Bank of America Irrationality

Maybe you should contact the OCC again . . . . . I really hate most banks . . . .

Frogpatch, I'm so sorry you are going through this - it goes beyond reason that a bank the size of B of A would be so careless with their customer service. Hang in there.

So sorry Frog...it's terrible they way we can't get help from big name banks...these places protect our money??? I can't believe what we go through...

frog, this sucks! Can you call your corporate office of your bank? This obviously is a bank error. At least it seems to be to me since everything was fine and then BAM they let the debits go through again and the fees again. What the hell? Why was it "all settled" one minute and the next minute it's not?

Hey frog
Silly question . Did you show the bank the letters revoking the ach withdrawls.I assume if you revoked the bank need to honor that

When you are dealing with Bank of America outside of the local branch you have to try to get through a maze of people all with their own opinions that are on power trips. Imagine a customer service person saying he controls who can speak to whom? I have told them that I have certified letters to CashNet but they don't believe that you have a right to revoke ACH withdrawals. They think they are experts because they work there and you don't. Their attitude is that you owe the money so they can just keep trying to take it until you owe the bank a million dollars. The best is route 66 funding. I don't owe them anything and they are criminals that are under investigation with no written authorization to debit and the bank won't believe me. I did get a regional contact who I emailed this AM to find me the name and address of someone above the sea of egos to help me. I will wait and see. In my letter I am going to disclaim responibility for the ACH withdrawls and state that I am not responsible for any charges. That way when the collection people come after me I will have documentation

I have the same issues with BOA. I agree 100%
they don't believe that you have a right to revoke ACH withdrawals, They'll do everything and anything not to paying any money but yet charge you NFS.

Have you closed that account? I know dumb question you probably answered it somewhere on this board but I can't find it. I would personally go in there and demand to speak to someone of authority, show them all of the correspondence you have received from this company. Tell them you have spoke to the dept of banking and finance. Make an ass out of yourself that will get someone to take yourself seriously. Especially if there are other customers waiting in line to do business :( I can't believe they did this to you. How long have you banked there?

ladybug

Hey Frogpatch. So sorry that you are going thru this with that bank. I hate them!! I had an account with them awhile ago. Here is what they did to me. Let's say I had $125.00 in my checking account. Checks in the amounts of, 25.00, 10.00 and 20.00 come in. Then a check for $120.00 comes in too, all on the same day. They pay the check for the highest amount and BOUNCE the other 3. So, to make a long story short. I will be charged $35.00 overdraft fee for each of the other checks, a total of $105.00. As you can see, this over drew the account, leaving me overdrawn $100.00. This did actually happen to me. I read on Yahoo News that the government has received so many complaints about banks changing the order on when checks come in so that it will benefit them. True, i needed to make sure that the money is there, but we all make a mistake sooner or later. Even thoughwe had direct deposit of $3100.00 going in that night at midnight and had been for 5 years. They knew that the checks would all be good at midnight. Oh well, needless to say, they would not close the account for me as long as it is overdrawn.

I opened a checking account with Washington Mutual on line at their website. They are who I am working with right now with this payday loan nightmare that I am having right now. What, they did for me is because I had two pending transactions that needed to clear from my checking account they could not close that account. They put a "Hard Freeze" on the account. Because those two transactions happen 2 days before the freeze went into effect, they will be paid. She left enough in there to cover them, opened me a savings account and linked my debit card to it. We moved the rest of the money into the savings account. Now I ain't broke. Just as soon as those tow transactions clear, we are going to close that checking account and open another one.
I don't Bank of America. I think that they are cold hearted. Ladybug is right !! Go directly into the branch. sometimes it helps to talk to someone directly.

Pat, just so you know, Wamu will do the same thing with that you stated with screwing up the order of checks to benefit them. It's happening at a lot of banks.

I'm actually planning to open a checking account at my credit union soon, and say goodbye to these crooked banks forever!

My old accounts were with Wamu. I had to close 2 accounts with them because of this crap. They were good to work with as far as closing, but their fees were off the charts. I am sort of glad that I am now with a different bank. Wamu will not reopen accounts if something hits so in thet regard they are great

I am with a great credit union now. You will have to kill me before I give my info to anyone again!

I haven't posted the name of the bank I had/have so much trouble with but they did the same thing with changing the order of how they paid the checks...even if the smaller one had an earlier date they would pay the largest one first,..they are also the ones who told me my account was closed..and it sat at 0 for a whole week only to be forced open by the pdls...I had spent an hour in there talking to a VP about the account just the week before and he never said anything about how it could rebound. It was National City...

I had a Bank of America account several years ago. i left them because I had nothing but problems with them. My check would be direct deposited every wednesday night/thursday morning. Any debits went through first then they would put through deposits. So if I was close that week many times I would overdraw my account because of this. Many of these were electronic bills like the electric company that were scheduled to come out thursday morning out of that check that they were putting through last. I always fought the overdraft fees, because the money was there they just refused to look. I left them after doing this for a third time. The first 2 times they refunded my money, the third time they refused to refund the fees so I left them. I had these bills being electronically paid because I got a discount for having them paid that way so I was bascically being punished for trying to save some money.

