I stomped out of my local branch of Bank of America almost three years ago. I took my accounts to a locally-based bank and I've never looked back, except to scowl.
A couple of weeks ago, one of my tenants told me she was thinking of getting a bank account and she thought she'd go to BofA. I shook my head and said: "Yes, get a bank account! But don't go to Bank of America!"
She wanted to know why. I told her that I could lay it out for her if she had an hour or two, but since we both had places to be, just take my word: You don't want an account at Bank of America!
My troubles with BofA were a combination of a very badly managed branch, and corporate policies that were nothing short of predatory.
I didn't start out with BofA. When I moved back to Michigan in 1984 I got an account with a smaller, regional bank, Standard Federal. They served southern Michigan and part of northern Indiana and were headquartered in Troy, MI. I was with them for many years and never had a complaint.
Then a few years ago, Standard Federal was bought out by DeLaSalle Bank, still regional, but a larger region, headquartered in Chicago. Once again, I had no problems.
Then, in 2008 (IIRC), Bank of America absorbed DeLaSalle. At first, I thought it might just be an improvement. They put in all spiffy new ATM machines -- ones that would accept deposits and credit them right away. (The old ATM machines would accept a deposit, but not credit it until it had worked its way through the banking system -- several days later.) They had a new online-banking website that was a great deal more functional than DeLaSalle's.
A couple of months after BofA inherited my account, I started up my rental house business, and needed a couple more accounts to keep my rental income separate from my personal income. That's when the trouble started.
Phase I: Nothing we tell you is true
I sat down with one of their "bankers" (a minor functionary with only a little bit more responsibility than a teller) and described my needs. She said she knew just what I needed. She set me up with a small business package, a checking account where the checks cost $65 a pad, and a savings account to deposit my security deposits.
I thought those checks were damn expensive, but I thought maybe that was what businesses had to pay. Then, I found out that small business savings account carried a $20 a month service fee if I didn't keep at least $20,000 in it. I went back and pointed out that with the number of houses I was working with, that service fee was going to eat up my maximum $3,500 in security deposits. They were paying me a fraction of a percentage point in interest and grabbing $20 a month from my account. The "banker" agreed that wasn't going to be good for me and shut down my business accounts for a different package of accounts.
The first thing that happened was I got charged another $65 for new checks. And those checks never arrived in my mailbox. A couple of days later I got a call from someone at a BofA branch in another suburb -- all the way across the Detroit metropolitan area. She wanted to know why I had arranged to send my checks and new ATM card to a random stranger in Rochester, MI?
WHAT??? It seems for reasons only known to BofA, they had sent my new account package to a random stranger I had never had any sort of contact with. The new account package included an ATM card and PIN. I'm just lucky that the recipient was honest and took the package to his local branch and turned it in.
I went to my branch and insisted that they immediately deactivate that ATM card and issue me a new one with a new number and PIN.
Things settled down for a while. After arguing with the "banker," they credited me for the $65 for new checks that I wasn't going to use.
Then I got a statement and saw I was charged another $20 fee for my savings account. I went back and argued again, and they admitted the first savings account hadn't been closed completely and I was still being charged for it. They rescinded the fee. This was just the start of many, many months (continuing long after I left BofA) where they charged me $20 for the phantom savings account that they couldn't seem to close.
Phase II: Our tellers are incompetent!
What followed was several months where I was hit with a new "mistake" nearly weekly. There was the teller who recorded a withdrawal I made at the teller window double the actual amount. She withdrew $1,600 from my account and handed me $800 in cash. Naturally, I check my online register regularly, so I caught the error right away. I went back the next morning and the teller actually said: "Oh, thank you for coming back -- my drawer wasn't balancing and I couldn't figure out the problem!" (Like I was just going to swallow $800 disappearing from my checking account.)
Next, a few weeks later, I got another of those phantom service charges on the phantom savings account. The "banker" sent me to the teller window to close out the account again. The teller, who wasn't the same idiot who had done the double withdrawal, blithely closed my checking account instead of the phantom savings account (which the system wouldn't close because it had a negative balance because of the service fee). I was in the middle of a day when I was paying off contractors who were finishing up a house I'd been working on, and suddenly my checks were being written on a closed account. I had steam curling out of my ears when I went back to the bank. I was told to calm down because it was just a little mistake.
Phase III: Bait and switch
It was February 2009 and I was nearly at the end of my rope with BofA. Nothing they did worked out the way they said it was. But during one of my trips back to the bank to complain about dumbass mistakes, I noticed a promotion in the lobby about very low interest equity loans. I was running short of cash because one of my renovations was costing more than planned, so I looked into getting an equity loan on one of my houses (which was mortgage free, so it had 100 percent equity available) to get the house finished so I could start getting income from it. They were delighted to take my application. The "banker" told me the money would be in my hands by the end of the week.
Ha, ha, ha. Six weeks later, after hundreds of phone calls, I still didn't have my money. Detailing all that went wrong would be too exhausting. But it went a little like: We're ready to go, only we have to verify your income from your job. Have the HR director where you work call us. Next day: HR director leaves me a note on my desk at work: "I tried calling the number you gave me and they wouldn't take my call." This was repeated at least 12 times.
Finally, after six weeks of submitting the same paper work over and over and over, and going through the pantomime of "Have your HR director call us, no we won't take his call," I went back to the bank and spoke with the manager.
"I'm going to do this one more time. If we can't complete this loan, I'm through. I'm pulling all my accounts and never coming back here again!"
Early the next morning I got a call from the BofA loan department. My loan was finally ready to go.
"And tell me once more, what was the interest rate?" I asked. It had been six weeks, and I thought it was likely the rate might have moved by a fraction of a percentage point.
Then they dropped the bomb. This wasn't the low-interest loan I had applied for. The interest rate was higher than my credit card. I blew a gasket.
The people back at the branch were so sad and surprised that after all they had done for me, I was turning down the loan. I could only call it one thing: bait and switch.
I closed my accounts that day, though I had another 18 months of closing the original savings account every month to get through.
It's been almost a year since the zombie savings account went down for the last time. But I still snarl every time I drive by that BofA branch (which is unfortunately on my route to work).
I HATE Bank of America. I even hate their logo. (Why did they have to put an intense blue logo on an intense red background -- it assaults the eyes!)
Anything bad that happens to BofA makes my day.
So, please, please pull your accounts out of BofA. I can't imagine any company that I would be less likely to trust with my money.
There are small banks, regional banks, credit unions... There's where you should have your money!