Friday, July 18, 2008

Does Bank of America Suck?

I’m beginning to think so. And this guy has already determined that they do. (check out his site.)

I recently established a Bank of America checking account. (by recently I mean in the past eight months) Anyway, for years and years, I had maintained an account at a fairly small bank. They are established, but not growing like a weed. I moved, and circumstances led me to BOA.

I had been previously warned, by a few people, that Bank of America had screwed them in some way or another, but I didn’t heed their warnings.

Now, this week, I have spent numerous hours on the phone with them dealing with less than friendly customer service representatives trying to get unwarranted fines taken off my account.

I think the problem is finally solved, but my experience with them has been horrendous. It’s like they get the rudest people with the biggest chips on their shoulders, and hire them to represent the company.

While scouring the web I found many stories of people in similar, or worse situations with Bank Of America.

Tell me, have you ever had an issue with BOA? And are you happy with your current bank’s policies, and customer service?

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love BOA......In my 40 years of banking with them, I have never had a problem that couldn't be solved. I have used numerous other banks in the various locations we have lived, and I always come back to BOA. So, I hope you give them another chance.

Jay said...

I've never had a problem with them, but I keep a close eye on them anyway. They did try to charge me an administrative fee of $5 once when their ATM rejected my card once. I went inside and they couldn't figure why it didn't work, but the two other people came in and they admitted it was their machine.

It was a couple of weeks later when I saw the charge for rejecting my card. They were nice about taking it off, but they clearly hope people don't watch these things closely.

A New Yorker said...

I didn't read that other guys blog but I can tell you I am about to do an angry on Wachovia for what they do. Must be a trend. I have a credit union and glad for it. I closed my small wachovia acct this past month because of their policies and bad service.

none said...

I've been with them for 14 years and they only thing they do that pisses me off is cut off my credit card when I travel without warning.

Then I have to get on a phone and argue with them and give maiden names and passwords to get them to release the hold.

Arv said...

Most of the companies treat their customers like shit... D%^% them...

I dont bank with them here...

Have a nice weekend... Cheers...

hopefaithbelieve said...

Well, my brother in law works for BOA and apparently, they have been good to him; however, I worked for a company about eight years ago that did all their banking with BOA and we had nothing but problems. After that experience, I knew I would never personally bank with them.

Hemanth Potluri said...

i dont know abt ur bank but bank of india is very bad ..hahah...

urs..hemu..

Anonymous said...

what BoA district are you in? when we were living in california, i had BoA there and i thought they sucked. for the most part they were helpful, i just resented their ads claiming their website's information was updated instantly, which wound up to me overdrawing because things weren't instantly there (now i use quicken to keep track of spending, instead of just relying on a bank website).

then i moved to indiana, and i have accounts with wells fargo and wamu. both of which are terrible in terms of customer service compared to BoA. it made me realize how helpful BoA's customer support really were - but i have to stress this was in california, the different districts might behave differently.

bindhiya said...

Dear Jessica,
I have a BOA account for 4 years now...they are not the best.. same with wachovia, regions and citibank...maybe you thinking why i deal with all these banks. before marriage i used to travel a lot for my job. I work in GA, NJ, NY, AR etc.. so i have to have a bank i can go in the place i live..
they all same rip off.. un nessesary, hidden charges and bad customer service. wachovia charge me 78 dollars for closing my checking account.. fleet or now BOA cancel my account cause no activity in my account for one month...
list goes on..
i don't know any good banks...maybe a local one..
have a good day.
♥ & ((hugs))
bindi

Malcolm said...

So far, I haven't had any problems with them (knock on mahogany). You make a good point about the rudeness of some customer service reps. Because many call centers have such a high turnover rate, I believe that these places wind up hiring anyone with a pulse in order to fill a void.

Jessica said...

Hi Mom,
Since not listening to you advice always leads me in the wrong direction. *sigh* I guess I will give them another chance. lol

Jay,
It's those little fees that lead to big profits! They just assume that most people won't notice...good for you that you did! :)

Lauren,
ooh, you're right a credit union may be the way to go! :)

Hammer,
Well I guess that's not too bad. But it is annoying to be away from home with out access to your money. Yuck!

Arv,
Yeah, I think there must come a point when a company gets so big that they forget about who brought them to that point. The customers...without them they wouldn't be in the position to treating anyone like crap!

Hope,
Well it's nice to know that they treat their personal, and business customers equally. lol

Hemu,
Well, it looks like bad bankers are a global problem. :)

Fwaggle,
Welcome! Come back anytime. I appreciate your input! I started mine account in California. I think the customer service people I was dealing with were there as well.

It sounds like you've had some bad luck with banks!

Hi Bindi,
ooh, you too...bad luck with banks! I agree, my experience with smaller local banks has been better than with large ones.
Hope you are feeling well! :)

Malcolm,
I'll cross my fingers for you that your luck continues. :)
I bet you're right about the turnover rate...man...the people I dealt with were so rude.

