglomerates like Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, etc. That is where we are all transferring our accounts to. I hope we can all arrange to walk in together to close our accounts.
If everyone would pass this along and go through with it even though it may be difficult due to automatic deposits or deducts, I believe they will get the message. I intend to contact everyone I know and have them spread the word. We are just the little guys that they could care less about, but together we can take a bite out of their you-know-what. One other insight: Anyone who may consider themselves celibate can no longer claim that. If they look at what banks and credit card companies are doing to them, you get my drift.
Reviewed July 24, 2009
I received an overdraft slip for less than $2 even though the bank teller, when I opened this account, convinced me that if I open a Keep the Change savings account, I should be protected from overdrafts. At the point of the overdraft, I had the required funds on my Keep the Change savings account. When I went to the bank and talked to the account specialist, she told me that they cannot refund me the fees because it is not the first time for an overdraft to occur on my account during the last 12 months. I was never informed on any other overdrafts. The account specialist told me that she cannot go back and tell me what dates or how many times. I wanted to close the account immediately, but she suggested I do that the next day after my employer deposits my pay check. I went online and checked my account for previous fees. I did not find any but one insufficient funds for $0.87 which I was not charged for because I had a pay check deposited few hours later. I work very hard to earn my survival expenses, so it is not fair to be charged $35 for less than $2 insufficient funds. I am very disappointed with the misleading and the charges.
Reviewed July 23, 2009
At midnight on 7/16/2009, my balance was over $3000.00 because I had a direct deposit to be credited that was already showing on my account balance. At 8 am, however, I had $140.00 in overdraft charges because I had one check and 3 check card purchases go through. Of course, they ran the $500.00 check which made my balance (without the direct deposit) to low to over the 3 other smaller charges. But I had a direct deposit sitting there of $2500.00. They knew the money was there! They had already shown that money on my balance at midnight! I have had this account for years and overdraft was never an issue as long as I had a credit card for them to charge things like this to, but Wachovia changed the credit card to Bank of America and I will not open another one with Wachovia. This is insane and a very poor practice. However, Wachovia seems to be able to get away with this practice without any difficulty. What can we do short of changing banks?! When I called, the CS person Joel was very nice, but he was basically unable to do anything but listen to me.
Reviewed July 22, 2009
Wachovia took and bounced checks when there was money in the bank and then refused to talk to me and actually calling the police. I have evidence, their own online documents, that items were paid and then returned to charge fees. To top it all off, they have closed my account without notifying me so that my direct deposit paycheck cannot be retrieved. I am without a paycheck for Lord knows how long until I can get the state of Georgia to find it and cut me a paper check.
Reviewed July 22, 2009
I deposited a check into my Wachovia account via ATM. I needed cash so I got cash back from the transaction same day. The next thing I know, a couple of days later, my accounts with bank has been frozen. I was placed on fraud alert because I made a transaction using the ATM and never deposited checks. This was the first time. The check was from another business account I have and that bank has caused me headaches as well. Anyway, Wachovia did not send me any letters, made any phone calls or anything! I called in to find out what was going on. I then spoke with a James with Wachovia who called the other bank to verify the check and stated there was a problem. Once I got everything straightened out with the other bank, I called Wachovia to explain the situation. James flat out told me he didn't believe me and would need to speak with someone at my other bank and accused me of trying to defraud them!
Needless to say, I felt belittled and insulted for him to call me a liar and a thief, without actually saying it! He (James) then stated he was also recommending closing my account because of this one time transaction into this account! I went into a branch and dealt with some very friendly and helpful tellers who tried to explain my situation, but James was still adamant about closing my account. I just tried to go into my account via web and it appears they have closed it out! I am glad they closed it! I do not want to do business with them ever again! I have one thing to say to Wachovia, who just got bought out by Wells Fargo because they couldn't pay their bills, oh, it was you! Now, who is the thief here?
Reviewed July 22, 2009
Unfortunately, I had been a BOA customer for about 10 years. I just begrudgingly paid $80 in service fees when I closed my checking and savings accounts down. I closed the accounts because their "fees" were because of their error, not mine, and no one was willing to correct it. Enough is enough. Now, they will never get another "fee" from me.
Reviewed July 22, 2009
Every single time I go deposit a payroll check, whether it’s inside the branch or at an ATM, my check has a hold. Sometimes the hold is for 3 days, other times the hold is for 5 days, leaving me with no funds at all. The bank now got smart and allows people to withdraw funds. It does say the account will go temporarily negative. However, it says nothing about any possible fees being assessed. So basically, I have no money to pay a good amount of $35 fees, and the call center people are useless because they always say the same thing, “it’s your fault.” They have no care in the world for what happens to others. They place the bank’s interest ahead of all else, they interrupt all the time, cut you off and don’t apologize as if they are above or superior than the rest.
I have asked why after 8 years of banking with them they do that. The woman’s reply was “We have to make sure the funds are available.” I asked have you ever seen a payroll check come back returned on my account, she had nothing else to say. I pleaded with the woman for about 10 minutes and she continued to go back to the same thing “You should know the funds were not available when you decided to take the money out.” Imagine what poor customer service they have.
Now my account has 3 $35 fees totaling $105, and they refuse to acknowledge that this is apparently a hardship for a family. I was only able to get the bare necessities for my family and have no gas. The bank this year has done this to me time and time again. I have now picked up another job in order to supplement the bank’s greed. I have paid $140 in fees just in the past month and a half. That amount pays for my electric bill and gas for the week.
Reviewed July 22, 2009
I called and advised that my account had been charged when I had never even used the card. My wallet was stolen and the bank issued me new cards. The account had some charges through Publix and Lowe’s and some others that were never authorized. Then came other charges from Hartford Insurance. Again, never authorized. The bank never followed up on my claim and instead charged that account hundreds of dollars in overdraft. So, when I called back again, they said they can only file claims for past 60 days. Again, they kept charging my account hundreds of dollars in overdraft. Now, they have gone to my savings and drained it along with my main account, which is now overdrawn because of the way they handled my claim.
It seems charging overdrafts to my account instead of following up on claims is an easy way out for these people. This is my VA disability pay that they decided it was easier to charge my accounts than to follow up on a claim. I filed another one and they had my name wrong along with the address that was wrong, but luckily it did arrive - thanks to the post man. When I called back, a lady by the name of Gracie had already canceled my claim and they told me that someone would call me back within 72 hours. Here, I sit now in the middle of the month while my accounts continue to get further drained by BOA.
Reviewed July 22, 2009
I have been a BofA customer for the last two years. Since March 2009, I have been charged over $1000 in bank fees, including fees charged to me while I was in the hospital after undergoing gastric bypass surgery. I paid in March and April 2009 over $500 in fees, and my account was fine for about a month. On 7/14/09, BofA took $240.24 in funds from my checking account without informing me and then charged me $105 in fees for money that I never touched. Then on 7/16/09, BofA again went into my checking account and withdrew $108.47 without my knowledge or notice. So as a result of $453+, they charged me another $340 in bank fees. This is not right!
Reviewed July 22, 2009
I went to the above Bank of America branch to deposit the checks. One of my clients, who wrote me a check, said that the account was closed. Client also has an account with BOA. I asked about that issue to Linda, she didn’t understand, seemed like lack of knowledge. She was not able to answer me. I told her to let me speak to the branch manager. She went to branch manager, she came back and told me the branch manager is not here today, even though I knew she was there because I usually go that branch and on top of that, she was trying to call police on me.
However, I was so mad about your customer service. I have an account, $20k is in my account for more than a year, I deserve better. I’ll probably close that account very soon. The worst customer service lose so many customers. One of the victims is myself. I will close my account soon.
Reviewed July 22, 2009
I had an overdraft item and was charged $35 then the bank charged me an additional $35 for being overdrawn. I was charged a total of $70.00. I was very upset, since I was never told of this.
Reviewed July 21, 2009
I have been charged over $1000 in fees in the past year by this bank. On July 8th, 2009, a manager told me that he was crediting me $280 in fees due to the fact that I was charged so many outrageous fees in the past year. He also stated that he would activate my overdraft protection which is connected to my savings so I don't get fees. This was on July 8th and today, July 21st, it was still not done and now, as of tomorrow, I am being charged $525 in fees. I can't pay my bills and have a disabled child in the house (my son) along with my daughter. I live paycheck to paycheck and when I spoke to the bank, they were nasty and basically told me there is nothing they can do. No managers will give you their names. I went to the bank in person and they told me they can't do anything. This is horrible. I will get kicked out of my house; I can't pay any of my bills. This was their mistake. They won't even let me close my account.
Reviewed July 21, 2009
Last month, on 6/15/09, I requested that my auto transfer to my savings be stopped. I was assured that it would be and that my account would be fine. The $400 was still transferred on 6/16/09, as a result making my checking account go negative. I was given seven $35 each fees, then given another fee of $35 for having the negative balance too long, a total of $280. I have been trying to have this issue corrected so I had my direct deposit go to my savings. Apparently, I've used my savings too many times and given $81 worth of fees. If I had my checking account fixed, I would not have this problem. I am being told that the transfer of $400 is not a bank error, which I don't understand, since I was assured by Bank of America Customer Service rep that this money would not transfer and that my account was fine. I have spoken to management, branch, customer service e-mail, customer service phone people & have been told that these fees can't be reversed even though I was assured that my account would be fine.
According to Bank of America, it shows that the request to stop the transfer was done; however, it was transferred anyways and after I called again, I was told sometimes this request to stop a transfer takes 48 hrs, so it still went through. I was not disclosed this info and even asked a manager to pull the phone call when I called to prove that the CSR confirmed this money would not be transferred, as a result proving this is Bank of America's error and I was told that the phone call was not recorded. I want this money credited and this checking account closed. They advised it will not close until I pay the fees but I don't feel that I owe these fees.
Reviewed July 20, 2009
After canceling an account with Wachovia on the 6th of July, I confirmed that all forms of business was finalized and thereby closed with Wachovia. However, a week later, I discovered that they accepted a charge that somehow was made on that old account and Wachovia reopened that account, processed the charge, counted it as an overdraft and at the same time when my HR wrongly performed a direct deposit to that account, accepted that as well and immediately took out the money I owed all without my consent or notification. I have lost at least $200 from an original paycheck and was never informed of any charge or reopening of the bank account.
Reviewed July 20, 2009
This is all probably perfectly legal in the business world. After all, laws are bought and paid for by corporations. This is regarding what feels like the predatory practice of posting transactions in such a way as to generate overdraft fees, and then compounding fees upon fees. Many times at Bank of America, I've been charged overdraft fees, based on the hour and minute they've decided to post a direct deposit transaction versus a purchase transaction on the same day.
On days where I am expecting to have my paycheck electronically deposited, they will post the deposit at various times during the day of deposit. This coincidentally happens after all my purchases of that day have been posted. This gives Bank of America all sorts of excuses to charge multiple overdraft charges. Overdraft charges that they repeat every five days. This can amount to several hundreds of dollars every month. This, in turn, increases the probability of falling short the next month. Thus, creating a never ending cycle of overdraft income for the bank, while denying the consumer to catch up.
