Bank Of America - What’s up with this?

As many of you know I have a love/hate relationship with Bank Of America.  I love it when there is money in my bank account and hate it when there is none.  Even better, I hate it when there is negative money.  Someone should figure out how to create an economy based on this negative money.  Oh wait, the big banks already do that by charging overdraft fees.

I went to login to my online banking the other day and found that the BOA SSL Certificate had expired.  Should it concern me that Bank Of America didn’t renew their certificate in time?  Normally, I wouldn’t be concerned.  However, two additional things have come up that make me wonder just how they manage to keep customers.

I lost my ATM card on 8/31, the day that Stephen arrived for a visit.  Not a big deal I tell myself because there was a time before ATM Cards right?  I remember when we got our first ATM machine during my senior year of college.  That was way cool.  Ok, so I finally determine that it is indeed lost and not hiding in my apartment somewhere. Although, I still suspect it is hiding from me.  I call and they are going to send me a replacement that should be here in less than 10 days.  That’s cool as they are usually pretty fast at processing those type of requests.  The customer service agent advised me that I could go into the bank and get a temporary card if I needed one until the replacement arrive.  I wait.  I wait. I finally decided that I can’t wait any longer and go into the branch.  I wait.  I wait.  About 45 minutes later a Customer Service person is available and I explain my situation.  She informs that they can’t do in-state ATM cards in CA.  She could help me with an out-of-state ATM Card though.  I’m confused at this point.  When I was dealing with a check-hold, they couldn’t touch my account because it was out of state.   I left and the ATM Card arrived the next day.  Cool!

Oh wait, not so cool.  You see I closed my DC account way before I ordered a replacement ATM card.  This new card has my picture on it which my DC account has, but not my CA Account.  Also the number is very close to the number on my DC account.  I suspect that this card is for my Closed Account.  I call the activation number and my card can’t be activated over the phone.  The automated “put-me-in-a-bad-mood” guy explains that I can go to ATM and perform a transaction to activate my card.

I go to the machine, and the machine tells me I can’t use this card there.  Just as I thought.  I call BOA customer service on Sunday night around 6PM PT.  Oh, wait customer service goes home at 3PM PT on Sundays.  I tell myself no big deal, I’ll just call on Monday.  People existed before ATM Cards right?  I call, and actually spoke to a very nice young lady who looked up the card number and confirmed that they “did indeed issue me a replacement ATM card for a closed account”.  She informed that a new card was sent out on 9/13.  I wait again.  Hopefully, the card will be here soon.

So, it concerns me that:

1. BOA did not renew their SSL Certificate in time.
2. BOA does not know the rules by state on who can issue temporary cards.  Although, looking back the CSR was probably in my DC account, and I probably could have gone to DC to get a new replacement card for my closed account.
3. BOA can not issue a temporary card and they issued a card for a closed account.

One of these days, I will move on to a smaller bank and establish a personal relationship.  Until then, I’m just going to have to get along with “put-me-in-a-bad-mood” automated guy.

Big Bank You Win!

After reading several articles and comments on the internet, I realize I am not alone in my quest. Here’s the short version on why I am closing my checking account with my bank:

Day #1 (Friday):  Check deposited into the ATM to bring my account to a positive balance.

Day #2 (Saturday): Available balance reflects the deposit. The check has posted and has changed from a “pending” status to a “cleared” status. I started paying bills insuring that I do not overdraw my accounts due to any recurring withdrawals.

Day #3 (Sunday): Available Balance reflects the deposit and the transaction still shows as “cleared”.

Day #4 (Monday): Receive email alert showing my available balance as positive. Online banking still show the transaction has “cleared”. The check clears the issuing bank.

Day #5 (Tuesday): Receive email alert showing that I have a large negative balance. I was sure there was some type of mistake.

I call customer service and talk to the agent who explains there was a hold on my check for 10 days from the initial deposit. I explained my situation and asked the hold to released. I understand the reason for the hold but take issue with the fact that it showed up as an “Available Balance” and as a “cleared” transaction. The agent just kept reciting policy to me. I then asked to speak to a supervisor.

I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with the supervisor reciting policy to me. I kept explaining that I understood the policy, but need to talk to someone who can release the hold. She said “no one at ‘big bank name’ can release the hold”. I think the CEO along with a few others probably have the authority to release holds on checks. The supervisor agreed to waive the overdraft fees.

I was able to make another deposit that could be credited that next business day (Thursday). My balance was positive for a few days, but then went negative because of all the overdraft fees from the hold. I went into my local branch to try to handle this in person, but they were unable to talk to me because the account in question was from another state. I have traded several emails with customer service only to have policy reiterated back to me and telling me how much they value me. They have refunded all but one of the overdraft fees. The hold is supposed to be released tomorrow either at 9AM or 5PM depending on which email you read.

I consider myself a smart person (for the most part) and find this very frustrating and discouraging. Here I am trying to make mends of my financial situation and then have to deal with this. Not to mention now I have to figure out which of the 14 payments they actually paid and which they returned for NSF fees.

My issues:

• There are 10 day holds on checks deposited in my DC account, but no holds for checks deposited in my CA account. This is because the CA account is a new account and its history is not associated with my DC account. This is a good thing for me, but seems kind of stupid that because I chose to deposit it one account vs. another on my ATM card there is a 10 day hold.
• The transaction in question should have remained pending or at the very least not show up as a “cleared” transaction in my online statement.
• Do not send me a daily alert telling me I have X dollars as available balance then take it away the following day.
• Customer service should try to listen to the customer point-of-view and at least attempt to understand the problem instead of just spitting policy back, both verbal and text.
• Be clear about when the hold will be released (even show it on my online statement). Some say it will clear at 9am and some say 5pm (and what time zone is that? I’m assuming the time zone of where the account.

While I do have complaints about the policy, I understand the policy and reasons for the hold. It is my responsibility as a consumer of bank name’s products to be aware of the policies affecting deposits and holds. However, I disagree with the way this was handled. They did finally change my available balance, but the transaction still shows up as cleared online.

I am not sure what it is yet, but one of my goals will be to help other consumers out there who are struggling to maintain their financial situation. There are some good resources there already and stories very similar to mine.

Checkout Wesabe and Article about BOA’s customer service.