Bank of America sucks fucking donkey balls

[Findog]

I ordered a book of checks 2 months ago, and they never arrived. So a few days before August 1st and a new round of bills I called BoA to inquire where they were. It turns out BoA sent them to my old address. The replacement checks were sent to me via expedited shipping so I'd get them before August 1st. First BoA charged me a stop payment fee of $30 for the checks that are floating out there somewhere. So I had to call and have that money put back in my account. Then a few days ago, I noticed a shipping fee of $27 for the checks that did arrive. I had to call and get that put back in. Meanwhile, the four checks I wrote for my rent, my train pass to my employer, a traffic lawyer for a speeding ticket, and my electicity bill still hadn't shown up in my online banking and posted to my account.

So last night when I check the mail, I received a letter from TXU that says I owe them my electricity bill plus a $25 returned check charge because the bank returned the check unpaid. It turns out that they sent me checks with the same sequential numbers as the ones they cancelled. I called BoA last night and the lady on the phone said that I should notify all vendors to resubmit any checks for payment. She also said that in regards to TXU, I should tell them what happened, and ask them what their policies were and how they wanted to handle it. She said that she would put in a request to reimburse me$25 and it would take up to 7 business days for it to post to my account. In the meantime, they said I could take documentation to a branch location to expedite my reimbursement. When I called TXU, they said that I needed to provide documentation that it was a bank error before they would resubmit the check for payment. I said I didn’t have any but that I had just gotten off the phone with my bank. They said the Bank would need to fax them documentation. My immediate reaction was that sending a fax and interacting with another large corporate bureaucracy on my behalf is way beyond the capabilities of BoA, and at this point I don’t expect BoA to do anything right other than clean up messes that I bring to their attention, so I went ahead and paid my bill plus the $25 service charge for the returned check. The BoA customer service person told me that in the event that I had to pay the bill plus the service charge to go into a branch location with documentation to get my $25 back.

[Slomo]

timvp! Paging Mr. timvp!

:D

[BacktoBasics]

They're one of the worst banks ever. Get out now.

[AlamoSpursFan]

While we're on the subject of banks that suck, Randolph Brooks can lick my nutsack for holding back my direct deposit (which my employer sends at 11pm every Thursday) if I happen to be low on funds, just so they can post all of my pending debits and charge me $20 overdraft fees on each one. Last week they popped me for $60 by not letting my paycheck post until 1:08 am. The 3 debits all went through at midnight. Fuckers.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled anti-BOA thread, already in progress.

[Thunder Dan]

try ING direct

[Findog]

try ING direct

I actually have an account with them because I won $900 in my fantasy football league last year and the guy lives in LA and that was the most convenient way for him to transfer the money. I guess I could fill out a direct deposit slip for them and give it to my employer. My direct deposit goes through on Thursday and my ymca fee gets debited on the 15th. After that, I want to make arrangements to get a new account. I was thinking of going to a credit union.

[mexicanjunior]

BOA screwed me earlier this month as well. I had a balance transfer done on one of my BOA credit cards but the balance transfer ended up being more than what I owed (I had made a payment before the transfer went thru), so I ended having a credit of almost 500 bucks. The credit was listed as a negative balance on my online credit card account, so I called BOA and asked them if I could transfer the negative balance online to my checking account since I did not want to try and charge up 500 dollars worth of purchases to get it back to $0. The BOA rep on the phone stated that would not be a problem and did not mention any fees for the transfer. A few days after I did the transfer online, I noticed a $15 service fee for transfering a balance from credit to checking, eventhough it was a NEGATIVE balance! I called that day to have the fee waived, the phone rep had me off and on hold for about 25+ minutes due to their system being down and assured me the fee would be waived within 3-5 days. About a week and a half passed and I still saw the fee on my online account, so I called again and the phone rep I spoke to this time had no record of me ever calling in and had no record of any promise of waiving the fee. She ended up waiving the fee and it showed up the next business day. Twas such a hassle for something so simple for them to correct...

[Spuradicator]

Fuck Bank of America dude, go with Compass.

[Big P]

You still bank at that shithole?

[Fillmoe]

who the fuck still uses checks?

[angel_luv]

The bank of america branch which I have to go to in order to make deposits for my work is the SLOWEST ever.
It is not unusual to spend anywhere from 15- 30 minutes waiting even if there are only two cars needing assistance.
I have been there almost an hour before and not because there was a lot of cars in front of me.