Oh great. Thanks, morningstarr.

Not to disagree with anyone - But BofA does have some good points too.

They haven't been using chexsystems for the last year or so. They say they do but if you apply online just about anyone is approved.

That is a good thing Goudah...and I guess we shouldn't jump the gun...it was just everything I read lately about them was in the negative...I try to take the stance that there is good and bad in all...I just wanted people to be aware that there could be issues...

Overall, I think there is good and bad with all banks. It's just about finding the right fit for you.

I agree with you Goudah. The problem I listed was the only problem I had with Bank of America. Seeing as I was living paycheck to paycheck I could not afford the fees, otherwise I would have stayed with them. I just thought it was a ridiculous policy to charge fees when they can see the paycheck sitting right there.

I agree . . . .

I was treated well by some people and poorly by others. You are right Goudah! I opened with them when I was in Chex with no problem at one of their Supermarket branches. My problem is trying to find the right person without having to explain my way through a sea of people just to get disconnected. The branch manager who helped me gave me a regional contact to email but so far no answer back. I have tried searching the net but found out nothing. I am going to call again on my lunch hour tomorrow and try to get some info. I will post my results.

I sympathize at the frustration that I have read hear. B of A is notorious for switching checks around and conveniently changing transactions daily as you can see on-line. In addition, the latest was a deposit B of A held for 5 days (without notice). They had always cleared the deposits in the past by that same evening yet this time after 6 customer reps no one could explain why it was held and why checks posted to the account were returned - as a result NSF fees. One happened to be my rent check. The interesting thing is I verified the funds were there on Wednesday when deposited and the landlord walked in the check and the back also verifed and cleared the check for deposit on the Friday. Tuesday I check over the phone for recent activity and receive a recording of a rejected item. I call and they explain the check (rent) was returned that Tuesday. Talk about pissed. When I requested a letter in writing from the bank with an explanation so I could provide to the landlord since I had now incurred late charges and NSF fees with the landlord all I got was "we're sorry for the inconvenience" on-line. I had to pay 5% of my rent and late charges thanks to B of A screwup. That doesn't even factor in that the landlord had used that check to pay the mortgage on the rental and like a domino effect his check was returned.
:x

Just to note - It is clearly stated that the bank will hold your deposit for up to X amount of days all over the bank. That is notice to me . . . .

All banks do the same sort of stuff. I've "looked" at a lot of banks, and BofA is not the worst. There are some major banks that really do some horrible things.

Well here is an update. I went to a new branch and met with the Manager/VP and explained my long drawn out story of rude CSRs and the frustration of having my account frozen twice and reopened twice and so on.
My wife got a call on Saturday which she returned on Monday. Account closed! All charges removed or reversed! "Please come in at your convenience and open an new account but be sure you see me only! he said. She asked him what kind of wine he liked. "Merlot." he replied. A good bottle is in store for that man. Finally another chapter closed!
By the way BOA is rated number two in the hall of shame on MSN today, for customer service on their 800 number, right below Sprint. If you scroll to the beginning you can see why.

Yea! Frog. I am happy to hear things turned around with the bank. I can not stand it when I hear banks treat people so badly. It is bad enough to be harassed by the pdl let alone the bank too.

Great news Frog!! Congrats!

Quote from a 1-800 Customer service rep. "I have determined that this is not fraud so I will not connect you with our fraud division"
"Don't you think that is for them to decide?" I asked.
He replied, "It is my decision which calls go through and which don't."
Can you imagine?

Unbelievable. W/F does the same damn thing as far as what gets paid. The largest amount is always paid first. Causing NSF charges galore. They just charged me 7 yesterday cuz hubby told me he put 30.00 of gas in his car & he forgot to tell me about a check he wrote for 25.00. Now both damn accounts are negative, and I still don't have my bonus check that was supposed to be given out last Friday. I smoked my last cigarette this morning. It's gonna be a very fun evening!

Been there! Wachovia would do that. Five little debit card charges would be made and the utilty payment that was paid by phone three day ago would show up three days later. Of course they would list that one as first and the rest would be NSFs. All 5 instead of one! There is something in the works somewhere regarding check sorting for profit by the banks but I forgot where I read about it.

The bank I work for, (not BofA or W/F) but the same size bank, posts deposits first, then debits in order of amount...so yep, its definitely a way to being in fee revenue.

The policy sucks, but we are #1 in customer service and fraud resolution...so yea, we will charge you up the wazoo but hey,, we're nice about it!

Frog-Congratulations!!

I am beginning to think that is the norm. My bank does the same thing. It is very frustrating.

I am beginning to think that is the norm. My bank does the same thing.

Every bank I have used always puts the debits first. More money in their pocket I guess.