14 August 2009
Bank of America – Love and Hate – Part 2
Now let’s move on to the business side of things.
Normally, I don’t regularly check my account balances for my business account. I only do this about once a month when I’m paying bills. Our money only comes in once a month, and I try to set up all the bill payments around once a month. There should not be any surprise charges to this account. Since the business has not yet become extremely, I keep the account pretty much cleaned out. I pay any extra money down on a credit card balance that is outstanding. So here’s the story:
07/31/2009
Beginning Balance: $177.06
Unaware that for the first time in two years, they were charging a monthly maintenance fee, the apply a $12.00 fee.
Ending Balance: $165.06
08/04 – 08/05/2009:
Multiple charges made against the account. These were bill payments that I had set up before the end of July, expecting them to bring the account balance down to around $5.00 once all were applied. Unfortunately with the maintenance fee, the actual balance fell to -$7.40.
08/06/2009:
$35 overdaw fee applied to account, bringing balance to $-42.40. At this time, I was still unaware of the overdraft or the fee.
08/10/2009:
Ready to pay another bill, I log in to the website and see the fee. I am not a happy camper, but figure that maybe I can get that same mercy applied to my business that was applied to me. I call BOA and explain the situation regarding the new fee that I was unaware of. They explain that it was noted on my latest statements. I mention that I haven’t been receiving the statements in the mail. They look at their records and see that they have received return mail even though they are sending to the proper address. The representative states that the fee will stand because it was valid and they notified me on my statement. I said “You mean the statements that I never saw” and she said yes and there is nothing that she can do. Sarcastically I say “Great Customer Service! Goodbye.” and hang up. Later that day, to my astonishement, the account showed a refund of the fee. Maybe she felt bad after I hung up?
08/12/2009:
With the fee removed, I’m happy, but know that the account is still overdrawn, so I deposit enough to cover the shortfall as well as the upcoming bills.
08/13/2009
I log in to the account to verify that the deposit is listed and that I won’t have any more problems. I have a payment going out that day and any further issues could overdraw the account again. In utter disbelief, I see a new $35 fee labeled “Extended Overdrawn Balance Charge”. Not only do they charge you a fee for being overdrawn, they charge you another fee for leaving it overdrawn for five days (even if you don’t know it’s overdrawn). I’m starting to know what poor people feel like who are living paycheck to paycheck and have to deal with these kinds of issues. I call customer service and speak to a gentleman who seems to be sympathetic and says he’ll see what he can do. He verifies that all of the trouble stems from the new $12 fee and says that he’ll remove the other charge as well. Thanks again BOA.
So, out of $245 of fees overall (personal and business), I ended up having to cover $105 of it. I’m not happy, but I’m not as unhappy as I could be.
To be fair, there are a few tools that could help me avoid these issues in the future.
Overdraft Protection:
BOA will allow me to link a savings account or credit card to my checking account to avoid overdrawing this account. They still charge a fee for either of these services, but it is significantly less than the overdraft fee. For various reasons, I don’t hold a savings account at BOA and I plan to get rid of my credit cards anyway.
Notifications:
BOA will notify by text message if my account is overdrawn. Although this won’t stop me from overdrawing my account, it will keep me from doing it 6 times (or more) before I notice the fee.
My solution:
I’m pretty sure that I’m going to move on. I like the idea of moving to a smaller, locally owned bank or credit union. I spent a lot of time listening to an automated voice during this week and typing in my account number repeatedly on the phone. I also spent a good amount of time listening to hold music. What if I could call up the local bank and talk to someone? Or what if I could walk in, sit down at a desk and discuss the situation face-to-face? That would be a welcome change. Sure, I’d give up the convenience of nationwide ATM machines, but really, how often do I use an ATM machine when I’m out of town anyway?
I’m all for big, successful businesses, but when they begin to neglect customer service, I’ll be happy to go small.
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3 Comments currently posted.
Chris Sumpter says:
Ken says:
Great story. I live in a small town but use US Bank. Every once in awhile I’ll get a comment about how we should use our local bank, but honestly, US Bank has treated us well, so far.
Note From Matthew – Ummm… sorry Ken, there must be a bug in the website. Apparently when I approved another comment, it overwrote yours.
Andres says:
Great story. I live in a small town but use US Bank. Every once in awhile I'll get a comment about how we should use our local bank, but honestly, US Bank has treated us well, so far….
I banked with BoA for precisely one month before I realized what a horrible idea it was. The lady who set up my account had a headache and explained almost nothing to me. When I got my first statement, it had a maintenance fee on it. I immediately went in and closed my account. Every tiny bank in America has a free checking account and many have interest-bearing accounts. There was no way I was going to pay to have a checking account. On my account at Metcalf Bank, I actually make 2.5% interest. It’s currently one of my most successful investments. (And I’m a long ways from bouncing any checks there!)
A few weeks ago, I took a survey about a new account BoA is considering offering. All banking has to be done online or via text message. If you speak to an actual teller, there is a $7.99 per incident fee. It is beyond me why anyone would bank with these scum.