If I had any choice in the matter, I would never go there.

[Findog]

who the fuck still uses checks?

My apartment doesn't have an option to pay online. Other than that, I have no need for them.

[leemajors]

http://consumerist.com/consumer/executive-customer-service/7-overdrafts-refunded-after-reader-writes-bank-of-america-ceo-256424.php

[Findog]

I went by the branch location on my lunch break AND I had to call the 1-800 # again, and the long and short of it is I have to wait 3-5 biz days to get my $25 back.

I'm just tired of the hassle and inconvenience. The girl I'm dating also suggested Compass. What about a credit union? There's one here in FTW. I just have to wait until my direct deposit goes through on Thursday and my ymca gets debited on Friday. I also need to make arrangements for my rent check to be resubmitted for payment. After that, I'm closing my account.

[stretch]

I went by the branch location on my lunch break AND I had to call the 1-800 # again, and the long and short of it is I have to wait 3-5 biz days to get my $25 back.

I'm just tired of the hassle and inconvenience. The girl I'm dating also suggested Compass. What about a credit union? There's one here in FTW. I just have to wait until my direct deposit goes through on Thursday and my ymca gets debited on Friday. I also need to make arrangements for my rent check to be resubmitted for payment. After that, I'm closing my account.

dont you work in downtown? come bank at the credit union i work at.

[stretch]

although at the same time, ive been at BOA for years, and never had a single problem

but im thinking about switching to Advancial (the place i work at) because, well, i work here, and they got lots of nice options

[Findog]

dont you work in downtown? come bank at the credit union i work at.

which one is that?

edit: nvm, saw your last post. Advancial, huh? I might come in there next week after this all gets sorted out.

[Thunder Dan]

the best bank ever is under your mattress

[Findog]

I took my inspiration from that link Lee Majors posted. Just sent off a couple of faxes to BoA's corporate headquarters:

Dear Mr. Lewis,

My name is Findog and I have a checking account with Bank of America. I ordered a book of checks 2 months ago, and they never arrived. So a few days before August 1st and a new round of bills, I called BoA to inquire where they were. It turns out BoA sent them to my old address. The replacement checks were sent to me via expedited shipping so I'd get them before August 1st. First BoA charged me a stop payment fee of $30 for the checks that are floating out there somewhere. So I had to call and have that money put back into my account. Then a few days ago, I noticed a shipping fee of $27 for the checks that did arrive. I had to call and get that put back in. Meanwhile, the four checks I wrote to my apartment complex for my rent, my employer for my train pass, a traffic lawyer for a speeding ticket, and my electricity bill still hadn't shown up in my online banking and posted to my account.

On August 11th, 2008, I received a letter from TXU Energy that says I owed them my electricity bill plus a $25 service fee because the bank returned the check unpaid. It turns out that BoA sent me checks with the same sequential numbers as the ones that were cancelled. I called BoA the night of August 11th and the lady on the phone said that I should notify all vendors to resubmit any checks for payment. She also said that in regards to TXU, I should tell them what happened, and ask them what their policies were and how they wanted to handle it. She said that she would put in a request to reimburse me $25 and it would take up to 7 business days for it to post to my account. In the meantime, they said I could take documentation to a branch location to expedite my reimbursement. When I called TXU, they said that I needed to provide documentation that it was a bank error before they would resubmit the check for payment. I said I didn’t have any but that I had just gotten off the phone with my bank. They said that BoA would need to fax them documentation. My immediate reaction was that sending a fax and interacting with another large corporate bureaucracy on my behalf is way beyond the capabilities of BoA, and at this point I don’t expect BoA to do anything right other than clean up messes that I bring to their attention, so I went ahead and paid my bill plus the $25 service charge for the returned check. The BoA customer service person told me that in the event that I had to pay the bill plus the service charge to go into a branch location with documentation to get my $25 back.

The next day (August 12) I went to the branch location near my office on my lunch break. The employee who helped me said that there was no record of any request for a $25 credit, and that he could not do it himself because that would create two entries and the banking software would automatically reject the credits and “pull them back.” He suggested that I wait 7-10 days before taking any other action and refused to credit my account the $25 I am owed. I then called the customer service hotline and was informed by the person helping me this time that the request for a credit had not been properly entered, and she had to take my information down again. She then told me that I would have to wait 3-5 business days while the service department researched my claim. I should also note at this time that I took documentation in the form of my electric bill to the branch location but the employee there had no interest in looking at it. I don’t understand what the delay is in rectifying BoA’s error.

