Warning to all Bank Of America Customers

[Shamus MacNoob]

In one word

"yes"

Can I go home now I need to shoot myself in the head and ease the pain of reading this thread?



lolol

 

[melon]

I used to work for Fleet/BoA for about a year.

About the overdraft fees, I would suggest complaining at the branch level in person, as I personally do not have the greatest opinion of their telephone banking operations. The branch staff will probably be kind enough to refund the fees, as long as, of course, you don't make a habit of it (and they do keep track of when they make refunds). Then you must promptly learn how to balance your checkbook, plain and simple.

As for the security issues regarding their online banking site, I'd complain about that too to someone...and bring along the evidence. I know that BoA has made an earnest effort to try and be "Fortune" magazine's "Most Admired Company," so they might be more responsive than you might think. Most business folk are grossly computer illiterate, and, of course, must rely on whomever they hire to do these sites...and who knows how "good" these techies really are.

Melon

 

[gonaads]

Balancing the books is not the prob for me. It's when they say that you have X amount of dollars available but then it is not available. The person I talked to over the phone told me that the stipulation about the 8pm electronic puchase thing and the cash withdrawls is in the booklet that is given to you when you open your account. So I asked her when she had opened her account with B of A. She said 1996. I promptly asked if she still had it. She said yes. I then fired back that I opened my account in 1986 and there was no way whatever was in THAT booklet was in any newer booklets. Mainly because I could not use an ATM card back in 1986 to do any purchases. So i asked for her supervisor and then his. Then I got my money back.

 

[Son Goku]

I used to work for Fleet/BoA for about a year.

About the overdraft fees, I would suggest complaining at the branch level in person, as I personally do not have the greatest opinion of their telephone banking operations.

Now this tells something to me tbh. When an employee (OK former employee) gives this indication. It's like when someone I knew told me a few years ago

It's kinda like going into a resturant and asking her "would you eat here"? If she says no, and she's the one serving that food, what does it tell you...

It's kinda like what happened to my father when he was in college. The waitress warned he (when he got some banana cream pie or something like that), "but sir, it's the last piece".

My father didn't quite get the point (then), but she was trying to tell him as best she could with a boss that could be standing around that it was old, had gone bad.

My father was like "oh, that's OK". He said the entire night, he was as sick as a dog...

In all honesty I would have to say I'm not sure how much one can get away from this with a bank. Yes some banks are better then others... But in my experience, my experiences with credit unions have been among the best. You might want to see if you can qualify to membership to one/look into it.

 

[Maveric169]

Melon: I have written emails, and called customer service, the email I never got a response from, tis the reason I called WRT the security issue, and I was told by the highest person in charge that I was able to get a hold of, that "Bank of America is 100% secure and that none could get your login information with or without extra and un-nessesary security"

I then informed her that she was VERY mistaken about the risk and asked to speak to her supervisior and she said she was "the" supervisior. And when asked for the corporate number she refused saying it is against policy bla, bla bla. So there is basically no way to contact anyone with a clue at BofA to bring their lack of security to.

 

[Son Goku]

Melon: I have written emails, and called customer service, the email I never got a response from, tis the reason I called WRT the security issue, and I was told by the highest person in charge that I was able to get a hold of, that "Bank of America is 100% secure and that none could get your login information with or without extra and un-nessesary security"

I then informed her that she was VERY mistaken about the risk and asked to speak to her supervisior and she said she was "the" supervisior. And when asked for the corporate number she refused saying it is against policy bla, bla bla. So there is basically no way to contact anyone with a clue at BofA to bring their lack of security to.

She's covering from the sound of it. And customer service has it's supervisors (supervisory departments) one can be assured. Perhaps that's not an issue to let up on "it's 100% secure"...nothing, and I repeat nothing is 100% secure.

It should be in the banks interest to want to know when there's a security problem... I wonder if no one would listen, if a possible legal action (perhaps not even so much for the money beyond legal fees, unless one has already lost) as to make sure someone in upper management knows the risks would be possible. There should be some avenue, even if some snoty phone jokey won't take security concerns seriously...

Needless to say, if I were in upper management and one of my subordinates took such an attitude when someone was trying to notify of a security risk...I'd be less then pleased. Security issues at a bank or other financial institution should be of up most importance...

 

[melon]

Now this tells something to me tbh. When an employee (OK former employee) gives this indication.

Every bank or place of business has their quirk. It's generally a matter of figuring them out. I do think that their telephone people have gotten "better," compared to a while back.

FYI, I still bank there.

Melon

 

[Sazar]

go in to the bank and ask for the manager and speak to their resident IT head honcho...

if you are worried about something and resort to doing things over the phone or via email... it's obviously not so important...

if I can do something in person... I do so because they can't avoid me if I am right there

my over-drafts... they refunded to me after I explained my situation, and then they took great pains to inform me exactly how the process works so it would not be repeated...

 

[Maveric169]

Well I am in Green Bay, WI, BofA doesn't even have a branch in this area otherwise I would.

