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My Brother’s Nasty Bank of America Experience
By JLP | September 4, 2008
Make a couple of late payments and Bank of America will jack your interest rate up to 29.99%!
My brother just sent this to me:
I handle pretty much all my financial business online. I don’t get paper statements for many accounts at all. I wanted to know what my Interest Rate was on my Bank of America credit card so I pulled up a statement online and come to find out it was 29.99%. I had seen online about how you can call your credit card company and tell them that you have offers from other companies and your current credit card company will most likely give you a better rate.
So I called Bank of America and mentioned that I had Credit Score that was around 750, I had a our mortgage with them that I had never been late on. I also stated that I had anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 in my checking account varying throughout the month as well as having over $2,000 in one of my savings accounts with them, I have four savings accounts with them total that vary from $100 to $500 during the month. I then stated that I didn’t understand why I would have a 29.99% interest rate and asked that they give me a better rate.
The lady said, “OK sir let me pull your information up.” She did so and stated, “Well I see that you were late in March and you were also late in November.” She then told me that the system automatically changes your interest rate if you are late twice.
I said, “How many day’s late was I? She said, “Uh it looks like three day’s on the one and one day the other time.” I said, “So my interest rate with all that I have with your company should be set at 29.99% that doesn’t make sense to me. I’ve been late a couple times and you are telling me that I should have such an outrageous rate?”
She then said, “Well sir you’re blaming the credit card company for your mistakes.”
Well of course that comment really ticked me off so I said, “OK I know I am not your biggest customer but I can tell you this: I will actively seek to move every penny, including my mortgage elsewhere.”
She said “OK” and I hung up.
I was so ticked off. I don’t care if I was late a few day’s here and there. I was never late 30 day’s…not even close because I just pulled my credit report last week and there were no blunders on it. Anyway I will mention to everyone I know that BOA sucks a**!!!
Now for a little background. I sent my brother an email and asked him to clarify how he didn’t know that he had a 29.99% interest rate. This was his resonse:
I received a phone call from a BOA rep about three months ago and he stated that my interest rate was going to go up and that I could keep my current interest rate for the balance on my card until I paid that amount off but I would have to close the account. My other option was to leave the account open and the rate would go up. He wasn’t for sure what it was going to go up to.
Well in all my research on credit scores I didn’t want to close the account so I left it open and continued making my monthly payments. In the hustle and bustle of things I never thought twice about checking to see what the rate had actually gone up to, especially since I don’t get an actual paper statement with the APR printed on it.
I’ve really been focusing on paying off any and all debt so I decided to get rates on any loans/credit cards that I had and determine which to pay off first so I went online and pulled a statement and low and behold I noticed the rate was 29.99%.
Okay, my brother could have done one thing that might have changed the outcome of this situation (or prevented it from happening in the first place):
When he was late, he should have called the bank and explained why he was late. I know for a fact that this helps the situation. A lot of times the bank will make a note in your file or even delete the late fee.
Regardless, a 29.99% interest rate does seem extreme in this situation. That’s nearly 2.5% per month! Usually those kinds of rates are reserved for those who are considered a credit risk—or at least they should be.
Bottom line: Don’t take those warm and fuzzy bank commercials—where they show the loving banker taking care of their customers—seriously. The bank doesn’t care about the customer.
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS: As an afterthought, I wanted to add my experiences with Bank of America. When we bought our house in 1999, we used a mortgage broker. A few months after we bought our house, we were informed that BofA had bought our loan.
Things went along fine until the day that I made an error when I paid our mortgage electronically. I misplaced a decimal point and paid $107.00 instead of $1,070 (or whatever amount it was). BofA rejected the payment, making our mortgage payment late. They charged us something like $40 and sent us a scary letter. I immediately called them and explained what had happened the guy cleared the late fee and allowed me to make the payment with no penalty.
We do our main banking with Wells Fargo but have our mortgage with BofA. As long as I can remember, we have always had good service.