My other concern is that as of this writing my rent check and two other checks have not posted to my account, and I may incur service charges or other problems in attempting to pay my bills. I might even be found to have violated the terms of my apartment lease since so much time has elapsed since my rent was due on August 1st. I also wrote a check to my employer and having a check returned unpaid could complicate my job security. I also don’t like the idea of being issued checks with the same sequential numbers as the ones that are floating out there somewhere. I was going to ask the customer service person to once again stop payment on the checks I have and send me another batch with a different sequential numbers, but I had no confidence at all that BoA could do this successfully without creating more complications.

I will not close my account immediately but will do so once I find a credit union. I feel I have no choice but to take my business elsewhere because of the incompetence and idiocy I have encountered in simply trying to order checks. It has resulted in increased stress, lost time, lost money and has made my life much more difficult than it has to be.

I want a refund of my $25 and an apology. I also want BoA to work with me to ensure that the four checks that I have written will be honored by the bank and the check recipients will get their funds.

Routing Number: ********
Checking Account: *********

Check #1201: ************** $525 (This has not posted to my account)
Check #1202: ************** $55 (This has not posted to my account)
Check #1203: *************** $45 (This has not posted to my account)
Check #1204: *************** (check return unpaid; BoA owes me $25 for the service charge I incurred)

Sincerely,









Findog

CC: Senator Carl Levin, Chairman
the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' Investigative Subcommittee

Enclosure: copy of electricity bill

[ashbeeigh]

I fucking love Washington mutual. Free checks for life suckers!

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

My apartment doesn't have an option to pay online. Other than that, I have no need for them.

ING Direct has a paper check option that mails it for you.

[to21]

^^ USAA does to......Web Bill Pay mails a paper check to all my creditors that don't have online pay.

If they make a mistake, they usually fix it right on the spot. Plus I get to deposit checks with my scanner at home. So, if I do some side network consulting work, I can deposit the check that night and the funds are available right away.

[CubanMustGo]

Wow, sorry someone has had a bad experience with RBFCU, I've been a member for over 30 years and they have always done my family right. We're even doing our new mortgage with them.

[LuvBones]

Yeah everyone that I know who has Bank of America is always complaining about how their bank sucks. I love USAA. I've never had a single problem, and like to21 said they have so many things to offer. I haven't even had to go to my bank in a loong time.

[ShoogarBear]

Who the hell is going to take seriously a letter that signed by Findog?

[ShoogarBear]

Maybe Mr. dickface, I guess.

[JoeChalupa]

While we're on the subject of banks that suck, Randolph Brooks can lick my nutsack for holding back my direct deposit (which my employer sends at 11pm every Thursday) if I happen to be low on funds, just so they can post all of my pending debits and charge me $20 overdraft fees on each one. Last week they popped me for $60 by not letting my paycheck post until 1:08 am. The 3 debits all went through at midnight. Fuckers.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled anti-BOA thread, already in progress.

My understanding is the banks are not obliged to post the deposit early but on the actual paydate. I never order checks from the bank since they over charge for them.

[JoeChalupa]

I bank with IBC and HEB FCU. There isn't a bank that hasn't made a mistake at one time or another.

[duncan228]

My understanding is the banks are not obliged to post the deposit early but on the actual paydate.

My direct deposit hits at midnight, and I've been told that my bank does credits first, then debits. If you're low on funds you won't get hit with over-drafts.


I never order checks from the bank since they over charge for them.

They sure do. I'm able to get the Spurs logo on my checks for less than the bank would charge me for the plain blue ones.

[Findog]

Who the hell is going to take seriously a letter that signed by Findog?

You didn't really think I would post my personal info here, would you?

[Kori Ellis]

We have had a multitude of problems with Bank of America over the years. But when you have long standing business accounts with them, the hassle of switching doesn't seem worth it. But we will probably switch soon.

-One time I deposited $17K in the branch, got my receipt, everything was cool. In the morning, my bank account was $34K short. I called the bank and they said that they had the $17K down as a withdrawal. I went to the bank and brought my receipt as proof. They told me I'd have to wait 10 business days while they investigated. :lmao Umm.. it's a $34K error, you need to check a little quicker than that.

