How does Bank of America help the average family? They don't.
A couple of years ago I was laid off and had to move my family cross country for a new job, during this time frame we had a new baby, and my wife, due to the relocation was out of work for a year. We lost a lot of money in our house and had to utilize our credit cards more than I would have liked. We were at least able to pay off our mortgage when our house sold.in order to help us in this time frame Bank of America was gracious enough to raise the rates on all of accounts with them. Unfortunately due to the lacks oversight of the Monopolies and Trade Commission, Bank of America had been able to acquire the majority of our credit cards and loans.
Last September my Wife went back to work full time and we started back on the path to debt reduction with the intention of buying a house when we had sufficiently reduced our debt load. So I started calling our creditors HSBC and Discover both reduced their rates and we have been reducing our outstanding balances with them. Then we get to Bank of America. Note they received almost $15,000 in interest from us last year. This amount would have gone a long way in the local economy (Sizable deposit on a house)
Ripoff #1: This morning I called Bank of America to request a reduction in my interest rate so that I could start reducing the principle amount owed. To this the lady I spoke to said that my debt load was too high and that I didn't qualify for a rate reduction. This on a loan that is currently at 20% and was originally taken out at 14.5%. The majority of the proceeds was used for education. She also said that if I didn't like the services then I could pay off the amount and close my accounts. When I said to her that "So it is Bank of America's policy to not have customers pay off there loans and keep them in debt", she immediately transferred me to a credit counselor at which time I was put on hold and did not get to speak to anyone further.
Ripoff #2: On a recent overseas trip I Bank of America charged my account for every transaction made with my Check Card / Visa (Foreign transaction fee). This is a new charge recently introduced and to the best of my knowledge has never been communicated to me. The charges amounted to $38.00 not much but its the principle when they also have just received a taxpayer bailout also with our money and also earned so much interest from my family last year.
The following actions will be completed by me and my family.
1. All of my family's financial business will be moved to a local credit union.
2. I will be contacting all of my elected representatives and speaking to them about Bank of Americas usury tactics.
3. I will support and assist in any way I can a class action lawsuit against Bank of America in their actions which are tantamount to theft.
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