May 4
Dear B of A
RE: THE CLOSING OF ACCOUNT#0519731594 and complaint due to lack of service
We have had an account with Bank of America since 1984-my account was once a “Security Pacific Bank” account. Today, we have had it with Bank of America and the sooner we can close our account with B of A the better! We want to tell you “why” and we closing our account after all these years.
We are in the process of buying a home in Texas. The lender we are dealing with called us on my cell phone and asked for a copy of the canceled check that we had wrote the Escrow Company, and a copy of our B of A checking statement from April 10th to today’s date. Apparently, the underwriter wanted these documents. We live in a remote rural area and we were not at home when we got this call. We did not have access to a computer or ANY ON LINE SERVICE-we only had access to a branch.
We had know idea when we would get home today and the lender needed this information as not to hold up our escrow. So, we stopped into your Palmdale (CA) Branch on Palmdale Blvd about 12 noon. I (john) went in and explained my problem to a teller. I was directed to a lady standing near the door-I went to her and again explained my simple request. She told me, “[I] would have to wait for my next statement” after May 10th! She refused to even look up the copy of the check and or our statement-we had our ID and everything! If I was to have returned home to my computer that was 40 miles away!
I-John was polite and told her this could delay the closing of our escrow if we could not get this information to our lender-she was indifferent to information. I thought in interesting that before us another B of A customer was making what sounded like a simple request and he left upset-LIKE ME! I called your customer service line and explained my problem.
The operator also said he could not help. I asked for a “supervisor” and I got a “Mr. Martinez”. I explained my problem to him. I was again turned down-I wanted a simple copy of a check and a copy of my statement for my home loan escrow-THAT’S IT! I went all day away from a computer and no way to access your website or obtain the information-to say I am upset is an understatement. Once we got home, we got the copy of the check and then had to drive back into town (12 miles away) to FAX these items to the lender late tonight.
Now that we are back home we are sending you this letter to inform you we are making good on our promise to close our accounts with you which we have had for the last 25 years! 9 months ago I-John Smith, close my Bank of America Visa account with you as I watched my interest rates climb for no reason at all! We had considered doing a home loan with B of A, and did in fact get a “pre-qualification letter” from B of A back in late March.
We decided to NOT do our home loan with B of A for two reasons. First, B of A was NOT really forthcoming with the best loan (and we are not desperate men with poor credit)-we were able to get a 4.8% interest rate with NO POINTS! With another lender-so your loan offer was horrible compared to others in the home loan business. With our high credit scores we do not need to deal with Banks that do business like this! Next, we have been told on more than one occasion; B of A will call near the end of Escrow and demand more money from the barrower “just to close escrow”-we were not going chance it with B of A.
Your loan offer got shoved to the bottom of the pile NOT to be considered again! Now, because of a total lack of service we will be closing our account with B of A which has been in existence since the mid 1980’s! I would have closed our account today but it will take time to switch over our automatic deposits from The Los Angeles Police Department and Time Warner Cable.
Please take this letter as a FORMAL COMPLAINT towards your B of A branch on Palmdale Blvd, and how your bank refused to help a long term client with a simple problem. This lack of service has cost your bank a customer. Given the recent federal “stress test” that B of A failed-it appears you needed us more than we need you! We will not put up with this-we simply do not have to.
We give the above account about 30 days left (that’s how long I expect us to shut it down) before it is closed and we stop doing all business with your bank. We are glad we listened to out “gut” when we decided to NOT have Bank of America handle our new home loans! We would not want to deal with a bank that is under federal pressure for mismanagement and treats long term customers like this. We intend to go out and celebrate the day this account is closed for good!
John Smith and Robert Perez
(Two little people you stepped on!)
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