Topics: Banking, Credit Cards, Miscellaneous |
September 4th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Yes, that bank does suck. If you want a big bank, I suggest US Bank or Wells Fargo, although you can probably find enemies of them too! Also, I really like Schwab’s Investor Checking.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
This happened to my wife with the same company and it was entirely her fault for being late a few days. She tried calling in as soon as she realized the problem but they didn’t budge. Ultimately, she moved the balance to Citibank who has always been awesome. I have a large balance transfer at Citibank at 2% until paid off and missed a payment one time. I freaked out when I caught my mistake thinking that they were going to jack my rate. They did jack my rate for one month but I called and they set it back to the promo rate.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
We moved our joint accounts out of Bank of America over a year ago. Their customer service was horrible and they wouldn’t admit to mistakes on their part. We use a combination of Wachovia and ING Direct and we’re happy.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I am no lover of BAC but I did have a similiar incident where my ‘account alert’ somehow got turned off and I missed my monthly payment on a 0% promo.
I caught it a few days after the fact, paid it ASAP and called BAC and explained what happened and asked to keep my 0% intact (even though they could jack it up) they would look into it and I would know next month.
I was prepared to pay it off b/c I wasn’t going to pay a jacked up rate. Luckily they kept it at 0%. Whoo hoo.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:02 am
You should tell your brother to look into BofA’s Premier account status. By holding a mortgage with BofA they automatically upgrade you to this status. Life with BofA is a thousand times better as a Premier customer. I have my own account rep who personally handles all of my banking business and takes care of fees for me all the time.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Phil,
Thanks for the tip. I’ll pass it along.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:39 am
Remember, Bank of America is the wonderful entity which bought the “real” Bank of America some years back. They basically fired all the folks in San Francisco and moved everything to Charlotte, North Carolina. Where they wear all those pins and such (don’t get me started).
You get what you deserve.
Bozo
September 5th, 2008 at 6:45 am
1. Why was he late at all — even once, not to mention twice. How about paying a few days early?
2. Why does he carry a balance on his credit card anyway? Yikes!
Sounds like you may need to teach him a bit about credit/debt.
September 5th, 2008 at 7:30 am
BofA is one of my oldest credit card accounts. The company once waived a late fee for me, and has kept me at a fixed rate for years (7.9%). I wonder if it was the account rep that he talked to…Maybe she needs a little more training.
September 5th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Actually I think the thing he should have changed was not paying late in the first place. It’s a big no no for your credit score and now the banks are starting to take full advantage. BofA did this to me for being less than 1 day late (a matter of hours, really) and I transferred the balanced and closed the account. It stunk, but I didn’t make a fuss because it was my fault in the end.
The sad thing is I don’t think any companies really care about people or their circumstances at all anymore. We all just have to fight for ourselves.
September 5th, 2008 at 8:27 am
FMF -
I did actually pay the card off and I’m normally not late at all. Of course I realize it was my mistake to be late but one of the payments was due right around when my father died and I totally forgot about paying it online as I was dealing with a bunch of other stuff. I don’t remember the reason for the other. I have a great credit score so that’s not really the issue. The issue is that BOA doesn’t really care about their customers as they would have one believe. At the end of the day, yes I was late and I can accept that, doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it and it doesn’t mean they can’t make an exception and help an otherwise good customer out. It’s not like I had an outrageous balance that I couldn’t pay in full. Anyway thanks for all the feedback. I am going to look into some of the other banks that have been suggested.
September 5th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Wow, I use BofA for a bunch of things, will keep my eye out!
September 5th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Move the card and move it now! If his credit score is over 750 he should have no problem getting a card with much better rate. Transfer the blanace, and then don’t miss a payment.
Also you can save the threats with large banks, even with our mortgages, even the biggest of us are small potatos in the eyes of B of A.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:09 am
It’s an amazing coincidence, but a friend of mine called me yesterday in the exact same situation. He made one late payment and it was just a couple of days, and they hiked up the rate on him. He called to complain and they wouldn’t cut him a break. I suggested to him that he transfer the full balance to a new card, but not cancel the BOA card. As other have suggested, your brother should do the same. Be sure to tell him not to cancel the card, but just pay it in full. As I’m sure you’re aware, if he cancels the card it could have a negative impact on his credit score because it would increase the percentage of available credit he’s using.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:43 am
wha? this is nothing new. and certainly not specific to bank of america. every credit card is like this. I’m surprised he wasn’t charged exorbitant late fees and that his rate didn’t go up the first time he was late. they don’t care if its a day, a couple hrs, or 30 days late. late is late. and late= fees= mucho $$$ for banks.
