This experience happened to my mom on August 4, but I worked with my her to try to resolve this with the bank. I know this is long but it's worth it.
Bank of America incorrectly charged my mom for 5 NSF fees (at $35.00 a piece - totaling $175.00) when only 1 NSF fee should have been charged. My opinion of this situation is that this wasn't just an accident but a direct result of this bank's greed and manipulation to extort money from its customers.
Anyway, my mom contacted the bank's customer service number and spoke with a representative, but before she could finish explaining the problem to the rep., the rep. Cut her off and said that there was no problem with the account and all the NSF charges were valid. The rep. Was very rude and accused her of mismanaging her money, saying "if you didn't swipe your card here and there you wouldn't have this problem".
She then asked to speak with a manager but the customer service rep. Refused. After a solid minute of asking for the manager, the rep. Finally said ok and put her on hold. The manager came on the phone and told her the same things and was very condescending. The manager also stated that "this is a business... We are in business to make money." Can you believe that?! That is not proper customer service.
She called back again and spoke with a different rep. (a slightly nicer one) but they said she would have to go to the branch as the rep. Had no power to reverse NSF fees (which is not true). Everyone she had spoke to at this point was jumping to conclusions and even after hearing the problem, said that everything was fine - the NSFs were supposed to be there.
Here's what happened with her account:
- On 7/30 her balance was $150. She made a purchase that day of $5.00
- On 7/31 she made a purchase of $20
- On 8/01 she spent $10 and another purchase of $5.00
- On 8/02 she spend $2.00
As of 8/02 all of the above transactions were in a pending status but were withdrawn from the available balance - as to be expected.
Then on 8/03 all of the transactions above POSTED and CLEARED, putting the available balance at $108. Also on 8/03 an automatic debit came in for $150 and remained pending until 8/04, where it then cleared.
However, the bank claims that they processed the $150 transaction first which put the account to $0. Then, they processed each of the 5 smaller payments which is why there were 5 NSFs. Does this seem right? How can they claim that they paid the $150 transaction first when that transaction didn't even come in until the other 5 transactions had posted and cleared! This is where their banking practices come into question!
My mom deposited money into her account to cover all of the NSFs to avoid getting charged a daily overdrawn fee. Again, we were not asking for ALL of the fees to be removed, just the 4 invalid ones. Obviously the last transaction that came in would have put the account overdrawn, so only 1 NSF should have been paid for.
I realize that Bank of America's policy is: when there are multiple transactions pending, they process them from the highest amount to the lowest amount (regardless of the day the transactions where initiated) - which of course is a way for them to maximize NSF charges. With that said, that policy would and should not have applied here as the smaller transactions cleared before the larger one was initiated.
Ok, now that you know what the story was with the account and transactions... Back to our mission to resolve this with the bank.
We went to the branch and spoke with a rep.in person. She was very dismissive after hearing where our conversation was going - in regards to requesting a refund of NSF fees. We were told "given the economy, the bank has removed authorization for reps to credit NSF fees back". This woman was also terrible and condescending stating "maybe if you kept a register of your transactions this wouldn't have happened" (my mom keeps track of her account online, which is just as good).
We then asked to speak to the branch manager to which the woman immediately said, "oh he's too busy." I asked her where he was, thinking he's in his office buried in paperwork... But no... She points to the front of the bank where the BRANCH MANAGER is greeting people as the enter and leave the bank. Isn't there something else he should be doing? Isn't this why they have "Greeter" positions.
I went over to him to explain the situation and he said that he was busy but I could wait to speak with a rep. At this point I demanded to speak with him about this matter as every person we have spoken to at this point is giving us the run around.
Finally, inside his office, he started with the same rhetoric as everyone else. After hitting him with LOGIC, and showing him the account history, he started to see what I was saying. He said that he would need a few hours to research what happened and would call us at the end of the day.
He kept his word and called. He explained that he tried everything but the NSFs were locked on the account and he couldn't take them off.
At this point, I am FURIOUS that Bank of America has stolen money from my mom's account. They are essentially raping customers of their money and manipulating their own system. NSF fees have become a BILLION dollar business for banks... And let's face it, they are not stupid. They see this opportunity to maximize profits by stealing money from their customers. All of their employees stonewall you on any attempt to get a credit or refund.
At this point, what is the benefit of banking with a bank if they are going to take all of your money... Why would you not just operate off of cash - or at the very least, go with a smaller bank where they actually care about you and you are not just a dollar sign to them.
I will continue to call the branch and customer service every day until this is resolved. The ridiculous thing is... The amount of time (in terms of salary) the bank employees spend talking to me will far outweigh the NSFs that they owe my mom.
Do not bank with bank of america
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