Dumping a Bank

[amalekidad]

What is your worst”I’m done with this bank!” story?
I went to 5 of my 7 banks today. 4 of them treated me like a valued customer. The 5th bank, I dumped.
On my way out of my driveway today I stopped and grabbed the mail. There was a post card from a bank that I refer to as BoA. The postcard basically said you owe us $60.02 – pay up. I was shocked.
I found the nearest branch and asked to talk to a banker. One of the staff that was lounging around the lobby said, I will get you registered and a banker will be with you soon. They asked me what I needed and I held up the post card. The reply was, “oh – have a seat.”
I sat there for half an hour and watched as no less than 4 bank employees stood around the lobby and chatted it up with each other. I was getting steamed. I went and stood in the teller line and asked to close my account. The teller just said – you will have to wait for a banker.
I sat down for another 20 minutes and one of the lounge guys asked if I was being helped. I said no and asked how much longer I needed to wait for a real banker. He asked, “Why are you here? “ My reply, “I came in to straighten out this post card, but I’m done with this bank and I want to close my account.” I was not yelling but I was loud enough that at least a half dozen people heard me. The bank employee, i.e. NOT a banker, said “Let me see if I can help.” I made a comment about how the party atmosphere in the lobby was pissing me off and unless he was a real banker he should go back to the party. Again I was not yelling but plenty of people heard me.
Two minutes after this exchange, a real banker appeared and ‘invited’ me in to his office. I handed him the post card and said ‘What the hell is this?” It turns out that when I sold my house and paid of my mortgage I no longer qualified for a free account. So they were draining my account with fees. Once the account was empty, they continued charging the same fees and more since I was ‘overdrawn’. In the end I didn’t have to pay all of the fees, I was just out all of the money I had in my account plus another $10 to close the account and have the rest of the fees ‘forgiven.’ All told I’m out $85.
Thanks for letting me vent
Amaleki’s Dad

[twentybux]

That is one messed up story.

[db23]

I don't see how the initial issue is BOA's fault. I have an account with them and a mortgage with them. I know that if I cease to have a mortgage with them, my account will cease to be free w/o meeting one of their fee waiver requirements such as minimum balance or direct deposit.

Now it does sound like you received some pretty bad service from this branch, that I would be upset about.

[Thogey]

I don't see how the initial issue is BOA's fault. I have an account with them and a mortgage with them. I know that if I cease to have a mortgage with them, my account will cease to be free w/o meeting one of their fee waiver requirements such as minimum balance or direct deposit.

Now it does sound like you received some pretty bad service from this branch, that I would be upset about.

Of course the initial issue is not the BOA's fault.

But instead of giving you a phone call they start banging you with fees and, then notify you when they are satisfied.

The real booger is: You pay or they hit your TRW. I love my banks. If there was an issue they would call me on my cell phone.

When you open account tell the banker you expect a call.

[kidman232]

haha sounds like something my fraternity did to me. when i moved out i owed the house like $12-15 dollars. well every month i didnt pay it off they charged me 10% late fee or some [shucks]. so i go back and talk to people still in the house and nobody ever says anything (i dont know about the 12-15 dollars. well after like a year+ it hits $100 and i get a letter saying im getting sent to collections for an outstanding balance. im like nobody could say anything when ive been back to visit 5-6 times, hey you left with a balance due. they dropped all the interest and i just mailed housing corp the $15-20

[knibloe]

I had a bank do this to our scout troop. We never carried a large balance. One day they changed their policy and decided to have a ninimum balance. Apparently, we missed the notification about the change. Before we knew it. They had taken half of our money.

[Aqualung48]

db23 wrote:I don't see how the initial issue is BOA's fault. I have an account with them and a mortgage with them. I know that if I cease to have a mortgage with them, my account will cease to be free w/o meeting one of their fee waiver requirements such as minimum balance or direct deposit.

Now it does sound like you received some pretty bad service from this branch, that I would be upset about.



Of course the initial issue is not the BOA's fault.

But instead of giving you a phone call they start banging you with fees and, then notify you when they are satisfied.

The real booger is: You pay or they hit your TRW. I love my banks. If there was an issue they would call me on my cell phone.

When you open account tell the banker you expect a call.

I strongly disagree the initial issue is not the bank's fault. The bank's account agreement expressly provides it can be modified by written notice. I opened an account relying on a certain minimum balance for no fees, and about three months later, that amount was increased. In the meantime, I had received several other notices from them. All are in fine print, with enough legalese to give this lawyer a headache. I think they expect most people to throw away these notices without reading them or to be confused by the wording. The bank does not have clean hands with these kind of tactics. In my case, I noted in the middle of three pages the minimum balance increase. I went to complain to the bank manager, who did not know about it yet. A courtesy call, before assessing a fee would have been the least they could have done if they wanted to keep my account.

[IdahoCopper]

When I was 18 or 19, I had a $100 US Savings Bond I wanted to cash. Since the propaganda I was subject to made me believe it was "good as gold", I stopped by a nearby bank that I never had been to before. At the teller window I presented the bond and requested to cash it out. She said they could only do that for customers.

I walked out the door rather ticked off that my bond was not "good as gold", but before I got to my car, I had an idea and went back into the bank and met with the new accounts officer. I explained that I wanted to open an account and use the bond to fund it. She got out all the paperwork, I filled it out and told her I wanted to deposit $5 from the bond into the new account, and have $95 in cash. She went over to the teller and got my cash.

Then she picked up all the papers, stacked them on end, and asked, "Was there anything else I needed?" I said "Yes, I want to close my account." The look on her face was priceless, I still remember it to this day. She got out the new paperwork, I filled it out, got my $5.00 and left them with a 7-year paper trail to deal with. LOL! LOL! LOL!

That was the only time I beat a bank.

[tedandcam]

. I explained that I wanted to open an account and use the bond to fund it. She got out all the paperwork, I filled it out and told her I wanted to deposit $5 from the bond into the new account, and have $95 in cash. She went over to the teller and got my cash.

Then she picked up all the papers, stacked them on end, and asked, "Was there anything else I needed?" I said "Yes, I want to close my account." The look on her face was priceless, I still remember it to this day. She got out the new paperwork, I filled it out, got my $5.00 and left them with a 7-year paper trail to deal with. LOL! LOL! LOL!

That was the only time I beat a bank.

My story is similar...except I asked for My $860 in the form of 2 boxes of dimes - 3 boxes of nickels - and 2 boxes of pennies... sorted it all, kept what I wanted, dumped it at another branch and have been doing that weekly ever since. AND they like me! I added $500 to the account and now pick up an extra box of dimes. All within 5 miles of my house.

All of which has gotten me to "dump" a Bank of America account.

[DuckTales253]

That was the only time I beat a bank.

Awesome story. You gave them a taste of their own paperwork. And all they would have had to do is give you the cash when you asked for it!

Although I must admit around here the banks are pretty trusting. Sometimes I visit different branches of banks I belong to throughout the county where they have never seen me before. When I request coins, they will ask, "Do you have an account here?" A simple "Yes" will often do it, no need to look me up in the system or present any kind of identification. So that is nice!