September 5th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Bottom line: Don’t do business with them
Credit cards are going to always find a way to profit. It’s a billion dollar industry, you’re not going to win
September 5th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
This is somewhat related, though with another bank.
I had one late payment to Chase credit card a couple months ago, and THE DAY AFTER the due date the collections calls started. 7 or 8 times the first day from 2 different numbers.
I’d never paid laid before. And this time was just a weird fluke due to my automatic payment not going through at a time when I was moving and paying rental and utilities deposits, etc. I called and paid it immediately the next day and the customer rep would not waive the fees, etc. I’ve had this account for 10 years.
I am never using their bank again.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
My first thought was “so?” Chase did this to Micah after a SINGLE late payment. I think almost any credit card will.
“So?” in this case is directed towards the BofA as a specific offender. It’s what most CC companies do. It may be worth protesting as an industry practice, but it’s not unusual. In fact, it seems that BofA was better to your brother than Chase would have been, unless he didn’t notice that his rate went up after the first late payment.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Jacked up rates after 2 late payments is exactly what I’d expect as typical from a credit card bank. So it comes as no surprise at all to me that BoA did it.
Some banks are more flexible but thats going beyond my expectations. I count myself lucky if a bank is nice about it.
Lesson learned: dont’ be late.
Jim
September 5th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I have no complaints except the long wait times on the phone and in person. Otherwise just pay your card on time.
September 5th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Check your credit card rate every month, whether you’ve paid late or not. Some banks have been raising rates without even the rationale of a late payment, and Bank of America has been in the news recently of doing exactly that.
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2008/db2008026_105146.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives
Just make it a habit to look at that rate.
Cathryn Sykes
http://www.moneytospare.net
September 5th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I work for Bank of America. Our associates are trained to make adjustments in certain situations. Ask for a manager if you get an associate that is not willing to listen. Just because you speak to a manager, it does not mean they will lower the rate, however, they are usually more flexible. Good Luck!
September 6th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Mark has a good point. I know someone who worked for there and said that they had a certain amount of flexibility if (and only if) the person had a really good history of making payments on time and such up to that date. And general good credit.
September 6th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Try Citibank World credit card. We earn 1% which is transferred to our Upromise acct (which I then pull out and put in my oldest’s 529 fund w/our state)
Due to our large home renovation expenses, I did balance transfers on this card at 0% for a year. Hate having debt on a card, but how do you beat 0%!! Will be repaid in full by April…
Christopher, do you use any financial software for tracking your checking acct? I use Microsoft Money and have my transactions (actual and future estimated) entered for 6 months in advance. Since cc pmts are usually due around the same time every month, I have it as part of my checkbook and it’s a reminder to go on-line to schedule pmt, if it’s not an “autopay in full” acct. This has kept me out of late-pay territory and also helps me see when we’re going to have some extra cash to do a short term cd or just transfer more to savings….
September 6th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
I think you can judge the interests of a bank based on how aggressive they market their products.
I have a student checking account with BofA and so far everything is stellar. No problems at all with the banking service.
But, they are SUPER ANNOYING with the telemarketing and the brochures in the mail. Though I have no problems with them, I am always cautious with their services and I’m seriously considering leaving them.
September 8th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
once i had nearly a quarter million in boa and they wouldn’t refinance me.
i was young and naive then, though. now i have 13 credit lines (all zero balance but one, which is at 0%, and i have the cash, but why return it now?). if any lender ever gives me trouble, i rip out my associations with them… sometimes i have three lines with one bank, and i’ll keep killing lines until they submit. having one credit line (with debt) makes you play by their rules (or whims). having 13 means i have a lot of retaliatory leeway. i really don’t get into these kinds of tussles anymore. of course i autopay too so nothing’s late.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Jeez People…when you accept the card, you accept the payment rules and the consequences if you dont adhere to the rules. I am sick of the majority of the US consumer base blaming everyone else for their problems. Thats why this country is in trouble. Keeping up with the Jones’ and not reading the fine print. Read it!!!!!!!!!! Pay your payment early!!!!!!! Bank of America is not that bad. I know they have to follow rules and can only waive so many fees for people according to the Fair Lending Act. Read it.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:30 am
I have had more trouble with a Bank of America Charge card than any other card - and I can’t get away from them!
