Bank of America
From WhyNotWiki
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[edit] Negative
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/bofa.html
[edit] Matthew Shinnick wrongfully jailed
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/11/15/bank-of-america-lose.html
[edit] Monthly fee
Dear Bank of America:
I left the company I was working for a couple of months ago (and as a consequence stopped receiving a monthly direct deposit). Shortly thereafter, I started noticing a $5.95 "monthly service charge" on my statement. It is in regards to this fee that I now write.
I do recall receiving a letter in the mail regarding a change in my checking account. That is probably the reason I am now seeing this charge and I never received it before.
You wrote:
"We're changing your current Versatel account to our most popular checking account, MyAccess Checking. As a valued customer, we want to make the change as easy as possible.
The process is seamless -- you're automatically enrolled beginning February 2007, so you continue to enjoy many of the same great benefits and quality service you're familiar with. ... All you have to do is have a direct deposit to your account, and we'll waive the monthly service charge of $5.95 (more frequent direct deposits also qualify).
You still enjoy these same great benefits, plus a new one:
- Free Online Banking service with unlimited Bill Payer - Free Bank of America Visa Check Card with Photo Security - Access to the nation's largest bank-owned ATM network - New -- No teller fees for deposits and withdrawals
..."
I didn't think to complain back then, as it didn't really affect me then, but now that it does affect me, you can be sure that I will complain very loudly.
Exactly who was this change supposed to benefit anyway? And why was it necessary?, one wonders.
(Continued in next message, due to your nifty, user-friendly, 3510-character limit.)
(Continued from previous message.)
I was quite happy with my good old Versatel account (and had been for 8 years). I liked how I had access to 1000s of Bank of America ATMs and how there was no monthly fee. (Here's a tip for you business people: Customers don't like monthly fees.) My Versatel account and I were getting along very nicely, in fact ... and then you just had to change things, didn't you?
You said, "you continue to enjoy many of the same great benefits ... you're familiar with." Like "Free Online Banking" and "Free Bank of America Visa Check Card" -- only ... without the "free" part. Oops, minor difference!
So for the privilege of being your "valued customer" right now, I am actually _losing_ money each month by investing money in a Bank of America checking account. That is really lame. Thanks, Bank of America.
I have a really, really hard time understanding why it is so important for your customers to have a monthly direct deposit. (Care to explain?) The minimum balance requirement I can understand -- the more of your customers' money that is in your possession, the more interest you can make off it ... makes sense! -- but a direct deposit? Where's the logic?
How does having direct deposits from all your customers even benefit you? If they immediately spend their entire paycheck the day their direct deposit was received, then they would have an average balance of close to $0. Is that still beneficial to Bank of America somehow??
By contrast, I _don't_ receive a monthly paycheck right now, yet I've kept a respectably large amount of money in my account at all times. True, that amount is currently declining, but there's still a lot in there, so I don't really understand what I'm being penalized for.
So you really _like_ receiving direct deposits, do you? Okay, how about I arrange for a friend to send a "direct deposit" to me every month? Would that be sufficient? Or does it absolutely _have_ to be a paycheck? How would you know? What's the minimum amount it has to be? What process/criteria do you use to determine if a direct deposit made to my account qualifies as sufficient to "waive the monthly service charge" or not? Does it simply have to come from a company, for example? Or does it have to say "payroll" in the reference field, or what? I'm sure I could arrange a "paycheck" to be deposited each month, if I knew exactly what ridiculous arbitrary requirements it had to match.
(Continued in next message, due to your nifty, user-friendly, 3510-character limit.)
(Continued from previous message.)
I fail to find any fairness in this new policy (or even in this _old_ policy, if that's what it is). It discriminates against those who are less able to pay a monthly fee. Specifically, this policy discriminates against those who are unemployed or even those who are self-employed. Those who are self-employed may receive sporadic payments of varying amounts throughout the month from contract work that they do. How is that worse than a once-a-month direct deposit? Why do you favor employees over self-employed contractors??
As long as your customer receive deposits into their account each month with a combined sum equaling the amount of the paycheck they used to receive, what difference does it make to you? In what way is a combination of smaller payments totaling $1000 less meritorious in your mind than a single $1000 paycheck received every month??
Or what if my employer doesn't do direct deposits and they only send out _paper_ paychecks each month? Why do you penalize paper paychecks and not direct deposits? Is it really so costly to process paper a paycheck (I doubt it)? And if so, why don't you penalize customers for _every_ check they deposit? Why not simply charge a modest per-check-deposited fee instead of impose this seemingly arbitrary requirement that their _paycheck_ specifically must be electronic, must come from one source only, and must come at regular intervals? I fail to see the logic.
(Continued in next message, due to your nifty, user-friendly, 3510-character limit.)
(Continued from previous message.)
In conclusion, I'm not satisfied with the changes you made to my account, and I will be closing my account and taking my money elsewhere, in 30 days, unless you can assure me before then that these monthly fees will stop being charged effective immediately. (I have already started opening an account at another bank.) I would also be grateful if you would refund the $11.90 that I was charged during November and December for this "monthly service charge" that I never agreed to. Thanks!
Update: I was browsing your selection of checking account options just now (http://www.bankofamerica.com/deposits/checksave/) and noticed one that looks like it might meet my needs. It says "FREE with no direct deposit requirement" and "No minimum balance required". Perfect! It looks like just the right account to meet my needs.
Would you please change my checking account over to the one I just described (it's the one on http://www.bankofamerica.com/deposits/checksave/ -- the first one on the list).
Oh yeah, the name of it... let's see. Oh there it is! It's called "MyAccess Checking®".
Thanks in advance for changing my account for me. I've been very pleased with Bank of America overall, until this incident recently.
Sincerely, Tyler Rick
[edit] How to (manually) export transaction data
[edit] Which format?
CSV
"07/30/2007","TACO BELL #22500225169 WALLA WALLA",4.51
OFXSGML
<STMTTRN>
<TRNTYPE>DEBIT
<DTPOSTED>20070730000030[-08:PST]
<TRNAMT>-4.51
<FITID>CRC0000480011310522499720070731000024883
<NAME>TACO BELL #22500225169 WALLA WAL
</STMTTRN>
QIF
D07/30/2007 T-4.51 C* PTACO BELL #22500225169 WALLA WALLA WA
[edit] How often?
1 time/month might be often enough. But since they apparently only let me download the last 30 days (/ 1 month) of data, that might not actually be good enough. Especially if for whatever reason, I miss it by a day.
So, better would be 2 times/month.
[edit] How to automate the exporting of that data
Other finance software can do it, so I don't see why my application couldn't...
If worst came to worst, I could probably use curl to recreate an HTTP login the same way a browser would...
[edit] My account
Closed on 2008-01-16