-Another time LJ and I were trying to deposit a $10K check from another business that also used Bank of America. Our Bank of America branch refused it (again in branch). We asked why, they said that they couldn't locate that check in their system. I explained we didn't want cash back, we just wanted to deposit. They said come back the next day. We did. Same story. :lol I have never seen a bank refusing money. We ended up having to wait 3 more days.

-In recent months, we have gotten several fraudulent charges (ACH debits) on our account. The company that is doing it is a known fraud (cases are all over the internet). We called BofA to get it reversed and they said that we would have to call the (frauding) company first. LJ called the company and they asked him for his social security number. LJ refused to give it to them. They hung up on him. :lmao We called back the bank and explained. They told us - sorry, you have to catch this stuff within 24 hours or we can't reverse it. This story is still ongoing, but I think LJ has it almost straighten out with them. The frauding company actually set up re-occuring ACH debits monthly. :lmao

[stretch]

which one is that?

edit: nvm, saw your last post. Advancial, huh? I might come in there next week after this all gets sorted out.
yea. there is a branch in down town, and a branch + the corporate HQ (where i work) over a couple blocks from the AAC. Its a tower that says "Advancial" on top.

[Findog]

^ I just don't understand. How hard is it to send me some fucking checks?

[duncan228]

You didn't really think I would post my personal info here, would you?

Don't you trust us Findog? :)

[Findog]

Don't you trust us Findog? :)


I actually had to edit that post because I forgot to asterisk out the routing # and account #. :)

[Findog]

Don't you trust us Findog? :)


I actually had to edit that post because I forgot to asterisk out the routing # and account #. Whoops!

[dirk4mvp]

Regions is where it's at.

[Ginofan]

Crazy stuff, I've never heard of anyone having problems with BoA before. I've been with them almost 10 years and I don't have a single complaint.

When someone stole my debit/credit card number from me and made a bunch of weird charges they were the first to notify me! I hadn't checked my online banking in about 3 days (I usually check everyday) and when I checked my email there were several messages from BoA saying I needed to contact them immediately because there were several "unusual charges" on my checking account. They took care of everything right away when I called them, they issued a credit to me for the fraudulent charges while they investigated everything, then about a week later they sent me their findings in a report sent through the mail.

Weird stuff, to each their own I guess.

Kori, We used to have our business accounts with BoA at work and we did have just a few problems with them(maybe it's on the business division of the bank?). Anywho, we switched to The Bank of San Antonio about 4 months ago and they are great. They allow scanning of paper checks for immediate deposit which is really nice, and their customer service is very friendly and prompt. Just an option if you're looking to switch soon.

[T Park]

Wells Fargo has always treated my company, me, and my family really well.

[gatoloco]

brick through the biggest window in the middle of the night...

doesn't solve the problem, but you sleep like a baby...justice served

[angel_luv]

Wow, sorry someone has had a bad experience with RBFCU, I've been a member for over 30 years and they have always done my family right. We're even doing our new mortgage with them.

I have always been very happy with them as well.

[angel_luv]

brick through the biggest window in the middle of the night...

doesn't solve the problem, but you sleep like a baby...justice served

Sounds like a Frasier episode. :lol

[exstatic]

I fucking love Washington mutual. Free checks for life suckers!

Yours or the banks? You really don't want to look up their bank health score on bankrate.com.....

[Ocotillo]

The nationals (BofA, Wells Fargo, Wachovia, Capital One, WaMu, etc...) are so huge you are just a number to them. They could give a crap about you.

Some local financial institutions are offering Reward Checking these days. Falcon Bank and United SA FCU are two. Reward Checking pays you a high interest rate on your checking account provided you take advantage of electronic options (direct deposit, minimum of 10 debit card transactions a month). They will also reimburse your ATM fees you are charged for using other bank's ATMs.

Also, WaMu and Wachovia are on shaky ground these days, I would steer clear of them.

Another thing to take into consideration when looking at local based banks is whether they will sell to larger banks in the future. There are no guarantees but Texas cities are a tempting targets for larger banks that want in this market such as U.S. Bank or Fifth Third Bank.

