And right before you tell the eleventh service rep that you hope they get genital herpes from their neighbor's dog you also remember that they write the laws and so you are screwed no matter what you do or say, if you plead, beg and even cry on the phone. The call always ends the same, cheery way:
"Sorry you got screwed but we cannot and will not ever return your overdraft fees and we're truly sorry but hell will freeze over and the Pope will convert to Judaism before we admit we ever did anything so cruel as to intentionally mislead you. Thank you for banking with Bank of America. Enjoy your day!"
Mostly due to the huge public outcry and Congressional hearings on the matter, starting this summer [2010] Bank of America will stop overdraft fees unless you specifically sign up for that protection -- for an additional monthly fee. If you go over your account balance they will simply deny the charge. Or, so they say. In the crazy world of US Style Capitalism(tm), the simple acceptance of your monthly bank statement could be read as agreeing to a new fee or service. Even with a team of legal experts at your side and the assistance of a scanning electron microscope to read the "small print" on the cryptic letter you will receive from them you'll, well, they'll still screw you. That's what they do.
The problem is so vast and so wide that popular websites have grown up over the past few years decrying Bank of America's systems and service and the corporation has people on staff who do nothing during the day but log on to these sites and blame their victims. Yes, they actually hire people to kick you when you're down. In public. Proudly.
Moreover, this corporation spent $14.5 million in political donations in 2008 and donated more to political campaigns than any other bank receiving TARP funds which for them amounted to $40 billion. That $14.5 million bought them $2 billion in fees and overcharges that Congress refuses to control. For them, a well spent investment. For you and me? Not so good.
From OpenSecrets org:
Company Campaign Contributions, 07-08 Cycle Lobbying Expenditures, 2008 TARP Payment Return on Investment Bank of America Corp**The full list of TARP recipients and their congressional spending habits is here.
American Banking and Market News had this to say on May 10th, 2010:
There are three immediate problems here:"The Charlotte Business Journal did an analysis of Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC)'s giving and found that the company's political action committee gave nearly have [sic] of its federal donations to members of the two committees which are shaping new banking regulations."
For one, banks need to make the accounts that show on their online banking services display the actual, real amount in your accounts, not the fake one they put there to intentionally confuse you. Second, they need to change the way they apply charges to your account so that they are applied in the order in which they come in -- even over weekends -- when their computers are on the beach enjoying a well-earned rest from calculating the $38 billion they collected in such fees in 2009. And third, when you enter your PIN number in a debit transaction that money should disappear -- and I mean really disappear -- from your account the moment the electrons from the gas station engage the electrons at your bank.
One local credit union says this about the use of their debit cards:
- Your transaction is debited from a designated checking account immediately.
I looked for the same information at Bank of America and found this:
Yeah. Nothing. Do you think they're hiding something? As sure as a one-legged duck swims in a circle you can bet they're hiding something. And while it should be their heads in shame, it's just the opposite: they're hiding their immense pride at being bottom-feeders and making money doing it.
So what's really going on in the background at Bank of America?
Any transactions made between Friday evening at 8:01 PM and Monday evening at 7:59 PM are bunched together and posted together in size order from largest to smallest Monday night to be effective at start of business on Tuesday.
At a local credit union;
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