I am writing this report in hopes that someone has some information that may help my husband and I get the $ back from Bank of America that they kept from our checking account, that THEY decided to close.
On Oct 11 I tried to use my debit card and got message after message that the transaction could not be completed. I called the bank since I had just made a deposit to find out what the issue was, and was told my account was submitted for "CLOSURE" and the funds were on hold until they closed the account. When I asked what the reason was, the person said they couldn't see a reason and I should call within "24-48 hours" to get more informaiton. I was given the number for their "RISK/CLOSURE" department, 1-877-240-6886 and was told to press OPTION 2 for account closure.
I called them on Monday (Oct 11th was a Saturday) and was told our account was under "review" due to too many checks returned without funds. I knew this had been happening, but I never thought this would be cause for closing my account, since they ALWAYS took $ out of my account, whenver a check was returned, and charged me fees for having to do so.
When I asked when I could expect the account to be closed, I was told they had no information, to call back within "24-48 hours" for an answer.
This went on until the last week of November, when I got so fed up with calling every other day and getting NO ANSWER - JUST RUDE RESPONSES AS IF I WAS A CRIMINAL - and went to the local bank in Raleigh, NC. I went in person and took my last statement and showed the Rep, Stephen Sharpe, my statement and asked if he can help the account get closed so they did not continue to take NSF fees for everything that tried to pay, which wasn't paid, because they showed the account was on "HOLD". By the date I went to the bank, they had already taken 10 NSF fees ($350), which left my account with about $1,005. This was the statement that ended on Oct 26th, so from Oct 11th, to Oct 26th, they RETURNED every single item that tried to pay, BUT, they applied NSF fees - even though there was $ in the account to pay these items but my account was on HOLD (by them).
After several phone calls to Mr. Sharpe, on Nov 26th, he finally told me that he had spoken with the Risk/Closure department and they would be sending me a check for $1,300 (which seemed OK to me, since that was within $5 of the amount that should have been in the account). I was told to expect it in about 5-7 working days. I gave them 10 working days, before I called to speak to Mr. Sharpe AGAIN, and tell him the check had not been received.
After several attempts to reach him, he AGAIN told me that the check should have been cut, he was going to check with them and get back with me.
Several days passed and I had to call HIM back, and then he said that now he doesn't know why, but the account had NOT been closed, and he could not give me an answer as to why what he told me would happen, was not happening. He said he would speak to his manager and either he or her, would call me back. This did not happen, so I called him AGAIN. I received no response.
I received a letter dated Dec 3rd notifying me FOR THE FIRST TIME that my account was under review for closure and they would get me my $ after the review was completed.
On Dec 22nd, I received a check with a letter that stated, AS PREVIOUSLY COMMUNICATED, my account was closed and that they had enclosed the check for the remaining $ on my account at the time of closure. The check is for $55.08
The bank has basically STOLEN about $1250 from us in NSF fees, which were caused by them putting our account on HOLD to review it and taking OVER 3 MONTHS to resolve it.
I just left a message to Mr. Sharpe at the local branch and asked him to look into this, and if I didn't hear back from him, I will be calling a lawyer.
I hope this helps. If anyone out there knows about a case similar to this and how we can get our $ back, please contact us.
Laura
Raleigh, North Carolina
U.S.A.
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