Bank of America fees, anything I can do?

[SWB]

Last night I spent over two hours on the phone with a Bank of America rep trying to figure out why I was being charged over-limit fees that I couldn't actually see. Essentially it works like this: My balance at the end of the billing cycle was $2,079 (my limit is $2000). So, I realize I'm over my limit and need to pay it down. My next payment is due on the 18th of the month (four days before the end of that billing cycle), so on the 18th I pay $80 to cover the minimum payment and bring my account back under the limit ($1,999). No other transactions show up until the 22nd, which is the end of the billing cycle. Suddenly there's an overlimit fee, which claims to be based on my balance at the beginning of the cycle ($2,079). The problem is, it lists the "transaction date" for the overlimit fee as the 13th, but the fee itself was never visible on my account until the 22nd. If I would've known about the fee on the date it was applied (the 13th), I could've adjusted my $80 payment to cover it, thus avoiding the fee altogether. So I call Bank of America and ask why I wasn't able to see the fee. They tell me that it says on each statement that you have 20 days from the beginning of your cycle to lower your balance below the limit, in which case you will avoid an overdraft fee. Conveniently, my payment due date is always at the end of the cycle, and thus after the 20 day "grace period." I ask the rep why I'm not made aware of the fee when it is actually applied, and he tells me that it doesn't matter because they warned me about it on the previous statement. This completely contradicts my online statement, however, which claims to show me "All Transactions" for the current cycle. If I log in on the 13th and view "All Transactions", I should be able to see the overlimit fee (that eventually is posted with a "transaction date" of the 13th). Yet it isn't visible for 9 more days until the cycle ends, at which point my real balance is shown. I tell the rep that if I log in and it says I'm viewing both "all transactions" and my "current balance", then I should be able to see a fee when it is created, and I definitely should be able to see my real balance. Essentially this means that BoA is hiding the fee from me for over a week, not reflecting it on my balance, and lying about showing me "all" my transactions. The only answer the rep gives me to this is that they told me about the hypothetical application of the fee on my previous statement and therefore it doesn't matter whether I can see it when it actually happens. My question is, is this legal? Do I have any basis for taking them to small claims court? The problem is, if for 9 days out of every month I'm unable to see my actual balance or the actual fees being applied to it, then I lose my ability to accurately gauge what kind of payments I need to be making to keep the account under the limit. As a result, these fees just snowball. Ironically, the "late payment" fees appear instantaneously, whether or not they are "pending". The rep told me that overlimit fees are the only BoA fee that is not actually visible to the account holder when it is applied, despite the online banking menu's claim that you are in fact viewing all transactions.

 

[tiecollector]

switch banks, now! Talk to a teller and see if they'll reverse it, Wells Fargo always does. Doesn't BoA charge you to see a teller even?

 

[Go Surface]

I was a customer of BoA four years ago. I never had any problems, except they kept charging me monthly maintenance fees. Like 20 bucks a month, which contradicted the fact that they explicitly said it was a free-student-checking account. Aah well. I like the service from Suntrust and Wachovia much more anyway.

 

[jkennett]

BoA doesn't charge to see a teller... I actually had issues with them changing my free checking into an account that was charged monthly to stay open. I didn't notice it for quite some time (months) b/c it wasn't my primary account. So, when I went in and told the manager that I wanted the account closed immediately he offered to refund all the charges and make it free checking for next 5 years. I accepted just to get all the money back, and then closed it a month later at a different branch. Definitely switch to a different bank if you can.

hah. i see gosurface beat me to the same story. best bank in d.c. is PNC bank imo. Atm's everywhere and never had an issue in the 7 years I've had an account with them.

 

[SWB]

The beautiful thing about BoA is that the tellers can't actually do anything regarding your CC fees. They've specifically set it up so that fees can only be adjusted over the phone with the CC department. After talking to three phone reps who said it could be reversed, I was finally told (after 15 minutes on hold) by a "senior account rep" that they can't and won't do anything about it.

The resounding answer to everything I asked was that because each statement tells you about the possibility of an overlimit fee if you don't lower your balance within 20 days, they then have no responsibility to ever show you the actual fee when it actually happens.

Essentially, it's like them telling you that because your previous statement included a warning that "if you spend $200 at Home Depot, your account balance will be $200 higher," it is then not necessary to show you any actual transactions when you make them, but rather only once the monthly statement has been issued.

 

[SWB]

I'm sure I'd have more leverage if it was a checking account rather than credit card, but nonetheless, can it really be legal for them to hide transactions from me until the end of the month while clearly stating at the top of my online statement that I am viewing All Transactions?

I would love to just close the account and go to another bank (I already use WaMu for checking, which is vastly superior), but I'm a student and don't have the $2000 on hand to settle the balance. However, if BoA themselves are not offering any help whatsoever, is it plausible that I could file in small claims court to get the fees back plus punitive?

It seems unlikely that they would want to spend the money to send an attorney or representative to a local small claims court over less than a hundred dollars, so I imagine they'd settle, but has anyone ever tried something like that?