I took advantage of a 0% balance transfer offer. I have a 780 credit score and took advantage of the 0% to borrow several thousand dollars on to my BOA card. I immediately enrolled in the automatic deduction payment plan, to ensure my minimum amount was automatically deducted on time each month and then I could manually pay down the balance from there. My first payment was due on 7/1/08 and I completed the auto deduct forms in May. The auto deduct forms DO say that the first payment may not be automatic. However, I completed the forms and sent them in so quickly, I received a letter back from BOA at the beginning of June, saying that my auto deduct was established and my “next payment” would be deducted automatically.
I called during the last week of June, twice, to make sure the auto pay was set ready to go July 1 and I would not be late on my first payment. Both times I was told everything was fine. On July 1, when I did not see the payment hit my checking account, I called BOA and they still said everything was fine. I initiated a second payment over the phone (and incurred the fee) just to be safe.
Turns out, NO, my auto deduct was NOT ready to act and they considered my first payment late. They jacked my interest rate up and charged several fees - late fee being only one. I called in, and they reversed the interest rate and the fees and all was well….until it happened again the next month. Again the system was thinking I had missed my first payment and the terms of my 0% offer were lost. So I called again, explained again, provided the letter sent to me nearly 30 days before my first payment was due stating my next payment would be automatically deducted, etc. I guess in retrospect I never should have trusted the letter and initiated a first payment myself anyway to be safe and just made a double payment (auto pay plus my manual pay) that first month…but I thought for sure that the auto pay was set up because of the letter I received from BOA almost 1 whole ahead, stating auto pay was in place.
I gave them three chances. Three months in a row, my statements reflected an extremely high interest rate as well as 3 or 4 junk fees (late fee being only one) which I had to call in and have reversed. Several hundred dollars in fees charged and refunded now! I finally became frustrated, repaid the money, and closed the account.
But….even though you close your account does NOT mean they stop the auto pay! BOA continues to deduct a monthly payment from my personal checking account (personal checking account is not with BOA) against a BOA charge card that is closed. I had to call BOA, remind them to cancel the auto pay, remind them the charge card is closed, and request a refund check.
How long would they continue to collect money from my personal checking account, against a phantom charge card? Can I charge THEM interest for the use of my money (not to mention all the administrative time and effort on my end)!!!!
September 9th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Justin,
I don’t think my brother was blaming anyone. He was just ticked that BoA charged such an exhoribitant rate when he was a relatively low-risk customer.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Pay your bill on time (or early!). Problem solved. I understand frustration after one late payment, but two? Maybe your brother is a credit risk, and this should be reflected in his credit score. Don’t like the terms? Don’t get the card. I have three credit cards (Chase Visa, Amex, and Discover) and have never missed a payment, thus never had a problem.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I didn’t have the issue your brother has, but I did get a letter back in January for both my BofA credit cards stating that my interest would go up to 29% do to some calculations etc etc. If I wanted to keep my current interest it stated to send a letter back to a specific address (not BofA), to the company that came up with the percent. Only through a letter could I keep my current interest. But by agreeing to this it said that I could no longer use my credit cards to purchase something. If I did it would void my request and my interest would go up to 29%. I was not happy about this, but I sent the letters and kept my current interest. But I haven’t used the cards at all and I pay electronically about a week before its due. Your brother should do online payment by the way if he doesn’t already. You can’t trust the USPS. I’m disappointed with this also because one of the cards is my first credit card from back when I started college and it has my college logo.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
If you lay down with pigs, don’t be surprised if you get up smelling like crap.
My point is this: If you don’t like the system, then opt out. Live on less than you make, pay off your debts, and save money to buy stuff you want. It was good enough for Grandma.
And if you don’t think it’s possible to live without credit cards, I can assure you it is. You can get your home mortgage manually underwritten, you can drive a used car (oh yes you can), and so on.
