I want to report on Bank of America's shady policies concerning overdraft fees. I deposited a check into my account one day last month. I waited for it to clear, and when I returned to the bank, I was told the check HAD CLEARED and that I could draw on the money. My wife needed to make a wire transfer abroad, and after getting the bank teller's assurance that the check had cleared and that the money was in our account, she made the transfer.
A week later I am in the bank and make another deposit. Things are fine until I go online later that day to make an online payment and notice that my bank account is overdrawn $900.00!!! Now I was just in the bank earlier that morning with a teller smiling at me. Could she not have mentioned I was $900.00 in the red? Anyway, I go to the 'Personal Banker' immediately to find out what happened. Apparently, the check I had deposited a week earlier had bounced, AFTER my wife had already made the wire transfer with money that was not in our account. So even though I was told by Bank of America's own staff that the funds were available, they actually were not.
I asked the Personal Banker why my wife was allowed to make a wire transfer of $1500 dollars when the check hadn't cleared, and he responded that because I was such a 'preferred customer, ' the Bank gave me the courtesy to 'forward' me the funds (Of course, overdrafts would be charged for the courtesy.)
So now I'm overdrawn $900 dollars, and overdraft fees start to avalanche on me. Bank of America takes no responsibility, and the Personal Banker tells me that 'the computer' won't let him remove the overdraft fees. The Personal Banker also TOLD ME that Bank of America used to not allow customers to draw on funds that were not in their accounts, but that now they DO allow this because overdraft fees are such a large part of the bank's revenue.
I had been a customer at Bank of America for 15 years. I regularly make wire transfers at $50 dollars a pop. This bank may have made a mere $120 dollars on me this time, but they lost much more in potential future revenue. I hope I might warn others about Bank of America's policy.
Do not, I repeat, do not draw on any account until you have absolute proof that your check deposits have in fact truly cleared. Even the bank tellers will tell that you checks have cleared when in fact they have not cleared. If you then draw on these accounts you will be penalized with expensive overdraft fees. I recommend getting a hard copy of cleared checks before any more transactions with your account are made so that you can protect yourself from consumer exploitation.
Bank of America, as subtly told to me by the Personal Banker, relies on CONFUSION and MISCOMMUNICATION to lure you into this kind of mistake. This way they can hit you with several OVERDRAFT FEES. Then they will blame it all on the automated 'computer' system which cannot be over-ridden by the Bank of America staff. How convenient for them to pass the blame onto the faceless master computer.
This experience, along with a few other customer nightmares Bank of America has given me, has made me realize that big international banks cannot service the average American consumer. I am moving my accounts to a smaller local bank and I recommend others do the same.
15 years of customer loyalty meant nothing to Bank of America. I guess my next wire transfer fees will go to another bank now.
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