Bank Of America, FAIL
My husband and I use Bank of America for our bank accounts, and we have a credit card through them. My husband got the credit card sometime during medical school (I don't know the exact year, and he's in surgery as I type this, so I can't ask him). He graduated from medical school in 2004, so he's had this credit card for more than 5 years. My husband opened the bank account when he was a freshman in college-1996 (originally it was Bank Boston, and then they were bought out by BOA).
When I moved to Boston in 1999 I opened an account at the same bank.
So, to recap, my husband has had a relationship with this bank for about 13 years, and I have had one for about 10 years.
This July, right before my husband started his new job, we reviewed our finances.
We had accrued a modest amount of debt since Willa was born. My husband had been training and getting paid very little. So we were charging a lot on the credit card.
Now, here are some facts:
With the exception of a couple of months period right around the time we got married in 2003, we had always paid our credit card bill IN FULL every month.
During the time when I was pregnant, and we started charging more, and we weren't able to pay the bill in full, we still paid AT LEAST double the minimum due every month.
When we reviewed our finances we realized that our interest rate on the BOA credit card was very high. We should have called them YEARS before to negotiate a lower rate- it was probably not the best time to ask for a reduced rate when the country was in a recession and we had a balance on the card, but we called them anyway. They told us the only way they would lower our interest rate was if we closed the account. We didn't want to do that because it would have screwed up our credit, and we had a bunch of automatic payments tied to the card. At least we gave it a shot, we said.
Right before we had called BOA to ask for a lower rate, we had started using Mint.com (which I highly recommend.) A few days after our phone call with BOA I did a double take when I signed on to Mint.com and noticed that our BOA credit card limit was $10,000 lower. I thought maybe I was wrong, but I checked with the husband and he confirmed that it was indeed $10,000 lower.
We called BOA (again) and asked what was going on, and basically we were told that because we asked for a lower interest rate they lowered our limit. I would like to point out that with the new limit, we were now only a few thousand dollars away from reaching the limit. So, if I had not checked Mint.com and noticed that our limit had been lowered, and I had tried to charge more than a couple of thousand dollars, to say, pay for my daughter's school tuition, my card would have been denied.
I said as much to BOA. I said "you can't just lower our limit by $10,000 without telling us". Their response "We sent you a letter." (which we hadn't received yet) to which I said "That's all well and good, but the limit decrease should not have gone into affect until we received the letter."
They had no sympathy for us. I could hear them shrugging their shoulders through the phone.
Last week, I tried to use my Bank Of America credit card and it was denied. I used my debit card to pay the bill, and that night the husband and I called them. Apparently withing the past few months, one of the companies we had purchased something from had a security breach and customers' credit card information was stolen. So, as a precaution Bank Of America sent a letter to their customers, and then issued them new cards. We never got the letter or the cards. The letter had stated that on a certain date our current cards would be shut down. That was the day I tried to use the card and it got denied.
We told them we never got the letter or the cards. They said they would issue new ones. We asked how long it would take for the new cards to get here- they said about 7 business days. We explained that we use the card almost every day. We asked if they could overnight or express mail the new cards to us- they said no. We said we couldn't go a week without a card. They said we could keep using the card until the new cards arrived and we activated them. We were relieved. Then, today I tried to use the card at the supermarket- it was denied.
I came home and called them. As usual, I had a hard time getting through to a human being. After explaining the whole story (again) for 15 minutes to a very confused customer service rep, I was disconnected while in the middle of a sentence. I collected myself, and once the steam stopped leaking out of my ears I called back. Explained the whole story (AGAIN) to another (very confused) person. Finally after being put on hold a bunch of times she gave me the bottom line- my current card has been completely shut down. The new cards were sent out over the weekend. We have no card to use until the new card gets here. We were, as usual, given the wrong information.
As I was on the phone with Bank Of America, I was on freecreditreport.com filling out a form for my credit report (part of the continuing saga of us trying to get our finances in order) and they asked for a credit card number (They don't charge it, it's just part of the verification process). So, I asked the woman who I was on the phone with what I was supposed to do and she told me I couldn't do anything until the new cards arrived. Even though she gave me the new number it won't work until we activate the new cards.
I find it so funny that if you owe them money the credit card companies have no problem calling you relentlessly (this hasn't happened to us, but I know plenty of people it has happened to), but when security has been breached, and they are shutting down your card and supposedly sending you new ones, they can't call you.
Another fun fact. We asked them why they couldn't email us. They told us they don't use email to communicate with customers. That is ridiculous. It is 2009. Everyone uses email. Our Bank of America bank accounts communicate with us through email. How is that different from the credit card.
If they had sent us an email none of this would have happened.