And PS, a good credit score means you’re good at playing by the hopelessly lopsided game the credit card companies have set up. The ideal credit score is ZERO.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Cheers to David and Ryan!!!!!!!! This is what I am talking about when I say the minority vs majority. If you dont like something, move on. Dont get yourself get into a situation where you cant move on and you will always have a choice when they increase your interest rate to 29%. If you dont like it, dont charge more than you can pay off every month. Its very simple to the minority.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
The same happen to me. I closed my account with Bank of America, their customer service is HORRIBLE.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
How about someone who was never late? I pay my bills the day they come in, and a credit score of 720. I also transfered a balance with what I thought was a great deal until I looked one day online and realized that I too was paying 29.99%! I transfered my credit card balance once again to a low 4.99. I will never deal with them in the future.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Are some of these people writing from BOA?
September 10th, 2008 at 12:06 am
by boa
September 10th, 2008 at 12:21 am
spelling correction bye BOA what a waist of time dealing with BOA
September 10th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Thats funny one of the sponsors of this page is BOA
September 10th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Hey, I was a BOA customer. Banking and creit card and will never again. If I get asked I tell people to go somewhere else. My bank account I was told I would have no fee on direct deposit and for 2 years straight I fought with them because they were charging me for the direct deposit. And for the credit card, I mailed my payment on the 15th of November when it was due on the 1st of December because I had a little extra in my pay check. December 1st they were calling me for the payment. I made the payment over the phone and then got mad. I called them back the next morning and they had received the payment on the 1st. She said Christmas time-you need to mail your payment early. Which set me off even more. After my husband convinced me to not do what I was going to do. I yanked my money out of their bank and got a loan from another and paid off the credit card. YES! this happened a long time ago but I still get very upset over this.
September 10th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
You know what the problem here is the lack of responsibility. If you get a credit card and use it you agree to a contract, this contract states if you pay late it’s a default and you get a default rate(29.99%). You got the card, you used the card, you paid late, and you get to suffer the consequences. End of story. Also it’s called a due date, meaning the day you have to have the payment in by not around, not close to, but on or before. Stop being whiny babies and take responsibility for your mistakes. Welcome to reality BoA is a company it wants your money it’s not your mommy.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Some of you people amaze me! You agree to a contract but get pissed when the bank abides by the contract. If you are late you are late, why do you think you are so special? Banks regardless of which one is a FULL PROFIT company and will “jack” up rates when your late etc. Imagine yourself as the ceo of a large company with millions of customers you want to continue making your buisness larger and your pocket book larger admit it or not you all would do the same in there situation. FOLLOW YOUR CONTRACTS, READ TERMS AND CONDITIONS…and you won’t have problems.
September 11th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I just got a letter from B of A closing my Credit card that I have had for over 10 years because of inactivity for a year, no one called me and asked me if I was happy with my card or not, just a letter saying my account had been closed. The letter stated that they made their descion due to viewing my credit report, I have great credit and have never paid late on any account.
Well, there goes my emergency card and I will not do business with Bank of America again.
September 11th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
We have banked with Bank of America for about 20 years and we have had no problems. There have been a couple of errors, but I saw them online and called and they corrected the errors immediately and reversed the charges.
September 12th, 2008 at 9:25 am
I’m with those pointing out that BOA is a company, not your mom. They abide by the terms and conditions, so should you. The other thing that can jack up an interest rate that people seem to forget is doing a balance transfer off a card. Nobody has to have a credit card (or any bak account really) and if you decide to have one, you follow the terms and conditions and you won’t have a problem. Only time I’ve needed to talk to my bank in the last two years was to tell them I was traveling.
September 12th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Yeah, they can jack up your interest if you make a few late payments. They took over my credit card without warning (formerly Clout Visa, which was awesome) and had MUCH stricter rules that led me to do things that led to a much higher interest rate. It was 26% at one point.
Ok. It happens.
I could deal with the high interest (my fault, really), the crappy online system, having to pay $15 extra if you’re making payments from a bank that isn’t BoA, etc.
What I could NOT deal with was this: in June I switched from my BoA checking acct to my husband’s Wells Fargo acct. Since then it was like pulling teeth to *give them my money* to pay off the credit card. I tried to pay TWICE over the phone in August, and it didn’t go through either time.
So, this racked up late fees and my interest rate. If I call again and they STILL don’t process the payment (incompetent morons), my credit could suffer. I called to complain, and they said the most they could do was waive the late fee and the $15 phone charge… that was what they told me the last time I tried to pay and it didn’t go through.
Oh, and I have plenty of money in my checking, and I gave them the right numbers for routing and the account - I triple checked. They’re just idiots.