The way the check order was sent to your old address is they have two databases, one of the bank core system and another with the check vendor. Usually a huge bank like BofA has software in place whereby it would be updated with a single entry but evidently they don't and the CSR at the bank did not update the second database. They further screwed up when the reordered the checks they manually entered the wrong start number. Turnover is high at those sort of banks so training of this sort falls through the cracks.

[ShoogarBear]

You didn't really think I would post my personal info here, would you?

Yes, I do.


I actually had to edit that post because I forgot to asterisk out the routing # and account #. :)

Not before it was caught and stored.

:smokin

[Heath Ledger]

I concur who the hell still uses checks? You guys living in the stone ages or what?

[Brutalis]

I fucking hate them too. Shit I am so tired of them. As soon as I can I'm switching back to Arvest. There's one on every street corner and they are locally owned and operated in only 3 states.

Fucking stupid BOA

[Brutalis]

Regions is where it's at.

That's a good bank too.

[Brutalis]

We have had a multitude of problems with Bank of America over the years. But when you have long standing business accounts with them, the hassle of switching doesn't seem worth it. But we will probably switch soon.

-One time I deposited $17K in the branch, got my receipt, everything was cool. In the morning, my bank account was $34K short. I called the bank and they said that they had the $17K down as a withdrawal. I went to the bank and brought my receipt as proof. They told me I'd have to wait 10 business days while they investigated. :lmao Umm.. it's a $34K error, you need to check a little quicker than that.

-Another time LJ and I were trying to deposit a $10K check from another business that also used Bank of America. Our Bank of America branch refused it (again in branch). We asked why, they said that they couldn't locate that check in their system. I explained we didn't want cash back, we just wanted to deposit. They said come back the next day. We did. Same story. :lol I have never seen a bank refusing money. We ended up having to wait 3 more days.

-In recent months, we have gotten several fraudulent charges (ACH debits) on our account. The company that is doing it is a known fraud (cases are all over the internet). We called BofA to get it reversed and they said that we would have to call the (frauding) company first. LJ called the company and they asked him for his social security number. LJ refused to give it to them. They hung up on him. :lmao We called back the bank and explained. They told us - sorry, you have to catch this stuff within 24 hours or we can't reverse it. This story is still ongoing, but I think LJ has it almost straighten out with them. The frauding company actually set up re-occuring ACH debits monthly. :lmao

For real. I fucking deposit my check and looked at my account 2 days later online and they WITHDREW that amount. Stupid bungholes they are.

[remingtonbo2001]

I fucking love Washington mutual. Free checks for life suckers!

Word!

WAMU 4 Life.

They'll even refund your money if an item you purchase goes on sale after the fact. However, it's with a group of manufacturers and retailers, so you'll have to go over the list to see if it's worthwhile. Still, it's a pretty sweet deal.

[exstatic]

:lmao @ the WaMu's who think their bank is the shit when it's close to going tits up. They hold a ton of shitty mortgage paper and are really struggling to stay solvent. If my money were in there today, it would be out tomorrow.

[DynastyBuilder]

Yours or the banks? You really don't want to look up their bank health score on bankrate.com.....

Not saying WaMu is the shit but I don't think it is as bad as you make it out to be.



Can You Trust Bankrate’s Bank Safety Ratings?

http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2008/08/07/can-you-trust-bankrates-bank-safety-ratings/


In case you haven’t been paying attention, bank failures are on the rise. Given this little tidbit of nerve jangling information, I’ve recently spent some time writing about the safest online banks, as well as the banks at greatest risk of failure.

With that as a backdrop, I though it would be interesting to take a look at the reliability of Bankrate’s Safe & Sound rating system, upon which my list of safest online banks was based. This is admittedly a very anecdotal account, but it’s interesting all the same…





The Safest Online Banks: Is Your Savings Account in Jeopardy?

http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2008/07/16/the-safest-online-banks-is-your-savings-account-in-jeopardy/

Note that there are two WaMu-related listings — Washington Mutual FSB (5 stars) and Washington Mutual Bank (1 star). Ken chimed in (comment #13, below) to point out that the latter one has the lion’s share of deposits, suggesting that it’s the “real” WaMu.

[Spurminator]

:lmao @ the WaMu's who think their bank is the shit when it's close to going tits up. They hold a ton of shitty mortgage paper and are really struggling to stay solvent. If my money were in there today, it would be out tomorrow.

You're fine unless you have $100K in there.