Bank of America charges a fee to close accounts???????????

[dixiegrrrrl]

According to Nomi Prins at Truthdig in her article
10 Reasons to Break Up With Bank of America:

"Meanwhile, the fact that Bank of America charges a fee for closing an account prompted Rep. Brad Miller (D-North Carolina), who resides in Bank of America’s headquarters state, to introduce a bill to protect customers from such fees."

The other 9 reasons are just as compelling:
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/10_reasons_to_break_up_with_bank_of_america_20111029/

[drm604]

1. Can't you just withdraw all of your funds but not actually close it?

Won't they let you take out all of your own money?

[riderinthestorm]

2. Then other fees kick in - for low balance or non-usage. nt

[Liberal Veteran]

3. And then charge you overdraft fees by the day due to the bank fee....

[RKP5637]

4. F BOA. They've been a crappy bank for years! n/t

[Juneboarder]

9. They will charge you those fees

and you'll go negative but they can't collect on them. Or, if they can successfully collect on them, then I was an oversight. Screw BofA, screw Wells Fargo, screw JP Morgan Chase, screw Citi, screw em all (except the lovely credit unions).

[drm604]

7. And they collect those fees how?

They can't take them from your empty account.

[JoeyT]

11. Well, they can ruin your credit rating. n/t

[Shagbark Hickory]

13. They'll probably try to ruin it anyway.

When I left BoA back in 97 or 98, they left some kind of comment on my credit report that said Ünsatisfactory banking relationship or something to that effect.

When I went to open an account at a new bank, for some reason they found the comment and told me about it. Not sure if or why they ran my credit now that I think about it but needless to say, it didn't keep them from opening an account.

[KatyaR]

21. There's now some sort of reporting agency for banks.

If you're reported for "bad banking" or whatever, you can be denied a bank account just like you could be denied a loan for bad credit. I had a bank account closed because I didn't have any money (I had been unemployed--ya think?), and only because I immediately went and opened a new bank account with my first paycheck was I able to get an account--it didn't show up on my "record."

My former bank had the nerve to close my account and then take an automatic deposit instead of rejecting it--and then made it out to be my fault. I was actually told "we don't want your business." I had been a customer for 20 years, started out when it was a tiny bank, now it's a huge conglomerate and they don't want to play with the little people. If you don't have at last $100k in the bank, they're not interested AT ALL. I wouldn't spit in their faces, it's not worth the time and effort.

They're out to screw us and take what little we have, no matter what. :mad:

[DAMANgoldberg]

24. Chex Systems...

This is their little gambit, end run around Equifax and the like. The bank can report stuff there because they can, not because it actually happened and it takes 5 years to clear. Been there, done that, got no T-Shirt.

BTW, in the Trucking business, there is a service called DAC Systems. It's supposed to be a clearinghouse for drivers and their "bad" records so the industry would not hire them or invite to orientation. Never mind that your Motor Vehicle Record is a better indicator of driving records as all tickets and accidents go there, but they have this "incident" category. As minor has knocking off a piece of rubber on a dock, a street sign with trailer, all the way to a Rollover accident, it;s nothing more than a weed-out excuse to keep the newbie trucking model continuing that most network companies (Covenant, US Xpress, Werner, J.B.Hunt, etc.) accept in their freight lanes.

[jtrockville]

22. They send you to a collection agency.

[kestrel91316]

5. Is BOA trying to commit suicide, perhaps thinking it can get MORE bailout money???

[Shagbark Hickory]

14. It really does seem that way. I can think of no other explanation but they've been like this for

decades.

Megabanks suck.

[CoffeeCat]

26. I think B of A has been in trouble...

...since the housing crash and have never recovered. They had so many bad mortgages on their books. How in the hell
did they ever recover? And they have the worst reputation of all of the banks. They're the devil, in the eyes of most
Americans, and I imagine they've lost a ton of business.

I remember, shortly after the 2008 crash, there were so many articles about how healthy and profitable BofA was. Meanwhile,
the other healthier banks were not reporting such miracles. It seemed obvious that they were bullshitting and most likely
covering up the fact that they were a house of cards--rotting from the inside.

I suspect that BofA has been in the shitter for years now. I feel as if you do--that they're doing these very public
stunts--like charging fees and pissing off customers--WHILE THOSE CUSTOMERS ARE OUT IN THE STREETS PROTESTING
THE GREED OF BANKS!! I mean seriously.

Just as you said--it feels like a set up, so they can obtain another bailout.

Or even better yet... Let's assume that BofA is very unhealthy and hiding it and all of the other big banks know it. It's
a guarded industry secret. If you've got this big protest movement growing--and you need to demonize it and make
people hate it--why not sacrifice one of the banks and say it collapsed--and blame the OWS movement???

I've heard the meme played out repeatedly, nearly every day on right-wing talk radio. They are suggesting that OWS is
trying to destroy the banks, make them fail and obliterate Wall Street. If a bank does fail--and they can connect it
to OWS, or "close your account day" or other protest-related activities--well, there you have it. A bank will fail--they will
blame OWS and all the media meme will be blasted even further--that OWS is destroying America.