September 12th, 2008 at 10:52 am
GK - I’ve heard of a few people that’s happened to.
GOOD RIDDANCE, I say!
September 12th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Let’s look at this logically…
YOU make a legally binding contract.
YOU don’t keep it.
THEY keep the contract and take the next steps— which you already knew about.
And you complian??
haha… this is true irony.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
opps i meant *COMPLAIN*
September 12th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
HAHA.. i meant “Complain”
September 12th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
closed two boa cards last night because they were going to raise my rate because i was getting close to my credit limit i told them i was not late on either one and they said because i am close to the limit it was an indication i was a big credit risk ….i laughed and asked the guy if he could hear my shredder as i shreded there cards…. i told them to close both accounts that way i wont go over the credit limit and i would not be a customer of theirs again
September 12th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
That’s what you get for not reading your terms and agreements. BOA is not the only company that raises your interest rate if you are late twice in 12 months. Plus it is a misconception that if you call into your credit card company and tell them that you have low rate offers that you will get a lower rate. How is that going to benefit the company? Last all of these financial institutuions are in the business to make money so why on earth do you think they have the customer’s best interest at heart? If we were really smart we would go back to the old ways and use cash and not live off of credit cards.
September 13th, 2008 at 2:16 am
This happened to my mother several times (she just turned 90) and I have had to take over handling the account. I made calls and everyone was extremely rude, so all accounts have been moved. Here is a website with several application sites if anyone is interested.
FirstRateCredt.info
September 13th, 2008 at 5:02 am
I agree. I was also late 2 times and my monthly payment like doubled. I am not in the process of paying it off in 3 months and am closing this dumb account. I recently opened with my credit union and i do not have to worry about that now since they do not raise the rate if you are late. My sister is doing the same thing.
September 13th, 2008 at 6:33 am
I had the same experience. I had a mortgage with a company they bought and it all started there. They couldn’t service my mortgage in the branch which is why I chose that company. Then they screwed up a credit card (Premier member), lost the app, and didn’t give my wife and daughter a 50.00 dollar credit for bringing other accounts there. They also jacked the cc rate after the promo, but did reduce it when I forced the issue. I moved everything, including my mortgage, but kept the cc. They were great in the west, but not in the east.
September 13th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Where are all these people coming from who are saying “It’s your fault, so quit whining”? I’d like to meet some of them and find out how they’ve never made a mistake! I want to know their secret to being perfect!
September 13th, 2008 at 10:21 am
I worked for BofA for almost 7 years, and I can tell you for a fact how they prey on the public. When I was first hired we were only required to have 7 referrals a a month. Towards the end we HAD to have
2 aday, this included a closed credit card. The way the system works that as you are running a transaction credit card approvals would pop-up. You
Had to offer the customer a credit card and make it sound like the deal of the century. I protested this as I felt that it was morally wrong. I stayed in trouble, all the time as a result. People this was required to keep your job. Since I left, I’m sure it is still the same or worse. and the customer service on ALL levels has gone to S**t.
I hope that if anyone reads this they will pull
all of their accounts out that bank…..PS they treat their employees on ALL levels like crap, this includes my former manager, who was on the corp. level district sales and service manager for our state He finally left and went to another bank.
PSS… Did you know that the original name was Bank of Italy, make you think Mafia? maybe…………
September 13th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Bad newz…all of the credit card entities of the financial institutions wooed the current government to be able to “ream” the american consumer for at least four years prior to this “new minimum payment” standard. You know, the right to ask for 1% of your total balance,any over the limit amounts and late fees for a minimum payment. Dubya Bush suggested that this will help the consumer get out of debt quicker.
Anywho…the only real theoretical way of sticking it to the banking institutions is to tell them to F>>k Off when it comes to unsecured lines of credit (ie credit cards). Yes, I have been a credit card holder with Citibank, First National Bank, and recently Chase Bank. My mother had a similar shocking interest rate hassle with Bank of America. She was able to pay off at least 10K in debt she carried, and now when BAC calls to offer her “deals of the century”, she tells them no thanx and hangs up in their face.