On another note- we signed up for an ING Direct savings account last night. Another thing we should have done years ago. Their interest rate is 10 times the interest Bank Of America is giving us. And they charge us A TON of random charges.
Like I said before- we have paid AT LEAST twice the minimum we have owed for the entire time we have had the card. In the 10 weeks since my husband started his new job, we have paid off 75% of the balance on the credit card. we should have the entire thing paid off in the next 6 weeks.
We are good customers. We are the type of customers a bank should want. Now that my husband is making decent money, we will eventually have a mortgage, and more money in our accounts, and possibly be opening up additional accounts. Bank Of America should be fighting to keep us. Instead they are constantly giving us the run around, and giving us poor customer service.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again-When are corporations going to learn that you need to spend money to make money? Also, if you have a good product with good customer service, you don't have to spend a ton on advertising. Word of mouth can go a long way. And the only word of mouth Bank Of America seems to be getting these days is negative.
They could learn a lesson from Apple.
Comments
The worst part (in general) is that ALL the banks and credit card companies are like this. They don't have to be any other way because they can get away with it.
Posted by: Annika | October 21, 2009 06:24 PM
Reading this post and having some similar things happen to me this week (You shared my info to a third party and then a breach happened! WTF!) makes me want to switch.
I make decent money and I pay off all my balances in full on the due date and I get a crap limit and rate hikes. I am definitely thinking of going to a local bank or to ING Electric Orange.
Posted by: Liat | October 21, 2009 07:04 PM
simple....
banks make money off of BAD customers who don't make the minimum payments on time, thus tacking on horrendous penalties and finance charges and they (said bad customers) blindly pay them.
They aren't making any money off of the responsible customers who do as they should...
we're just giving back the money we borrowed from them but the bad customers are giving them back MORE money....
Posted by: shari from ohio | October 21, 2009 07:39 PM
Bank of America has a long history of sucking. If your credit is in good shape -- I would switch over to Amex. Also check with Bankrate about other cards that are highly rated. Then pay off the BofA card -- and stop using it.
Posted by: optimistic lyricist![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.iprettymuchhateeverything.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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October 21, 2009 09:58 PM
BOA is teh suck. They have been for a long time. I pulled my money from my account there ASAP and thanked my lucky stars that I had to start a new account at a new bank here in Juneau. Where if I felt like it, I'd have to deal with the nightmare that is Wells Fargo. I'm smarter than that LOL
Posted by: Kirsten | October 21, 2009 10:31 PM
Yikes. B of A is my bank; Citi is my credit card. Neither of which are doing great.
I feel your pain.
I will tell you that once upon a time, my purse (and hence my CC cards) was stolen and I was in a different state (2000 miles from home). I called my CC company to report it and they asked for my account number. LIKE FIVE TIMES. And I had to explain to them FIVE TIMES that um, hello???? I didn't have it, because I DID NOT CURRENTLY HAVE THE CARD IN MY POSSESSION; IT WAS STOLEN; HENCE THE REASON I AM SPEAKING TO YOU NOW.
Seriously, I thought I was going to LOSE IT.
Posted by: Farrell | October 21, 2009 10:43 PM
argh. just... ARGH. I HATE banks. They are a necessary evil, unfortunately.
I love- like you pointed out- that if YOU were late with a payment, they'd be ALL OVER YOU. But when it comes to them needing to communicate with things you need to know, they suddenly can't get in touch. WTF.
If you're looking for a new credit card company (or even a 2nd card as a backup- we did that a few years ago when we had some fraud snafus and were without a card for a few weeks- SUUUCKED) we've had a decent experience with Chase. At least so far.
We use our card for nearly everything, and we've always paid our balance each month (with a few exceptions) so they haven't made much money off of us (I loooove doing that to credit card companies, HA!) But recently there's been chatter of some banks trying to change things around to 'get' the people who never carry a balance, so we're watching closely each month, just to make sure they don't pull anything. I've been pretty happy with the fraud reporting thing too- the few times we've had issues, THEY'VE call US about it, I was shocked! and it was resolved easily and quickly (and with ENGLISH SPEAKING EMPLOYEES which, I'm sorry if it's not politically correct, but HOLY CRAP does that make things easier to deal with.)
I hope you can get things figured out. What a pain in the ass.
Also: I LOVE MINT.COM!!!
Posted by: Jen | October 21, 2009 11:20 PM
The only good credit card customer in my opinion is the one that never carrys a balance thereby not giving any of their hard earned money away. Using a credit card on an almost daily basis is bad bad bad. Why not just use a debit card directly tied to your bank account?
Either way...I'm a firm believer that the only credit people need is for 1. a house purchase 2. a car purchase 3. appliances 4. college/education
Everything else is throwing your money away. If you can't afford your lifestyle with cash only...then lower your lifestyle so the credit card companies can't rip you off.