Because of this, I decided to take all of my money out of Bank of America, and start banking at a credit union. After I had taken my money out, Bank of America's repeat overdraft charges had accumulated a deficit of several hundreds of dollars. Even with this deficit, which by then was a few weeks old, they sent out a rent payment of $2,300.00, and now claim that I owe them over $3,200.00.
I had asked them to stop the payment and close my accounts. They replied that they "couldn't" stop the payment since it had already been sent out. Mind you, this is through online banking, and the check they send is their own check sent on my behalf. Why can't this bank order a stop payment on one of their own checks? In addition, what kind of bank sends out a check knowing the customer doesn't have the funds to cover it? This all smacks of conveniently putting the customer in a position of financial liability in order to leech fees.
As I stated in the opening, it's all probably legal, as the banking industry has bought the laws that allow them to do so. But shouldn't someone stand up for the guy who can't afford a lobbyist? I am hoping that by this complaint, these practices may come to a close.
Reviewed July 17, 2009
Myself & my wife are senior citizens - in late 2008 three banks we dealt with had failed so we decided to place funds in a safe deposit box with Wachovia for added security. We placed $20,000 in a safe at this location on 10/02/08, writing checks on Wachovia, then placing cash in safe. We had this box since 1991 and recently entered the box 10/02/09 and then on 05/29/09 decided to take funds out to buy a CD as a retirement fund. My signature card shows only myself accessing the box and all signatures on the box are mine. When I signed in, I was taken to the box and keys (which allowed the safe to be opened), only to reveal the case and box were gone. For folks like us, aged 75 plus, this has been a real shocker and nothing has happened to encourage us that our funds will be returned.
I have been a 27-yr employee, retired in 1985 from a national firm, and a realtor since then, and again retired with a class A credit standing, and until now, never been robbed or defrauded. Wachovia has no idea how the loss occurred and Roswell Police have closed their file having no leads. This obviously is a gross breach of our contract with the bank as no permission was given to enter the box and certainly not to steal its contents. My wife and I think of this day and night, and feel we are being held hostage by the bank, not taking responsibility for this loss of our money - and obviously has been negligent in its failure of security procedures.
When I visited this bank for a followup about a week later, I approached the front desk and introduced myself by saying, “I'm the fellow who had his safe deposit box stolen.” The lady behind me took my arm and said quietly, she too had her box taken - but found later in a storage area. I secured her name, and phone. When you're dealing as an individual with a mega bank with 6000 offices est., you feel mighty helpless so we are reporting this incident to all government agencies & consumer complaint forums and news media possible to get Wachovia's attention and a proper settlement for what they have put us through. More than 6 weeks have passed, and each day they prevent us from access to our funds, increases their liability.
Reviewed July 17, 2009
I made a cash deposit into my account and they only released a $100.00 of it. They are holding the rest of it for 24 hours. I have never had such horrible service from a bank. When I call and speak to a representative, they are rude and feel that if I don’t like their policy and rules, I can leave the bank and go somewhere else. Cash is cash; it should be available immediately.
Reviewed July 16, 2009
My dad died on June 4, 2009. My mother closed his checking account on 7-7-09, and when she did, the bank told her he had another account. My mother said that she was not aware of any other account of his. The person who was helping her should have looked further into that account. If he had, it would have been apparent that not only was his name on the account but also mine and my mother's. It was the account whereby my direct deposit of my social security goes into.
Since I live in a nursing home and have trouble writing sometimes, I put my parents on the account. Needless to say, I had no knowledge of this and on July 3, 2009, I wrote a check to the nursing home for $610. I was informed by the nursing home that the check was returned, account closed. I was shocked. My account had in it $898.32 and I wrote the $610 which should have left me $288.32. I also wrote a check for postage of $3.26 which brought my account to $285.06. I just cannot understand why they chose to not allow my check to the nursing home to be returned and pay the postage check?
After all the dust was settled, I had called the bank, spoke to numerous people and they don't know how this happened, especially as there was an approximately $4.00 amount that was due from his account and they took it out of my account. I had numerous times tried to have his name taken off because he also was in the nursing home after a bad stroke. The bank personnel told me that I would have to come in to remove his name but they could do all this by phone? I would like to know what happened to the other $26 I had that I didn't get credit for.
I called the bank a day before going in on the 14th, to find out what I needed to bring with me to open my account and fix the mess. Of course, they told me my account wasn't closed; they were going to use the money that was left in for maintenance charges. I never let my account go under $100 so I wouldn't get charged that. This was a senior account. So when I went to the bank branch on Joyce St in Fayetteville AR and spoke to **, she stated that she couldn't help me without my mother being there. The phone #479-521-3690. I had that account for over 30 to 35 years. Is there any way to recover the money lost in all these transactions? I did close that account just because of frustration, and went to Arvest in Huntsville AR.
Reviewed July 16, 2009
I overdrafted my account due to my employer not paying me. I finally got some money and brought my account up to date. The same day I deposited the money, I got hit with an extended overdraft charge and then another check I had written bounced and was charged another overdraft charge. This is BS. No one at BOA can help me and it's bank policy. Isn't us the citizens of the good old US of A that bailed their ** out? A little help here?
Reviewed July 16, 2009
Bank of America advertises that their teller windows are for customers only. However, I am a customer and they would not provide me with services. Their teller and supervisor, Erica, did everything in their power not to honor and cash a Bank of America check that was written to me, another Bank of America customer. Although I have a mortgage with them, they penalized me for not having an open checking or credit card account or the remnants of what is my shredded credit card. In addition to my driver's license, they requested another form of ID to cash the check. They refused to accept a state issued ID. They only wanted to accept a Bank of America card or coupon as their second form of ID. Since the conversion from Countrywide to Bank of America, we have not received any coupons. When questioned as to why I closed my accounts, I let them know that Customer Service was the problem. What I didn't tell them is that the Customer Service at their branch was the reason I closed my account. I feel slighted as a customer and disheartened as a consumer. They gave me the runaround for 30 minutes just to find a way not to cash my check.
Reviewed July 16, 2009
I withdrew from an ATM and overdrafted my account. The overdraft went to the bottom of the page, all the other charges that were already cleared were pulled out and resubmitted and I was charged $280 in fees, $35 eight times. How can this be legal?
Reviewed July 16, 2009
I was selling items online and someone sent me a scam check for $1,200.00. I was a little wondering so I took it to the bank and handed it to them asking if they would verify to make sure everything was legit. Tina **, the bank teller, told me to show a second form of ID and then the next thing she said it’s a fraud check. I said okay I do not want it. She said we will keep it, I said fine. The next thing I know, I went home, the police showed up at my door and I was arrested for check fraud.
I will never use Bank of America and if I were you, I would not use them either. No one went to fix this matter. Everyone who knows me know I would never do something like this now. I cannot get a job because I used to work as a mortgage processor. So, I am living on welfare until that runs out, then I am just hoping to make a living somehow. But how ever I have spoken to some lawyers about a lawsuit for the fact that my record is getting expungement, due to the fact I had to take an ARD program to get out of this, I did not have money for a lawyer. Now, my life is a mess and I am still living through what happened to me.
I was arrested. The police dept kept me for 5 days in jail feeding me cheese and water. No shower, no change of clothing. I was mistreated. I got out of jail Friday. My court hearing was Monday. They asked me where my attorney was. Now, I was furious about this, so I say to the system you have failed me and for my local Bank of America hiring unqualified people to work as tellers. This is a problem. I still am trying to find a way to work or make a living. Any lawyers willing to help me please contact me at **.
Reviewed July 16, 2009
I received a letter regarding my senior advantage checking account. Now I must have a $5,000 balance in my checking account or have a mortgage through Bank of America or a few other outrageous requirements. Otherwise, I get a $15 per month charge. Why these requirements? I'm thinking I need to close my account with this bank because of those requirements. I'm not paying $15 a month. An account there isn't worth $180 a year!
Reviewed July 15, 2009
I ordered a "free" sample of a product with a internet company, Dazzle White. I was immediately contacted by BoA's fraud protection service asking if I signed up for this "service". I said no, it was only a free sample and that I would not be charged, only shipping. They said that I need to call and cancel my order because they would bill me monthly going forward and gave me a number to call which I did and canceled. I came back from vacation and the company never canceled my order.
Then I called BoA and was transferred to the Disputes Department where I spoke to a rude and incompetent rep named Carrie. Carrie said that she would be unable to help me because I already called the company and they should have cancelled my order and that I did not call the two additional subsidiary companies that they also do business under, which also billed my card. She said that I would have to pay for these fees and that there is nothing Bank of America would do to help me and that I would have to pay for those charges. I was quite upset because it was BoA that gave me the number to call, which I did, and the company billed me under a different subsidiary anyway and now I was being forced to pay these outlandish costs. I tried to explain to the rep but she wouldn't listen or help me and just kept repeating that I would have to pay, was getting upset every time I responded that I would not be paying these fees and finally asked to talk to someone else.
This is where bad got worse and Carrie refused to transfer me to anyone else. So then I asked for her last name, which she refused to give and then asked for her employee ID number which she also did not provide. I responded that it was quite convenient that she did not have an employee ID nor could provide me with her last name. I told her that I would be writing a complaint letter and hopefully someone at BoA will be able to trace who pulled up my account, provided me with such poor service.
I called back and spoke to a Heather and told them that I was having a difficult time with Carrie and if someone else. Heather then directed me to Cynthia who was able to help me resolve my problem and instructed me to mail back the free samples and get a proof from the postal service. Then she said to call them back and mail in the proof of delivery and that they would take this issue up with the vendor and remove these charges. Furthermore, she issued me a new credit card number so that this company can't bill me anymore and I am on my way to resolving me issue.
So the real problem I feel was Carrie's incompetence because Heather and Cynthia provided me with alternatives to this dilemma. Hopefully, people like Carrie are weeded out and people like Heather and Cynthia are promoted so that loyal and long time customers like me of over 10 years and thousands of dollars of monthly transactions aren't lost to other banks with better customer service.
Reviewed July 15, 2009
I wanted to change checking account for bill pay. After 3 weeks of telling me it has been changed, it is still not done. I have called, live chats, emails. They won't change it even though the old account is at zero.
Reviewed July 15, 2009
Mr. ** was my investment’s counselor at Bank of America's Worcester office. In April of 2008, we discussed potentially investing in BofA schemes called Buffered STEEPLS that track certain stock markets. When he told me that the principal was protected, but only to a ten percent loss, I told him that didn't seem like a good deal.
In May, I spoke to him about investing and he told me he had new offerings that tracked a European market and the S&P 500, but that in this case the principal was fully protected. On a second occasion, he repeated this description and explained that if the market went up, I could withdraw the money at any time and it would earn double the increase in the market (up to 10 % market increase) and even if the market went down (he had said that this term was 18 months) as long as I waited until the term of the investment was up, I would get the original principal back.
