{"id":2236,"date":"2014-10-01T14:29:17","date_gmt":"2014-10-01T19:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toddsingleton.net\/chronicle\/?p=2236"},"modified":"2014-10-01T14:45:37","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T19:45:37","slug":"the-fine-and-fee-tactics-of-bank-of-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toddsingleton.net\/chronicle\/2014\/10\/01\/the-fine-and-fee-tactics-of-bank-of-america\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fine and Fee Tactics of Bank of America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bank of America obviously has a paid, financial and legal think tank dedicated to maximizing revenue from customer fees.\u00a0 Here are some of the historic and current tactics BoA used over the years to take money from those who have none.<\/p>\n

Historic Fees<\/em><\/p>\n

Not until the creation of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, championed and lead by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, did Bank of America begin backing off of some of their original account fines and fees including:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Processing account debits and withdraws by largest to smallest dollar amounts in order to maximize the number of overdraft transactions so they could collect non sufficient funds fees for as many transactions as possible.\u00a0 BoA pioneered and practiced it until outlawed.<\/li>\n
  2. Debit card use fees.\u00a0 They backed off on these primarily due to customer outrage.\u00a0 Once again they tried to see how far they could push customers for revenue before a 20% increase in account closures during the first part of 2012.<\/li>\n
  3. In 2013 they shut down their “eBanking” program where some account holders were charged $8.95 for talking to a teller.<\/li>\n
  4. For awhile they tried charging customers $25 to close an account.\u00a0 They are the only bank that still requires a customer send a signed letter to a post office box to close an account. PNC still does this.\u00a0 Why?….<\/li>\n
  5. The “Zombie Account” fees.\u00a0 Thought you closed your Bank of America account back in 2011?\u00a0 Nope.\u00a0 Until 2012 any account closed could automatically be reopened if a deposit or payment transaction hit it.\u00a0 Forget to change the auto pay account information on file for your auto insurance policy?\u00a0 BoA would reopen the account and pay the transaction, accruing overdraft fees many people would never even know about until it reached collections.\u00a0 Again they backed off after the assertions that BoA is the swill of the earth proved too true for PR to handle.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Current Fees<\/em><\/p>\n

    Oh Bank of America is certainly not giving up.\u00a0 When revenue can’t be met through solid loans and interest rates they will continue to seek blood from stones.\u00a0 They have at least one brand new tactic…<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Holding transactions.\u00a0 Got an auto pay scheduled for your car or life insurance that usually posts on the 3rd of every month?\u00a0 Wait… it’s the 7th so where’s the transaction?\u00a0 Or that check you wrote you were told was deposited over a week ago? \u00a0 BoA is holding it.\u00a0 They can do this at their discretion per the account holder policy.\u00a0 Yet they only hold an auto pay transaction or check if the account balance is dangerously close to the transaction amount (hard to know their specific balance criteria).\u00a0 Here it is the 7th of the month and you just bought a cup of coffee for $1.29 that puts the account in the red by 87 cents once the forgotten auto pay transaction for your insurance is processed.\u00a0 Like programmed clockwork BANG!…. the auto pay transaction is posted and $35 overdraft fee ensues, thank you.\u00a0 This tactic renders mobile banking apps and other forms of checking your available account balance almost useless.\u00a0 They are betting people aren’t closely following their transaction posting history in great detail and making it difficult for them to do so without daily, in depth review of all transactions regardless of schedule…. and banking on it.<\/li>\n
    2. ATM use fees.\u00a0 One of the main reasons I am closing my Bank of America account of 24 years is this socially embarrassing admission when I have to tell others “Sorry, I can’t use the ‘no fee’ ATM”.\u00a0 Originally an NCNB account, I am not proud to have been assimilated into one of the few banks that charges me for using any other banks ATM.\u00a0 Even at “no fee” ATM’s Bank of America will charge you $3.<\/li>\n
    3. Debit card replacement fee.\u00a0 Again, BoA is damn near the only bank where it will cost you $5 to replace a lost or worn out card, $20 if you want to rush it.<\/li>\n
    4. Overdraft protection fee.\u00a0 No one is going to move my money from savings to checking to cover a potential overdraft.\u00a0 Literally, I mean no one even though I’m signed up for overdraft protection.\u00a0 A computer does it.\u00a0 Bank of America collects $10 for all of the computers hard work.\u00a0 Nonsense.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Overall I’m pretty excited about closing my Bank of America account within the next week.\u00a0 I tried to like them but really, there’s nothing in it for a customer of bank of America.\u00a0 Even when we’ve had very high account balances there’s no reward or satisfaction of being a “customer” (more like a victim) of an institution designed to sign you up and pass on ever fee they can legally conceive.\u00a0 I want a bank that does not place account holder fee tactics at the top of their revenue and legal agendas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Bank of America obviously has a paid, financial and legal think tank dedicated to maximizing revenue from customer fees.\u00a0 Here are some of the historic and current tactics BoA used over the years to take money from those who have none. Historic Fees Not until the creation of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, championed … Continue reading The Fine and Fee Tactics of Bank of America<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-money"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddsingleton.net\/chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddsingleton.net\/chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddsingleton.net\/chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddsingleton.net\/chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddsingleton.net\/chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2236"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/toddsingleton.net\/chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2248,"href":"https:\/\/toddsingleton.net\/chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2236\/revisions\/2248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddsingleton.net\/chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddsingleton.net\/chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddsingleton.net\/chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}