 

[Connemara]

Banks get away with murder when it comes to CC's. That's just the way things are. There have been times when I've hit my credit max ($1.5K or something) and accidentally gone over. I'll immediately pay the overlimit fee + the minimum, but somehow a ******* "service" fee always manages to sneak in. And then there was the time I sent a payment online three days in advance (note that the requirement is only two) and I was assessed a late fee. It took me FOREVER to get them to take the fee off. So ridiculous.

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by Connemara

Banks get away with murder when it comes to CC's. That's just the way things are.

There have been times when I've hit my credit max ($1.5K or something) and accidentally gone over. I'll immediately pay the overlimit fee + the minimum, but somehow a ******* "service" fee always manages to sneak in. And then there was the time I sent a payment online three days in advance (note that the requirement is only two) and I was assessed a late fee. It took me FOREVER to get them to take the fee off. So ridiculous.

I personally loved it when my CC company gave me a late payment the same way they gave you one, but that late fee put me over my credit limit, so then I got the overcredit charge and the service charge. It all got taken away cause i bitched, but still bullshit.

 

[SoCal2NYC]

I guess monitor your balance a little more closely so that you're not on the cusp of being maxed out by $1?

 

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

I personally loved it when my CC company gave me a late payment the same way they gave you one, but that late fee put me over my credit limit, so then I got the overcredit charge and the service charge. It all got taken away cause i bitched, but still bullshit.
Yeah, they love to do that ****. It's sick. I'm constantly amazed at how much debt my peers have. I know 19, 20 year olds with $8-10K in CC debt.

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by Connemara

Yeah, they love to do that ****. It's sick.

I'm constantly amazed at how much debt my peers have. I know 19, 20 year olds with $8-10K in CC debt.

True. It's ridiculous.

Granted, the mistake I made, while being bullshit on the part of the CC company, could have easily been avoided had I been more on top of my finances 2 years ago.

 

[The Deacon]

BOA are crooks, plain and simple. Are all these mega-conglomerate banks like this?They arbitrarily reverse fees at their discretion apparently without a consistent criteria. I'm keeping all of my records regarding BOA fees I've been levied over the past 4 years because I figure there will eventually be a class action suit against them and I hope to be able to recoup at least some of the fees that I didn't deserve. You can have sufficient funds with an additional deposit waiting to post and they'll hold that up if there are debits on the short horizon that can allow them to fee you. They always allow the debits to go thru first. At times it's been so outrageous that a BOA branch near my job has refunded the fees with an embarassed apology.

Many other banks are much better regarding time of posting of deposits versus debiting an account. My

new bank posts deposit up to 7pm from an ATM. BOA stated to me that they won't post an ATM deposit until 3pm the following day. That was a lie. They posted just before 5pm. A manager told me that the late postings and fees is how they make their money. That told me all I needed to know, finally, confirmation from the horses mouth. I'm very glad the Mrs. finally got on board with switching banks.

 

[hi-val]

I was reading the WSJ today and bank overdraft fees popped up somewhere. I had this mental image of someone going into the bank to talk about $30 overdraft charges with their teller. The person asks if the teller is religious, then asks "are you familiar with the sin of usury?" Then there was some blank space in my imagination and the person was being led out by security.






To be relevant, the most important phrase you can utter is "I would like to close my account." Getting on the phone to ***** will cost you nothing, and if they say something akin to "well, we can't cancel the overdrafts" then you just say something like "well then I'll be closing my account with you tomorrow and putting my money in another bank. Thanks for your time." There's an actual threat response thing that they do in that case and they'll do a lot more to keep you around than they would otherwise.

If you have a credit card or debit card with them, tell them to cancel it immediately. They'll ask why, you explain why you won't deal with a draconian bank, and they'll either reverse the fees or you can find a kinder, gentler bank.

 

[j]

I've never had real problems with BoA. Then again, I've never really used the CC I have with them - I transferred a balance to it and it's almost paid off. They occasionally try to charge me monthly fees on my bank accounts, and I go in and talk to my people and get them to reverse all the charges. Always deal, respectfully, with real people at the same branch, and find a branch where the people are smart and treat you well. I know that doesn't apply to CCs but it does for everything else.

You should never, ever let a card get that close to the limit. That's just asking for them to screw with you. I know this will sound stupid, but if you can't come up with a couple hundred dollars somehow to pay it down some, find another credit card offer and transfer some of the balance off to it. You'll be making about the same monthly payment total, but neither will be so maxed (which looks better to creditors anyway) and you'll be setting up another line of paid-on-time credit. Don't go buying a bunch of crap on the new card, just cut it up.

In my experience with CC companies, it really doesn't matter which one you're dealing with, they will all screw with you if they can get away with it. Some are definitely worse than others though. The main reason I don't use the BoA CC anymore is that they give me terrible offers. I'm in the process of paying all my cards down/off, but I still look at balance transfer offers in hopes of cutting my interest expense while I'm doing it.