I invested $30,000 in this STEEPLS and in June of 2009, I called his office to see when the term of the investment was up and I could have the principal. I was told that the term was actually for two years and that the investment was protected only to a 10% loss. I told him that as he had misrepresented the terms of the investment, I wanted to have it voided and the principal returned to my account. ** referred me to his superior in Worcester, a Susan **, and I told her what had transpired. She said she would need to speak with her superior and then there passed a month in which there were many promises to call me which were unfulfilled. When I would manage to get through to her on the phone, there was a variety of excuses, such as, the superior is on vacation, etc. After several weeks, she called and said that her compliance officer told her that the bank was in full compliance with regulations and that I had paperwork describing the investment in full.
I said that since I had complete faith in Mr. ** and had no reason to doubt that he had described the investment to me correctly, I had seen no reason to examine the small print as his description was straightforward. I was told that the bank was not responsible for my “misunderstanding.” Of course, I have no recording of the conversations with Mr. **, but he clearly lied to me about the basics of the investment, no doubt, because I had refused to invest in the previous month's offerings expressly as the principal was not protected.
Reviewed July 14, 2009
I had a paycheck drawn from Bank of America that I needed to cash. I was told that even though the payroll check was drawn on their bank, I was going to be charged $6 to cash it since I did not have an account with them. The teller asked if I still wanted to cash the check. I said no and then she started counting out money. I asked why she was counting money out. She replied, "Oh, I thought you said yes." I told her I wanted my check back. She said that it was already cashed and that there was nothing she could do now. My complaint is not necessarily in regards to the $6, but to the fact that the teller cashed a check without my permission.
Reviewed July 14, 2009
I have several business line of credits and credit cards with Bank of America. Most of these accounts came from older banks names, like MBNA Bank, Fleet, etc. I have had these accounts for about 10-15 years ever since I started my automotive recycling business. I never missed a payment since and never had a late payment, plus I have had some high balances that were paid in full. Anyhow, today, which is July 13, 2009, I needed some cash to purchase some goods for my business, so I decided to look at my Bank of America accounts. I found a credit card ending ** with a zero balance that I can transfer some funds to my personal checking account. I hardly use this card. I wanted to make a transfer of $20,000 and decided to call the bank to verify that my rates and terms are the same. They were. I tried to make the transfer online from my online banking, but it did not work. I called customer service and the teller told me that in order to make a transfer, I have to talk to a loan specialist. Loan specialist? I thought, “What?” I told the teller I’ll just go to my local bank! She said, “If you make it over the phone with us, you will get a better rate and no fee; if you go to the bank, it won’t be the same.” I got suspicious already.
I got through to the loan specialist and he asked me the usual questions (general info) and I thought nothing of it. Slowly, I got to smell that he was investigating my credit, my business, and banking information - all this over me wanting to transfer funds from my own credit card that I had for years. What is this all about? I usually write a check and that’s it. I was on the phone on hold for at least one hour. Finally, the loan officer got back on the phone after asking me a billion questions and told me that he can’t give me this transfer. Not only that he couldn’t give me this transfer (upon his own decision), he said that he will lower every business credit line I have because my business is not doing well in 2009! What? Never mind that he got into my other credit cards and line of credits and lowered every credit limit on each card and closed one. He basically took away $65,000 in credit line away from me that took me over a decade to build. So now, no loan and no opportunity for one! Wow! That’s a shot in the back. All this because my business numbers are lower this year 2009. What happened to all these other years that the bank was making profits on me? One year and the guy took away basically 70% of my credit line.
To be honest, I have other banks that I can use, but it’s not the point. Why does our government giving so much money to the banks? Not only I didn’t get my transfer, but the bank also took money from me. Some America we live in. I called the bank to borrow and the bank ended up borrowing from me? What’s wrong with us people? How can we let this great country become this land of no more opportunities? Very nice way to treat an old and honest customer. If I hadn’t call, this would have never happened. I could have written a check like always and I wouldn’t be in this situation. That’s what’s amazing.
I am so upset over this, not for my own personal needs, but for other people who try to survive this tough economic disaster. In my 20 years of doing tier plus banking, I never faced such humiliation and disappointments from one single bank. I would never deal with Bank of America and I will encourage others, too! Slowly, I will withdraw every single fund I have there. And I hope one day the loan specialist and the bank who hired such specialist like him will face the consequences, too.
Reviewed July 13, 2009
I have asked BOA not to call my fiancee's phone number (30 to 40 times) and I have sent a certified request stating the same. They continue to do so. Mr. Tony ** gave all my personal information to my fiancee, how much I am paying, how much it is short, and he is not related to me. To the best of my knowledge, this is totally illegal.
Reviewed July 11, 2009
Being a single mom and working two jobs to make ends meet, I have to be extremely careful with my funds. In June, my account became overdrawn. Two items created the overdraft. Unfortunately the way BOA does business, they were able to justify charging me nine OD fees. Bottom line they continued to post debits prior to the deposit in order to charge the fees. As soon as I realized it, I went into the bank. The branch manager in Oak Lawn was horrible. She accused me of not managing my money or monitoring my account. I assure you, living day to day and penny to penny, I check my account often. She was rude, ridiculed me and of all things discussed my bank information in front of my friend without ever asking if it was okay.
The branch manager refused to help in any way so I considered it a lesson learned, even though I was not able to make my rent due to the OD fees. I have been closely monitoring my account again to ensure it doesn't happen again. Unfortunately I made a decision to process a debit transaction (7/06/09) knowing the funds would not be available until the next day, incurring the OD fee. I checked the account Monday night and there was the pending transaction and the pending OD fee. I made a deposit covering the transaction and the fee. I used my debit card two more times, knowing the funds were available to cover those transactions.
When I reviewed my account following those transactions, they charged me two more OD fees for those charges that I had money to cover and did not overdraw the account. In addition there is one more OD fee with no transaction to tie it to. That is a total of $140 fees when I did expect $35. Prior to going to the bank, I have been researching this issue and there are over 250 complaints on BOA for the same issue. It does not seem these practices should be legal to issue OD fees when an account is not technically OD and it's a manner of processing transactions in their preference order instead of the order of occurrence. Because I am on such limited funds, I do not have the ability to hire legal counsel and obviously none of the other 250 complaints do either.
Reviewed July 11, 2009
This company is calling daily, starting at 7 am to 9 pm. They are calling over and over - sometimes less then a minute after hanging up. I have told them over 100 times to stop calling, I do not know the person they are looking for, and to remove my number from the list. They rudely reply, "there is no list" or call me "liar," "crazy," and "thief." I have sent emails and faxes asking the calls to stop and the phone keeps ringing. The last banker I spoke with over this said it will not stop unless I change my phone number. What? Why should I have to change my number to get them to stop calling me? I have proved that I am not who they are looking for.
Reviewed July 10, 2009
The bank manager on duty at 12:45 in the afternoon this day, Friday, July 10th 2009, was rude, cold, obnoxious, and insensitive. I currently bank elsewhere and intended to open an account with you today. So glad I am not doing that anymore, as long as this woman works for you. I was also going to refer my friends because my sister and I had a wonderful experience at the Westchase branch 2 weeks ago.
Well, this woman today, changed my mind. I was too upset to get her name, but she wears glasses and has short brown hair. What happened was that my father passed away. I'm POD on his account. My sister and I were trying to pay his last bills and tie loose ends. As if it's not hard enough to lose a loved one, we have his financial situation to deal with and close off, as anyone who has been in my shoes before would understand. Well today, this bank manager basically yelled at me through the drive through ATM. No "sorry for your loss," no "let me see what I can do," no, none of that. She just screamed "I need a death certificate!" and shunned me away, as all the other cars stared, humiliating.
I explained to her it takes a month to get that. I had a temp DC, and all other identification and proof that my father has passed. She didn't even ask me for it, I was so appalled after her insensitive shouting, that I just wanted to leave, and so I did leave, and I now have a sour image of Wachovia. I am not opening an account with Wachovia and I'm telling all my friends and family to go elsewhere too, or at least avoid that branch.
Reviewed July 10, 2009
Approximately two weeks ago, I wrote to the president of this crooked bank for the second time on how I have constantly made the same change within a 6 to 9 month period of having my statements sent through regular mail and not through e-mail reminders, informing me that my statements are ready for viewing. Once again, that jerk gave my letter to someone else who purposely chose to ignore that part of my letter. It is though I did not and have not said anything about this matter from the beginning. These two "people" have made the choice for me once again of purposely keeping my statements online when I have requested so many times over that I want them to be mailed to me.
Also, in my last letter to these "people," I made a comment on how my June AT&T bill was paid twice. One payment was through that annoying bill paying service these crooks offer. Instead of addressing this issue in the manner it should have been addressed, these idiots gave me the same information I gave them about this matter and I am still out $23.89.
I received a letter on Thursday, July 9, 2009, from these "people," basically placing blame on me for their laziness and dishonesty by only addressing the AT&T issue and ignoring the rest of my letter. It is though they are willing to "resolve" simple issues with one-size.
Reviewed July 10, 2009
While traveling, I tried to have one work check direct-deposited, since there is no BofA in CO. I assumed this was done and used my check card all month, and it never bounced. I even checked my e-mail for the "e-mail alerts" I signed up for. Returning home, I have "overdraft fees" notices all through my mail, all showing up 7 days after the fee was charged and "extended fees" that posted in 5 days, which was 2 days before I got a notice? Of course, it's the first fees that generated all the rest. So any notice of what was going on, and I would have deposited more money.
BofA said my "e-mail alerts" only apply to my credit card, not my check card (I don't know why I would sign up for one without the other.), and they would not tell me when they started charging overdraft fees instead of simply refusing the card with an "insufficient funds" notice. They said it has been like this since 1990, but my experience told me differently. I feel consumers should be protected from banks that manipulate money to charge hundreds of dollars in fees in one single day and are under no obligation to inform the user within any given amount of time. They have e-mail and phone lines and can deny the card itself as they used to, but they earn far too much to do that anymore. When did this happen?
They would not waive the fees at this point and would not allow me to "unenroll" from overdraft protection, which I do and never did want. I feel this bank is scamming its customers, arranging deposits and withdrawals to generate negative balances that don't exist, then sending non-postmarked "snail mail" alerts that don't reach you before they charge you again for being late? I want a card that spends only the money I have! I thought that's what a debit card was when I got it.
Reviewed July 10, 2009
On July 12, 2009, I unknowingly overdrew my checking account. Over the weekend, I used my bank debit card 15 times (buying such things as coffee $1.89 and lunch $6.50). You guessed it, fifteen $35.00 charges. They didn't inform me via email and my card was not denied at any place I used it, so I didn't find out for 3 days. They need to inform their customers when they have overdrafts before they end up being forced to pay $35 for a cup of coffee. Not only is this outrageous, it is evil. I will be paying nearly $600 in overdraft fees. This is half of what I make in a month.
