I have been a customer with Bank of America since the first time I ever opened a banking account. I have had several issues over the years regarding banking fee's some that were my fault and others that weren't.
I recently had an issue with the bank because one day I was prompted to change my login name & password when I went to get to my online banking. Ever since that day I was having issues when I tried to login where a screen would come up telling me that either my user or password was incorrect which they were not. One night I had made several transactions knowing that there weren't enough funds in my one checking account and that before the deadline I would need to transfer funds in order to avoid any overdraft fees.
Well, when I tried to login to my account that night I received the same error of having an incorrect user name and/or password when I didn't. I tried to login several times that night to no avail. I knew I was going to have a problem so I made sure 1st thing that morning to contact a rep and make them aware of the issue as well as go ahead and transfer the funds I needed to. To make an extremely long and excruciating story short, I received the run around when I contacted customer support. The first rep tried to give excuses like that I shouldn't have used my card if I knew money wasn't in the account and such. Her manager told me he wouldn't give a refund because he couldn't verify that an error had been made by the bank but that if I could in fact verify that an error had been made that he would give a refund. I then spoke with a rep from tech support who verified the error but had been told to still give no refund.
Ok, so I took my evidence and argument to my local banking center and spoke with the VP there. After a long struggle with his superior he refunded 2 of 3 fees that had been charged (bear in mind each fee is $35 and aside from the 3 fees that had posted, 2 transactions were still in pending so those fees didn't hit till later that week.) The bank did this because they could recognize their error but still refused to give me a FULL refund because of it. So, when the 2 other fees hit my account I went back to the same VP (Very nice guy) who pleaded just about (I heard him) with some banking individuals over the phone urging that those fees needed to be refunded as well. They refused!
Get this... I understand that when you screw up with your banking it is your fault, however, and this isn't the first time this has happened to me, but when fees hit because of a banking error the bank states they will refund them. They are full of it though! The issue I had was a bank error and was confirmed to be a bank error by several of the banking staff. Regardless they acted as though some blame should be put on my part and therefore would only give a partial refund so my original BS fees totaling $175 was reduced to a whopping $105. So I was pretty much charged $105 because I was unable to login to my account to cover my ass. How do you like that?!?!?! Even when you are aware of what you need to do to keep from getting his with fees the bank always finds a way to screw you over. Even the VP at the banking center I went to said that it was crap and that he wished he could do something but he just didn't have that kind of authority. He said that the individuals who do have that authority (the millionaires taking my hard earned cash) should have to handle customer service complaints because it really was hard for this guy on a regular basis to pretty much have to tell banking customers that yeah even though this is the banks fault we have the ability to ruin your credit and steal your money and there isn't anything you can do about it.
The bank is one big LIAR. If they say they will give a refund for fees that hit your account due to a bank error then they should. Not give a partial refund and say screw you and HAHA under their breath. As an individual this really hits hard. I live paycheck to paycheck and recently had a baby (now 2 months). I of course never qualified for WIC so even though I am struggling because of the economy I still get no help with having to provide for my son. Now I have to pay the bank $105 to avoid getting a bad rap on my credit report for fees that were caused because of their own error.
This is really unfair. I know I shouldn't have these fees and they know I shouldn't but they are the ones with the power. How F'ed up is that?!?! Someone really needs to take down this corporation and I would love to be the one to do it. You know why?!?! So I can take the money that the bank has stolen from me and many others and use it to start a bank that works for the people. It isn't fair that some jerk gets to sit in his expensive home living off my hard earned cash and others just like me.
I am not a member of Bank of America so I can fork over my cash to them to spend, but so I can responsibly pay my bills and use that cash for the well being of my child. I am really tired of people who like me are getting ripped off for faults that are not there own. Is this the America our founders envisioned? Did they really set up this country so the big man can take more money from the little man.
If you have ever been in my shoes so to speak, then please reply to this report with your own stories of how the bank still charged you fees even after admitting to the fact that those fees were due to a bank error. I believe that if enough people get together with enough substantial evidence that they were charged fees due to a Bank's error that together we can take this monster of a bank down.
As a community we have to say enough is enough and rally together to do something about it. I am confident that if we can then a lawyer will have enough evidence to take this thing to court and fight it. It will be a big gain for our working class community all around this country. And once we've taken down the big guys we can get together and build up a new banking system to change the way things work so that they are fair and just, just as our founding fathers wanted this country to be.
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