Anonymous said...

Oh man. I hate B of A,
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Banked with them twenty five years plus; blah, blah, blah. This last two years they have made me nuts and now, I am done.
Oh ~ I will keep a small account and that ever so easy ATM card but these guys have become creeps to deal with.. They have solved NO problems for me and access in my area, (Southern Califonia) has been on a downward spiral. I know we are headed to the world of super banks but B of A won't be mine. I am a banker by trade. I know what they can and cannot do.
If you have accounts with B of A,
run don't walk ~ away. You will pay more for that perception of "convenience" than you can imagine.

Anonymous said...

I hate Bank of America. In various cities I've visited or lived Bay Area CA, Washington DC different parts of MD, nothing but bad customer service. Either I'm ignored after signing the customer service clipboard, or in MD two indian tellers are gossipping and laughing at customers, to rude bitter old ladies in Pikesville who hate their lives and need to be rude (I was trying to get a notary). I am a professional-Bank of America customer service sucks. I recently was charged a $35 fee and I have banked with them for years because of a $10.81 physical check was presented yesterday (which was never shown on my online account or in those stupid recordings and wasn't what their email alert says) while my direct deposit was pending. They refused to refund the fee--a couple or few hours difference and the check was never shown to be processed on my online bank acocunt. I was told two different things by two different customer service representatives. Of course one says it's their mistake, I look online and see the fee pending...the other one changes up (in addition to the email being wrong) after doing some "research" on the account. I hate them to the fullest, they're all the same, thank God I mostly pay bills and get groceries only from this account. They suck. They're efficient with online bill pay--only if that bill is through them. Disgusting. I've been talking about banking somewhere else for 2-3 years but I don't know how efficient their online bill pay is. I want to be like the old people that didn't trust banks. Stuff money in a safe or a mattress and stay away from corporations. God is watching, obviously they don't believe in him for their shady tactics to swindle people out of their money.

Anonymous said...

I've had a BoA credit card for years--they gave me a good deal on a balance transfer a while back. Recently, though, they've raised my interest rate twice (I've NEVER been late on a payment!)--and I just got a notice that they lowered my credit limit! No reason was given. I guess many banks are doing this now. I have vowed to pay off my balance and NEVER do business with BoA. The only other credit card I have right now is Citi and they've been great . . . so far.

Unknown said...

my partner and just had a horrendeous experience unlike any other at BOA. we both share an amerian express business acct. my partner recently pursuaded me to open an acct. since it was right across the street. i finally relented. Two days ago, i paid our business ae acct. accidently out of her account, thinking it was my BOA acct. overdrawing and accuring over $400 in NSF charges. in one hour the money was back in her account. the next day we spoke with BROOKS OF BOA AT THE LAKEWOOD BRANCH IN DALLAS, TEXAS. He expressed his regret, but could only refund $87.00 due to some bullshit formula they go by of your past NSF charges. HOwever, they did not go by my history...just hers. needless to say, the WORSSSSSSSST banking experience of my life. I am going back to CHASE or a small bank that treat people like customers..not criminals. Mary Mulcahy, LPC

Will said...

BOA are scumbags. I have a 738 FICO score. It used to be 790, but thanks to BOA's predatory practices, they screw over even their best customers.

I have two BOA credit cards that I transferred 5-figure balances to a couple years ago before BOA was exposed for screwing the USA with their fraudulent derivatives investments and bad home loans. I never use the cards, just pay double or more what the monthly payment calls for.

Four times in the past two years, they have lowered my credit limit to just a couple hundred dollars over what I owe.

Of course, it negatively impacts my credit rating having that shrinking ratio of credit available to debt. As I said, it used to be 790.

We're not talking about a lot of money here, either. One card is $370 remaining to pay and they just dropped my credit limit on it to $500!

My other card with BOA has $3,200 remaining and they lowered my credit limit to $3,500 on that!

My home loan and car loan are always paid on time, every month. My other credit card is AmEx, which is paid in full every month.

Let me know if you have any good ideas to spread the word about these scumbags.

The new credit card laws didn't go far enough to put the clamps on loan shark organizations like Bank of America that try to control your financial

Will

Floored in Florida said...

BOA lied to me and my husband for a month about a home loan, the truth was they never even began the process, and when closing day came, they told the realtor and the title company all was good, but then that morning no one could reach the loan associate, so we went to her supervisor, who informed us that the associate had dropped the ball on us. When we demanded for them to make it right, they denied our loan (reason being lack of information) and fired the associate whi in turn sent us a very nasty email. We learned our lesson, but it cost us our dream home. BOA lie and do not even attempt to make it right to their customers, in fact I feel they do not care. Nothing but common hood rats, and incompetent unprofessionals. Keep away from them, if you want to do good busisness.