 

[Son Goku]

Not sure how you ended up with a bank that has a local branch unless you either moved or it's a joint account (and the other party lives near one).

If it's the latter, perhaps you could have them go in, if the former perhaps you should switch banks depending on how difficult it is to do business with a bank so far away. With a local branch, are we talking another town (30 minutes drive away, hours drive away) or are we talking out of state? I know when I moved out here, I closed the account at my former place of residence (2,300 miles away) and opened another account out here once moved...

Another option might be to contact the better business bureau.

http://www.bbb.org/

If the person on the phone refuses to deal with you, a nice letter from the BBB with indication that failure to respond could result in negative marks being listed against them by the BBB (aka, negative PR that anyone or everyone could view before deciding whether to do business with them) might get a responce.

I had a problem several years back with CompuServe (incidently after it was bought out by AO-Hell). OK, some back story:

I had a CompuServe account since about 1995. This was back on classic, long before the merger with AO-Hell, and towards the "good ol days" of the Internet, aka the WWW was just new, before broadband was common, etc...

After I moved out here and began college, I just kept the account at that point though I lived on campus and the following spring semester (1998) had just got hooked up for resnet connection (aka ethernet access from the college dorms).

Sometime after this, there was announcement that AO-Hell bought them out, though "we don't plan on messing up the service, and will keep all the servers and everything seperate, yadda, yadda, yadda". Despite indication however, indication was online that they started to merge the support depts, those who answered the phones, etc So one month, they went to double bill me. Well, I had the money to cover my bill once in checking, but not twice. So they took the money the first time, tried to take it a second time (bank declined transaction). Then afterwards they refunded the first transaction back to the check card. They suspended service, I called... In fact, everything that happened to me, to the tee sounded like what AO-Hell customers were complaining about for years. I never signed up with their crappy service, but got thrown in it through "corporate merger".

They're menu system made it impossible to reach anyone (the peeps in the right department, the phones would just ring and ring, but no one picked up ever, anytime of day). Tried to get around this, the run around, etc. As to the bill, when I finally did get someone who would talk:

them: Yes, we did get payment, but when our system billed you again it couldn't get paid.

me: That's not my problem. You did get paid. I'm not obligated to pay my bill twice, only once. Your double billing problem is your responsibility. Payment was already made.

them: But we refunded that.

on and on... It got nowhere. I contacted the BBB and reported this. A few months latter I got notice back from the BBB that several attempts to contact CSi went unanswered and they were being put on record as a company that fails to respond to attempts at contact to discuss certain problems.

Mysteriously, (or perhaps not so mysteriously) after this letter was sent out, about 2-3 weeks later indication was given that CSi decided to contact them...and what they said was the same old song and dance, PR song sheet...that went to justify the whole ordeal. They did try to as silently as possible reverse the account suspension for having not received double payment however, but only after I got the BBB involved, even as they tried to avoid speaking to them.

Perhaps the better business bureau might be an option if all else fails. Perhaps someone who is positioned above that phone jokey might also notice the complaint and be more willing to help then them... In any case, the BBB no doubt has experience getting after companies when the need arises.

 

[Maveric169]

I tried to file a BBB compliaint but they want the location to file the complaint against, and they don't list the corperate office. Not sure who to file it against.

 

[melon]

I tried to file a BBB compliaint but they want the location to file the complaint against, and they don't list the corperate office. Not sure who to file it against.

Bank of America Corporate Center
100 North Tryon St.
Charlotte, North Carolina 28255

Knock yourself out.

Melon

 

[Maveric169]

sweet thanks

 

[Maveric169]

Not sure how you ended up with a bank that has a local branch unless you either moved or it's a joint account (and the other party lives near one).

I opened the account when I lived in Cali, and I moved to WI last year. It is a joint Account with me and my fiance who is in Cali

 

[Son Goku]

Oh, BTW, my lease has come up for renewal. Under the new lease agreement, rent went up $65 per month. However, there's an agreement that if it's payed on time, one gets $50 off the month's rent as a concession to those who pay on time. This is in addition to the $30 late fee. So with the rent being late being $80 more, a possible over-draft fee (when one runs into the first and second of the month falling on weekends or federal holidays when banks are closed) a lot less costly...

I opened the account when I lived in Cali, and I moved to WI last year. It is a joint Account with me and my fiance who is in Cali

OK, makes sense. Though I closed out my old account when I moved here to NM, my father and I have a joint account. Also a means for him to put money in which I can withdrawl...