September 13th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
OH - PS to everyone who says “read the terms of agreement” -
Bank of America just usurped my old credit card out of nowhere. All of the sudden, the online payment system didn’t work, and I was getting bills from BoA. No one even told me. I didn’t sign up with them, and I sure as hell didn’t sign any contracts with them. Yet, I have to give them all of my money, they don’t process my payments correctly - and because of their errors, I might have a lowered credit score by the end of the month (which I will of course contest, but really!)
I know you weren’t directing the comments at me specifically, but BoA isn’t just another credit card company - it is truly Evil Incarnate.
September 13th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Did anyone ever think of taking responsibility for their actions? To the person who said they did not sign a contract. Each time you sign that credit card receipt or wite that access check or go to the ATM and get cash you are agreeing to take whatever these credit card companies do to you up the a**. The best way to stick it to these companies is to not be the greedy consumers that we are and pay for what we want with cash. Credit cards are the biggest hustle and we are falling for it hook line and sinker. Pay off your credit card debt and cut them up. I learned the hard way and bankruptcy was my only way out.
September 14th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
first of all, all of you all that are complaining about what boa did to you after YOU missed a payment or YOU typed in the wrong amount?? WTF??? it was YOUR mistake be grown own up to the problem that YOU created, don’t blame some bank for YOUR mistakes.
September 14th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
I once had a credit card with BOA, paid it off entirely. Shortly after paying it off, a new card came because the other one had reached it expiration date. Instructions were to call an 800 number to activate the new credit card. I did NOT call the number as I no longer wanted that credit card and my balance was 0. A month later, I received a bill for $35 for card fee. I sent a letter to them explaining that I no longer wanted the card, did NOT call to activate it, and to close the account. The following month I received another bill for the $35 PLUS late fees. This went one for several months with with late fees piling up and me responding each month that I didn’t want the card. Finally one day I receive a letter from a collection agency for the $35 and late fees, which now came to about $200. I ended up going to an attorney to get this nonsense stopped so my credit rating wouldn’t be destroyed over a card I had paid off and requested account be closed. No I will never knowingly do business with BOA again. And this wasn’t the only bad incident I had with them along the way, but it was the final straw.
September 14th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I too had a problem with my Bank of America mortgate. It all started when I tried to make an on line principal payment of $5400.00. Instead of placing the payment against principal as requested, BoA held the fund in suspense. The customer service agent tried to pass off the error by surmising that someone at BoA didn’t know what the payment was for. The three choices on line were apply to principal, apply to escrow, apply to regular payment. In trying to make corrections BoA customer service made errors that delayed this extra payment, subjecting me to additional PMI payments, messed up my automatic drafting from my BoA checking account that resulted in late fees for 2 months, which they later refunded. When they messed up my automatic drafting, I began to get mid-month collection calls around dinner time asking when I intended to make a payment, even though they already had access and authority to automaticlly draft my checking acocunt.
After dealing with their customer service agents as well as their customer service supervisors multiple times over a period of 4 months, I decided to take a top down approach. Don’t waste your time climbing the ladder. Give customer services 2 chances to fix the problem. If they fail, go to the top. I didn’t get satisfaction until I sent a letter to Mr. Kenneth D. Lewis, Chairman, CEO, President, Bank of America, Inc. 100 N. Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC 28255-0001.
Within a week I finally got some action. The ban ultimately had to make 67 correction and reposting entries to my mortgage account to get all their errors corrected and to have my mortgage interest properly recalculated and extra PMI payments refunded.
Oh, yes, I shouldn’t forget that they paid me $100.00 for 6 months of “inconvenience” they caused as a result of their posting errors.
September 14th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I don’t get it. Guy with credit score 750 missed his credit card payment and blames on his card company.
It’s common sense! It is your brother’s fault!
September 15th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I would drop my BofA account for any bank that would give me better rates. I have not liked doing business with this bank for a long time. Maybe I’ll give my business to Wells Fargo or Citibank.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:11 am
I had a BOA mortgage and didnt have a problem. Except for I try to stay a month ahead and they took it off the principle. However I do have a BOA credit card that I pay off every month. They send the bill so close to the due date that you have to mail it back right away. A couple of times I got it there late and called to get the charges taken off. Sometimes they are ok to deal with sometimes you have to threaten to cancel the card. My husband’s 1st national card gives you three weeks to return payment.