Reviewed July 9, 2009
I have been battling back and forth with customer service due to NSF charges. The bank has charged me more than $560.00 in bank charges in the past month due to them posting and re-posting the items per date. I noticed that after items have cleared the account, they re-post the cleared items and put my account in negative. If your account goes in the negative when they post, you would have a chance to come in the morning and deposit cash so the NSF charges don't appear on your account. They no longer offer this and charge you the NSF charges. I have pleaded to them that if they can just help me by reversing some of the charges so I can get back on track. But they continued to charge me.
I went to the bank under trenching rain, and the financial advisors, as they were very helpful, advised that I could not speak to the branch manager and advised that someone in customer service (800 number) had locked my account and that they were not able to reverse any of those charges. The only thing in life that cannot be reversed is death. How can the bank tell me that they cannot override the system? Since when do computers rule? We know that the bank needs people like me, living paycheck to paycheck, to charge those outrageous bank charges to be able to stay above water. If the bank would have reversed just one set of 5 NSF charges, I would have had some extra money to survive.
I have 2 daughters, who are in college which I pay for. They both are sick teenagers, who require endless doctor's appointments, time, and money. My husband, bless his heart, has congested heart failure and misses days at his job due to excessive heart palpitations. My mother is 72 years old with Alzheimer's and dementia. Even though we wake up everyday and go to work, we are in debt and cannot afford all these costly charges. Please, please check out Bank of America, because they are being unfair and are not running the business in a legal manner. How come they are able to get away with this?
Reviewed July 8, 2009
I deposited a personal check into the bank past the 8:00pm posting. When I looked at the balance it showed sufficient funds to cover. I looked at my account the next day, saw things came through, my overdraft kicked in but still the balance showed $278.00 in the account after all the debits came out. I called B of A 1-800 number and they said my account would be fine, with no fees, it will cover. I looked at my account this morning and discovered $350.00 in overdraft fees! I called the 1-800 # and they were rude and said to go to the bank, so I went online to chat, they said the same.
So, I went to the bank and I have to say, they were the most cooperative ever. The financial adviser was ready to reverse my fees due to being told incorrect information and for being a long time customer. I felt happy and then he said it has been locked. I asked him; what do you mean locked? He said whoever you spoke to this morning locked your account so no one can reverse the fees. He did say it happened this morning because this feature is typically not locked and has to be done by an individual. He said he can’t do anything.
Although going into the branch was the best thing I did, I still cannot get these fees reversed. I cannot believe the money B of A makes in fees, $35.00 ten times. This is a total rip-off. So now, I need to take this higher because what we planned on living on for a week is now gone, poof, by bank fees, like they need more of our money! The government does a pretty good job of that when tax time comes. Please help me on what I can do to get my money back. Lesson learned and I just want my money back.
This caused our account to spiral into more overdraft fees. The money that was left after all the debits was eaten up by fees and then caused us to go into a negative a second time, causing more fees. Lost time from work, aggravation and not to mention a load of stress about our finances and how we are going to pay for our bills as we had planned on.
Reviewed July 8, 2009
Bank of America steals 1/2 of the unemployment check. I am unemployed. Have auto deposit unemployment which would be been deposited to my Bank of America checking account at 0001 hours on July 7, 2009. I woke up this morning to find that Bank of America had processed payments prior to crediting the deposit, taking $280.00 (8 overdraft fees at $35.00 each) from my account, leaving only $6.09 for me to live on. I request that the $280.00 be credited to my account immediately.
Reviewed July 8, 2009
After four months and countless phone calls and emails to cancel an unauthorized charge; Bank of America still keeps mistakenly drafting $15 from my business account! It started out of the blue. In April, I noticed a strange charge on my account for Online Business Suite Account Management Services, a charge I did not authorize. I spent 45 minutes on the phone with BOA and finally got a representative to remove the charge and then they had the gall to try and sell me more services I didn't want.
They said they will remove the unauthorized subscription to the Online Business Suite Account Management Services and credit my account for the $15. They said I will not be charged for it in the future. The next month (May) rolled around and it happened again! Same thing, spent an hour plus sending emails and calling just to get them to remove this charge and service from my account.
June came, same thing again, this time, I demanded through emails that they get this problem in front of a manager because I didn't want to have this happen every month. I sent about 8 emails total, each time they sent a form letter back and each time I asked if they even read the emails. Every reply keep saying they credited me for the $15 charge and that we were removed from that service. I told them each time that this keeps happening and I don't want to keep going through this - that this was the third month in a row and it keeps happening. I asked them to please explain how they will make sure this does not happen again and to get this email to a manager. It was to deaf ears! It happened again this month of July!
I am so fed up with this and Bank of America could not care less! It seems like a scam! Automatically enrolling someone over and over again as if they hope unaware victims will let it slide so Bank of America can make some extra money! I know first hand, and my friends do too, how Bank of America is so greedy. BOA orders the largest to the smallest charges on an account when an overdraft happens within the same day so BOA unfairly makes a lot more money on fees.
My friend was only around $10 short one day, but since BOA unfairly stacks the cards against their customers, he was charged $175 for 5 overdrafts! If they ordered it from the smallest charge to the largest, only the largest charge would have been over-drafted and he would only have had one single $35 fee! I won't even get started to BOA's "keep the change" scam-like program.
It's the greed of large financial corporations that has gotten this world into this huge financial crisis. When are they going to learn that it's unhealthy to treat their customers the way they do? Only when large corporations don't have the power of a monopoly and we have more choices! The customers and citizens lose while the CEOs win! Too big to fail? No, too big fails!
Reviewed July 8, 2009
I wrote a post-dated check to my rental complex, and they and BoA cashed the check even though dated for 2 weeks later; I now understand that that is not a crime, but up to date, even after several pleas for assistance and calls to help me, I have been charged approximately $1000 in fees, and am being charged fees by the company. That payments have been returned, I am in financial dismay and BoA is in no way helping. They state that 'they are the bank that cares', but believe me... if you are looking for a bank, avoid these money-hungry cold robotic greedy people! You will definitely not be treated fairly!
Reviewed July 7, 2009
We have an account for direct deposit of SSI payments for my son. It is in his name, but only my wife's signature can withdraw or distribute the funds. A few months, a bank person allowed my son to transfer a few thousand dollars into another account without my wife's signature. The local bank admitted the mistake, but their loss management is claiming that the monies went to the person who it was in trust for. They claim no responsibility. Now, Social Security wants much of that money back due to Social Security overpayment to the account. The bank refuses to tell us how much of the money is gone from my son’s new account. Their entire case rests on the fact that we did not notify them within 40 days. The statements were sent to my son instead of us. We were unaware of this. We have no idea of how much my son has spent. The monies in the account were meant for his rent and food allowance.
Reviewed July 7, 2009
On June 29th, I noticed that I had 2 pending charges that would put my account over the limit by $30. I transferred that amount from savings to bring the account to zero. I thought that took care of it and did not check my account until Friday, 7/3, to see if my paycheck had deposited. I was greeted by 2 $35 overdraft charges which put my account in the red by $70. After about an hour with an online agent, they finally agreed to refund me these 2 fees. Then, I checked my account the next day (7-4) and noticed that after they refunded me these 2 fees, I was charged another $35 fee which is labeled "extended overdrawn balance charge". I have never heard of this fee before and I feel like this company is ripping me off.
Reviewed July 6, 2009
I had $123.23 In my Wachovia checking account. Over a 2-day period, I spent $132.28 on 10 transactions. Instead of being charged 1 or possibly 2 overdraft fees by Wachovia, all 10 transactions were counted as overdrafts. I've gone to the local branch several times as well as talked to customer service and their collection department to try and get this issue resolved. However, they refused to do anything about it.
Reviewed July 6, 2009
I understand these reps hear every excuse for overdraft refunds. I never have overdrawn with BOA. This happened one time. My spouse just got deployed to Iraq in June (last mo.), his trans. was to go to my account on July 1, 2009, it went in on July 3 instead. So it caused a check I wrote to overdraw the account. My spouse wasn't able to get to a computer to get it tran. on the 1st (still, I know, our own problem). Two reps I emailed on my account online refused to refund any fees (I had 3 overdraft fees of $35.00 each) and neither of them answered why BOA sent me a letter about 2 weeks ago (looked like a letter sent to all customers) stating, "they were reducing the NSF fees due to the economy and customer complaints". Nobody online even addresses that question.
So, finally, I saw the chat online button to a customer service representative, and I tried that. Well, "William", was kind, quick and precise without me having to go into a long story or get upset. He refunded my account $70.00, which was refunding me 2 of the 3 fees I was charged. Even today, after I had responded to the rude email, the girl said "no" and so forth, still not answering my question as to why BOA sent me that change of fees letter. Even the online rep who was so helpful said the fee is $35.00. Oh well, I’m not going to fuss about it. I don't overdraw on my account, but it is the principle of the thing. Proper info, the letter said fees are being reduced to $30.00 instead. Thank goodness for reps like William.
Reviewed July 6, 2009
I balance and reconcile my checkbook once or twice a month (depending on my usage) and I am always within a dollar to the total shown on my statement. This past month (June) I reconciled and found myself to be $93.06 off from what was on my statement as an ending balance. I went back three months and checked all charges and deposits and triple checked my math with the same result. I even called the bank's 800 number and went through all charges with the representative, also showing that I am not missing any charges and everything I had written was correct.
I went to the branch to try to figure this out and even though two different people went through all charges and checked the math, ending with the same amount I had, they want to refer me to a "reconciling agent" who charges $20 an hour to do exactly what they just did. And this will all be on my expense. Three people went through my charges/deposits and came up with the same result and they still want me to pay $20 of my hard earned money to have a third party do the same? I don't think so.
This bank has terrible customer service policies and, in this day and age of economic crisis, should own up to their mistakes and make amends. I pay all my bills through this account and if nothing is done, I will take my money out of that bank so fast it'll make their heads spin. I spoke to the branch manager (who was one of the people who reviewed my book, coming up with the same results as mine) and told her that I refused to pay $20 to have someone else review my checkbook. Those are my finances and I will not allow some third party to look over them.
Reviewed July 6, 2009
My family and I went to Destin, Florida for 4th of July weekend. When arriving there, I called Bank of America to let them know that I would be using the debit card. They asked me for my FIN; I had not memorized the number. I was informed based on that that my account could not be accessed. This was the first time during a travel I was ever asked that question. I pleaded with customer service that my call was to inform them that my card was not stolen and "please do not put a block on my card, ask me a question a person on the road can give answers too". My card was blocked immediately. The next day, 4th of July, I talked to customer service for cards stolen, the only people working, that my card was a business card and they were closed. My family and I slept in my car Friday, Saturday night, not having funds to pay for a place to stay. My daughter and I have suffered severe sunburn because of this.
Reviewed July 3, 2009
I have a Bank of America credit card and a Bank of America checking account. My bank of America credit card is my over draft protection for my checking account. Bank of America credit card lowered my credit limit without telling me. I set up automatic payments via telephone for my Bank of America credit card using my Bank of America checking account for: June 2009, July 2009, August 2009. Bank of America credit card took all three payment sout in the month of June. This caused my account to go negative. The credit card company kept resubmitting the same payments. My Bank of America checking account gave me 18 $35 fees in one month. Please help me!