Posted by: Kristy | October 22, 2009 12:44 AM
We had a similar experience with BOA. My wife and my credit scores are in the low 800's, we called BOA to reduce an interest rate on a card we use on a regular basis and they said "no. the only way to get a better interest rate would be to get a new card. I asked if I could apply over the phone for a new card and BOA said they would not issue any more credit to "good" customers. Seriously they said no credit for good customers.
These are the banks that our govt (us the tax payers) is giving money to.
Posted by: William | October 22, 2009 09:09 AM
We recently had similar issues with BOA. They are horrible and they just do not seem to care. I have been a customer since the early 90's and then the hubby and I combined accounts in 1997. So a long time. They just don't seem to care about that at all.
Posted by: Laurie | October 22, 2009 09:26 AM
I had a bad experience with my bank recently too. I've been a good and loyal customer for a long time, and I don't understand why they are so flippant about that.
I'm curious about the ING account... I should look into that.
Posted by: doahleigh | October 22, 2009 09:44 AM
I hate them.
I'm closing my account with them.
Posted by: Heather B. | October 22, 2009 10:00 AM
Basically you get punished for being responsible and trying to stay on top of your debt. I mean, you called to inquire about a rate change, they look at your account, and then lower your limit? Lots of WTFs are certainly in order!
Doesn't ING have mortgages? :-)
Posted by: Jenski | October 23, 2009 10:54 AM
I have never heard of mint.com... thank you so much for posting it. My life is a little easier now.
Posted by: Emi | October 23, 2009 10:00 PM
Don't count on Free Credit Report not charging you. They have your CC number and in very fine print you will see that after 90 days you have to cancel the free offer or they will keep charging your CC.
I found out this the hard way.
My husband pays the bills and paid FCR.com a grand total of 600.00 over four years of monthly charges.
He never bothered to question why we were paying 10.00 a month for something he had no idea what it was.
Posted by: suzanne | October 27, 2009 10:55 AM
http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2009/05/04/is-freecreditreportcom-a-scam/
Posted by: suzanne | October 27, 2009 11:01 AM
I agree with the above that you should check bankrate.com or similar sites (maybe do a web search) for the best credit cards for the kind of people who pay off balances each month. Probably one that gives cash back (generally up to 2%) or another reward that you really want would be good.
If you want the correct "free" credit report, go to the Federal Trade Commission web site and read the information at their link, http://www.ftc.gov/freereports. You can get a free report from each reporting company once a year, so if you and your husband stagger it each of you can get one every three months. In addition, you should probably pay for your credit score every year or two through the site.
Good luck with sorting out all this mess!
Posted by: Ron | October 27, 2009 09:19 PM
I completely agree that BOA should value good customers. I would suggest that you type a letter to BOA executives and see what response you receive. My husband recently took the time to type and mail a letter to a corporation about their service and was compensated. Not sure if BOA would compensate, but it would be good to know they are aware of their problems and that they apologize for poor service.
Posted by: Sooz | November 4, 2009 06:42 PM
I had the same problems with BOA. My card was denied before I received a letter saying my account was breached. Then, it took a bunch of phone calls, two trips to the bank and a couple weeks before I had an actual fully working card in my hands again. I kept wondering if I was the only one this had happened to since NO ONE knew what to do. Oh, and why is it that whenever you finally get an actual person on the phone at these big conglomerates it never fails that the call will get disconnected? I am really starting to think the customer service people are hanging up!
P.S. I eventually closed my BOA account.
Posted by: Paige | November 5, 2009 03:36 AM
I hate Bank of America. I hope it fails and I hope all of their closing supervisors all lose their jobs and their pensions and aren't able to find jobs anywhere else for the rest of their lives.
Posted by: Vishal | November 10, 2009 03:50 PM
If you were $10,000 away from your credit limit (not sure how high your credit limit was to start with, but I would assume it was at least $20,000), then you are carrying too much debt to credit. You should only ever carry 25% debt total with your credit cards and, ideally, pay off your credit cards in full every month. If you are just making your minimum payments, well - that is not a good thing.
Despite that, what you experienced sucks. Bank of America pretty much blows.
Posted by: Melanie | December 10, 2009 10:11 AM
I transferred my card balance elsewhere and switched to New York Community Bank after BOA cancelled my card when I called them to ask for a lower interest rate, due to being unemployed. Never mind that I was still making more than the minimum payment even on unemployment, and I was not making any new charges. I called them as part of being responsible, to keep from running into trouble paying them back, and they cancelled my card in response to my being a responsible consumer. I do not intend to ever do business with them again.
Posted by: W. Lotus | December 14, 2009 05:57 PM