Right wing talking points come from the corporatists, the Koch Brothers and the neocons. ALL of right-wing radio is
repeating this "they want to destroy the banks" meme. It's not accidental. They're ALL saying this for a reason.

I believe they'll allow BofA to fail--even thought it's a dud and has been since 2008--and say that OWS did it. Plus, they'll
most likely get bailed out with our tax dollars. It's a perfect opportunity for them.

These banks and corporatists have infiltrated our government, neutered our politicians and have converted our democracy
into a corporate state. Does anyone actually believe they wouldn't try something like this? They've pulled off much more
heinous jobs in the past few years.

[avaistheone1]

6. Isn't that illegal. It sure is outrageous.

If this is not illegal then it damn well should be made illegal.



k&r

[hfojvt]

8. anchor bank did the same thing with my IRA account

by which I mean these rat bastards http://www.anchorbank.com/

the really dishonest thing is that when I originally opened my account, they did not charge such a fee. So when I moved I kept my money with them (my way of rewarding them for not having such a fee). Then the 5 year CD rolled over before I got around to closing it, so I kept my money with them for another 5 years. And when I finally closed it, bang, oh by the way, there's a new fee. Thank you for being a customer all those years.

[Shagbark Hickory]

10. Could they say it any louder or any more clearly? F-U customers!

[Downwinder]

12. Didn't charge me. n/t

[SmileyRose]

15. Me either.

must depend on what type of account it is.

BOA is about stupid though..............

[louis-t]

16. Yep, they charged me 5 bucks to close a savings account.

And when I finally close my checking and they charge me a fee, I will smile sweetly at the teller and say "That's the last 5 bucks BoA will EVER make from me."

Oh, and by the way, AT&T charges you $10 to cancel your long distance service.

[LiberalEsto]

17. My daughter closed her BOA account in September

There was no fee.
She got her $4.28 and that was that.

It looks like this fee may have been created especially to hassle people planning to Fawke the Banksters
on Nov. 5.

Advice for anyone planning to switch banks:

1.Open a new account at your credit union.
2.Authorize them to do a wire transfer to move your money from your old bank to your new account.

[emilyg]

19. Thanks.

[femrap]

27. That's a good idea...

hope it avoids the Closing Fee.

Fuck the Banksters.

[marmar]

31. "especially to hassle people planning to Fawke the Banksters"

That means the thieving bastards are scared.

[northoftheborder]

18. My experience with BOA

My mother's estate account was in BOA. After months of inactivity, and no need for the account, I went in to the branch bank and requested the account be closed. They said the best way to do this was to write a check for the amount in the account, then call a number to request it be closed. All of which I did; only the next month I get her bank statement with a $14 inactivity fee added making a negative balance. I called the number provided and the person on the phone said she would deal with it, (by then there was another $14 fee added for the month for which I had not yet gotten the statement.) she said she changed the account to zero, and closed the account. In the meantime I got a nasty little card pointing out the negative balance, and that I, as the executor could have my credit records affected. We'll see what happens.

This is really a crappy bank. The first time I went in there after she died, (and then was way before all the banking crisis and bad publicity for BOA), the employees made a terrible impression on me - they seemed like the archtypical used-car salesmen and made me feel very distrustful of them as a supposedly trusted institution. I've never had that kind of gut feeling negativity from any bank in my life. All the events since then have justified my impression.

[sarcasmo]

20. I am not as nice, they are a shitty bank only out to steal the money of hard working people.

[snot]

23. Wow. (Smugly:) Glad I moved my $ in 2008. (Comeon, you guys!)

[sabrina 1]

25. Can't people just overdraw their accounts, and then ignore their

attempts to try to collect fees?

It's just another outrage that they think they can get away with these extortions. The truth is they can because there is absolutely no accountability for them.

[LiberalEsto]

28. They could sic a collection agency on you

because they are heartless and relentless.
If they can foreclose on tens of thousands of people, they're certainly not going to pass up a chance to squeeze a few more bucks out of people who pull their money out. Unless this new fee is made illegal, retroactively.

[sabrina 1]

29. Well, they could. I was thinking of when I moved from NY

to Ca about three years ago, I left about $50 dollars in my account in NY in case there were any charges etc. I made the mistake of forgetting about it and each month apparently they kept deducting monthly fees until there was nothing left. I got a Collection notice telling me I owed them over $175.00. I couldn't figure it out as I had not used the acct.

I called the local bank to see who had written checks (it was in two amounts) or charged to that account, and she told me that the Bank had continued to deduct monthly charges even after the account was empty. Part of it was my fault, since I did not formally close it down, but once they emptied it, and it had not been used for months, they should have closed it down, instead they kept deducting monthly charges.

So, I wrote to them and refused to pay and threatened to send everything to the State AG. My point was that they had gotten a free fifty dollars, but once there was no money in the account they had no right to run up a debt for me without contacting me first. And I never heard from them since.

I can't imagine that a fee for closing an account is legal. And I doubt they would want to test it in court. I think that was the decision regarding my situation, they knew what they had done was questionable to say the least.

[w0nderer]

30. k & r n/t

[sarcasmo]

32. Greedy bankers will do anything to steal your money.

[Fool Count]

33. Best spent money ever.