Reviewed July 3, 2009
In May 2009, I mistakenly paid all my bills (online bill pay) twice for one month by failing to notice that "reschedule" payment did not cancel the previous payment. Bank of America refused to refund my overdraft fees, even though I contacted them about the problem in advance as soon as I realized my error. Since some of the charges were pending, the rep on the phone told me there was nothing that could be done until they posted and told me to call back after all the bad deeds had been done. I did as instructed. When I called, I was told no one had instructed me to wait until the payments had all posted and that someone would contact me about my displeasure. Nobody did contact me. Their new cash deposit ATMs are also causing quite a few problems for me.
Reviewed July 3, 2009
I had a very frustrating conversation with one of Bank of America’s customer service rep named Kayode or OluKayode from consumer lending (Tel. 1800-892-8349) on June 29th 2009. I had called the department to accept an initial offer from another credit analysis to merge my 2 accounts (Visa card and Gold Option Loan). Instead, he decided to put me on hold for 10 minutes and pulls my credit report without my approval.
He mentioned that "because my credit report looks satisfactory, he has decided to close one account". I asked him 3 times, if he was sure what he was talking and he repeated the same thing. Upon my reasoning, he started asking me about my employment and salary, which I did provide him. However, he still decides to close my account. He closed both the accounts rather than one account.
He seemed sleepy on the Monday morning or maybe drunk/high, not helpful at all and the worst customer service representative ever. I would like to know, after many years of good relationship with your bank, on what basis did you decide on to pull my credit report and ask me about my employment on an existing account. I am upset that after so many years of valued relationship with a bank, I just lost all of it in one shot. However, I am more than happy that your bank lost a very valuable customer.
I would like an explanation on why I was treated like this after providing all the information that was asked. Another explanation on why would you ask employment info on an existing open and good standing account? Lastly, an apology letter from Kayode or OluKayode. I lost years of good credit standing with a bank with whom I thought I will apply for a home and business loan. To establish this kind of relationship, it will take me years.
Reviewed July 3, 2009
My child was hit by a car 15 years ago. We put the money with Bank of America, the biggest mistake of our lives. My kid is 18 years old now. We have the account number, we have the court order, and Bank of America is refusing to give the kid his money. They are saying it's theirs because they have had it for 15 years. They told us we better get a lawyer and spend it all on him before they give it to my child. We are daily contacting Obama to help us since they are stealing our money anyway. Get your deposits out of there as quick as you can. They are folding, have to be to try and steal a kid's money. We have an attorney. That is how they steal your money. They figure you won't get one.
Reviewed July 2, 2009
They are basically hiding charges on your account to trick you into over-drafting. They just took me for $140 on this scam alone. I am changing banks today. I've never heard of this practice before.
Reviewed July 1, 2009
I was placed in a negative amortization loan by an unscrupulous mortgage broker with World Savings. They were sold off to Wachovia mortgage and I have had nothing but problems. I have been trying for 2 years to have my loan modified in order to remain in my home and Wachovia refuses to assist. They refused me for a refinance, a loan modification, and for loan assistance due to a hardship. I have contacted them numerous times and they do not return phone calls or allow me to speak with a supervisor. They would not even speak to me about my loan, but they refused to even speak to me unless I went into foreclosure. I am running out of options and wish to remain in my home. I have written to the Governor and my Congressman in hopes of some type of help.
We have had an extremely tough time with our payments as our mortgage balance keeps going up instead of down. I need to get this rectified as soon as possible.
Reviewed July 1, 2009
I was issued a check by my employer that was drawn on BOA and after sitting in my car for 10 minutes waiting for a teller at the drive-thru to cash the check, the teller came on the intercom to tell me that if I didn't have an account, I had to come inside to cash the check. So I parked the car, went inside and stood in line for 10 minutes just to be told that if I now wanted to cash the check, I would have to pay a fee of $6.00 because I don't have an account with BOA. I asked if this was punishment for not having an account there and the teller nodded in the affirmative. They really are the ripoff kings of America.
Reviewed July 1, 2009
Wachovia is handling my student loan repayments. Here's what has been happening: First, there is never a regular due date. The payment could be due on the 25th of one month and the 1st of the following month. Even within a month, the due date can change. I've gone to the website one day and noted the due date, come back the following day and due date is different. I have sent my payments in trying to meet the due date by registered mail so I know when they got it. However, I get a notice I am delinquent in my repaying. During this time, I can access my account. When they call and I tell them I have a receipt and give the name, they deny there is such a person. I am always 60+ behind. They demand I pay for the current and the next payment which is not due until the following month. They call me constantly by phone and want me pay by credit card, usually in the sum of $333.04, for two payments. When I do this, the following day, I can access my account online and see that the payment they claim they never got is credited to my account. What of the $333.04 that is never credited to my account? They state it is a late fee.
Reviewed July 1, 2009
On 05/20/09, Bank of America charged me a slew of unfair overdraft fees. Although they refunded some of the fees, they did not refund all. While of the overdrawn transaction was pending, I deposited cash into my checking account to cover the amount. This was cash, not check deposited the same day as the initial transaction date 05/20/09. The overdraft fee incurred initiated a slew of additional overdraft fees for not having funds to cover the overdraft fees.
Contributing this problem was how late the fees would post to the account in relation to the offending transactions. They charged me $35 for 14 transactions totaling $490 in fees for purchases totaling $40.83. Bank of America refunded $340 because they said that I hadn't overdrafted in 12 months and because they made a customer service error which added to the problem. Because they viewed this issue as several different occurrences rather than one big related occurrence, they refused to refund the rest of the money which I paid totaling $150.
I currently make less than $200 per month because of employment issues and school demands. I receive school loans to cover living and school costs. As a result, other financial obligations have gone into default, and I have to use family and friend assistance to get by.
Reviewed July 1, 2009
Despite having a very friendly overdraft coverage on my primary account, when I set up a secondary small account at the bank, they told me my only option for overdraft protection was to have a credit card attached to the account. When I had to use this "protection", I was charged huge fees. I paid it off, in full, the very next week using their website option to pay in full. The next month, I received another bill for $1.50. The $1.50 was for finance charges even though I paid the balance with accumulated charges in full. I called about this and they waived the charges "this time" but lectured me that the charges were due to the interest on the overdraft accumulated after the bill amount was issued (or something like that). They said that the only way I can ever pay off the bill in full, without any additional charges showing up the next month, was to physically call them. What an absolute pain.
Reviewed June 29, 2009
I opened an account with Wachovia years ago and after dealing with their unwelcoming and unmerciful staff, I moved over to another bank. I left a balance in my checking account of $1.12. On June 28, 2009, I received correspondence in the mail from their Collections Agency Focus Receivables Management LLC advising that if I didn't pay this amount that they were going to file a judgement against me for $53.86! I contacted Wachovia and they advised that they were dormant account fees and NSF fees because of the dormant account fees. I was advised then to contact Focus Receivables Management at 800-945-7745 and I spoke with R. ** and he advised me that he couldn't help me with working with the fees that I needed to contact 800-722-8101. I contacted the number and they advised me I need to contact the branch. I contacted the branch and spoke with a rep who advised me that I need to call Focus Receivables and speak with a supervisor.
I contacted the number provided, 800-945-7745, and was advised that they would be able to help because they are Wachovia employees. When I contacted the number, the rep transferred me to directly to R. ** who advised that it didn't matter how much I complained and who I complained to, they couldn't do anything. He advised me that they are not Wachovia employees and they cannot help me and that my intentions were not going to help the situation. I paid the amount totaling $60.81 because I work at a bank and it could cost me my job. This is cruel. From my eyes, they are charging me fees because I lent them $1.12. Is this not wrong? They ripped me off because I let them borrow $1.
Reviewed June 29, 2009
How long must a bank save original copies of checking account withdrawal slips to keep them from changing amounts? I bought a CD and the amount was lowered in value without my knowledge. I believe that my signature was cut and pasted (forged 95% sure) on new withdrawal slip that I used to transfer funds from my checking account to CD. The original was destroyed shortly after, I have seen only photocopy.
I believe it was just to cover a simple mistake. However, it did happen on the big bank meltdown date of 9/22/2008, and this did give Wells Fargo a motive to lower the amount of my CD since interest rates fell by over 2% in just a couple of weeks. This could have been a business model to lower high interest rate fees of Wells Fargo after purchase of Wachovia. Many people will not know until end of year because that is when the CD's mature. They might show up with CD's of less value than stated. Thanks, after hours and hours on phone and person, I have been refunded the amount I lost due to interest rate switch. Money wise I am OK.
Reviewed June 28, 2009
I have been a long time customer. My 2 teenage kids worked a summer job last summer and we told them they should open an account and "save some of their money" for college and for the future. So, I took them to the branch and told them we wanted accounts for them, but only if there were no charges, because the money they had to save was not huge, a few hundred dollars.
The lady said, if we did sub-accounts of my account "there would be no fees or monthly charges even without any minimum balance". I learned this month when my son's account dipped below $30 that it came to my attention. They had been deducting monthly fees from his account all along. I did not look for them as I was told no fees would be deducted. Our bank statement is on average 18 pages front and back.
They basically "deducted away through fees" my child's account after telling us "there would be no fees". When I called them, they said they would refund 3 months but would extend to 6 months "as a courtesy". That leaves about $200. They did not refund and refused to refund saying "I should have noticed it and called them sooner". Wachovia steals from children! That's my conclusion and it's despicable.
Reviewed June 28, 2009
Total disrespect. I asked my husband to change $300 in 20's to 2 $100 bills and two $50 bills. They told him unless he has an account, they can't take the money! This is US currency! I went and told the teller my husband just left. She promptly changed the money, never asked for ID or any account number. I was venting about the loans that the public have to pay back but get poor service while she was transacting. I took my money from the desk and proceeded to leave but not reached the door, she and Jessica were laughing at me as I was leaving.
When I confronted Jessica, she charged toward me wagging her finger telling me I have to leave the center now. I felt threatened by this girl charging after me. When asked again if she and Nanquita were laughing, she made an excuse and I countered with us saying that because you got busted being unprofessional and disrespectful to me. Jessica, the acting manager, was wearing a tee-shirt with a religious mantra on the front. That is totally unprofessional attire. Jessica proceeded when I called her a hypocrite to threaten me over and over with calling security. Then finally, that wasn't enough and told me she was going to file charges against me because when she continued to point that finger at me. I told her don't point at me and started pointing back.
How does a customer get abused and threatened because those ghetto women can't take complaints? That is their job! I felt accosted and was berated by an acting manager. I am terrified to go to my bank. I have never been so appalled in my life. For the record, I was yelling but only, and I mean only, after Nanquita and Jessica treated me as if I were a joke. This was a terrifying and frightful experience. Was it racist not to wait on my husband who is white and these girls are black? I went in and they never asked my account or ID. I am a black female.