You might be able to talk to your fiance and get the necessary info. She might also like to know if her money is being rendered less secure then necessary. Anyhow, someone gave you the address (and the BBB should be able to help you). Otherwise there is the FTC (Federal Trade Commission).

http://www.ftc.gov

I'm not sure this would fall under their jurisdiction or not (would have to see if security problems would be something they'd be interested in). If something was in fact fraudulant (over-draft fees aren't necessarily going to be covered as such...and it could get thrown out upon investigation), the FTC would be a place one could take an investigation. This is tantamount to "sicking the feds on them" however. The antics of the CSi (then merged with AOL) billing department the FTC might have been very interested in. This could especially be the case, as AO-Hell which bought them out had a notorious reputation, which the credit union was more then familiar with, and the account executive (on my end), in a tone of disatisfaction mentioned how this is nothing new... However, I never had to take it beyond the BBB. Overdraft fees, not sure they would be.

 

[Un4gIvEn1]

Bank of America offers online banking for a curtiousy to their customers. It is still your responsibility to keep track of all of your transactions.

Your first point... The secure login. If you click on "Sign In" in the top left corner and then "Online Banking" you will get a secure login.

No offence, but the other issues you have sounds like you just don't know how to handle your own money.

I am very pleased with BoA.

Keep in mind, a lot of the things you might get mad about are all in the contract you signed when you became a member. You should read everything you sign.

@gonaads BoA wasn't bought out... they bought out Fleet.

 

[Un4gIvEn1]

Balancing the books is not the prob for me. It's when they say that you have X amount of dollars available but then it is not available. The person I talked to over the phone told me that the stipulation about the 8pm electronic puchase thing and the cash withdrawls is in the booklet that is given to you when you open your account. So I asked her when she had opened her account with B of A. She said 1996. I promptly asked if she still had it. She said yes. I then fired back that I opened my account in 1986 and there was no way whatever was in THAT booklet was in any newer booklets. Mainly because I could not use an ATM card back in 1986 to do any purchases. So i asked for her supervisor and then his. Then I got my money back.

Many contracts now have a clause that allows them to add or remove items and that any changes you have 30 days to accept or reject them. If you use your card again within' 30 days it's stating you agree. They tag the changes on your monthly billing statements to notify you of the changes. I work in debt negotiation so I am very familiar with banks and creditors and their little "tricks" I recommend to anyone that they read anything they sign. If they are signing something that states they agree to something else and you don't have a copy of that, ask for it. If you sign something and don't read it then I have absolutely no compassion for you. Also, keep in mind that with online banking there is a statement on the site stating that the balance may not reflect "recent" transactions.

 

[Son Goku]

As to the security issue, the secure login page, really should be the default page one hits when selects online banking, not simply an option...and one should have to click a seperate link to get an unsecure login, if one's even provided at all. It's sorta half arse backwards IMO, if the insecure login comes up first, and one has to select another link to get to a secure login. A few things:

- Most computer users aren't very technically savy. People who work tech support know just what types of users they typically run into. I doubt a vast number of "average users" would necessarily even know whether they're on a secure site or not...or perhaps even suspect that they wouldn't be.

- Due to fraud protection that comes with many accounts, one isn't necessarily liable for fruadulant transactions made to their account. Credit cards (and by default, check cards) most definitely fall under this. Someone gets the number and runs up a $10,000 charge to one's account, argue the transactions as fraud, and the charges can be reversed. When reversed, it isn't the person (but rather the merchant in those cases) who get caught with the liability (someone purchased something with a number that wasn't their own...as part of fraud protection, bank rejects charge, etc...)

I'm sure there are provisions in the law for fraudulant transactions made to one's account (as to my knowledge my credit union provides means to report fraudulant transactions and what not/legal recourse. Not taking measure to secure people's accounts could be a potential source of liability...and if one could ever prove that failure to take steps to secure the account resulted in someone acquiring the password, and from there... Not sure if this person has online bill payer, but setting up a bogus billing to one's self (though trackable) would be a means to extract money from someone unaware of either being at risk, or just what a cracker could do...

- If things are unencrypted, it's not as difficult as some might assume to capture a password. When I was taking network topologies a number of years ago, it was trivial to setup an IP sniffer on a LAN, set the NIC into permiscuous mode, and then to proceed to (in our case capture a telnet password). http would just be over a different port though (80, rather then 23).

In fact, one of the test questions on our mid-term was

Setup an IP sniffer. Capture a telnet password. Show me you can do this for credit.

Luckily the teacher setup a class dummy account, so peeps didn't have to login with their real accounts. Needless to say, and since that class, I never use telnet, ftp, or whatnot down there. They have ssh setup, or forget it

I doubt most people know about such things, and as such I would say that using insecure login should require an explicit opt in and not be provided by default and on an opt out basis. There should also be a stern enough warning to advise people of the potential risk, if they should click on the link to opt in, such as in cases where their browser might have trouble with secure logins...

 

[Un4gIvEn1]

Regardless of how much security a website has on it lets just remember that the most likely way someone will get your account information is through using a keylogger which is part of many spyware utilities that may get on someone's PC.

 

[xsivforce]

*bump*

They are pulling their **** with me again. I am going to the Florida State Banking Authorities this time. We are not alone BTW, 255 entries of ripoffs by BOA : http://www.ripoffreport.com/results...mit2=Search!&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0