My New Neighbors
...well ok, just higher fees.
If you moved into a new neighborhood and started beating up the litttle kids on your block and robbing people's houses well, chances are you wouldn't be invited to any neighborhood pot lucks. But if you're Bank of America and Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is in your pocket well heck, here's a baseball bat and the house keys...help yourself!!
MY STORY
So I had a bank account with Fleet who was the behemouth bank of the northeast before Bank of America swallowed that whale. Even the name "Bank of America" suggests the coming of an era of total monopoly in the financial services industry. True to the time-tested formula of mega-mergers, BofA laid off 5,000 people and changed the terms of service (in their favor) without telling their new customers.
HOW IT WORKS
Simple really, you screw your customers coming and going. In my case, I don't have overdraft protection because they charge (you guessed it) huge hidden fees if and when it kicks in. Since this pretty much defeats the purpose I take a pass on overdraft. Instead, I go online frequently and keep a close eye on my bank balances.
SORRY CHARLIE
Worked great with Fleet. Never had a problem with overdrafts. All of a sudden I'm hit, wham! wham! wham! Three time in a row. What the hell is going on? Turns out, B of A changed the accounting algorithm such that you never know how much money you have in your account. What a helpful service that is! All a part of their "higher standards". You see, when I use my Visa debit card, say to buy $50 worth of groceries, they take the $50 out and "freeze" those funds "pending" a final debit from the account. No problem there. Well what's different with B of A (which they didn't bother to tell me) is they then PUT THE MONEY BACK IN YOUR ACCOUNT FOR 3 DAYS. The funds are no longer frozen. Then three days later, you've withdrawn the money, not knowing it is suppose to be covering a debit transaction (you still with me?) and BOOM....Overdraft. $35.00 fee. They can make an easy $100. off each customer before they figure it out. Add to that all the money they save "Walmarting" the banking industry and your talking about a serious chunk of change (but don't think they'll cash your penny rolls). Of course, when these idiots get themselves into another banking crisis who do you think is going to bail them out? Organized crimes got nothing on these guys.
SHAME ON YOU BANK OF AMERICA
People take their hard-earned money (even harder to earn after you FIRE THEM) and deposit it in your institution with the expectation that you will uphold your fiduciary duty to them. Instead you violate the public trust with hidden fees, confusing loan and credit card terms, bait and switch interest rates and other unscrupulous practices. You're a bunch of thugs.
BOTTOM LINE, BOYCOTT BANK OF AMERICA. They are a greedy, unethical mega-corporation and their service sucks (and I haven't even mentioned the credit card horror stories) - which brings me to Alan Greenspan and his "independent" Federal Reserve. They, along with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (say that 3 times fast) are supposed to be regulating the outrageous practices of these banks. Talk about asleep at the switch! What a GOP party hack Greenspan's turned out to be! Anyway, if any of you have your own bank horror stories I'd love to hear them. Also, feel free to share them directly with the OCC (who is supposed to regulate Nationally chartered banks like BofA). The number for the OCC is 800-613-6743 or visit their website [click on this post's title link]. Either way, it's the best way I can think of to welcome my new neighbors.
For more information, read this article from Business Week.
posted by Anonymous at 12:25 PM
4 Comments:
This reminds me of that bit Joe Pesci did in Lethal Weapon... "They screw you with the cell phones..." Same thing applies... "They screw you with the loans, they screw you with the overdraft, they screw you with the fees...and then..they screw you some more."
-N
Yeah that was good movie. I closed my account with BofA and took my business elsewhere. I figure Big Business will only start listening when people talk with their "feet" and their "wallets". Our government certainly isn't going to hold them accountable. The same goes for Walmart. I was addicted to their "great prices" too but I realized that nothing will get better in this country if everything we buy is made for pennies at child sweatshops in Asia. I mean I want "the good life" as much as the next guy but a lot of the problems in this country are the result of an enterprise system run amok. Consumers, voters, and business people need to start taking some responsiblity or our unabated Greed will be our undoing. It is certainly not making us very popular with the rest of the world.
I so hear your pain. I'm sick of Wells Fargo for many of the same reasons. This month, I'm going to be switching to a local Credit Union. It has same functionality as my current bank, but when I walk in the door of the branch, I can talk to the President of the CU if I so choose. I want to have people handling my money who know who the heck I am.
Yeah, I say anytime you can get away from theses mega-corporations (which is fewer and fewer these days) you are much better off!!
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