Reviewed June 28, 2009
I went to deposit my pay check on Friday at noon. They said I could only have access to $100 until tomorrow. This irritated me but I let it go. The next the day, the money wasn't there, so I called them. They said that due to my lack of deposits with them, they were going to hold my pay check for 5 days. I am a new customer with them. I told them I needed the money because I had 3 young children and need to buy food. They didn't care. I could see their point if it was a personal check, but it was my pay check, from a local business, which I support my family on.
I told them that I would be cancelling my account as soon as I can get my direct deposit that I had just set up changed over to a different bank. I also told them I would tell everyone I know and tell the public in every way possible not to use their bank and if they are, to cancel. The associate I spoke to refused to let me speak to a supervisor. They said that it’s in the huge booklet they sent me, which states there that they could hold anyone's money at their discretion. Don't ever use this bank. They are heartless, money grabbing, useless people that waste the oxygen that God gave them. I had to bum money to buy food for my family.
Reviewed June 27, 2009
Is there a difference between using a bank card as a debit or credit? I charged 2 purchases on credit, not as debits, and these charges were held which reduced my available balance. I was hit with 3 overdraft fees for small charges, like a cup of coffee, because they were holding my money for the purchases I made on credit that evening. Why do I use credit if they treat it like a debit by holding my money and then charging me overdrafts on top of it? The bank supervisor kept telling me it was not a bank error, therefore, there is no recourse. Can anyone tell me why it's even called a credit card if they take your money at the point of purchase? Is it acceptable for the bank to charge me money for overdrafts when the purported charges haven't even hit my bank account?
I also returned something to one of the stores that evening. They didn't credit me that money as fast as they took my money. I still haven't gotten that credit two days later, which amounts to much more money than the two charges I made that night. It makes no sense that I am penalized for a charge that hasn't even hit my bank, it's only on hold. It is outrageous how the banks are treating their customers.
Reviewed June 27, 2009
Bank of America has closed two of my accounts due to error twice. I have called numerous times and have been placed on hold with no resolution. The first time they closed my account it was due to a breach, which I understand. However, they then mailed me out the same cancelled card three times. And then today, I find out they have closed the new account they assigned me and cannot seem to provide me with a reason why. My direct deposit is going into this account and my company doesn't provide live checks anymore. This will cause me to miss my paycheck. I have to wait an additional 3 business days as we get paid on Friday and I'll have to wait until the following Monday to speak with HR.
Reviewed June 26, 2009
I checked my bank account before making charges on my check card, and the balances were not up to date. They processed a large purchase that I made and subsequently charged me $210 in overdraft fees for $3 and $6 purchases that I made, making my condo fee bounce and thereby putting me in jeopardy of losing my home. I appealed to them several times and they refused to refund any of the charges. I have no food for the month and am begging for food.
Reviewed June 26, 2009
Over the past 6 weeks, I have been dunned for nearly $400 in overdraft or NSF fees with an account that's had regular deposits (some are even direct ones) not getting credited on the day of deposit. When one makes such a deposit at a teller-window, the balance at the time is not always the actual balance. For instance, a check is being refused at the time and charged an ISF fee, this is not reflected either at the teller's computer nor in the online account data!
Additionally, there is no provision for notifying the customer that a check is being refused and that funds to cover it could be deposited (say, in cash) in order to avoid the refusal (and/or processing of overdraft fee) if received that day. Some banks have offered this as a service to long-term customers. Finally, there's no way to create even a tiny line of credit, say even $50-100, to cover such situations. One can avoid all this only if one is able to leave such an amount sitting in a secondary account to be used in case of such a drop below the line.
Reviewed June 26, 2009
In February 09, I opened a savings account online while I was living in Nevada. I was saving for a car and a friend’s wedding out of state and decided a separate account would help me do so. Along with the savings came a free checking as well, I was qualified and approved for both accounts that day. I was instructed by the online guide to go into any branch and make my opening deposit and sign the paperwork for my two new accounts.
My accounts were going great until, I went to California to visit and forgot my PIN for my debit card. I decided to just go into a branch and get a new one. The representative told me since my account was opened in Nevada, she was not able to assist me in recovering my PIN and I need to contact the Nevada customer service line for further assistance (due to the fact that California's BofA runs off a system that is different than all the other BofA's?). So, I called NV customer service, the representative was very understanding and sent a copy of my PIN to me, she later informed me that to avoid the hassle and inconvenience for future situations due to the system. I should simply go online while in California and open a checking account, transfer my money over to the new account, that way, the California reps can better assist me.
I thought about it for awhile, I really didn’t need another checking. Is it my fault their systems are different? Anyway, I was so frustrated with the ordeal I went ahead and opened another account online while in California, hoping that it would make things easier since I do travel back and forth from California to Nevada and all my money is invested in my savings account with BofA.
This time around, while opening the account, it did not give me an instant same day approval but instead it instructed me to check my e-mail for further instructions. So, I figured since this is a second checking, the bank probably wants to re-verify everything. I was wrong! The next day, I went to sign on to my online banking and I was denied. So, I called the NV customer service again. They informed me that all my accounts are pending closure and I need to contact the Recovering/Risk Dept. At this point, I was upset and was trying to figure out why this is happening?
I spoke with a rep, Thomas from Recovery, who was very rude and basically told me before hanging up on me that I was reported to ChexSystems by another bank and all my accounts are pending closure?! I was shocked to hear this news, because this is the only account I opened! I called back and another rep told me to get a hold of ChexSystems and that is all she can tell me in regards to my account. So, what about the large sum of money I have in my savings and checking? How do I get my money? No answer from her, she was quick to get off the phone with me too!
So, I get a hold of my ChexSystems report and it states that I was reported in January of 09 (which I'm in the process of disputing as well). If that is so, then why did I get approved in February for not one, but two new accounts?! At this point, I'm furious and Head into a branch for further assistance. The rep informed me that on May 18th, 2009 (two days after I tried opening the second checking account) the Risk Department put a freeze on my checking account and all my money will be sent back to me as soon as the accounts officially close. I had 14 pending transactions and enough money to cover them before the freeze was placed (I guess they can't officially close the account until all pending transactions hard hit the account). So, I thought fine, I've had enough with this bank and want to take my money elsewhere! The rep told me that my money should be sent back to me in 7-10 business days.
I waited a week and a half and no money! So, I call the Risk Department again and was told that my account was negative in the time of closure so I would not be receiving any money back! I headed back to the branch and had a rep print out a summary of my transactions! This is what the Risk Department did: On May 18, 09, I had a balance of $225.51 in my checking account and $360.00 in my savings account. On May18, 09, I had 10 pending transactions totaling $198.32.and four transfers from my savings to checking, equaling $80.79. I had more than enough to cover my pending transactions ($225.51 - 198.32 = $27.19) plus my transfers from savings.
On May 18, 09, BofA, placed a debit-hold on my checking account, causing all my 14 pending transactions to go overdrawn (even though I had positive funds to cover all my transactions before the freeze was placed). This totaled in 14, $35.00 fee charges equaling $490.00 in charges! Instead of BofA realizing that the account was in a positive status to begin with and to refund or remove the charges, they instead took all my money from my savings account to cover all the fees without my authorization and is refusing to return back my money that is rightfully mine!
I have been on the phone every day since May 18, 09 with the Risk Department and have spoken with over 25 reps who all basically are giving me the run-a-round, instead of admitting they messed up. I have spoken with representatives and managers from the Risk Department, some in which agree with me and say they are putting in an "escalation request" to refund my money and to call back in 48 hours. I have been calling back for the last thirty days and it's the same thing! No one will give me my money or answers! It is now June 25, 09, I am still calling everyday and trying to get help! I need this money for my car and friend’s wedding! I will never deal with Bank of America again!
Due to Bank of America's lack of knowledge, I have no money and am behind in paying my bills and preparing for my future plans. I have been saving for months and BofA robbed me of all my savings! This has put anxiety and stress on my physical and emotional wellness. I have to live, literally, dollar for dollar just to make ends meet. The wedding is in three weeks and I need my money back so I can purchase my flight ticket. It’s not fair what BofA did and I don't understand how they can get away with this!
Reviewed June 26, 2009
I receive frequent calls from Bank of America in West Seneca, New York. Frequency is everyday, and it's more than once a day. What's troublesome: 1) They never leave a message, 2) they tend to hang up after a few rings, and 3) they say it is for a monthly renewal of card payments so they have to keep calling.
There are also unauthorized withdrawals from checking: 1) Two equal amounts of $521 (more than a thousand dollars) from a fraudulent purchase at newegg.com and 2) the same thousand dollars that the bank deposited temporarily due to distress. I filed a police report and was reimbursed months later. To add, there are hidden charges for services, which include 1) wire-transfer fee on both my account and the depository for the same wire transfer to equal $24 and 2) overdraft protection fee of $77 for checking tied to savings.
I made many trips to the bank. I closed all accounts. Also, I had to stop wire transfers. Now, I'm left with no banking services.
Reviewed June 25, 2009
On 6/3, we opened an HSA for Life account with BofA. On 6/11, we received our account information and instructions on making an electronic contribution into the account. We also received our credit card, which is to be used to pay for medical expenses out of the account. The funds were electronically deducted from our BofA checking account and are still not available to us. We have been promised repeatedly that the funds would be available.
In the past week, the problem has escalated to the point that there is no response via the customer service phone lines. No one can assist you at a local branch or via the normal BofA customer help because this isn't truly BofA. We are told no one can help and they have taken the money we need to pay for prescriptions. My husband is a heart patient and the cost of the prescriptions can be rather high. So our money for the prescriptions has been deducted from our account and is still missing after 14 days. We had to pay for the prescriptions directly as we couldn't wait any longer to fill them. I was beginning to wonder if I had somehow been a victim of a scam as there is no one at BofA to contact for assistance.
I have asked repeatedly via an online "help ticket" and have received no response. They even had the nerve to write in notes that the problem had been resolved when in fact the problem is still very much a problem. I'm now requesting a phone call back, but alas, there’s no response. I don't know where else to turn. Please help. Thank you.
Reviewed June 25, 2009
BofA takes the charges to their convenience. They charging me overdraft for the past week's charges. I look into my account online every day, and every day is different. They are just charging me $10 overdraft fee; the big charges, they post it first and then the little ones to charge you for the overdraft. The do not care about nobody; they always post all charges on Thursday when my checks come in. So, I just pay them $500 in overdraft my whole check. What we see online is not what they have. They just give me their statement and is not even similar. Online, they show that you have money but is not like that.
Reviewed June 24, 2009
I was enrolled in "Keep the Change" and maybe my complaint would be considered "small change" by some, but here's my story. In order to "keep the change," I had to open a savings account. I did that. Well, all the change from the "keep the change" program from my checking account went into the savings account. The savings account then took that change as some sort of fee. BofA is unethical. There have been many other problems I have had with them. One must keep a close eye on one's BofA account. They are immoral thieves. And when you speak to them, they never admit wrongdoing. "We did what was proper" is their typical response.
