I'm a student I'm living pretty close to paycheck to paycheck. I don't have a car and BOA is the bank on my campus as well as the one within walking distance of my apartment. I could kick myself for not switching banks earlier, but this time I've had it.
There was an incident years ago where they charged me twice for one overdraft fee. The only way to tell was to compare the transaction numbers. I got them to reverse it, but in exchange I got on some kind of "complainer" list. I don't really know what that means, but the next time I called to dispute a fee, they told me that, since I was on this list, there was nothing they could do to help me.
For example, recently, they charged me for an overdraft that wasn't even there! According to my online banking statement, my account was perfectly positive and yet, smack dab in the middle of the statement was an overdraft fee. I was bewildered and called them for an explanation. Apparently "behind the scenes" I had incurred an overdraft fee that, due to some accounting which I wasn't expected to understand, didn't show up but was actually really there (according to them). I got them to reverse the charge after many calls and emails. They acted like they were doing me a favor.
They also have a very weird way of clearing checks that never works out in the customer's favor and always causes an overdraft, if possible. That might be difficult to explain over email. Basically, if your account is positive, the check takes several days to clear. If it is negative or will go negative if the check clears, it clears immediately and everything that was "pending" before it suddenly shows up as having posted *after* the check clears.
But things have gotten worse than just the occassional "double charge" or "accounting mystery." I think they're blatantly committing fraud in the worst way with this new "pending charges" category through online banking.
I checked my account last night (on Thursday the 5th) and 4 small charges which I'd made earlier in the week had "cleared" and were out of the "pending" category. I was relieved, because I'd given my landlord a check for the rent on the 5th with the belief that it would be deposited today (on my payday), but, just in case it wasn't, I wanted to make sure those 4 charges didn't each cause an overdraft.
Lo and behold, I check my account today. The rent check was deposited yesterday, unfortunately, and the 4 small charges were out of the pending status (which they'd been in for days) and had each caused an overdraft. They now show up as having posted to my account *after* the rent check posted on Thursday, which is not true, as those charges were incurred on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and had even "cleared" and moved out of "pending." I just lost $35 x 4 for this. I can't afford that, that was my grocery money for the next two weeks.
But, the only way to catch it is to print out your online statements and then reprint them the next day, to see how things have been "reordered, " and you can't print your bank statement every day, so I don't know how you can prove what they're doing. I have, however, starting printing mine, as well as my complaints to their customer service through email, which also "disappear" after a time because you have to email them through their system.
I'm glad I found this site, because I was thinking I must be the only one—why else has this been allowed to go on for so long? Do people just switch banks and leave it at that?
If someone is suing them, please, please contact me.
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