September 16th, 2008 at 7:04 am
I am with BOA. They bought out LaSalle Bank…ever since the switch the service has been horrible! Many Tellers have been “let go”. I just heard yesterday that BOA is Arab owned and now they just purchased Merrill Lynch. Does anyone know if this is true. I think I will be switching banks ASAP! But, how do I find out who REALLY owns each bank?
September 16th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I was late with a payment for BoA and I received 33 harrassing phone calls within 15 minutes. This is the worst bank out there.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Not true, kjf
September 16th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
BoA owns Bank of America.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
BoA has been decent to me. Then, again, I’ve never missed a payment of any sort.
September 17th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
JSM that the dumbest crap I’ve ever heard. If that’s true than you need to sue. There are federal guidelines on collection efforts.
September 19th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
B of A raised the interest rate on my card with them from 7.25% to 13.25% because I hadn’t used it! I had no late payments at all, in fact I’ve had 4 cards with them, “all” with a perfect payment history, and this is the 3rd car I’ve financed through them.
I’d been paying down my card each month with $100 or $200 payments, when the minimum due was only $15. Like I said, because I wasn’t charging anything on it, B of A hiked the interest rate up!
October 19th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
BOA actually makes money from fraudulent charges on
customer credit card accounts. during the time the
charge is in dispute late fees and interest payments continue to accumulate. They will not remove these fees, or they will say they will and when you get the next bill. They have increased. BEWARE of BOA
some of the biggest crooks in banking.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Chase bank just sent us their new terms which, if we agreed to them, would have allowed them to charge a default APR or 29.9% interest. Although the accounts in question were dormant and we weren’t planning to use them, we formally closed both accounts for which we got the “Amendments to Your Agreement.”
November 8th, 2008 at 7:56 am
My husband and I own a small business and like most businesses now we are just trying to hold on until the economy gets better. We have banked with BofA for over 50 years, I even worked for them for 5 years and I own BofA stock. Yesterday we noticed our bill went from 13% to 29% even though we have never been late. Customer service says that they have a right to charge anything they want. Now didn’t the government just lower rates to the banks so that they would keep rates the same. It seems to me that if the government is giving them a break shouldn;t they be passing it along.
November 8th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Simply put … With the deregulation of Banks and credit card companies by our own government they have become Legalized Loan Sharks. Money is power; of course they want it.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:32 am
I tried paying my online bill for 2 days and even called customer servic because my due date fell on veterans day. I was told repeatedly that there was no problem and conveniently they said there was no problem with their website either I made a payment over the phone on the 10th and was assured of no late fee. I called back on the 11th and 12th because no payment had posted, nobody knew why. Checked on the 13th and guess what, 39.00 late fee. I called but of course the buck stops with the trainee I had and there is no one that I am ALLOWED to speak to.
I know that big business does not care so I transferred my balance immediately but I will not close the card just for my own credit rating. I am however not done with them considering I get a ton of mail and convenience checks from them, I will be making plenty of calls on there constant harrassing me to use their company, which I was under FIA card services and did not know until today that it was a Bank of America account.
So BOA can keep my 39.00, it will be the last.
November 13th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Bank of America actually just raised all my rates, without me making a single late payment. They raised them from 9% to 34%. It sucks because I didn’t remember getting anything saying they were going to raise my rates, so I looked again and they mailed it, but it was mixed in with the ads for selling stuff, it was on that small rectangular paper and it looked like an ad for a product.
So of course, its getting raised because I have high balances. I’ve never missed a payment, or late payment or went over the limit on any card from any company.
I transfered the balance but then they locked my account out. I called them and they said that the recent activity was suspcious (the balance transfer). So they said they would change my account numbers and they gave me a new number to use to redo the balance transfers but in the mean time I needed to cut up my cards. Then I tried those and it turned out to be bad numbers. Then the bill came and I called them to find out how to pay it online since the account got locked and they said I needed to go to the bank and show them my ID and my old card, the ones they told me to cut up, but I could just pay them over the phone for a 15 dollar fee.
Turned out I could use set up a new ID online after getting the new cards and just used the new numbers and got everything set up again, but I’m trying to pay everything off as fast as I can.
I love how not only I have to use my taxes to bail them out, but then they justify raising all the rates from the economy. So even when I pay them off, I still have to pay them.