When I went to transfer the "keep the change" change from my savings to my checking because I was running low in my checking, the savings account had a zero balance due to BofA fees. Why did they get bailout money? Why?
Reviewed June 24, 2009
I believe the company claims not to have received student loan repayments, under the grace period, so that they can charge interest on unsuspecting students. In the case of my son, I repaid his loan 14 days before it was due. The check was not shown as cashed. When I called, they claimed to not have received payment or they would have cashed it. I sent a check at the very same time to an institution, the Dept of Education Student Loan Servicing Center, and theirs was received within 7 days that it was sent. Similarly, it was not cashed but it was considered paid on time. Both addresses were the US.
Reviewed June 24, 2009
BofA has charged me nine non-sufficient funds fees for seven non-sufficient funds items with the two extra fees. It threw my account balance again over my limit after my deposit. The account online shows positive amounts but BofA is saying it's still negative even if it shows positive. With the two extra fees, this throws my account back over the limit and has resulted in an additional 11 fees for a total of $385. This has resulted in me losing $455 and two hours on hold and my patience with this bank. They have rude customer service. Unbelievable banking! I'm quitting this bank and going to a credit union.
Reviewed June 24, 2009
They charged me over $400 in overdraft fees. Even after the problem was addressed, they continued to charge me. I lost a lot of money.
Reviewed June 24, 2009
I took out line of equity in August of 2005, never used the money. On November 13, 2005, I sold a property, to title no money owed, account was closed by BOA. In 2006, living in Maryland with my daughter, I transferred my accounts to Maryland and investments. During that visit, I inquired about a loan of $50,000.00 using my boat of $60,000. as collateral or investments. Two days later, I was told my money in bank, the amount will be taken directly from checking account.
On 2007, I purchased a house, on 2008, I tried to refinance when I discovered a lien on old sold property(?). I called the bank, spoke with 20 individuals, faxed all documents inquiring why this happened. I received a call, if I would pay $7,000 one citing loan they would rewrite and take off the lien. I received no further instructions. I finally contacted Mr.** with a letter, there was no reply, so I hired an attorney.
BOA continued to ask for all the documents to be faxed to them, but it never came back with a resolution or an answer to the ongoing problem. I have never said I do not owe the money. They have permission to take payment every month. Now, the lawyer is getting the same fax.
I took out the last of money my husband had after death, thinking I was paying them as suggested. The calls and having no resolution has been difficult on me as I am already suffering from depression and chronic condition. My husband died after serving 21 years in USMC, 17 years civil service to Uncle Sam, we took our responsibilities seriously, but to be continued to be shrugged off as though I were some bag of garbage, is not right. When/How can I resolve this problem?
Reviewed June 24, 2009
I've been a BOA customer for the past 9 years, yet I had enough with their poor customer service. Less than a week ago, I initially attempted to deposit a tax returns check to a joint saving account under my husband's and my name. Since BofA has 2 separate banking systems (Northern and Southern California) and I am a No Cal customer while our joint saving is in their So Cal system, I accidentally deposited the check to my own No Cal saving. Due to their systems, our joint saving account (So Cal account) never appears on ATM when I used my No Cal ATM card.
In any event, I noticed that error right away, so I requested a teller to transfer the money from my own savings account to our joint saving. I asked her to do so at least 3 times. However, she withdrew the same amount from my checking account and put it in to our saving. Four days later, I received a letter stating that the tax returns check bounced because I deposited the check to my own saving while the check has more than one payees (my husband and I). Then, I checked all my BOA accounts online and noticed the teller's mistake.
I went to one of the local branches and tried to speak with the manager. Well, a customer service whatever guy blocked me from speaking with anyone with any managerial capacity. Instead, he told me that I made that mistake and refused to reimburse any interest whatsoever. Well, since I just graduated from law school, I presented my case and had them agree to reimburse the interest. However, the reimbursement has not taken place yet.
Reviewed June 23, 2009
I went to Walnut Bank of America on Lemon Ave. to get new ATM cards and change the PIN number on our cards. ** told me that my husband would have to come in himself to change his. I told her that he was in the car with our three children and if we could just switch when I was done--she agreed. When my husband came in, ** gave him his new ATM and told him he was done. When he asked about his new PIN number, ** responded by saying, "Don't get an attitude with me. Don't get mad at me. That's not what I told your wife. You have to wait in line again if you want to do that."
My husband sat down to wait when ** came and looked down at him. She said, "Don't give me attitude." Not sure how to respond to her badgering, my husband called me and asked if I had told ** about the PIN number. I said, "Yes, that's why you had to go down because she said you had to do it yourself." I was on the phone when my husband brought it to her attention, that she was told about the PIN number change. She continued with the bad attitude and said, "Oh well, I guess I just forgot."
Only after my husband requested to speak to her supervisor did he receive any help with his PIN number. The next person to help was a woman named ** who accused my husband of having a bad day even though she didn't witness anything that had previously happened with **. While my husband was leaving the bank, ** looked at him from her desk and yelled out, "Don't look at me! Don't stare at me! What are you looking at?" and proceeded to follow him to the door.
**'s supervisor witnessed her following and taunting my husband and promptly apologized for **'s behavior. My husband finally had enough and asked to speak to the manager to inform him that his customer service rep was acting more like she was in gang territory than a bank. After trying to excuse her behavior away, the bank manager said he would speak to **.
Reviewed June 23, 2009
I've been an account holder for 12 years. I have a credit card and a credit line worth approximately $30,000 each. The credit line has been at a $0 balance since 1997 and the credit card balance has run less than $10,000 total for many years. My husband and I both work full time and have a couple of investment properties for which we have an annual rental income to supplement our job earnings. We picked up another investment property at auction recently and were going to transfer $15,000 from the credit line to help pay for it (this is not the total purchase price). When I called to request the fund transfer, I had to speak with a credit counselor who not only denied my transfer, but also closed the credit line altogether and lowered my credit card limit to $15,000, despite having always paid my account on time.
He cited that my total debt was too high and I wasn't a good risk. Just this year I've had to start paying almost $20,000 in student loans, which is the only thing I can think of. We both have stable employment and residence history (8 years for the home and 7 and 2 years for employment, respectively). I pleaded with him not to close the account and lower my limit because I know what that will do to my credit score, but he kept giving me the same excuse over and over. I am mad enough that I will be closing my credit card account even though I know that will affect my score even more negatively. I would welcome the chance to be part of a class action if warranted.
Reviewed June 23, 2009
I received a postcard in the mail yesterday (June 22) telling me that I was over-drawn as of June 12. I checked my account online to find out which transaction caused me to be overdrawn. This is when I found that I was being charged two fees for one transaction, one fee ($35) for being overdrawn, and the additional fee ($35) for being over drawn for five days.
I contacted B of A, and was told that this was a new penalty that they added on June 5th. She said that all accounts that are overdrawn for five days, receive an additional penalty of $35.00. I told her that I just received a postcard notifying me that my account was over-drawn, and asked how they can charge me before they even notify me that I’m over-drawn initially. She said that they tacked on a note about this new penalty in the email we receive, that alerts us that our online statement is available. She never answered my question.
How can they charge someone a second penalty when they haven't even been notified of the infraction in the first place?! It seems like Bank of America is struggling. I am too, but I manage to get by without stealing from anyone.
Reviewed June 22, 2009
Just a warning about the worst encounter I have ever had with a customer service representative. This has been a horrible 6 months for me and my family because my husband's plant was shut down and he hasn't been able to find a job. We lost our home to Wells Fargo after they made a verbal agreement to accept a certain amount of money in order to "get us out of foreclosure". In fact, it had already been sold unbeknownst to us.
Now, we have our vehicle (last thing we own) through Wachovia, and they have made a verbal agreement to "get us out of repossession" If we send (X) amount of money tomorrow. They refused to send a fax declaring the verbal agreement, not even an email. If this was just company policy, I guess I could understand but what I cannot understand is how they (customer service rep) could be so cold when I relayed our circumstances, in the hopes that we could at least feel better about sending almost $1,000.00 on "someone's" word. He was dismissive, cold, patronizing. Anything hateful that can be used here to describe this person, he was. In the end, I told him that I hope he never had to face losing his job and everything he owned, just to have someone like him belittle him.
Reviewed June 22, 2009
I had so many overdraft fees on my account within one week's time. It was ridiculous. I contacted Charlotte, North Carolina headquarters and made a complaint, with nothing happening. No one has even contacted me back about my complaint. I went to the location here in Martinsville, VA and talked with the bank manager, Irvin **, and nothing happened except for him refunding one overdraft fee. They took all of my child support check for my children. I just kept depositing money and it was being taken for overdraft fees, and even took some of my payroll check. I had the money in the bank and then all of a sudden, my account was overdrawn. I checked my account daily on the computer and over the phone. I still haven't heard from anyone and this was last month. I have the statement to prove all of the overdraft fees. It took all of my child support check that was $435 plus some of my payroll check, totaling way over $500.
Reviewed June 22, 2009
My son is a college student who has worked at the same job for the last 4 years and has kept the same checking account with Wachovia for those 4 years (never overdrawn or any other trouble). He is now 20, and we have been trying to get some credit established for him. Who better to help get credit established than one's own bank, right? Wrong! Even as Wachovia's website for the College Visa Credit Card states "Your college years are the perfect time to establish credit," upon completing the application and furnishing required documentation, my son got his answer--denied, because he has no credit! Duh!
Reviewed June 22, 2009
I called Bank of America Automatic System on 06/15/09. I was informed I had $280 available balance. I used my ATM card for $7.00 for FedEx and $8.00 for CVS. I was shocked to find out the next day I was charged for $35 overdraft fee five times. Because their online payment did not clear my payment for $260 on 06/01/09, which I had assumed it had because their system misguided me. When I asked why I was given wrong information when I called, I was told their system doesn't know these things accurately all the time. I asked why my charges were approved if I did not have enough funds. Kevin the supervisor sarcastically answered, “We did you a favor, you should appreciate us! Why are you complaining? Don't you know how to be grateful?”.
Isn't that a rude answer? How is that a favor? You charged me for $185 for $7 and $8 charges? You failed to give me the correct information! They even mentioned they used to withdraw the funds immediately, but changed that 3 months ago, now wait until the companies cash the checks. They never sent me an info about it! I said, “Okay then, you should have declined the $260 because they decided to cash it more than 2 weeks later. And that I did not even dispute the overdraft fee, but 5 of them were not accurate. If you cleared the $260 and charged me overdraft fees for the other charges, that is fine. Or if I did not have $260 because of the $7 and $8, before $260 was cleared, then you charge me overdraft fee for $260. But how can you charge me for all of them and more after you keep billing me overdraft charges? You even charged me the fifth overdraft fee because of the fourth overdraft fee they billed me!”
No reason given, instead, I was yelled at, “Look, take us to court if you want. I will even send your term of agreement to your lawyer! That will be easier for you!”. I said I would never use Bank of America again and will open another bank account. Kevin threatened me, laughing, “We will come after you until we get our overdraft payments and make sure your credit is destroyed.” My request for the corporation's CEO information was declined; higher manager was declined. I sent an e-mail complaint, that was not responded. Did the congress use our tax dollars to bail out BoA so they can use it to train their supervisors to be abusive to their long-time customers? I have been their customer for 10 years.
Reviewed June 21, 2009
When you have an accidental overdraft on your account, they pay the highest debit on the account first so that it creates a cascading effect on the account. This creates huge multiple overdrafts resulting in higher profit to the bank in overdraft fees because it leaves more transactions left uncovered by the remaining balance. In my case, it was over $280.00 worth (8) $35.00 overdraft fees were assessed to my account.
I had $69.05 in total debits including 2 unexpected, one for $20.00 on my daughter's automatic reloading Starbucks card and the other $15.00 from my gym membership auto debit 2 days earlier than scheduled. It was an honest mistake. The largest debit of $34.00 paid first, followed by the $20.00 debit overdrawing my account. With $48.93 available in my account, the chain reaction began. If they had started with the smallest debit first, I would have had enough money to cover all my debits including the unexpected ones, except for the $34.00 debit resulting in 1 overdraft fee of $35.00 due the bank. That would be fair.
I work very hard for my money and live paycheck to paycheck since moving to Georgia. I currently live with my sister, a disabled Veteran. When I explained that I require a minimum of $210.00 returned to my account so I may meet my obligations for the end of the month, customer service refused. I even tried to negotiate and offered to let them have $70.00 to go to 2 of the overdraft fees, which I thought was more than fair. Still, they refuse.
Reviewed June 20, 2009
For several months, I have tried to get my monthly statements mailed to me, not to get those annoying e-mail reminders informing me my monthly statements are ready for viewing. Every time I get that, I go to this bank's website to change over for regular mailing. But my choice is always overridden by people who oversee such information, as though they think they are the greater good for those customers who chose not to have certain things done to their accounts. I am tired of this constant battle over something so simple.
On Friday, June 19, 2009, I called Wachovia's customer service. I talked with someone who was a non-American, non-English speaking person about this matter. That person thought I said I no longer wanted internet access to my account. So that person took it upon herself to deny me such access when I was trying to get set up to have my monthly statements mailed to me without getting any more of those annoying e-mail reminders about my monthly statements. Now, I no longer have this service available.
I have even gone further enough to contact both presidents of Wells Fargo and Wachovia about this matter, only to be belittled and patronized by Wachovia and getting no response from Wells Fargo. I am still getting those annoying e-mail reminders.
After wasting months upon months of my time trying to get this simple matter resolved, I am not going to waste any more of my time. This has gone on long enough. I am going to put an end to it quickly. My physical health is extremely weak, and it is getting weaker on a daily basis. I had a major surgery this month. I am looking at another major surgery within the next several months. I do not need this stress in my life to the point that my weak physical health will cause me to be hospitalized, and it's all because this bank refused to make this one simple change.
I thought I would use Wachovia's free bill paying service to pay my monthly telephone, but this was a mistake. The total amount of my telephone bill was removed three times from my checking account for a total of $71.67. One of those payments was applied to my parents' telephone bill, since AT&T thought that draft was from my mother's credit union checking account, not from my checking account. So AT&T applied such amount to my parents' bill.
Luckily, my mother got that straightened out with AT&T, but I am still having a battle with both sides which is further unnecessary stress for me. Therefore, I have removed that from my account, but knowing what Wachovia has done to me concerning my monthly statements not being mailed to me, it has most likely overrode this decision as well. If this turns out to be true, I will be glad to sue Wachovia for all of this unnecessary trouble it has given me for many months now.
Wachovia claims to have been rated number one in customer service for eight straight years. From the trouble I have had with this bank, I am beginning to wonder if this is nothing more than a pathological lie invented by this bank. If I do not get the results I am seeking soon, I will be glad to close my account and start conducting my banking business with a local bank that knows how to treat its customers right.
Reviewed June 19, 2009
I wanted to direct deposit my paycheck into an account my boyfriend's young son has. My boyfriend talked to a clerk at the Bank of America on Washington St, Amarillo, Texas. The clerk told my boyfriend that depositing into his son's account is no problem. The clerk filled out a savings deposit slip, so I could give it to my employer for direct deposit. The clerk told my boyfriend that the deposit slip was for his son's account.
On my payday, Bank of America could not find my deposit. They finally found it at 3pm in my boyfriend's account. His account was way overdrawn, and my paycheck barely cleaned up his account. I never consented to my pay going into his indebted account. I told Bank of America this, and I was told to go to my employer for a reversal. I did. Bank of America then denied the reversal.
I had numerous conversations with Bank of America staff, and I was told different things by different staff. When I talked to Kelly at the Washington branch, she said calling her would do no good. She asked why I didn't just open my own account and said to stop calling her boss about this incident. I told her that in my opinion, Bank of America stole my paycheck. She said that is what I get for not verifying the numbers on the deposit slip. She also initially tried to say that I told her 3 times I had verified the numbers. I never said that. I told her I needed to get with my employer to get the numbers.
I did not get my $799.99 paycheck. I cannot afford my high blood pressure medicine or my insulin. Currently, my sugar is high (240 range). I also have no groceries. I sold most of my DVDs to afford gas to get back and forth to work and to buy the blood pressure medicines.
Reviewed June 19, 2009
I paid off overdraft protection balance in 4/22 in the amount of $6,394.00. In May, I began writing checks against account. While away on vacation in May, I tried using debit card and was denied. After several calls, I discovered that BofA had, without notice, chopped limit from $6,750 to $3000.00 and put a hold on our account and began charging $35.00 per reject. BofA made this change on 5/19/09. When we inquired, we were told "We sent you a letter generated on 5/19." I responded, "How could I get a letter the same day it was generated?"
Further, what about checks I issued days or even weeks earlier? The response was we did what was proper. We finally got their "letter." It was dated the 22nd, not the 19th, as they had told us. The worst of this is the fees and cash advance fees totaling nearly $600.00. They are refusing to reverse; they are defending their position by saying that what they did was proper. At best, it is lying and thieving; probably, criminal and illegal. But we don't know where to get help. This is why we are writing you.
Reviewed June 19, 2009
On June 9, 2009, I was charged seven overdraft fees from Bank of America because on June 8, 2009 seven transactions went through from largest to smallest. The largest charge put my account below zero. Bank of America charges accounts in order from largest to smallest. The charges other than the largest totaled less than half of what was in my account. In using the largest to smallest method, I was charged seven fees instead of just one overdraft fee. After a debit account has a negative balance, it is declined. But from June 9, 2009 until June 18, 2009, my card accepted charges. Twelve more charges total. Bank of America then charged me twelve more overdraft fees and a fee for being overdrafted for longer than a certain period. On June 15, 2009, a letter arrived to the address listed on my account telling of the fees. In no way was I notified that my account was overdrafted before this date and in no other way was there an attempt to let me know.
In total I received $700 in overdraft and overdraft related fees in just ten days. My card was finally declined on June 18, 2009 in which case I found out about the situation. The entire time I was being charged, I had more than enough to cover the overdrafts and fees in my savings account, but since I had not set up a protection plan (which costs an additional $10 and isn't adequately advertised), I acquired $700 in fees. After finding this out I called Bank of America and spoke first with a representative and then asked to speak to a manager. The manager told me he could only credit me one of the charges out of the twenty.
I am an AmeriCorps volunteer. I live on a living stipend of $830 a month while I give back to the community. These fees are almost an entire months income, two months of rent, six months of car insurance. I need this $700. There need to be regulations on this because those with the least money, those most in need, are the ones being scammed by this process.
Reviewed June 16, 2009
I have been inquiring about my match amount on the Keep the Change program. It is past due time that I receive the matching funds. I have called the customer service line and also used the online customer service. I'm told that they have no "visibility" to that program, but they assured me that I will have the funds "soon." I cannot get anyone to transfer me to a different department or give me an additional assistance. My Keep the Change program's one year anniversary was in March, so I should have received the money by now. I feel like I've been scammed! I've been with Bank of America ever since they took over Nation's Bank and I have been a good customer. I've never even bounced one check! I would expect better service.
Reviewed June 15, 2009
I called to request a stop payment on a mortgage check, but my mortgage company, Wells Fargo, was unable to, but said my bank should be able to do a stop payment and avoid a negative balance/insufficient fee.
I called BOA and was told it would take 3 days to process an 'electronic' stop payment as opposed to 1 day for a paper check. I was highly upset because of the amount of the payment and effect on my checking account. I called WFHM again and asked if their bank does 1-day processing of stop payments and was told they do, they found it unusual that BOA couldn't do it.
I called BOA back and confirmed 1 day is possible, they apologized but said they couldn't help me. I asked them to proceed with the stop payment and to transfer my cash from checking (would vanish due to mortgage payment) to savings, until this transaction took place. The agent did the transfer for me, apologized for not being to truly help me and we hung up. The next day, the mortgage payment went through my checking account, but the negative balance is lower than I expected.
BOA kept my money in checking against my wishes. The rep explained that once all the smoke cleared, I would have my cash back in checking (where I didn't want it) minus the $30 stop payment fee (that didn't help me) and a $35 insufficient fee for the transfer of my cash to savings by a rep who didn't warn me she'd have to deduct the $30 stop payment fee first. If she had told me there'd be a $30 fee that needs to be deducted from the transfer amount, it would've been fine.
Reviewed June 14, 2009
I am the executor and sole heir of my brother's account at Wachovia. Since March 23, 2009, they have refused to refund the money now owing to me. They keep changing the paper work requirements and establish hurdles.
Reviewed June 13, 2009
I am a small business owner who has banked with BOA for many years. Most recently, this bank seems to have so many new rules that the bank is not friendly to its customers at all. My company has been depositing 40-60 thousand dollars a month for the past 15 years without problem. Well that is no more, some of my checks are drawn on other banks and each of this checks, my branch has decided that they must place a hold on the checks and there is nothing they can do. I was told by the assistant manager that this was their policy for the past several months. Well, I brought in my receipts and copies of the checks to show that they had not been placing a hold on the checks.
At the end of the day, they insisted that they could not help me based on the new rules. With that, it forced me to take my business to another bank. It also caused me major problems with my payroll for my employees. Bank of America has never been great, but they were large and everywhere. Today, I know Bank of America is not worth the headache. I will leave and take my small business dollars to another bank since Bank of America does not care about the small guy. I also have 2 other business accounts with Bank of America that I plan to take elsewhere.
Bank of America Company Information
- Company Name:
- Bank of America
- Company Type:
- Public
- Ticker Symbol:
- BAC
- Year Founded:
- 1992
- Address:
- 100 North Tryon St
- City:
- Charlotte
- State/Province:
- NC
- Postal Code:
- 28255
- Country:
- United States
- Website:
- www.bankofamerica.com
